Right on the Money - Professional Development

by Melynn Sight

I sat in the room thinking about the money that associations invest in Professional Development for their staff. The investment instructors make (on their own dime and away from their work) to learn and make connections. More recently, at the Professional Development Director’s Summit in Wichita Kansas, RAPDD was one of the most well-run meetings I have ever attended.

There was healthy balance of staff and educators - Director and teacher and practitioner (including REALTOR®-teachers who came to learn and get better at their positions.)

For me, one of the best parts of the meeting was dedicated people on both sides of education with one mission: delivering more relevant education.

There were many gems to take away from the conference, among them:

• Since this meeting was only about education, people were really focused on making connections and delivering quality education.
• I felt new energy and insight that helped people look at their jobs differently.
• Inspiration to be different, “do" different, and find the more passion for their work.

I was surprised by a few comments:

Education is not important to my association ... Education is on the back seat on the priority list ... I can’t communicate the way I want to about educational offerings ... I’m at the mercy of my communications director to do “that”.

To these objections, I wonder if education is core to their association’s value proposition. I suspect YES. In my perfect world, education directors work with communications staff to determine the best way to wrap education into the communications plan. Making education a bigger part of the value proposition. Maybe it’s a new strategy, and new tactics to get members’ attention to come to class. It involves selling the ideas to the communications director or the Association Exec. Prioritizing education may seem like a difficult or even hopeless activity, and it may take a long time to convince other staff or leaders of your proposition. Yes, association staff, at the end of the day, we are all in sales.

Happy 5th birthday RAPDD.

Right on the Money - Professional Development

A Strategic Plan of Big Dreams

by Melynn Sight

In an MLS board meeting last week, I saw before my very eyes that a little dose of big thinking can be the beginning of very big progress. It was two years ago this month, in a strategic planning session when someone offered up the bold idea: “I’d like to see our MLS become a statewide cooperative of regional MLS centers. That way our MLS  would benefit all of our members across the state.” I think most of the room dismissed the literal vision. The vision of a statewide MLS set the bar higher for operations, marketing and continuing progress in training and education.

Leadership agreed on the steps that prepared them to expand. It would include: (1) Raising awareness of MLS capabilities with current users, (2) Launching a Public MLS site and (3) Creating a talk track and process to open conversations with surrounding MLS organizations.

With the framework in place, the CEO, and her staff went to work.

It takes more than 18 months to accomplish big dreams. Caution to those of you who want your strategic plan to be an 18-month look into the future. There is big progress on some of the plan, and slower progress on other parts. Your lofty strategic issues will realistically be part of a 3 to 5 year plan. I see a CEO and a board showing three qualities: patience, vision, and planning.

How much progress has this board made on their plan? There were visitors to last week’s MLS board meeting: A neighboring association came to the board room to ask if they could join forces, and how could the two boards work together to accomplish it?

This is what you call a plan coming to life. This is a strategic plan.

A Strategic Plan of Big Dreams

Why Would I Belong if I Didn't Have To?

What’s the strongest brands you know? Brands that have been around for a long time - through generations. Brands that are reliable time after time after time. Brands that offer trust about the value you’ll receive when you go there, or buy that product.

I’m on a roll this winter helping associations find their promise. Just yesterday a great comment came up: Why can’t we chose great customer service our brand promise? And so we began to talk about it.

Think of some of the best customer service brands around: Nordstrom, Zappos, and I was introduced to a tire company in Spokane called Les Schwab. We discussed the consistent and significant investment it takes to build a culture and train employees to deliver a promise of impeccable customer service. The money it takes to get shoes from Zappos’ warehouse to your front door in (sometimes less than) 12 hours, and the level of trust and empowerment it takes a team of tire salesmen to fix a flat tire for no charge, in the hopes of a future sale. Even with an occasional snafu, Ford Motor company still delivers reliable and innovate products even after 100 years (without any bailout money).

One of the best reasons why an association should not chose customer service as their brand is that members won’t compare your service to other associations; they will compare it to Nordstrom’s.

For whatever you chose as your promise, you have to be willing to make decisions based on it, and spread it through your culture, and make it part of the way you do business.

Remember, A CHARISMATIC BRAND is any product, service, place, or person for which people believe there is no substitute.

A brand promise is (1) A commitment of added value, (2) Distinguished by some unique characteristic(s) and (3) A basis for daily decision-making and behavior.

As Dr. Glenn Forbes, CEO of Mayo Clinic says: “If you just communicate a value but you haven’t driven it into the operations, into the policy, into the decision-making, into the allocation of resources, and ultimately into the culture of the organization, then it’s just words.”

Pick what you do very well today, or aspire to become, and make it part of your daily work. You can be the Nordstrom of associations in with a unique, compelling promise.

Several associations across NAR have created a brand promise that will get members’ attention and change the perception of members' experiences. I’d love to talk to you about them.

Why Would I Belong if I Didn't Have To?

Ten No-Tech ways to Market On a Dime

by Melynn Sight

Are you are a small association with limited budget? Are you a large association where trade-offs are necessary to fund mission-critical projects? Are you in-between? No matter which describes you, you can always use ideas on how to market on a budget; here is a top 10 list of ways to improve member connections and save money at the same time. If only one of these ideas catches your attention, it will help you focus on the member and get you out of your daily grind. Here goes:

10. Listen twice as much as you speak. Tap into unconventional sources. The greatest way to get ideas is an ad-hoc group of volunteers. And great innovation comes from your new members. Even better, get out more! Even a small association can pay for a little market research one time a year. Caveat: when you come back, be sure to turn it into something valuable whether that means an action, an article, or a debrief to your members.

9. Refocus on fewer, better offerings. The hardest thing for a staff is what to do away with. What is your sacred cow program, one that you do every year that loses money, or you see declining attendance or readership? Give it up for connecting your members’ needs with a new tool.

8. Start using social marketing regularly. Give thought to your posts, and be regular with them. Know who participates in social media and market to them.

7. Give more face time! No matter

Save as Draft

how wired we get, there will always be the need for building face to fact trust. What I mean is make a point to be present at members’ event or meeting. Make a live phone call to new members to introduce yourself and show that you are available.
Do the same things, but do them differently to get better results, like:

6. Change the time you send emails. Most email research says Tuesday through Thursday from 11am to 3pm is the best time; recently, I read “What Americans Really Want…Really”. Dr. Frank Luntz found that the best time to send emails is 6:30am.  He found most people go online within minutes of waking up to check their email. (Sound familiar?)

5. Conduct a communications audit. Print them all out. Step into the conference room Close the door. Lay out your communications side-by-side on your conference room table. Is the member seeing branded documents? Are the benefits and call to action clear? Does the member have to scroll on their monitor to get to the good stuff in your newsletter? Chances are they aren’t reading down there. Invest some time in an unbiased review to identify a few things you’ll change to improve your connections.

4. What’s the current state of your homepage? Just look at it. Have a group of new members look at it and give you feedback. Better yet, Google WeWe calculator and run a test to see if you are focused on your member, or promoting yourself.

3. Ask board members to deliver your key messages to five other members. Key messages are based on the promises you make to your members as an association. They carry through the year and through all of your communications.

2. Ask each board member and committee chair to personally develop a list of 10 easy tasks and then solicit 10 uninvolved members to each do one task. Get more members involved!

1. Tap into your staff. Facilitate a 15-minute meeting where you and staff brainstorm -0- dollar tactics that will really pay off.

Don’t repeat for the sake of repetition. Make some positive change in 2011.

Ten No-Tech ways to Market On a Dime

A Communications Review

Could your business benefit from having an extra set of eyes scrutinize the effectiveness and relevance of your communications? Perhaps you are unsure about how your communications build on your brand, increase loyalty, and better connect with members and even your employees. Whether that’s a committee of volunteers, or an outside view, it might be time to consider a Second Opinion.

The goal of a communications review is to study the flow of information from your communications (to and from your members, prospective members, and the public);the structure, flow, and practices of your staff and documents that touch them. Most important, how well you are achieving your communications goals in reaching each critical audience.

The review identifies the positive highlights of your communications and your process. It identifies communication inconsistencies and suggestions about how create the best possible communications standards and measurements going forward.

The results create a basis for a positive change. It helps you make the adjustments that will improve relevance to your members.

As with any audit, we look at four primary categories in a review:

Irregularities between your association goals and your communications tactics - In other words, communications that don’t provide a direct value link to your communications goals. In the perfect world there is a set of communications tactics (across all platforms) have a common purpose and target audiences; and all of your materials show intentional coordination. 

Compliance in communicating agreed-to messages and adhering to a communications process - The goal is that staff understands and supports the key messages and priority of your association, and there is discipline to focusing on “what’s in it for the member” when delivering member materials. In addition, there is a standardized process for distribution of your communications.

Measurements and feedback mechanisms to track your progress.

Willingness to accept ideas for change - Is yours a culture of continuous improvement and willingness to try different ideas? This is a key indicator of the work you have in front of you to take the recommendations and use them to improve long-term practices and results.

The result of the review is a written assessment, including specific suggestions for improvement.

The way you always communicated in the past is not necessarily relevant today.

Members want to get information, and learn differently. It’s up to you to keep up with the changes and figure out how to tell your story across platforms to make better (and more) connections. Is it time for another head in the game?

A Communications Review

Never Forget - We’re All in Sales

We are all in sales.

If sales is the process of establishing credibility and rapport in order to further a relationship, don’t we all do that? CEO, communications director, attorney, paper delivery person? Every communicator in your association is charged with getting a member to do something. So it’s fair to say we are all in sales.

No one ever makes a sale just giving the facts.

• First the buyer (the member) has be aware of you and what you do to bring something different to their business. Knowing what the members needs or wants is crucial. (Target your audience.)
• Link how your offering (service, tools, information) will help the member do something better determines if they will consider you to help them (this is called the benefit exchange).
• Be clear on what you want them to do (your solution). The term Always Be Closing, or the ABC's of selling means giving the member options to respond to your call to action. Anything from a place (or person) to get more information, to registering right there.

Sales: the process of establishing credibility and rapport in order to further a relationship, Look at your work from a sales perspective, and change the way you present your communications. This approach helps you step into your member’s shoes to craft key messages to help solve their problem, versus promoting the association's best features.

Never Forget - We’re All in Sales

Strategic Planning’s Link to Communications

Association Executives spend this time of year planning to do strategic planning. Yes, we all plan to plan.

To be honest, during the past 25 years I wondered the practical purpose of a mission statement, a vision, and a strategic plan. I pretended I “got it” each time I went through the process during my years in corporate America - but it was more of an exercise than a part of the operational plan.

The mission didn’t really guide our daily actions, even though the statement was framed and hung on the wall. Most of the time, the head of the organization didn’t talk about it; nor could the managers reiterate the mantra. I don’t think it guided their daily actions.

A vision was misinterpreted for the mission, and didn’t inspire anyone.  Rarely did we talk about it, or use it for any communications about long term goals and directives.

Strategic planning was a required activity, but no one referred to it. Until the end of any given year when it was time to do it again. We were focused on today and tomorrow. Plans were all short term, in hopes we would hit our annual goals.

Truth be told I pondered this question for years; does it all really fit together? And what does it have to do with communications? I have resolved that communications is a critical part of all three of these concepts.

Communicating the mission and vision is the foundation of any organization’s work. The strategic plan doesn’t get done without communication of the big goals, the progress, and the work that needs to be done today. For an association:

• Strategic goals translate into annual goals.
• Annual goals are the basis of marketing goals.
• Marketing goals guide the planning for how you will get members to do what you want them to do, by communicating in a language they will respond to.

I wish I knew who to give credit for this saying. I know I didn’t invent it. But I adopted it many years ago:

Most of the time, we don’t see the world as it is; we see the world as WE are.

Thanks to whomever coined this phrase. It works for associations and it works in life.

It takes a clear set of eyes to get an association’s real work on track, and remind the leaders what they already know: members don’t know as much, care as much or want as much as those who volunteer for and run the business. That's why it's an art to developing a strategic plan to reinforce your promise to members so that you’ll get more of their attention.

Association Executives tell me communicating value is one challenge they never finally overcome. It may be the reason your communicators give members the facts and think that’s enough. So think again. See the world as your member sees it, let them know your vision and how you plan to get there. If you do, you’ll take the first step to connecting your strategic plan, your mission, and your vision to your daily work.

Strategic Planning’s Link to Communications