Congratulations to the Chicago Area Business Aviation Association on their recent transition to the Wild Apricot member management platform. Taking on such a significant project is a big undertaking for any association, but especially one that relies heavily on the...

This week's post was inspired by a recent hotel stay while I was in St. Louis to facilitate a client's strategic planning retreat.  Imagine my surprise to walk into the room and find a bed that looks like the picture on this post. Yes, that's the actual bed from the...

When I was in college, I had a summer job as a server for the local Pizza Hut in North Platte, Nebraska. It was a great summer gig – flexible hours, uncomplicated menu, extra cash from tips. Plus, I worked for a great boss. One morning, as we gathered for our weekly...

Do you remember the old TV commercial for Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pops? A boy wanders about, asking an important question, "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop?" If you don’t remember the old commercial, you’ll find it here:...

Years ago, when I was relatively new to my career, I had a mentor who was the most amazing listener I’ve ever encountered. To this day, when I think of what it means to truly *be engaged* with someone, she is the person who comes to mind. As a social worker, active...

I don’t know if there’s ever been a membership in existence that hasn’t struggled, at some point, with at least one piece of the membership-building trifecta.  Want to know what those pieces are? 1. members who pay 2. members who play 3. members who stay Master all...

I’ve always been curious about the strategy of bundling membership with event registration. Over the years, I’ve run into several associations that include their membership fee along with registration for an annual conference. While this strategy could legitimately be...

“We just aren’t sure what to do at this point… it feels like we’ve tried everything.” There was clear frustration in her voice. The association had tried a variety of different learning programs. They did member surveys. They upgraded their website. They spent more...

Perhaps the only thing more frustrating than people NOT knowing about your membership is when the perfect prospect DOES know about it but doesn't take action. One of my favorite things to do is to facilitate live retreats. There’s something powerful about getting away...

Perhaps the only thing more frustrating than people NOT knowing about your membership is when the perfect prospect DOES know about it but doesn't take action. It's as if the prospect gets stuck in the "thinking about it", so instead of joining quickly and starting to...

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to speak to a local gathering for Optimist International, a worldwide volunteer organization with 2500 local clubs working to bring out the best in children, their communities and in themselves. In just my brief time that I...

It happened again yesterday. Someone emailed me potentially starting a membership, but expressed concern that his target audience would likely have ‘budget’ issues. The typical advice that you might hear is that you’re working with the wrong avatar – that you...

Have you ever been around someone who does nothing but talk about themselves?  It's uncomfortable, isn't it?  And definitely gets boring quickly. Unfortunately, a lot of people who talk constantly about themselves don’t really realize that they’re doing it. They think...

Ask nearly anyone who runs a membership what their biggest struggle is, and chances are that they’ll answer one of three things: Signing members Engaging members Getting members to renew These are three very different problems that happen at completely different...

Quite frankly, social media isn’t a tool that I’ve used much in my business. I’m still old school. I do a little Facebook, a bit of Twitter, but beyond that, all the options and how to best leverage the various platforms makes my head spin. BUT I’m seeing a lot more...

Do you know what this is? And how does it relate to a membership site? Read on to find out. Hint: If you’re a bald man, you probably have no use for it. However, if you’re a woman, or you have daughters, or I guess even if you’re a man, who has thick lustrous hair,...

A couple times a year, I give my email list a good pruning. Last week, I dropped 245 people. Some might think this sounds crazy, but bear with me. I have my reasons. 1) A big email list means nothing if people aren’t engaged. The size of your email list is nothing...

My husband has always liked Jeeps, but a few years ago, he went “all in” and became an avid member of a local Jeep Club. One thing that I’ve noticed from hanging out around the Jeep Community is that they share a passion for overcoming a challenge.  Show them a...

I facilitated a group in April for people who are in the very early stages of planning their membership communities. They want to build and maintain a thriving community. This is one of my FAVORITE things to do because I love, love, love when people are excited and...

One of my clients recently shared that she has more than 500 business cards from people she’s recently met just sitting in a pile.  She was planning to send them off to a transcription service to have them added to her contact database. For me, a natural question...

Do you know what happened when I cancelled? Nothing. Literally nothing. Don’t misunderstand. I definitely don’t think there should be big hoops to jump through to cancel a membership, but I truly wondered if the business owner even cared or noticed? Did he or she...

If you’re struggling with membership growth, there may be only one thing that you can say with certainty: the status quo is not sustainable. But how do you know where to start making a change? It’s tempting to throw money into marketing. In fact, that’s what a lot of...

Spend any time at all surfing the Web these days and you can’t avoid the hottest term in online marketing:  funnels. So, what’s the deal with funnels and does a membership, or membership-based organization, need them? Let me start by saying that there’s actually a...

Over the past few weeks, I've been posting in a new series about The Path to Community. You can read previous articles inside the Community here (it's free to join): https://joyofmembership.mn.co/topics/509853 If you've been following along with the series, you'll...

Your membership program is awesome, right?  You're no ordinary cake donut. You're the frosting covered, ooey-gooey, gotta-lick-my-fingers kind of donut, right?   Then how do we get more people to notice that?  If you really were a donut, I'd be telling you that...

What question is top-of-mind for most people who are interested in starting or growing a membership-based initiative?  "Where do I find new members?"  (followed very closely by, "How the heck do I get these people to engage?!") My response to that first question is...

While listening to a podcast this week, I heard a guest quip, “You can’t automate relationships!" At first, it’s an easy statement to agree with, right?  Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I actually do use automation a lot in my relationships...

Membership technology is easier and more affordable than ever. This means it's completely possible nowadays to set up your own membership site and you don’t need to be a technical wiz to do it. But should you do-it-yourself or hire it out?  That depends... and you...