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Associations are in the business of getting members and keeping them. Membership retention has always been crucial to the success and growth of membership organizations, but in previous times the challenge of retaining members was somewhat different than it is today. A great number of organizations felt secure in their ability to retain members because they had a program, service, or product that was considered indispensable to their members. To continue getting these indispensable offerings, members had to maintain their membership in the organization.

These programs, products, and services were sometimes known as golden handcuffs , meaning that members who participated in these programs were literally handcuffed to the organization and forced to renew because they didn't want to risk losing their eligibility for the programs. Programs that fell into this category included insurance, certification, and group-buying programs. These programs have been invaluable for the organizations that have provided them.

In today's membership retention marketplace, however, there is one small problem: The golden handcuffs are disappearing. As people and companies have more options for obtaining programs and services that don't require membership (and accompanying dues costs) in an organization, the less chance there is that they will pay membership dues to gain access to what they want or need.

Does this mean that there are no golden handcuffs left? Not necessarily. In some industries and professions, there are still programs, products, and services for which the organization has little or no competition. The problem isn't the present; it's the future. What will happen to an organization that depends heavily on golden-handcuff programs if the programs disappear? Not long ago the South Dakota Ranchland Association (not the association's real name) faced this dilemma. Here's how it revamped its retention strategy.

Recruiting and retaining members

By almost every measurement, the South Dakota Ranchland Association is a successful organization. Widely recognized as one of the most influential agricultural organizations in the state, SDRA has grown almost every year, despite an actual decrease in the number of ranchers in the state. One of the main reasons SDRA has been so successful was because of its cornerstone golden-handcuffs benefit--an insurance program.

For 20 years, SDRA had been able to attract a growing number of members because of its close business relationship with the company that managed the association's insurance programs. Through the marketing and sale of various types of insurance, SDRA attracted hundreds of new members each year. Insurance agents were actually responsible for recruiting or referring almost half of the new members who joined SDRA each year. This steady stream of new members and policyholders enabled the association and its insurance company to work in a mutually beneficial way year after year.

In addition to attracting new members through this source, SDRA was able to attain extremely high member-retention rates because of the continued SDRA membership clause in the policies sold by the insurance company. Once each quarter, SDRA provided the insurance company with the names of members who held insurance policies but had not yet renewed their SDRA membership. The insurance company then sent to these association members who were up for renewal a friendly reminder, stating that to keep the insurance they also had to maintain SDRA membership. Most of them took the reminder seriously and sent their renewal payments to SDRA in a timely manner.

Then came the good news-bad news message from the head of the insurance company. The good news was that the insurance company was going to continue making membership in SDRA a requirement for purchasing insurance. The bad news: Starting with the beginning of the next calendar year, the continuous SDRA membership requirement would no longer apply. If policyholders did not renew with SDRA, they would no longer get the reminder notice from the insurance company or be required to maintain their memberships as a condition of keeping their insurance.

Developing a plan

Rather than panicking, SDRA decided to put a plan together to overcome the loss of its greatest golden handcuff. SDRA realized that it had a year to prepare for the change. The organization's leadership dedicated time and money to meeting this challenge.

First, SDRA leaders decided that, whatever the outcome, the challenge of losing this major retention tool would be approached in a positive way. There was no name-calling, finger pointing, or throwing arms up in despair. In fact, SDRA started right away to view the changes in the insurance program as a focal point for re-evaluating and improving many of its membership- development activities. They created a retention committee made up of staff and members, which developed a detailed action plan. The plan had several key components, but its overall objective was simple and straightforward: Do everything possible to reduce the impact of the insurance changes on membership retention.

To help both staff and volunteer leaders become committed to their individual and collective roles in keeping SDRA retention rates high, the organization adopted a slogan that was kept in front of its leaders at all times: "Make membership desired, not just required." This simple statement said it all. SDRA had a year to convince members that even if they didn't have to renew their memberships (to keep the insurance), they should want to renew them because of the overall value of SDRA membership. The association's plan to make membership desired, not just required, consisted of the following elements.

Partnering with the insurance company to communicate the changes. Both parties still had a major stake in continuing to attract new clients and new members through the new agreement, and they didn't want to ruin a 20-year relationship by sending mixed messages to their mutual customers/members. The insurance company and SDRA worked hard to ensure that the manner in which policyholders were notified of the change did not in any way encourage policyholders to drop their SDRA membership. The wording of all information regarding the changes was to be reviewed by both the insurance company and SDRA leaders.

A key element of this partnership was synchronizing the methods each organization used to answer customer/member questions about the changes in membership requirements. It was important to avoid members getting one explanation from the insurance company and a different explanation from SDRA leadership. Guidelines for answering questions about the changes were written out and distributed to all staffers and leaders, along with an actual script of what to say and answers to the most likely questions staffers would be asked.

Creating an enhanced customer-friendly environment within SDRA. A staff task force was created to identify the most important aspects of a top-level customer/member-service system and to evaluate SDRA's current operations in these key areas. Then the task force was assigned to make recommendations on how to move from the current level to the desired level of performance. These recommendations included conducting ongoing member/customer-service training for all staffers, establishing a permanent customer-service staff committee, developing measurement criteria for customer-service activities, creating a revised orientation program for new employees, and allowing increased staff discretion and authority to deal with member-service issues.

Initiating a targeted public relations effort to remind at-risk members of the other (noninsurance) benefits of SDRA membership. SDRA set up a system to rate the at-risk factors of its members. The staff identified the member segments most likely to drop out once the new insurance rules were in place and then designed a series of messages aimed specifically at that group. Of course, SDRA wanted all of its members to renew, but realized that with limited time and money, priorities had to be set. While its core membership consisted of full-time ranchers, this group of members was least likely to drop out because they were long-time members who were dedicated to SDRA for reasons other than merely the insurance rates.

The most vulnerable groups of members fell into three basic categories:

• members who had been in SDRA for several years but only sent their renewal payments in when the insurance company's reminders (threats of cancellation) were received;
• members who had been members for several years and renewed on time but never participated in any SDRA activity or program other than insurance; and
• new members who joined SDRA the previous year and had not yet gone through a renewal cycle.

Knowing that these targeted members were essentially in SDRA to save money on their insurance, SDRA began sending them information on other ways to save money through their association membership. These messages were followed by a series of testimonial-type messages that quoted SDRA members relaying the many ways that they had received value through association membership.

Finally, SDRA offered a series of incentives for this group of potential drops to renew. These incentives included reduced dues for early renewal and additional cost-saving opportunities (through coupons and vendor promotions) for renewing within the allotted renewal period.

Streamlining administrative procedures associated with membership renewal. SDRA worked with its local chapters to get all new member and renewal information processed by the state organization instead of the chapters. While it took some convincing of local leaders to make this happen, the benefits of the new system were soon apparent to everyone: decreased lag time associated with new-member applications and follow-up; enhanced coordination of the welcome and retention messages being sent from the state organization and chapters; more time to be in direct contact with late payers and at-risk members; and one less level of the organization handling cash, checks, and credit cards, since all payments would now go directly to a bank lock box rather than someone's inbox.

SDRA also added online options both for new members and renewing members, something SDRA had not offered before because not all chapters charged the same amount. Again working closely with chapter leaders, SDRA was able to work out a simplified dues structure that allowed chapters to maintain their income levels while making the membership application process less confusing for the prospective or renewing member.

Gaining increased commitment from volunteer leaders. The credibility of SDRA's volunteer and staff leaders would play a critical part in the battle to overcome the loss of this most important golden-handcuff program. SDRA knew that it was important for its leaders to be as vocal and visible as possible during the transition months when SDRA members would, for the first time ever, no longer be required to maintain membership to continue receiving insurance coverage.

At the state level, the board of directors developed a checklist (see sidebar) of ways that board members could make an impact on membership during this critically important transition year. In addition, SDRA's president redesigned the quarterly board meeting agendas to include time set aside at each meeting for a special report on the progress of the retention plan. Following the overall plan review, the president then asked each board member to report on his or her membership-related activities since the last meeting. While this might seem like considerable pressure to put on board members, it really was a sign to everyone--board members, staff, chapter leaders, and the general membership--that the president and the board were going to lead by example in this effort.

All of these plan elements had numerous specific activities attached to them. Staff and, where appropriate, volunteers, were assigned to carry out each plan element. While no plan is 100 percent successful, SDRA's leaders knew that without their focused retention plan being in place and actively implemented, the loss of members would have been much greater.

Marketing what makes you unique

Golden-handcuff programs no longer exist in many membership organizations because they are readily available through other sources, including many sources that didn't exist until a few years ago. The best way to fight this battle is to look for an opportunity to focus on whatever it is that makes your organization truly unique. Much like SDRA, organizations need to avoid having their programs, products, and services viewed as commodities--things members can get from any number of sources at varying prices.

Here are a few suggestions of the types of programs and services that membership organizations should consider highlighting when trying to convince members of the value of renewing their memberships.

• Representation/advocacy. This is one aspect of membership organizations that makes them truly unique. In fact, in many organizations, it's the reason the organization was created. Someone, or some group, recognizes that there is a need that isn't being filled, or a point of view or a belief that isn't being heard. Voluntary organizations are formed to give voice to a specific point of view. This age-old concept of strength in numbers is one thing that the Internet and private providers of products and services can't duplicate or replace.

Whatever the purpose of the organization, its willingness and ability to speak on behalf of the members is a powerful message and a powerful reason to renew. Part of the way a group attracts members is through its reputation of being effective in representing its constituency. In short, an organization's current membership size is also one of its best recruitment and retention tools because people want to affiliate with a group that is going to give their viewpoints the best chance of being heard. It's what makes membership organizations unique, and it is a reason to renew.

• Affinity. In today's membership environment, people would rather talk to each other than to an organization. That means that they want to communicate with people or companies or institutions that believe as they do, work in a setting like theirs, and face similar problems. The key to using affinity as a reason for members to renew is not to highlight the fact that the organization shares their challenges or beliefs but that the organization is a catalyst for putting them together with other people or companies or institutions who share their challenges and beliefs. While the whole definition of networking has changed, the concept of connecting with like-minded people is still something that people value. Membership organizations need to let their members know that no private entity can guarantee that they will be able to put members in touch with others who have true empathy for them and their situation.

• Proprietary products, services, and programs. Although there are few generic programs left that have no competition, there are still some very specialized programs that are truly difficult to access without being part of a membership organization. Organizations that have one or more of these types of programs should highlight those benefits as much as possible to retain members.

Some of these unique programs are programs that were started by the organization, and the organization has retained exclusive rights to them. These might include certification, accreditation, and training programs. Even organizations that have these unique offerings can't wait until renewal time to remind members that if they drop out of the organization, they will no longer have access to these unique programs. This message has to be communicated on an ongoing basis throughout the year.

Using your competitive advantage effectively

It is sometimes hard for a volunteer-based membership organization to understand how it could possibly have any competitive advantage over some of the huge, multinational business conglomerates with which it now competes for the time and attention of members and prospects. Yet there is an aspect of retention marketing that provides an advantage to membership organizations if they recognize it and use it effectively: members' built-in customer loyalty.

The fact that members have already purchased something from the organization--their membership--means that the organization now has what every retailer, wholesaler, marketer, and advertiser dreams about--the proverbial captive market . Not captive in the sense that they have to buy any more of the organization's product or services, but captive in the sense that by joining the organization they have given permission for the organization to communicate with them. What the organization does with this permission to communicate will determine the success of its retention efforts.

In general, members want their chosen organization to succeed. They don't expect the organization to provide for their every need, but in the areas that are within the scope of the organization's purposes, they will usually want to do business with their membership organization. In fact, some members will participate in programs and services out of a feeling of obligation or commitment. While organizations would never want to exploit this feeling, they do want to use it to solidify membership retention.

There may be very few traditional golden-handcuff programs left for some organizations, but that doesn't mean those organizations have to lose members. Organizations that focus on making membership in the organization desired, and not just required, will be surprised how many golden retention opportunities are still out there.

Mark Levin, CAE, is president of B.A.I., Inc., Columbia, Maryland. This article was adapted from a chapter in his latest book Retention Wars: The New Rules of Engagement (2004, B.A.I., Inc.). E-mail: mlevin0986@aol.com. The book (product AMR 250597) is available at $25.95, plus shipping, through the ASAE Member Service Center. Phone: 202-371-0940; fax: 202-371-8315; or e-mail: service@asaenet.org.

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