How to Be a Membership Rockstar
What makes someone a strong membership professional? That’s a tough question to answer because the role can look different depending on your association. So we came up with 5 ways for anyone to become a membership rockstar – regardless of your industry, staff size, or budget.
1. Be a People Person
If the idea of meeting new people, small talk, and cultivating relationships sounds like a bore, membership management may not be for you. Outgoing personalities flourish in membership roles for a reason – the role is rooted in relationships. Recruitment, retention, and engagement efforts are successful when the member professional is good at networking, building and maintaining relationships, and enjoys it.
2. Moonlight as a Marketer
Depending on your association, you may or may not have a marketing person on your team. If you don’t, you might find yourself wearing the marketing hat frequently. If you do, you still may need to moonlight as a marketing upon occasion. Either way, it’s helpful to have a few marketing skills in your tool-set. In the era of digital communication, familiarity with social media management, email marketing tools, and content management software can further your goal to become a better membership professional.
3. Always Be Closing
You may not have intended to become a salesperson when becoming a membership professional, but it’s a unique part of the job. It doesn’t quite look like traditional sales (not exactly like Glengarry Glen Ross, anyway), but recruitment and retention efforts mimic those of closing a deal, ultimately getting members to join and renew.
4. Be Familiar with Your Industry
In Associations Now this week, there was a debate on whether an association CEO should have industry experience or association experience. It’s an interesting discussion that prompted this point – as the membership professional of your organization, you should have working knowledge of the industry. Depending on your association, you may never be like your members (you may not be a doctor or ever be willing to skydive), but it helps to know what matters to them so you can deliver an exceptional member experience.
5. Know and Use Your Data
As a membership professional, one could argue that your most important responsibility is to deliver a positive member experience. Member data is quite possibly the most valuable tool you have that can help you do that. Relying on your intuition or outdated strategies are no longer reliable ways to make decisions that affect your members. Instead, use data that not only eases the decision-making process, but ultimately leads to an outcome that your members want.
To learn more about how MemberSuite can help you better serve your members, check out our web demo by clicking here.