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Programming note: this podcast is now "6 Degrees of Associations: Presented by Core Adventures

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About This Episode

With the launch of what we are calling “6 Degrees of Associations 2.0,” our new podcast producer and longtime association-world professional, Casey Callanan, MBA, is our guest this week. Casey and host Lucas McCann, chat about the refresh of this podcast and what listeners can expect to learn hear. Casey and Lucas also share lessons learned from major mistakes while working as association professionals over the years. Casey worked at the American Urological Association for eight years in various roles before launching Clear Contender and Association Podcast Studios, a podcast-focused marketing agency in Maryland.

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Top business advice and exit strategy for new business owners.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Here are a few things I learned from the acquisition of The Moery Company:

1. Grow your business.

80% of your time early on should be on business development and sales. You need to have a few things in place to make that happen:

• • Good data. - * If you don’t know who to contact, who to call, who to send a solicitation marketing piece to, you are nowhere.
• • Communication and content bent towards thought leadership. - * We produce a podcast and videos multiple times a week that helps expand our brand awareness.
• • Contact prospects directly. - * “Hey, I thought you might be interested in this podcast I just did on membership development. Here’s a link to it.” You always want to be present and always around.

This way, it’s not always about you selling; you’ll have good data, you’ll be connecting with people, communicating regularly, providing value, and you’ll be continuing to send direct messages to those individuals. This is how you grow a business.

1. Don’t hire your first employees until it’s physically painful and you can’t go any further.

2. • You’re going to be responsible for them. You’ll feel the responsibility of feeding them. Most of the time, you have another gear left, and you can go ahead and go to the next level regarding your work and activity.
3. • You must build infrastructure as you hire. It isn’t easy to extricate those processes or shut those things down. So realize as you’re growing and expanding, you’re building more capacity, but you’re also going to be responsible for more infrastructure, which takes brainpower and work. Frankly, a lot of that’s going to come back on you.

4. Increase your pricing by about 25%.

5. • I guarantee you, the services that you offer are underpriced. Many times, you’ll be afraid early that you’re not going to get the job, but you’ll get the work. Later you’re going to be scared of going broke while you’re doing the work. So go ahead and increase your pricing by about 25%. See what happens.
6. • I didn’t do it that way, and then I had legacy clients that weren’t paying enough for the services we provided. And it wasn’t easy to bring them up. So think about where your floor will be and then increase 25%.

7. Staffing and personnel relationships are two-way streets.

8. • It’s all about the staff. The staff has leverage with their presence, and you have leverage with their salary. It’s fair to be that way.

Let’s talk about the exit strategy.

• • Think about it early on because you got to be ready when the opportunity comes. When my exit strategy came up, and I had offers, I wasn’t prepared.
• • Run the numbers with your financial planner because there will be scenarios that determine what you’re going to do after the exit. Make sure you know those numbers, and you’re familiar with the scenarios before someone ever approaches you about selling the business to them.
• • Some people who are very close to you will resent the fact that you sell the business. That’s just the way it’s going to be. It’s unfortunate, but it’s just human nature, so be ready for that.
• • The company moves on very quickly without you after you sell it. Especially if you set up something that’s genuinely scalable and a good business, they’re not going to need you that much. They’re going to move on fast. You’re going to have that void once that happens.

After the exit:

You’re going to have some of the best days of your life. Know that there’s going to be a gap there, you’re going to experience some loss, you’re going to miss doing things, you’re going to miss being on that staff call when they’ve moved on without you. I tell you what though, it is a wonderful reward.

I’m so grateful that you’ve come along my journey. It’s been an amazing gift to be able to document and tell you about these stories over the last several years. Talk soon. Bye-bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page.

Subscribe to our Moery Company News Briefing.

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4 trends you should look out for as you head into a year of growth and success.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Here are four or five items that I expect to be trends as you head into a year of growth and success.

Member dues escalation and implementing cost of living increases will be more prevalent in 22.

From all the client activity that I’m seeing right now, membership dues escalation and implementing cost of living will continue to become the norm. Another part of that is that associations are looking at new and adjacent membership groups or demographics they may not have served before. Once that starts to happen, we have more influence, more grassroots networks, and more capacity to reach folks that our benefits and services can serve. Eventually, they’ll want to attend meetings and events.

Continued growth of micro-credentialing from associations.

You’re going to see these little areas of emphasis, expertise, small training classes, little micro-credentialing, and certifications. I think it’s going to become the norm for not only this being offered by associations, but by all sorts of educational groups.

Increasing surge volunteerism.

One of the things that we’re starting to see from our younger demographics is they necessarily don’t want to stay around for 20 years to be on our committee. They want to get involved in something that they’re passionate or interested in, and then they want to move on. This is specifically going to be designed to connect younger members with our organization.

We will continue to see soft event participation from a live event perspective.

Some organizations will see a surge in activity and high attendance rates, but I think we’ll see soft attendance by large. Probably off maybe 10% of our previous 2019 levels. Membership development is an ongoing process, and that will be one of the themes of this year.

There’s one thing that we know, membership segments, membership development, recruitment, retention, and engagement is going to become much more ingrained in association DNA.

Those are some of the items I look forward to seeing in 2022. I look forward to being with you on the journey. Talk soon.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page.

Subscribe to our Moery Company News Briefing.

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8 things CEOs should consider going into 2022.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Here are some goals that I think leaders could consider for 2022.

1. Call every single customer.

I learned this tactic from my mentor, Red Cavaney, who was the president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. He had a set of 3×5 notecards that had the name and phone number of every single member of the organization. He would call them and then put them at the bottom of the deck. Then he would call the next one and put them at the bottom of the deck. Whenever he had 10-15 minutes worth of time, he would work through that deck every single year. The value here is staying connected.

1. C players.

In terms of personnel, you have C players or mediocrity in every organization. If you give them one quarter to adapt, and change, but they don’t improve, it’s time they need to move on.

1. Do you really understand the business model of your organization?

What services, NOW – not five years ago, are generating the most revenue? What clients are bringing the most to the table? Not because of the money, but because it is what is most valued by the market. The market doesn’t care about you, and the things that are resonating in the market are the items that you should be replicating and scaling.

1. Establish a goal of doubling down on your content generation.

This is the golden age of thought leadership. We probably have 12-24 months before we start seeing a decline, just like we saw on email open rates, the fax machine, etc. It’s your time to capture mindshare this year. This doesn’t mean marketing, this means advice, counsel, thoughts, and observations. As a leader, people want to see this from you. The leaders that are skipping this part of their portfolio are making a big mistake. Go generate revenue on your own projects. CEOs and leaders should be involved in sales and business development because you’ll learn about the things that resonate. If you’re listening, the market will telling you what they value the most from your company or your association.

1. Develop a “not to do list”.

There are people clients and activities that are time suck and more than likely you know it. As a leader you can give this to someone else or eliminate the activity. Be self-aware.

1. Pursue a merger or acquisition.

There are a lot of chips on the table right now. Long term, you may want to take some off or you may want to put some on. There’s lots of liquidity going on right now, people are looking for deals. Part of it is they recognize that they can’t accomplish their mission or goals without dynamic change.

1. Hire someone better than you are in a particular area.

Hire somebody to take on some of your responsibilities, but make sure that they are better than you are. Go into some new areas that will invigorate and keep you sharp.

1. Give back.

Endorse someone on LinkedIn, write a thank you letter to someone that’s helped you out, etc. It will make you grateful and make you happy. If you’re grateful, happy, having a good time, you’re going to be a better CEO than you were last year.

I hope this was helpful to you. I really appreciate all your support. Talk next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page.

Subscribe to our Moery Company News Briefing.

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Insights from a previous staff member, association manager and entrepreneurial leader on what your boss really wants but might not say.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

1. As an individual team member, own your career.

Ask yourself these questions from a professional development perspective. Are you training yourself? Are you learning? Are you engaged? Are you participating in professional development opportunities? You own your career, you own the professional development and learning aspect of it.

2. Show up.

“Showing up” now with remote work is a bit more nuanced. Get there early, stay late, be engaged and be totally present. I guarantee you it’s going to resonate with your leadership.

3. Meet the deadline.

I don’t expect perfection, it’s never going to be perfect. When it’s late and not perfect, now we’re really jammed up. Meet the deadlines, discuss them and be clear about them. Your leaders and your team members are depending on you to deliver at a certain time. This also is something that bosses need to recognize. Don’t be late in giving feedback to your team because it’s going to jam them up.

4. Come to me with a problem and a solution.

I realize that everything is not silver spoons, but also come to me with something that can be done to fix it and your role in fixing that issue.

5. I want feedback.

We want feedback just like you do. Clarity is the goal, but let’s discuss how it is delivered. Weekly one on ones or weekly reports are a great opportunity to batch your feedback and batch your progress on certain items.

6. Transparency.

I believe people primarily first quit the boss, then the job. Most research says that pay is not the main reason why people are dissatisfied, and I think that’s the biggest myth in the association space. Compensation leaks into every career discussion. Be confident that if you deserve compensation adjustments to bring that to the boss, but also be prepared if the answer is no.

7. Self-awareness and corporate awareness.

Your number one priority should be your career, but I also want you to recognize I have to manage 12 to 15 desires, their career trajectory, and make the best call for everybody. The number one way to wear out your welcome is to be a high profile, me, me me attitude.

8. Can-do attitude and a smile.

The best thing I can see from members of my team, what the boss really wants from you is a can-do attitude and a smile. Just a great attitude and a smile. I’m not looking for perfection. I’m not looking for people to hit home runs every day, but effort, positivity and candor are going to take you far.

I hope they’re helpful for you as you continue to grow, improve and excel. Can’t wait till next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page.

Subscribe to our Moery Company News Briefing.

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Here are multiple ways to assess the state of the association industry for 2022.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

A prelude to the state of the industry.

First, attention to association work is going to increase over the next several years.

There is a lot of attention on the stories of organizations, what they do, and how they lead people, but sometimes we only get half the story. There’s a lot of coverage of stories with members leaving trade associations. The attention is always on the folks that don’t renew or quit.

If a large company chooses to leave, it’s news. It’s a reflection on the association’s CEO’s leadership and the direction of the association, but my point is, where is the reflection on the corporate CEOs leadership and the company’s direction? They’re the ones choosing to leave that great organization.

Let’s keep our eye on the ball on who we should be asking the questions. Not only the association but more so on the company that’s leaving.

Next, entrenched issues are now being addressed, that can’t be avoided or ignored any longer.

Unprecedented adjustment in our governance models, to diversify our leadership, to address the market realities of better company representation, but most importantly finding the skills that our associations need within the executives to lead the board and manage the governance of that association. Too many times we are focused on the company and the executives within the company, and not the skills that we need to take the organization forward.

Membership growth and proactive membership development programs are being assessed by CEOs. Languishing membership programs drag down supplier relationships and partnerships, which is important to our top-line revenue, and our event and program attendance because we don’t have engaged members.

Workforce. I see this oddly in our motor racing sponsorships that I’m working on. These companies are using the sport to engage employees, recruit new ones, be a part of the team, and showcase that company for people that may want to work for it. They’re doing it at the track, they’re doing it through social media, and they’re even taking the car and the driver to plants to engage with employees.

Finally, a new leadership paradigm is emerging.

CEOs are going to be assessed in a lot of different ways. Do they have diversification on their staff? Do they have diversified views on that team? It’s the end of looking over your shoulder leadership, in place we have remote teams. How are remote teams managed and led? The more flexible you can be, the more likely you’re going to keep your best people.

Overall associations have been slow to change, but we have been through so much unprecedented change our staff and members don’t seem like it’s a big deal. They’re going to apply that to their association relationship. Adapt, be self-aware and watch the market. It’s your choice, you can decide whether to do that or continue to operate the way you used to.

I’m pulling for you! I can’t wait to chat next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page.

Subscribe to our Moery Company News Briefing.

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Don’t get caught going into 2022 flat footed. Here are 3 tactics to lead you to success.

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Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

The first quarter is absolutely foundational to a good year. How do you close out? How do you tee yourself up? I’ve got some ideas.

First, close up your existing pipeline.

• • Deals need to go up, they need to go out, and they need to get off your plate. I want as few outstanding deals leaking into next year, because they take up time and they take up energy.

Second, I want to buckle down on prospecting through January 1st.

• • Prospecting Stages: keep in mind that every sale needs to go through several stages. - 1. Awareness: do they know who you are? 2. Familiarity: are they familiar with what you do? What are the services and benefits that you provide? 3. Consideration: are they considering working with you based on their awareness, the familiarity with what you have to offer? 4. Offer: then they move into the offer? Are they going to look at an offer from this company 5. Action/Decision: yes or no?

Third, I want to mention planning.

• • Put together key portions of your 2022 plan. Scheduled it. Where, when, what the key themes are, etc. You want to be executing on January 4, not fixing to get ready.

Prospect, plan, and close out the pipeline. These are the best ways to succeed for next year, which are very much dependent on how you end this year.

I wish you the very best. Thank you for listening. I can’t wait to chat with you again next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast.

We’d love to connect with you!

Connect with The Moery Company on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter, and our Facebook page.

Subscribe to our Moery Company News Briefing.

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The most popular podcast episodes, clicked on stories, reposted blogs, and engaged content were about failure, not the things we did right.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Posting failure content came across as vulnerable and authentic, but it wasn’t just that. I wanted to give the people what they wanted. I wanted to fall on my sword, and share the trials and tribulations that I went through.

But today I want to tell you about what I did right, I want to pass those along too. Here are 10 things that were successful.

First, I started a flexible workspace for my staff more than a decade ago, before it was in vogue or before we were forced into it. Work was what you did, not where you were.

Two, a healthy sales mentality where we were obligated to let the prospects know about the opportunity, and then we sorted people out that were not interested. That was healthy and was successful. We didn’t get all wrapped around the axle about when we were told no, or when we received objections. We’re just sorting people out.

Three, we developed a sales and business development platform that charged a retainer. Lots of people in the space will sell for free, and frankly, that is a cop out. It’s easy for the salesperson to ignore if the value proposition is bad, they just won’t sell it anymore. It doesn’t encourage the client to collaborate or invest in the relationship because they have no skin in the game. So, we had a different model, we’re going to charge you a retainer for the work, plus commission. I think that gave both people an obligation and commitment to the relationship.

Four, we were willing to give away all the best tips through social media, webinars, speeches, and our entire thought leadership platform, because we had an abundance mindset. If someone wants to take the idea and run with it, well good for them.

Five, I recognized that people knew what they should do, but most often they won’t. We were pretty intensive about execution and did what many people thought was a good idea in the first place. That’s how we were different.

Six, accept that business is very personal. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a healthy relationship with objection, I do. This keeps the word “no” from being crushing to you. But I also recognize that being successful in an entrepreneurial endeavor takes everything that you have, and that means your full being which is very personal.

Seven, burn the boats. Over the last couple decades, I’ve run into great people who would be fantastic entrepreneurs, but they were not willing to commit 100%. As a result, they had these little projects that were just a series of side hustle after side hustle. Eventually the main job became a side hustle, too. As a result, they weren’t really excellent at anything. Burn the boats, 100% commitment makes you much more focused. In healthy way it also makes you kind of desperate, realizing that if this doesn’t work out, you don’t have another option.

Eight, transparency around the numbers of the business. I always showed our team the profit/loss every month, that way they would have had more understanding about the decision-making process, and they knew more about the business. Now, they didn’t always agree with the decisions that I was going to make around the business, but they certainly could see the numbers and have context of why I made the calls that I did.

Nine, I still considered myself, even in the last days before we sold the business, a big part of the sales operation. I think CEOs and leaders need to be on the front lines of their business operation and that means in the market, testing and hearing the themes that would work and not work around sales and business development.

Ten, if you don’t have brand and company awareness, the business isn’t worth very much. I think you should always be out there building your brand and your reputation, not only through good work, but sharing what you learn through the work. When you do that your brand and your company are much more valuable.

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Listen to this podcast to discover what the 2 key factors are to any successful consulting project

Show Notes: https://moerycompany.com/episode-305/

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Listen to this podcast to discover what the 2 key factors are to any successful consulting project.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

When The Moery Company started up 10 plus years ago, almost 100% of our work was in business development and sales, but coming out of that, we start to get a lot of consulting projects.

Questions we asked ourselves when The Moery Company started taking on consulting projects: is the value proposition right for our organization? Do we have the right dues structure? Does it need to be modernized? Does our governance fit with the organization needs for the future? Does our org chart have the right people in the right seats? That type of thing started to evolve and come out of the revenue development operation.

I faced several decisions to make in consulting,

1. I was worried that I wouldn’t get enough projects. That was absolutely not the case. I had this bias that if I just had projects, and I had work, everything was going to be okay.
2. I made the mistake of not being very thoughtful about my pricing structure that was fundamentally wrong. You can work your ass off and not make any money. I only negotiated downwards. I knew the floor, but I never tested the ceiling. My guess is you’re unaware of the ceiling and you know the floor. Think about how you can move your pricing up and how you can escalate the service and deliver more and charge more because my guess is you have more altitude than you think.

Now once we got the project, what did it look like?

The more consulting I did, the more important I found a good process was imperative to having a successful project. My colleague, Joe Bates, really helped me with this, he followed a couple of different items that I want to pass on to you now.

1. We had a set agenda and a launch meeting that addressed all the different scope areas of the project.
2. After that launch meeting, we established a timeline that we sent to the client, and they agreed to.
3. We had biweekly meetings. Some projects require weekly meetings, but most of them are biweekly 30 minute recurring meetings, where we review the project, we review the timeline, and we address any gaps that might exist. I also like to drop in a little Friday written update very helpful.

The projects that are least successful are those where there’s a lack of communication between the client and the consulting firm.

I want to address a couple of things regarding the end game and the end of the project.

1. Be clear in the agreement that there’s one final presentation of the work and have a final date for when that program is finished. A project can leak into more work scope, creep additional appearances, and that really takes a lot of time and time is money. Additional presentations need to be extra.
2. In the early days, I was very nervous about telling that client about other projects that we could do for them that we discovered during the initial consulting project. Now I’m not concerned about that. Believe me, if you have good project, the client wants to keep working with you. Give them that opportunity.

I hope this content was helpful for you today. I’m certainly pulling for you. And I can’t wait to speak next week on the association hustle.

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Founder, JP Moery, talks about false metrics, or questions we ask of businesses that aren’t relevant to their optimal performance and success.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I went through this during my incredible journey of growing a business and how people would assess us. I’ve pulled together false metrics that we had asked us.

1st False Metric: how many employees do you have?

What an antiquated system of evaluation. First, we’re hiring fewer employees, we have more consultants and 1099 in all our organizations than ever before. There seems to be a risk involved with dealing with a small operation. We’ve lost some business because we were not as big as some of the competition, but I can guarantee you small and nimble can be much more effective and less bureaucratic. I can guarantee you that some of the smallest single entrepreneurs or solo entrepreneurs do the best work in the business.

2nd False Metric: where’s your office?

Many people in the association business have this infatuation with K Street or Washington DC. I watch associations all the time, I’ve worked with great ones, and I’ve worked with not so hot ones. Where they’re located or what their addresses are has nothing to do with the value they bring to the organizations that they serve.

3rd False Metric: how much sales activity did you have?

I was a big fan of a lot of activity for a long time in terms of sales, but I changed my mind when I started looking at the data. If you don’t hustle and stay engaged enough with prospects, you will lose them. That is a major problem and challenge for most companies and associations, they don’t have enough activity. It’s quality engagement, quality hustle, it’s good reps that are most important, not how many actions you had this day or that week.

4th False Metric: how much money did you raise?

In the entrepreneurial world, it’s a big quote, “we raise X amount of money in our series” or whatever it is. What people realize is that you’ve just given away a portion of your business, when you raise money or when you get funding. In fact, you’re working for those people, you’re working for them. Isn’t that why you got into the entrepreneurial game in the first place, so you could work for yourself? So, if you want to work for someone else, don’t become an entrepreneur, don’t take funding. I’m a huge fan of bootstrap.

Again, how much money did you make? Not a relevant question because it doesn’t reflect your culture, the joy you get from working and collaborating with the teams and the clients. It’s a less relevant measurement and metric than ever before. And believe me, I’ve been through both sides of that. It had nothing to do with the happiness and the joy I had on the job.

The final thing I want to mention to you is to be thoughtful about what you want to measure, your core goals, your core values, etc. The way you set up your team and what they think the measurements should be our most important. Then you have to see if that matches up to the marketplace.

I hope this content was helpful to you. I love bringing it to you. I can’t wait to chat with you next week on the association hustle.

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Let’s start a business together! I want to talk about some of the things that I went through as I started to launch The Moery Company.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

1. Job Descriptions

I wrote job descriptions for every single role in the company three years ahead. I projected three years down the road, what jobs were going to be needed in The Moery Company. That was helpful because when I wrote out the jobs and the primary responsibilities, I signed my name to them. I realized, in the very beginning, I was going to be responsible for all those functions, because it was just me.

2. Establish a strong sales operation

Three steps that you should consider as you develop the sales operation.

• First, you have to have great data.

I’m starting a new racing sponsorship effort right now, and it’s still about who’s the right person? What’s the contact information? Is it an audience that makes sense for my business? If you don’t have that critical information in place, you have nothing.

• Second, how are you going to track your sales and marketing information?

I’ve used Salesforce in the past, and in fact I just bought a brand new Salesforce subscription today for myself. I’ve got to keep track of who I’m talking to, and where is this deal in the sales process? What stage might it be in? If I don’t know those things, I’ll lose track very quickly.

• Third, what is the script in the narrative?

You built this infrastructure, so you have the right people to talk to. Now what if they decide to talk to you? How are you going to explain your value? I have talking points on the value proposition that I’m offering. It includes things like, why do other companies buy, or why do other companies join my association? What are specific examples that I have of their success when they did join?

3. Getting started and maximizing your value

We’re trying to eliminate fear and mistakes from the buyer. So many sales don’t occur because we didn’t eliminate enough risk. We’ve got to do that in our pitch, then you’re ready to go to market.

4. Hiring Process

If you want to hire someone, here are some tips on hiring the first, second or third salesperson in your organization.

• I love to hire underdogs. Somebody that’s got something to prove, a chip on their shoulder. Giving somebody a chance is a noble thing, and you start by giving them a substantial emotional deposit when you do hire them.
• If you’re bootstrapping your business, it’s going to be hard to compete or land the blue chippers. Sometimes you get value from folks that have been outcast by other organizations or just need a helping hand. The people that have hit a rough spot is possibly because the average business didn’t train, coach, or pay enough attention to them. They didn’t build a culture that you’re going to build in your organization. So often, it’s the company’s fault, not the person.
• As you grow, you’re going to learn that this hiring process is essential to your business. You’re going to spend more time on personnel matters on HR. In fact, probably 75% of my time was spent on people matters. Making sure the culture was good, giving feedback, encouragement, etc. You’re going to be spending so much time with and on people, HR issues, why don’t you get it right at the beginning.

Thanks for listening. I get so much energy from your comments and feedback on the Association Hustle podcast. I can’t wait to talk to you again next week. See you soon. Best wishes.

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Here are 6 association developments happening right now.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. Founder of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

1: It’s time to begin the process of output-based evaluation of our teams.

Office flexibility and time flexibility are certainly happening in terms of us having less control over when people work with us. We’ve got to really be focused on outcomes at the risk of being uncomfortable with our staffs. We still need to be very much in tune to output based measurement because we’re not going to be watching how they work on a daily basis.

2: The need for participation focus from our organizations.

We need to be looking at how we pull people toward us. Engagement is often a buzzword that we’re seeing in the association space. Now that we are continuing, multi-channel engagement, virtual, hybrid, in person, lots of different ways that we’re communicating, some of our members may have lost their bearings on how they can get value from us. So, I would schedule some regular onboarding programs or discussions or webinars about how you can be involved in the association because we can’t assume that they know anymore, because so much has changed.

3: How to break down the walls between members and our staff.

I’m amazed at how we have these firewalls between our industry and the association specialists that are meant to serve it. I see a lack of accessibility; not being able to see the staff and what they specialize in is a real mistake. One of the most valuable things I see that association’s send out is a listing of the staff and their areas of specialty or the issues that they cover. The association team is an extension of the company staff. Let’s make them accessible.

4: Reemergence of strategic planning

During the pandemic, there was so much going on we didn’t have much opportunity to look ahead because we were focused on so many urgent things. Association staffs and members are clearer than ever before about what is valuable and what is expected in the future. It’s time to start developing those strategic plans.

5: The most intensive budget cycle in years is upon us.

We’ve seen some examples of non-dues revenue being uncertain, we’re not clear on how the meeting and event business model is going to move forward and how much we can rely on that. The thing that I’ve been noticing is how associations are really getting serious about their budget planning.

6: It’s a great time to start listening to members and staff.

They could bring you challenges, problems, opportunities to collaborate, but we really have to listen. We are upon the great resignation era. Let’s not make that a thing that’s happening in our association teams and in our association membership. One of the best ways to avoid the resignation era is to listen and to be closer to our staff members and our teams. If we do that we’re going to be a destination for people that want to work with us or want to be a member of our institution. We’re about to see great separation from associations that are fantastic, and those that are kind of on inertia. The next 12 to 15 months are going to be absolutely critical in all these areas.

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Here are 6 association developments happening right now.

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What founder, JP Moery, would have done differently if he could redo it all.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

If I could do it all over again here are 10 things that I would change.

1: I would have hired slower, fired faster.

I always waited too long to hire somebody which put me into bind and forced me to make accommodations or settle. Sometimes I didn’t take the time to make sure they were the right person when I hired them, which ultimately put us in a bad situation. Take the time to make sure they are a good fit.

2: I would have confronted performance issues much quicker.

As a leader I valued being liked too much. The employees and the company would have been better if I would have confronted things faster or been more intentional about it.

3: Be smart with family discounts.

I had several friends in the association space and early on, I really appreciated the work. You work very hard on projects for friends or contacts in the industry. You want to build your brand, you want to build reputation, and you end up spending more time on them. However, I didn’t price it the same. I worked harder on them, and I priced them lower for my friends. Looking back that was probably not the best business decision in the world.

4: Embrace thought leadership quicker for the association marketplace.

Podcasting videos accelerated our business and our brand so fast. I would have done that a lot faster.

5: Know when to say no.

I took every job, every piece of work I could get, even if I knew it was a stinker. I always had this default that if we were busy things would be okay. The downside is I burdened my staff with association partners that weren’t collaborative, and that was bad for us. It probably affected our morale. In hindsight, I knew some of these weren’t good projects, but I sold them and I gave him to somebody else to do and that was wrong.

6: Stop treating associations as a homogenous group of businesses.

I always said you’ve met one association, you’ve met one association. But in reality, I didn’t always practice that. There are some businesses that aren’t well run, not led effectively, and frankly, sometimes not even honest. They don’t have integrity. Just like every other industry, we’re not special. We’re not special because we’re nonprofit. I should have gotten out of the deals when I could.

7: I would have had more executive coaching or help.

I would have relied on my advisory board, or I would have relied on friends in the association space. They could have given me advice on how to navigate different things. You don’t have all the answers as a leader, but sometimes I think we’re afraid to admit it. We always want to have the answer for our staff and our clients.

8: Listen more, talk less.

If I could have flipped the ratio of the times I spent talking and spin it to listening, we would have been a lot better.

9: I would have ramped up The Moery Company sales much faster.

If you’ve listened to my journey, I was the lead salesperson for a number of years for the company, and it really just wasn’t efficient or effective. I realized that once we brought our own sales team in, they were able to cover much more ground. They had more margin in their deals that they put together.

10: Be more intentional about diversity.

We launched a business leadership diversity program with local high schools after the George Floyd tragedy. It was too late; I had a blind spot on this. I regret not letting some different perspectives in place in our company and with our advisory board.

11: Put more formalized training and professional development in place for my staff.

Mostly I left it up to them. I usually approved it when they wanted it, but it was not as intentional, or it wasn’t consistent over time. There were surges when I would get enthusiastic about professional development, but I didn’t have a real plan for everyone. I would encourage you to have something in place for your team.

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!

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Thank you for listening to the 300th episode of Association Hustle podcast, we are so grateful that you’ve been along for this journey! JP shares some exciting news about The Moery Company and its future.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

The Moery Company has been acquired by the association consultancy, Advancea, which provides technology solutions, affinity programs, member benefits, sourcing, and consulting for associations. When you think about what they’re doing in terms of technology, affinity solutions, and cost savings for association members, and then combine it with the Big Red M’s sales, marketing, strategy services, and growing research component, we’ve got a perfect complement of a dynamic association industry combination.

Here’s how it is rolling out:

For our association clients:

• The same team is in place, all our people have been retained, they’re hired in their current roles.

The Moery Company Brand:

• The Moery Company brand will continue in the industry, and that meant a lot to me. You’ll continue to see The Big Red M around the association industry, it’s going to evolve into a new era.

Personally:

• My Moery Company work continues. I’m still working on client association projects. I’m will also be running alongside this transition to make sure it’s successful. Our firm began its professional practice in 2010 and its growth and reputation over the last 11 years has been built from association hustle, hard work and a great team and collaboration with many organizations.

Opportunities:

• I could see associations client’s needs were evolving and expanding into some new opportunities for us. I thought we needed a partner that can provide the company with an opportunity to become a larger organization and offer a wider array of services and more depth.
• Finding and retaining great people is a challenge right now, and an organization that has more capacity means my friends on the team can benefit from stronger growth and career opportunities in a new and expanding organization.

What does this mean to the Association Hustle podcast?

• I’m going to continue to produce this podcast every week. I want to make it more candid and more authentic.

Final thank you’s…

Kerry Doyle, thank you. Grace Lynch, thank you. Jackie Bessette, thank you. Amelia Mazza, thank you. Joe Bates, thank you. Matt Kerr, thank you. Bethany Murphy, thank you. Elizabeth Johnson, thank you. Mike Thomas, thank you.

I want to thank you all for listening to the Association Hustle’s 300th episode, and I want to thank the entire Moery Company team for being on my journey. See you next week.

Read full press release here.

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!

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These are five frequent mistakes associations make that can easily be corrected to put you on the road to success.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Five mistakes associations and how they can be fixed right now.

#1: Improve Operational Excellence

• We need an appetite for that. There aren’t a lot of CEOs and organizations, there aren’t a lot of folks that are really focused on process, procedure, and execution
• Execution is not a priority in many facets of the association management area right now. And that’s what we need. Let’s fix it

#2: More Focused Internet 2.0 Commitment

• When I made a more substantial commitment, my business grew double digit percentages.
• Many times the associations that are active right now, are only promoting a conference or a show or an event, it should be about content delivery, showcasing your members and what they’re doing, tips and tools on how to make members businesses grow, etc.
• It should be at least four to five times a day, not just once, and not just to promote the next webinar.

#3: Have a Plan for Digital Events Next Year

• We’re so focused on protecting the old legacy model and hoping that it will come back that we may have forgotten the literally thousands of people that we engage, including new and young professionals that are now on board with us.
• We’re forgetting about how we are going to cultivate that digital platform next year, it’s a big opportunity

#4: Provide Micro Credentials

• Quick, short kind of credentials on breaking issues and things. Look at what LinkedIn is doing in terms of digital badges on expertise and certificates, etc.

#5: Identify the Five Perspective Member Companies or New Sponsors that Would Make a Difference in Your Organization

• Five perspective members that would make a difference because they joined, that would give resources to the association, and that we could help them the most.

Question to ask yourself: Who are the key accounts for the next year in both non dues revenue and in membership revenue?

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!

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These are five frequent mistakes associations make that can easily be corrected to put you on the road to success.

Show Notes: https://moerycompany.com/episode-299/

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As associations are holding in-person meetings, focus on the content of the meeting and learn how to best prepare for association presentations.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

In-Person Meetings

• Implement your COVID policies so folks can get the great content that you have to offer. Some associations are hiring a third party organization to help implement those COVID safety policies.
• Overall registration numbers seem to be down 25%, from what we had pre COVID. Some of that might be safety, hesitancy, and the ability to travel. Other reasons might be there’s so much work to do, that folks just can’t even take time away from the office right now.
• Tradeshow floors are bustling, and they’re ready to do business. I’m really kind of enthused about the new era of meetings.
• I think meetings will continue to be a hybrid, you’ve got a virtual component, and you’ve got an in person component. This might actually help those meetings extend themselves in terms of their value to the association. You might be able to deliver that content instead of over a three day period for the entire year.

Preparing for Presentations at Association Meetings

• Know the audience, is this a committee that’s never heard anything about the association topic? Or is it a task force that has been involved in the project, and they kind of know what’s happening?
• I love to use a scene setter about association trends and how it relates to the topic. I found that context helps, and it builds credibility of the speaker.
• I present is qualitative information. What have people in the association told me about the topic, staff and members alike?
• What’s the quantitative information? Do I have math and data that supports some of the components of what we’re trying to address?
• Finally, what are my recommendations based on all this information?
• Don’t forget to smile!

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We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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The membership renewal process is much more than just billing or invoicing. Use the tools from this week’s association hustle podcast to consistently retain members.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

47% of associations are declining in membership right now, and that’s the highest percentage since 2010.

Renewal rates, however, remained strong at about 90%. But almost 40% of all associations report, a decrease in their retention numbers as well.

In the area of membership development, I think one of the things we can do is pay a lot of attention right now on renewals:

1: I think we need to utilize people. We need to utilize chairman, staff members, and members of our industry that might compel others to renew their membership early. Many organizations are quite limited in their renewal process. Networking!

2: Can you demonstrate a signature membership benefit or service? Either through a webinar, an infographic, your advocacy program, or send out some compelling research that you’ve just completed.

3: Take your renewal process that you have today, and examine the communication strategy It’s really much more than a billing or an invoicing process. Can we make it a specific initiative that can get people fired up?

4: I’m encouraged seeing growth officers being named to associations and senior staff. This is a great time of the year to interview all your sponsors, and see what they want for next year. Change the sponsorship program if you need to meet their needs and help them achieve their business objectives.

5: Right now, members want more people to hire. They’re looking for a diversified pool of not only entry level folks, but executives as well. They want tools so they can recruit better.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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A tip from this week’s podcast: do not underestimate the power of client referrals when searching for business. Listen for 4 more must-do’s for any business or association.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

#1: You have to sell the business and the value proposition. One of the biggest challenges I see in the association game, is they don’t have a strategy for renewals or getting new business.

#2: Brand the business like your life depends on it. Become a media company for your industry. The amount of content and information you have is not a problem. It is the cadence. It’s the velocity.

#3: Referrals. The referral essential in getting more prospects and leads. The very best associations are promoting members incessantly on their website and video content.

#4: Talk about the problems you solve, not the features you provide. This directly applies to government relations. Talk about how you’re fixing things for your members rather than features or weather reports.

#5: Outsource your work! I use consultants and they are the backbone of our research and our consulting work. They have done all the communications activity for the last several years for us. They are a big part of our strategy and a competitive advantage, not a last resort for us.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Listen to this week’s association hustle podcast to improve your growth as an individual, professional, and even a company. Identify your core mission and values, and you will find success by honing in on authenticity.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I spent way too much time early in my career seeking approval from others, conforming, and maybe not even being my true self. I came from Washington, D.C. from Oklahoma. The fact that I didn’t have the work experience made me feel inferior in the newenvironment.

Some advice I give to my younger colleagues and people getting started in the space is this: it’s your race. What’s important is how valuable you become over your career, and that starts with how much you can help others.

How I get energy for a big presentation, is by trying to be myself and offer the most help that I can. It’s not that you have to be brilliant, or have the best ideas, but you’re trying to help in the best way based on all the information and situations that you’ve been through. That becomes authentic. That’s how you build brand, based on that legacy.

Right now is a great time to think about how your association or organization got started. What’s the mission and the options for growth, relevance, and influence? The folks that started your organization had a vision of what they wanted this to be, and it’s a good time to use it. Balance your work to help achieve that mission.

In your own personal career, your authenticity and what you’re all about is more important than what other people think.

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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The importance of business development is just one of the many things CEO JP Moery has learned from his association mentors. Discover more on this week’s Association Hustle podcast.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

What I have learned from my association mentors:

1: The importance of having resources, money in this case, to fulfill the mission of the association. Few leaders are willing to admit it. Business development should be a top priority.

2: The second thing I learned was that there’s a very clear distinction between customers and members. If you give a lot of people the opportunity to be a part of your organization, with a strong business development core, you have the leverage then to limit access.

3: The other thing that I learned was the tenacious attention to government relations. If you’re not a real player in that game, then you’re just not going to be as valuable.Think about it. It’s the reason why so many of our organizations are based where they are.

4: The lack of transparency or communications from the executive leadership team is crippling. Leaders are more powerful when they are constantly communicating with their team members, and have an open door policy.

5: Another thing I’ve learned from great leaders and mentors, is that they have bias toward action. I call this now a phone first mentality.

I want to run up the score on downloads. So if you like this episode, would you share this on social media? Share it to your LinkedIn account!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Taking quick action is key to grow your organization daily and develop as a professional.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

If you want to lead an organization, people, and be a thought leader in your space in an industry sector, I guarantee you, if you do it faster than others, there’s going to be benefits to that.

To use a sports adage, I don’t have to be the fastest on my team, but I have to be the fastest at my position.

Imperfect action is the key. You won’t be perfect if you’re performing more.

I see too many organizations that wait to be perfect, and the opportunity passes them by.

So what does a movement oriented professional look like?

Every minute of the day is scheduled. The more specific their calendar is to a minute, the more you will get done.

I have three revenue generation calls a day to make sure that our organization has some kind of revenue generation going on. I schedule it out every single day to make sure I stay sharp, and to make sure that I’m performing and have action in my calendar. This type of discipline is so powerful,

Get five action items that you have to do every day to win the day.

So many times, I see great organizations that are unclear on their priorities. As a result, everybody’s doing a bunch of different things. There’s not enough action because they’re unclear about what the priorities are.

Can you imagine the power and the speed of an organization that would move on its business objectives?

I learned the value of speed firsthand. During the pandemic, some of our clients adapted quickly to virtual programs, government relations, clear goals and expectations of a remote workforce. And I saw the opposite.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Get a complimentary copy of JP Moery’s Association Hustle book.

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Entrepreneurial, sales, networking, and personal advice that will accelerate your growth.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

3 most important characteristics to lead a business

1: Authenticity. Be authentic with your team and be honest with yourself.

2: Transparency. Be honest and candid with your team and reveal more about the business that you’re running. I can guarantee you, you’ll get their help and they’ll understand why you’re making decisions. They want to be a part of the team, you’ve hired them and you’re making them a part of the entrepreneurial journey.

3: You have to be energetic. Don’t wait to be motivated.I want you to be the most energetic person on the team, folks will tend to follow you when that happens.

How have you made professional connections during the career?

1: My best personal connections came from doing the best job I could possibly do. You have credibility, when that happens, it will keep you getting paid for doing work. It builds the opportunity for reputation and referrals. Do good work, and then give them a referral for being a good collaborator with you.

What is the best professional advice you’ve ever received?

People are joining associations for two reasons. They want to make money, or they want to save money, and the associations that can demonstrate that, the more successful they’ll be.

As a sales person, take the role of a sorter. You’re separating people that are interested from those that are not. It keeps you from taking sales personal.

The ability to embrace silence. If you know me at all, that’s really hard for me to do. Pose a question for the team and let them answer it.

Best personal advice I’ve ever received:

If you’ve met more than one asshole today, maybe it’s you, huh?

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Get a complimentary copy of JP Moery’s Association Hustle book.

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Brand-building, accountability, and transparency are steps you can take to become an entrepreneurial leader your organization.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

#1: Brand building or nothing. I’m amazed by the lack of communication and brand building directly within the association industry in particular. We post at least once a day on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

#2: I make at least 50 to 100 contacts weekly. I’m a big believer that CEOs should be a critical part of any fundraising operation

#3: Transparency with staff around finances. I was very clear when I started this company that I was always going to share what the numbers were. Companies that I’d worked with before, no one understand why personnel moves were being made or different expense items were being cut.

#4: Accountability. I think when you’re sharing the numbers with your

team members, everybody kind of gains some accountability. And that’s difficult for an association.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Get a complimentary copy of JP Moery’s Association Hustle book.

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Transparency and aligning external and internal sales goals is essential to having successful client relationships.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

#1: The importance of transparency. Don’t be hesitant to reveal your value proposition challenges to your sales partner.

#2: Focus on the goal, not who gets the credit for meeting the goal. Make sure that the goals of the internal and external teams are aligned.If you hire business development partners, let them do the sales work. If the internal team has separate incentives, it could result in a lack of full collaboration. We had an experience like this, where the point of contact had similar incentives. They were actually keeping leads from us because they wanted to get the credit. It’s not a sin, it’s just not great collaboration.

#3: Communicate at least weekly, if not daily, about sales momentum. And, make it a two way street.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Get a complimentary copy of JP Moery’s Association Hustle book.

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Building a unique business brand will separate you from the competition. Here’s how to do it:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Build brand in a unique and authentic way. This week I dropped a picture of a new Moery Company car that raced in the NASCAR Xfinity race in Pocono, Pennsylvania, piloted by Santino Ferrucci. I get dozens of views when I post something about associations and sales. After posting the picture of the car, within 24 hours, I had nearly 1000 views. These are my followers and my association audience. The Moery Company corporate page views were up 90% over last week.

Associations love their hierarchy. They like the head table, they like the car service, they like sitting at the right table at right Washington, D.C. restaurant. I get it. But if you’re a little unique, a little authentic, do things that others are not doing.

Here’s some tactics that I’ve tried over the years:

#1: Daily videos, that I post on my personal site. I just give observations of the day.

#2: Daily podcast.

#3: Bi-weekly newsletter.

#4: We transcribe every video and podcast, and that becomes content that you can then put in written blog form that improves Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

#5: Make your own content!

#6: The most authentic and highest engagement content comes from talking about your mistakes.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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How can state, local, and national affiliations work together to create a killer membership recruitment program? Find out on this week’s Association Hustle podcast.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

#1: Remember that every member company is unique, but segments have similar needs. We tend to treat our members like a homogenous group. Small businesses want to know about compliance. They’re about business growth and sustainability. Large businesses seek influence that conveys into leadership and government relations issues at the federal level.

#2: Identify how you are going to work with your state and local affiliates. Or if you’re a state and local chapter, how are you going to work with the national chapter? We need to build a consistent value proposition locally and at the national level.

Listen to the podcast to hear more about the importance of local, state, and national affiliates working together to create value for members…

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Members offer feedback on how associations can be valuable. Here is what they are saying about a few important issues concerning education, workforce concerns, and supply chain issues.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Top Association Member Issues Right Now:

#1: Regulation concerns. Members are seeing a growth of opportunity and work, but this could result in more regulation.

#2: Recruiting and retaining staff is one of the top issues that members are facing right now. Regardless of the industry, there are workforce concerns for members.

#3: Supply chain issues. Members aren’t getting equipment, they aren’t able to buy it, and they aren’t able to get the resources they need to make the things that they do.

#4: There is so much value in state and regional associations. Members are talking about the value they get from them.

#5: Talk to your members. What are the main strategy concerns they have?

#6: Advocacy. How are we going to activate for our members around key issues for our industry? DISCUS sponsored a NASCAR in Austin, around a state issue. They had so much television, radio, and they reached a demographic of people that watched car racing.

What are the barriers to success for associations?

1. Positive awareness with non-members.
2. Focus on the content to upgrade event experiences, whether virtual or in-person.
3. Focus on education and certifications. Is it time for you to look at a merger with a professional society that has a more robust educational offering?

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Get a complimentary copy of JP Moery’s Association Hustle book.

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Has your association been committing these cardinal sales mistakes? Find out on this week’s Association Hustle podcast.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

#1: There is a sales process that is lacking in almost every association.

#2: The utilization of a good customer relation management tool or a CRM. I’m amazed at how many organizations are still using excel to track their activity and pipelines. If you’re not utilizing Salesforce, or some other CRM, why aren’t you?

#3: Not enough action. I used to think that it was all about the numbers and activity. It isn’t. It’s about the quality of action.

#4: We’re just not close enough to the customer. We don’t understand the customer or its language to get closer to them.

#5: Are you listening to the market surveys? Setting up an intentional renewal program for your members that involves speaking with them, recruitment, and learning about the reasons to join. What are they telling you? It’s not about your list of features and services. It’s about how they benefit from it.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Get a complimentary copy of JP Moery’s Association Hustle book.

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How can you make your association event the best for your members and sponsors, whether in-person or digital?

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

In the association space, we’ve got to take 2020 and the learning from it, and start planning for 2023.

Digital and Hybrid Meetings

As we get into the Fall, more of our clients are going to be in person. Some are working on the hybrid or digital aspect of that meeting. The takeaway is that the digital aspects should be totally unique. Don’t make the in-person meeting look and sound like a digital meeting and don’t make the digital meeting look like an in-person meeting. Keep the digital component to your meetings and engagement in some way of delivering content. If we just go back to the same old meeting and golf tournament, you’re gonna leave behind the younger members that you’ve been trying to reach. Expand into the digital offerings of in-person events: video your sessions, make it available to people not able to attend, and use more social media activation and mentions of sponsors.

Sales and Marketing

Email marketing working quite well. We’ve got more inventory and assets to utilize.

We’ve got to find new ways of participating in this workforce development area. It’s going to be the top issues that associations can and should face for the future.

Sponsorships

Thought leadership, thought leadership, thought leadership. We have sponsors that want sponsorship opportunities that include thought leadership. They all want it. Let me add another wrinkle to in person events: we should adjust our inventory because sponsors may not be able to attend meetings due to corporate travel rules. Don’t make the sponsorship totally reliant on their presence.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Associations can promote new membership by tapping into their unique attributes regarding data, government relations, and the power to bring people together. Learn more in this week’s podcast.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Associations have unique attributes that have been consistent over time and I’m going to talk to you about them today.

#1 The power to convene

We hosted a briefing for non-members regarding government relations and 60 non-members showed up. We’ve converted members from that call since then. We still have that power to bring people together and address a common issue or concern.

#2 Government relations

Develop your own advocacy program. People that are members of different industry groups understand who the real players are. You can take that content and pitch it to non-members

#3 Industry data and research.

The ability for us to tap into our membership base and develop trends and industry data from it is incredibly valuable. I’ve got one association that has a Consumer Confidence Index of their member businesses. Hey, when are you going to start traveling again? Are you going to go to the annual convention? What do you think about the prospect of business over the next several months?

#4 Talking about the benefits of membership.

Avoid a menu of items, and talk about how the member will actually benefit. They want to be on a committee, they want to be on the board, and they want company legitimacy through your association.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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JP shares his favorite audio content for sales managers and CEOs, and gives his own sales advice.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

JP’s content recommendations for CEOs and Sales Managers:

• B2b Sales Magic on clubhouse (download the clubhouse app). You can listen to that three times a week at 8am ET.
• Also Sales Questions: Brutally Honest Answers podcast, hosted weekly by Brian burns
• Associations sell intangible things. You can learn from folks that are in, for example, software and enterprise sales.

The importance of qualifying ‘hard’ as a key metric for sales:

We do little to qualify or ask tough questions that we need answers to, and then we wonder why people don’t close.

• When you decide business things like this? How does it work? How long does it take? Do you have the money in the budget for this membership this year? What is the process for developing a budget? What’s the buying process? How does it work? How long? Who’s involved in deciding? Should they be a part of the discussions moving forward? What if you didn’t do anything this year on the topic? What would happen? Have you joined associations before? What was the experience? What did you like the most about them? What did you not like at all? Is there a reason that you would not be a fit for this association?
• Let’s qualify harder and then we will close easier and avoid objections. You can smoke out the objections in those qualifying questions.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Get a complimentary copy of JP Moery’s Association Hustle book.

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CEOs and association leaders are making huge changes by having an entrepreneurial mindset, implementing robust sales operations, and attracting young professionals. How are you implementing these things in your association?

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Association leadership that we need right now.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs have to have a real stomach to get up and be tested in the market every single day. They’ve got to change programs on an ongoing basis to stay relevant and viable. The association business failing over decades isn’t abrupt enough to disrupt our old biases and programs. I’ve seen some great innovations, CEOs shaking it up with a live LinkedIn broadcast with thought-provoking podcasts or launching new certification programs, or image campaigns in the worst and most uncertain economic environment ever that we’re coming out of. There is a CEO sponsoring a NASCAR with a state advocacy program, because they can reach millions in the demographic that they want to influence. CEOs are not just sending out an advocacy alert by email and expecting the world to shift to try new things.

Sales Operations

Every business needs a sales operation and CEOs are embracing that idea. I’ve been speaking about this for years. There will be a new membership effort that’s going to be required to sustain our businesses. Association leaders are embracing the need for a real measured and robust business development platform. Game on I welcome it.

Staff Changes

Association leaders are also shaking up their staff and that’s going to be uncomfortable. To attract and keep those innovative and invigorated people, they need to offer things like telecommuting and flexibility.

Diversity and Inclusion

CEOs are finally talking about diversity, inclusion, young professionals in a different way. I don’t know how many times I was in meetings, where we wanted to engage young professionals, and there wasn’t a young professional in the dining room. Now we have the opportunity to engage them and ask them what they want.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Get a complimentary copy of JP Moery’s Association Hustle book.

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What is happening in the association market with meetings, association staffing, and membership? Listen to JP’s insights on this week’s podcast.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

The best thing we can do right now is listen to customers, prospective members, sponsors, and advertisers, because what we hear and what we might see from their action, could contradict some of the long held biases that we may have had before.

Meetings

Virtual and hybrid events are here to stay. Some big companies are not traveling. I know associations want to start those in-person meetings, and we’re seeing a lot of those being planned for the third and fourth quarter.

Associations are seeing the value of putting on these digital events, because they’re getting so many more people participating. Associations are concerned about the expanse of putting on two different events because it’s a substantial investment.

Membership

The return on investment of membership can’t be vague or broad. One thing drives their participation in membership is marketing. This week, we had a 78% open rate on a marketing piece. Let me say that again. This week, we had a 78% open rate on a marketing piece. How’d that happen? We drove them into a new marketing channel around the theme, which delivers value in the area that they were interested in. This emphasizes the whole idea about recruiting on narrow issues.

Association Staffing

Staff responsibilities are quite more expansive than they may have been a year ago. The association staff member may be doing two jobs with one title because of cuts and new programs. There’s unprecedented value in the work. If you don’t report to your managers on your productivity and results, they’re not going to see your influence. Every Friday with our client work, we send a weekly report with activity and the sales pipeline.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Predictions for the rest of 2021 regarding membership, mergers, CEOs, and affinity programs.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

End of q1 2021 predictions for the rest of the year:

1: Mergers and acquisitions in the association space are going to be at an unprecedented level in the next 12 months.

2: People are going to want to be hired and not launch their own business because of risk. They’ll prefer to get hired by a bigger association service provider or an association for more consistency and security.

3: I see executives of color and women CEOs going to grow exponentially.

4: Association outsourcing is going to experience a credible growth.

5: There’s going to be an intensive time of reorganizing staff.

6: Associations are going to reorganize their business. New membership categories. Raising the dues levels in some areas, and putting an emphasis on the types of companies that really align around the association mission. The advocacy message is going to be the way the associations are going to monetize and sustain their businesses for the long term.

7: Renewed emphasis on membership recruitment, retention, and engagement.

8: Putting more emphasis on personal and professional development in our organizations. Ah, this is really kind of a new one. But I got a hunch This is really going be a new era for affinity programs.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Associations have strayed from using advocacy as a key part of their membership value proposition. Here’s how to bring back advocacy to serve your members:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Associations were built to advocate. That’s why we were developed in the first place. And that was, frankly, our sole purpose. Our business models reflected that focus. ASAE claims that in 1953 95% of all the association revenue came from dues to support government relations efforts. But now ASAE reports that only 52% of revenue comes from dues. We’re more diversified in our programs and services. We have event people, education staff, certification, individuals, and public relations. Through all of that, associations have lost their way in terms of being able to talk about advocacy as a key part of the membership value proposition.

We talk about advocacy as representing an industry instead of battling for our members and advocating for them. To advocate for your business at the highest levels of government, I need to know your concerns. If you don’t have a voice within my organization, how could I even begin to say that I represent you? We should be talking about the implications of legislation, interpreting what it means for their business.

Launch a key issues document to all the prospects and see who opens and clicks on that document. Next, send a key regulatory issue update from your government relations regulatory superstar. See who opens and clicks that and use that to make your phone calls about membership. In month six survey to identify what people think about the key issues. Are you talking about things that really matter to them? Then develop a webinar for non-members on key topics.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Your association or company can have its biggest month of the year. Here’s how:

1: We won this fight in April 2021. I had a three step crisis plan in place. That plan was developed early, so I could make a decision an unemotional state.

2: Our external and internal sales team buckled down to keep every client that we had. We never stopped fighting and we never stopped selling.

3:We eliminated limiting behavior within our organization. This enabled us to take on different clients and different projects than we thought was in our toolbox.

3: We got really close to our association clients and our customers. We were able to offer more services, and we became embedded in their organizations.

4: We increased social media and content development. Today our listenership of this podcast doubles every single month.

5: Know who your real players are– both clients and employees. It’s not always the most high profile clients or associations that help our organization.

6: Activity doesn’t mean sales.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

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The Moery Company marks its 14th anniversary. What has Founder and CEO JP Moery learned (the bad and the good) from the process? He touches on thought leadership, sales, and client management.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

The Booms:

1: Thought leadership marketing. Videos, podcasts, and e-newsletters changed my business forever. It’s inexpensive. It provides you content that you can forward to clients, and don’t forget that everyone on your team can be a thought leader.

2: If you don’t have sales, you don’t have a business.The more business you get makes you better at delivering value and improving programs.

3: Diversification of revenue. Our core business has always been selling memberships, sponsorships, exhibits, and ads. Three years ago, we intentionally grew our consulting program based on what we had learned from selling. So now I’ve got two different businesses operating here, and that really helped us.

4: I did not rely on one client to make or break us.

5: Retainer for sales required. This saved us during the pandemic.

6: Virtual workplace and flexibility.

7: Only take full year 90-day out contracts for sales.

The Busts:

8: For years, I sold the services of the company. When I hired somebody to focus on that, we became a better business for it.

9: Way too many responses to RFPs. I can’t serve a client well if this is all going through a PDF document.

10: Speaking at ASAE and other events for free (and it’s not their fault). I’d rather use my own platform or just charge someone. It saved me time.

11: Too many projects that weren’t going well, and I could have saved time by ending them.

12: I respected the chain of command in the clients way too much. At the end of the day, you need to do all you can to be successful and perform for the client.

13: I didn’t watch cash flow early on in the business. My recommendation is to get paid up front or at the beginning of the month, rather than billing at the end.

14: I needed the business or thought I needed the business so bad, I signed bad deals, and then my staff had to deal with the aftermath.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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JP talks new developments in sponsorship renewals, the sales process, and longer negotiations while association staffs have less bandwidth.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

1: Sponsorship renewals.

It is dangerous to assume that your former vendors are going to come back to you this year in the same way that they did in the past. It is taking longer to renew them, especially if there are unknowns regarding the inventory. My recommendation is to have some conversations regarding their buying process, and it may result in a custom offering.

2: There’s much more negotiation and discussion. The buyer process is very important in membership recruiting and sponsorship sales right now.

3: Association staff bandwidth issues are more commonplace. Now we are seeing the impact of layoffs in the association sector. My recommendation then for you is to look at the sales process right now.

4: Intense financial pressure on the legacy revenue model at the association. I’m seeing a great deal of curiosity from association leadership to modernize and recalibrate membership segments.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Association problem-solving means that you may need analyze your business model. Are these industry biases prevalent in your association?

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I have five themes that I hear on a regular basis, that in some ways I think are industry legacy bias that we can address and maybe get some different results out of the issues.

#1: “We want to keep it in house”. Get the best results and impact for your members over in house out of house. Take a look at the best possible option in solution, rather than an administrative bias.

#2: “We need someone with industry knowledge to do membership sales”. Why don’t you get somebody that’s good at membership sales, rather than the industry knowledge? My research shows that it takes somewhere around seven to eight contacts to actually close a member, so you need to find somebody that has the ability and the capacity to do that, rather than someone that has industry knowledge.

#3: “We just get the same sponsors over and over again”. It’s usually a symptom of three things. If we do the same thing over and over again, then it’s probably designed to get the same sponsors year after year. We’re likely calling the same people over and over again to get the same scenario, and it’s odd that we would expect something different happen.

#4: “We haven’t raised dues since the big eight conference was still around”. The raising or decreasing of dues is not really an answer right out of the gate. Is your value proposition resonating? Should there be services that no longer are part of our portfolio? Compare your programs, dues levels, and other benefits with associations that your members might be joining and look at their business model

#5: “Government relations is hard to sell as a part of membership”. Likely not a member or another entity can accomplish what we can in the area of advocacy, influence, and government affairs. I want to leverage that and I want to showcase it.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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What gets you out of bed in the morning and makes you great at what you do? You have the ability to make an organization great.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I asked each member of my team, “what’s the characteristic that makes you successful?” I found these things are also the components of a great company.

#1: Persistence and tenacity. It takes seven to ten times to really get the attention of a prospect, and the fact of the matter is, most people quit after two or three.

#2: Helping others.

#3: Attention to detail. It’s really standard language for almost every job description you see out there, but have you really seen it in action? The lack of attention to detail causes mistakes, unclear messages, poor data, all the things that are keeping us from optimizing our work and keeps us from achieving our mission.

#4: Solution provider. When we do a lot of business analysis on associations, we see an emphasis on pricing, when the real issue is data or the value at the price point.

#5: Project management. We have a pretty good process and it’s rare that we’re ever delayed on deliverables. We get it done.

#6: Love of people. If you’re in the service business like we are or your association is, and you don’t truly enjoy the people that you’re working with, it’s not very good. I’ve seen the organizations where the people are absolutely passionate about the folks that they represent and work for. That’s a great organization to be a part of.

#7: Being coachable.

#8: Work ethic. If your team is willing to outwork anyone, the likelihood of losing or failing goes way, way down.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Looking to increase your association’s membership and sponsorship sales? Consider making theses changes.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Six changes I would make to improve association sales right now.

#1: Connect with multiple people within the prospective member company that you are selling a membership to. We rely on an individual contact when we’re selling way too much.

#2: Learn what the vendors to your industry want from a relationship with your association. We are relying too much on the platform or the delivery system and not asking them the true thing that they are seeking from their association relationship.

#3: Use a team approach to sales. Include an endorsement in your sales process before the prospect asks for it.

#4: Integrate your government relations team and sales team. The CEOs of our associations must connect the government relations team to the most fundamental part of membership because it is what prospects view as valuable.

#5: Increase the rigor on what is a true membership prospect using data. 60% of our closed memberships happen in the first 45 days. There’s a myth out there that membership sales take a long time.

#6: Have prospect awareness to see what they’re going through right now. That is the biggest thing that affects the sales process, is what the prospects going through, not how bad you want it.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Life and business advice that everyone needs to hear.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

#1: Burn the boats.

Don’t give yourself an option of going back and doing what you’re used to or applying for a job.

#2: Know the numbers.

I’ve learned how to read a balance sheet and understand cash flow. Financial literacy for the leader provides you the ability to look ahead and anticipate, and that’s helped me tremendously during the pandemic.

#3: The market doesn’t care.

The internet has democratized business and communication. The wonderful thing about the world now is that there are no gatekeepers. Customers decide if you are good or not. They don’t owe you, no one does. It’s the ultimate free market, and that’s what it is at its best. That’s what it is at its worst. Because if you don’t make it, nobody cares.

#4: Set up the organization five years ahead.

I set up an organization for five years down the road. It had an accounting person, a marketing person, HR, and someone in charge of IT. I wasn’t prepared or trained to do many of those things. It did help me learn and recognize the importance of those roles in the organization. When I saw things that I wasn’t able to do, those were the first people I went out to hire.

#5: Set up your sales organization first.

If you don’t have the sales operation, you’ll go out of business.

#6: Make the pitch and then shut up.

The next guy that speaks loses.

#7: Develop a value statement.

In our company, our values are collaboration, ownership, honesty, dedication; an all-in attitude. We have proactively developed a culture that I think encompasses all those things.

#8: Fire your clients.

I’ve learned over time that sometimes our values don’t align. Those are the clients that you should fire because it won’t end up working out in the long term.

#9: Work is what you do not where you are.

When I adopted this idea, it enabled us to go into a virtual work environment early, and we never missed a day of work due to the pandemic.

#10: If you’ve met more than one jerk today, maybe it’s you.

When everyone is busting your chops and you’re doing a lot of pointing, maybe want to turn that finger around and look at yourself.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Lack of revenue is often a symptom of an association business model issue, not a sales problem. Here’s how you can identify the real problem.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Why is this sales thing so difficult for associations?

Lack of revenue is often a symptom of what is right underneath the associations nose.

These are sources of the problem that we often see:

#1: The data is not very good. The contact information is old. If you’ve been contacting the same people at a prospective member business, and they’re still non-members, and you expect something different; well, you know what they call that.

#2: The pricing and the dues levels are out of whack. You’ve got to make sure that the pricing structure is relevant. Often what I see is that the dues levels are too low. The difficulty of selling a $200 membership compared to a $20,000 membership is not that much. It’s about the same.

#3: Must have the ability to ID your value proposition, your benefits, and then find the companies that are the best fit for that program. What do you have in place that will really move the needle for that company? What are the benefits? Who do we help the most? And what other companies would that be a fit for?

#4: Very little processing or reporting. The leadership in the organization has no idea what the sales team is doing. There are no reports. There’s very little feedback.

How do we unpack the black box?

Well, I’ve got some ideas. First, what is the clear benefit? What are the stories you have of delivering on that benefit for a specific company? Have them give me a testimonial about it and how you crushed it for them.

Is the price right for the membership or the sponsorship program? And is it relevant? Get a list of the best companies that will be aided by this clear benefit that have the resources available to pay you to do that. Do I have the right point of contact? Finally, develop a sales process. How are we going to connect all these dots and clearly record every step of the way?

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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From years of experience, JP debunks old views on associations that do not apply to the changing business times.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Here is some bad business advice and association myths that I’ve heard:

1: “You can’t charge a retainer for sales work”. We charge a retainer for sales plus commission for all the work we do, because we work hard. And sometimes we’ve got an inherent an uneven and not consistent value proposition, maybe a dues structure that’s not that relevant to the industry that we’re in, and maybe an advocacy program that does more reporting than advocating. But I’ll tell you what; the model has been successful for us and in fact, during the pandemic, if we were a commission only sales entity, we’d probably be out of business today.

2: “You can’t give it away for free”. You can’t give away too much content, or you’re not going to be valuable anymore. Actually, it’s the opposite. I give away the advice because that content helps to build your credibility and your thought leadership. However, I just don’t implement it for free.

3: “You have to be in Washington, D.C. and close to customers to be successful in the association space”. The further away that I moved from Washington D.C., the more business I get.

4: “Selling membership is a long sales cycle”. Actually, the people that don’t join are a long sales cycle. We make a couple 100,000 contacts a year selling memberships, sponsorships, ads, and exhibits for people. What I’ve learned from that is companies that do join, do so in less than 50 days. The challenge for the sales team is to move on and not keep selling folks that aren’t going to do it.

5: “No one looks at emails”. We deliver our own bi-weekly newsletter, send email campaigns out to prospects, and we have generated millions of dollars in revenue because of our ability to monitor what people open and click. So that’s wrong.

6: “Chapters are dead for associations”. One of the things that I’ve seen in this pandemic era is how chapters are actually delivering great value, connection and familiarity. The chapter model is thriving, and I think the organizations that can find the connection between national and chapters and really identify the role each one of them play, will be very successful.

7: “We don’t allow vendors to speak at conferences because they’re just going to give a sales pitch”. That is terrible business advice for an association in particular. Why? Many of the vendors and suppliers in the space know much more about the industry than the core members do because they’re working with multiple people in the ecosystem. They actually have more insights and in business intelligence that can be helpful and make content better for you.

8: “We don’t want too many vendors in the membership, because it’s going to water down the value”. I see these vendors now as more business partners and we need more of them.

9: “Our dues are too high”. We’ve done a lot of dues reviews over the years, and larger members tend to pay a lot less based on the scale of their business. A $500 membership for a $1 million business is much more expensive than a $5,000 membership for a $50 million company.

10: “We want to hire someone in-house for this job”. Based on what? Do you want the job to be done better and more efficiently and is that what you’re looking for? Because I’m willing to have that debate. My experience is contractors tend to be specialists, get better results, are focused, more efficient, and often cheaper.

11: “People call us to join”. The number of inbounds that we get for a trade association membership over a year, I could probably count on two hands. If you’re relying on people to call you to join, let me say hello to the decline of your membership.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Develop a robust and invaluable sponsorship program that will thrive even with the uncertainty of events.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

How to sell more sponsorships in 2021:

#1: Develop a simple digital or in-person meeting inventory for sponsorships side by side.

Keep it fairly simple with similar price points, so you can go from digital to in-person fairly quickly if you need to, and I think sponsors will understand that.

#2: Put a big emphasis on segmented audiences that you can reach through your association.

Regardless of whether events are digital or in-person, you’re still bringing the industry together and their customers in larger numbers than before. Make sure that you’re talking about that segmented audience.

#3: Tell sponsors about the enhanced data and information that they’re going to receive.

Some associations will never send a list of attendees and contact information for an in-person event. With a digital event, they’re more than happy to do that. This can be really helpful for the sponsor, so let them know.

#4: Be aware that smaller companies may not have all the resources to conduct a full session or optimize thought leadership opportunities.

They may need smaller opportunities to be the panelist of a website or a program rather than doing an entire webinar on their own.

#5: Examine the non-event inventory you have.

Newsletters, online industry trend surveys, or sponsored social media posts are just a few ideas. What are we already doing that someone would want to support, get good data, and reach a segmented market because of it?

#6: It’s time to establish a year round sponsorship program with special benefits, including those not tied to events.

Maybe it’s a briefing for the board of directors, or maybe it’s a focus group.

#7: Find a new approach and sales methodology

Some of your traditional sponsors don’t want to do digital events. Companies that have never sponsored before want to sponsor digital events because they want the data and information that they can receive from it. So, you need to prospect and update your data list because there’s been a lot of changes within companies.

If you send me your address to JP@MoeryCompany.com, I will send you a complimentary copy of my first book Association Hustle. Here’s how you pay me for it: zero dollars. Instead, please share this podcast on social media, with a friend, or your audiences. I would be grateful for it.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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How can associations can add value to their members and improve their member recruitment programs? Follow these tips.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Here’s the five areas that I see as very important for associations in 2021:

1. Integration of government relations and business development

If we’re really paying attention to businesses and their behaviors, our sponsors, our members and small businesses, we have opportunities to serve them better. Integrate your government relations team with your business development work. We have more tangible government relations offerings if you don’t just report what’s happening, but you interpret new developments in government relations, regulations, and things that are going on in Washington, D.C. Your members are more sensitized than ever about what’s happening and its direct effect on them. We developed a lot of goodwill when we were helping our members interpret rules and providing how-to’s about how to navigate things. This needs to continue with regular digital updates. I’m amazed at how advocacy, a clear and distinct part of associations’ value propositions, is so separate from our membership recruitment and retention program. A formative part of my association career was with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, so maybe I have a bias of connecting advocacy and business development. But I have to tell you, if we didn’t have the government relations value well articulated, we didn’t have membership value, and we didn’t have members period, and we didn’t have the resources we needed to win. So I think it’s really important, probably always was, to connect these two in a very integrated way. The more connected they are, the more successful you’ll be.

2. Embrace the efficiency of digital.

At the highest levels of membership, we see improved participation. Board of Director engagement from companies that you used to have to beg to come on board or beg to come to the Board of Directors meeting, are now participating regularly. CEOs and executives from across the country are learning the efficiency they get from digital interaction. That doesn’t mean you don’t get together ever again, but certainly this should be a big component of how you bring chief executives together in the future.

3. Small group execution.

I foresee that small, in-person meetings, which are regional geographically in nature, will come back first. Digital programs for small groups which deep-dive into details will also be very important. Those small groups might also be a good place to insert sponsors or suppliers that want to hear that type of industry dialogue. The associations that are able to facilitate these little small group interactions, whether it’s in-person or whether it’s digitally on different platforms, are going to be ahead of the game. Think about these as small focus groups. Also, it’s great for the association staff to be able to facilitate and organize these events because it connects your staff to your members more. They will have the opportunity to hear how your members are thinking and when they hear that, they’re going to be able to represent and be more valuable to your association.

4. Data information.

You may succeed by spending some time by performing list hygiene on your organization’s contact data. A lot of changes have occurred with existing member companies and there are different executives in place now. We are having sales success by prospecting our own companies for the association. We are going outside of the association’s list and we’re finding new companies within their industry sector. Why? The association list is really quite tired. I’ll give you a specific example: we’re currently selling for an association in transportation that has a big in-persontrade event coming up. We went outside their usual list of suspects; people that were still connected to the industry, people that would still get value, but never really had any interaction. We’re having some great conversations there and we’re closing some big deals because they’re looking for new opportunities as well. Develop some new companies and new contacts, even within your existing companies to have a fresh set of eyes on your value.

5. Personal connection over email

People are craving and grateful for the personal connection, the phone call, the written note, just “hey, how you doing”. Let your customers, staff, suppliers, and vendors that they are doing a great job. The member that renewed for the 20th time deserves a more personal thanks. The more you can communicate with them personally, will allow your association to thrive.

If you send me your address to JP@MoeryCompany.com, I will send you a complimentary copy of my first book Association Hustle. Here’s how you pay me for it: zero dollars. Instead, please share this podcast on social media, with a friend, or your audiences. I would be grateful for it.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Qualities and skills that organizations should be looking for in potential talent to create an adaptable and dynamic team.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Things to leverage in the New Year

First of all, I’ve got to stay closer to the customer because the inertia of being in an organization in Washington DC isn’t happening right now. We’re not going into town to do a meeting, have a business event, or have a networking reception. It’s a much different way of staying connected such as Zoom calls or even a text. It might be just a phone call to say, “hey, I noticed these changes you’ve made on your website, and I think they’re great. Keep up the fantastic work.” I’m also very aware that there is more content being produced just to keep up because of the unbelievable amount of information that’s being made available for everybody.

The Importance of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the most important business network right now. I’ve got to make sure that I’m doubling down on my posting, thought leadership, and engaging people through the platform. How do I know it’s the most important? Marketers are ruining the platform. People are spamming me on it now so that must mean that it works.

Storytelling

Storytelling needs to be a real component of connecting with potential customers. There is a skill around storytelling and humanizing the value proposition that you might be able to offer someone else. Give little examples of about how you benefited by using a product or service, and convey that to prospects. This helps us connect and humanize. It also makes pretty authentic thought leadership.

Learning and Action

In the last six months, I learned how to run Facebook ads and edit a podcast. Also, I’m using the phone better to sell our services, because I’m acting and learning. I’m texting prospects and keeping in touch with them. I’m adapting and I’m changing so I can be better at the job. Because things are happening so quickly, I can’t do it the way that I used to, or we’d be out of business.

Talent Trends

I have learned that the best people rise to the top. They are demonstrating new different skills than they had before and maybe even skills and qualities they had no idea that existed within them. My top salesperson talked to me about this a couple days ago. You know, I’m looking at her numbers, and I go, “how are you hitting these numbers in the environment that we’re in, and frankly, the rest of our team wasn’t able to?” And it can’t all be about having good accounts because every account had its challenges in this unique time that we’re in. My top salesperson talked about the ways she adapted. One key was a positive attitude, no matter what. I asked her, “why?” and she goes, “what’s the choice that I have?” If you let something bring you down, you don’t know how long you’re going to be in it. The second thing: she became very comfortable with change. And she had been very uncomfortable with change before. She usually stayed in her lane and was a great performer. But she said she had to change and adapt from in-person to virtual events and understand how to explain them.

Multi-discipline staffs are going to be very important. Over the last decade we have been through an era of specialization. Before, people developed deep skills in certain areas. Now we have a convergence of so many vertical activities in our organizations, that they’re all integrated. Events are digital, which requires tech, event planning, content management, and marketing. All of these talents are necessary. Is your 25 year meeting planner that’s been ordering coffee and danishes in a hotel able to change into this environment? Or are they not relevant anymore. So here are my recommendations: it’s time for you to deploy an entire team of multi-discipline and jack-of-all trades employees. The skills or the qualities I’m looking for are these: digital, social media, fast, independent, entrepreneurial collaboration skills, energetic, and self motivated. Notice I did not say experienced. I’m going to make bets on some of these new skills over experience because things are moving so quickly in uncharted waters, that I need the flexibility, the nimble, the fast, and the energetic. And people that can manage themselves.

What kind of leaders do we need?

With many organizations making statements lately, make sure you are taking action to support your statement. Make decisions, be more certain, and communicate well.We may have skills and qualities that we didn’t know about before. We just have to try with a positive attitude. Get out of your comfort zone and be willing to change, and do it from a different office than we’ve ever been used to.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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In business, there is never a winner or loser. However, you can make sure you have this framework in place to evolve and improve with the times.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Great to be with you today. I look forward to this discussion. It’s about the 10 business lessons from wins and losses that I’ve learned through the last 12 years. To give you context, we started The Moery Company about 12 years ago, an entrepreneurial endeavor, and I’ve learned a lot through the last decade plus about how to launch a business and how to maintain a business. I’m going to give you 10 tips or observations from that process.

#1:Starting the business is likely to be about you, but keeping the business is about your team.

A lot of the motivations we have of starting our own business are very, you know, self imposed. We think things like “wow, I can’t work for this guy anymore”, I could do this better, I see this opportunity, or I need the flexibility and freedom . All those things are usually self motivated. However, you’ll learn very quickly that to scale the business and grow it, it becomes much more about everybody else. I think that’s the framework that you need. Although I have these self and internal motivations that drive me to get started, it’s actually going to be about everybody else. That is one of the biggest challenges for an entrepreneurial leader

#2: Start with building a good sales operation first.

You might think about the service, the offering, and the pricing if your business. Many businesses fail because they never get out of the gate. Why? Because they don’t have a sales operation, a sales process, and a business development methodology at their core to start. Without any clients, you’re not going to be able to be in the game very long.

#3: Contract provisions.

Don’t be afraid to address the specifics, and don’t be afraid if it costs you a sales deal early on. I’d rather negotiate provisions of the contract, than have a vague contract and a big argument later that might spoil or end the relationship. Be very clear about things. For example, in our business, we do a lot of sales work. We sell memberships, sponsorships, and ads and exhibits for our clients. The definition of what a sale constitutes is very important to us and the contractual. Here’s my view: if are involved in any way, shape, or form in the development of that new membership, we get commission for it. I don’t want to have a negotiation, or referee the deal after it has already come in. No one usually argues about who gets the commission for a $1,000 membership. People do argue about who gets the commission from the $100,000 membership. I have seen this many times before. You want to be very clear about those things

#4: Consider cash flow.

You can have gross margin growth or net profits year after year, but you might still have cash flow problems. I’ll tell you a story: we have great legacy clients that pay us at the end of each month. We start the work on the 1st and end on the 31st. We bill them for the work that month.If they’re on a 30 day pay scale, that means I might be doing work for 60 days without ever getting paid for it. That can cause a cash flow problem. Instead, we should start the work on the 1st and bill them for the work that we’re going to do from the 1st to the 31st beforehand. If they pay in 30 days, I’m paid during the month that I actually did the work.

#5: Document.

Prove the work with excellent reporting. This has been a differentiator for us. Weekly reports that we provide to the client proves the activity, the pipeline, and the progress we’ve made on the project. It signifies trajectory. It enables you to get to action items that you need back from the client and reinforces that making a decision to join with you on the project was a good idea. Good reporting makes good clients.

#6: Get paid for the work.

I don’t work on commission-only work. If it takes work, you should get paid. If we would have gone through this pandemic as a sales operation that’s only on commission, it would have been tough.

#7: See a list in advance.

For our company, we want to see who the prospects are and who we might be going after. My point to you here is whatever work you’re involved in, sign a nondisclosure agreement and have a discovery phase to really know what you’re getting into. That’s difficult when you need clients and money quickly. However, you should do this early on in the sales process. Ask your clients for an NDA, to let you learn about the project, and get some data from them.

#8: Develop a strong referral system with your clients.

The power of someone saying something about you is probably the most influential sales tactic ever, but we don’t use it enough. There’s a point in the sales process and the client development process where you need someone just to drop a quick note and say “hey, I understand you’re thinking about working with The Moery company. Here’s been my experience. If you got any questions, give me a call.”

#9: Develop an advisory board and get their feedback early.

Our advisory board is fantastic have they’ve helped me so much. They often see us and The Moery Company as a much more expansive business than even we do. Over time, your internal view may be very limited. You may think you’re only this type of company, when the people in the market and your advisory board see you as a resource for a variety of different things that you don’t even think about.

10: Business is an infinite game. You don’t win it and the game doesn’t stop.

This is very difficult for people to comprehend that are competitive. That’s the way to really look at this: it enables you to adapt and innovate because there’s not a set time frame. There’s no winner or loser in business. You’re either ahead or behind at the current time.

Email me at jp@moerycompany.com and ask for a copy of Association Hustle, my first ever book about the association business, and what I’ve learned from it. I’d be pleased to send you a complimentary copy. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Here is a list of the best business, sales, and personal advice that myself and the Big Red M employees have ever received.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

It is great to be with you today. The topic today is the best advice I have ever received. I had a great discussion with our team the other day, and I’m going to give you some of their thoughts. At the very end, I’ll add some of my special spice to the topic. I’m going to break this down into two areas. One is sales and marketing advice that our team has received over the years. The second one is more about things like productivity and personal preparation.

Sales and Marketing Advice

The best way to listen is to take notes. Silences are okay. In fact, after you put the price out there and the big part of the value proposition shut up and be quiet. Oftentimes, the next guy that talks loses. It is also important to make sure to smile, especially when you’re on the phone. A lot of us have gone through training where they recommend having a mirror for you to look into and smile as you speak on the phone. It’s a great tactic. Although it may make you uncomfortable or seem corny, it’s not a bad idea.

During negotiations, identify what the most important thing is to the other party and what’s the most important thing to you. Sometimes you can give things away or offer things in negotiation that aren’t really that important to you.

Establish a Meaningful Network

I’ve seen this before, when I’ve looked to hire someone in sales for an example. I go on to their LinkedIn profile, and they have less than 100 connections. Why would I want to connect with someone that doesn’t really care to know people? I’m not sure they would be a very good salesperson if they’re not interested in other individuals.

Address Problems Right Away

Frankly, nothing gets better over time. Crises are often problems that were just delayed and delayed continuously. When a problem is formulating, phone first. Don’t hide behind email. The true urgency intent is often lost during digital communications.

It’s All About the Prospect and Preparation

When talking to prospects or costumers, discuss solutions rather than the services that you provide. So many times in the association space, for example, I see where it’s all about the association and the committees and what they do. That does not really demonstrate how we help our members save money, make money, or save them time.

Prepare and research calls in advance. Never wing it, especially in sales and interviews. This advice was actually offered by my college daughter who’s going through the interview process. She always prepares for the interviews. One time, she listened to an interview that I was having with someone. Clearly this person was a professional and they’d been in this game for years, but they didn’t know me from the man on the moon. That’s not against me, that’s more on them. You want me to help you, you want me to hire you. And clearly you don’t even know what we do as a company.

Written Communication and Proactivity

Deliver the message in the first and second sentence and then support it through the rest of the document. Very important as people are reading things in mobile, and reading emails. If you get up and you let everybody take your time, your priorities are not going to be addressed. And often that’s because you’re not proactive and you haven’t determined what your primary goals are.

Progress Over Perfection

Eat an elephant one bite at a time and perform one activity so you can keep moving forward. And remember, you probably had the experience, skills, and support to be confident in your presentations and work that you do with colleagues. No one brings your unique talent.

Context Trumps Content

I heard this the other day: all of the information up until 2003 ever published and content published and viewed and produced until 2003, is now being produced every 48 hours. Now, it’s going to be all about the context in which you deliver the content and your self awareness or your corporate awareness. It’s the context, not necessarily the content, because everybody’s doing content now.

Personal Advice

Never ending improvement is something that I try to work on every day. This may partly come from my insecurity that I am really not that good. So, I need to keep getting better and better. I’ve got specific goals every year on things that I want to improve. You’re not going to outwork me. It has probably happened, and it still does. I use my work ethic and hustle as a framework to start from regardless of my shortcomings. Also, do what you said you would do. That’s so simple, but it’s so powerful. So many miscommunications and problems derived from someone saying they were going to do something and did not do it.

Tell the truth and be authentic. This helped me find my calling in serving associations over the last several years, instead of being a CEO of an association. I was interviewing with a search committee a couple times and I was changing my answer to what everyone else wanted to hear and trying to get hired. Well, obviously, it didn’t work but now it’s a blessing. And I’m not saying at all that association CEOs aren’t being truthful or not being authentic. They are in very many cases, but I was really uncomfortable when I wasn’t unleashing the truth that I felt in my heart, and I felt like the best way to do that was to run my own company.

Another thing: If you don’t have the cash, you won’t win the dash. That comes from President and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue. It’s not all about money, but I’m telling you, if you don’t have the resources, you’re not going to be successful. You must have resources to execute, to achieve your mission, and to meet your goals. Never forget that when you’re launching your own company. You’ve got to have some money to be able to do it.

Don’t light people up in public. Don’t flame them in front of everyone else. It’s not worth it. Everybody remembers what you said, not the person that you lit up in the first place. Here’s another thing to remember about your communications: If the email that you’re about to send was published in The Washington Post, would you be proud of it?

If you send me your address to JP@MoeryCompany.com, I will send you a complimentary copy of my first book Association Hustle. Here’s how you pay me for it: zero dollars. Instead, please share this podcast on social media, with a friend, or your audiences. I would be grateful for it.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

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Observations on sponsorship and membership sales, and how CEOs can retain and grow membership in 2021.

Show notes: https://moerycompany.com/episode-264/

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Observations on sponsorship and membership sales, and how CEOs can retain and grow membership in 2021.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Observations on Membership Sales

It currently takes us six membership sales contacts in 47 days to close a membership sale. That’s almost exactly what the sales cycle was last year. This is evidence that there is a certain amount of urgency right now in the industry to join associations. If you don’t ask it will not happen. I understand the empathy of the pandemic. I understand in some industries and industry segments that economics are bad, but the value of membership may be better than you’ve ever had it. You’ll never know unless you’re out there.

Membership Retention

Another trend I have seen is related to membership retention. Membership retention is being much more planned and intentional than it was a year ago. It is not just an invoicing process. Secondly, there are legacy non-members or free riders that have possibly changed their impression about the association, and might be ready to join if you ask them.

Observations on Sponsorship Sales

We are down 15% in commission sales this year. We made this up in consulting and client volume. However, that decline is because sponsorship sales are in the tank. Here’s why virtual events in some cases, and the work that we’ve done have almost sold out, especially if you provide thought leadership opportunities and offer data for sponsors that use your platform: Your sponsorship team needs more inventory, more non-event inventory availability, like podcasts and social media posting and ads and newsletters. If you combine more inventory with virtual events, then you have a compelling sponsorship program. Secondly, too many virtual events or programs are on a very short sales leash, and we don’t have enough time to get out to the market and sell to people because we’re delaying our decision making. I hope coming out of this a result is that we have more non-event sponsorships and full year partnerships than we used to have. a result of the change that we’ve seen going on the next question.

Specific Recommendations for CEOs in 2021

If you don’t have a podcast, start one next year. Secondly, ask your membership team to put the retention plan for next year, not the billing cycle, on your desk by Monday morning.

Membership Offers and Message with a New Biden Administration

Every four years this happens: we see offense and defense depending upon this. Here’s what is different: you have the industry’s attention that you work with. Now, since you have their attention, there will be a great deal of activity that you can speak to around advocacy. Now is the time to shift from industry focus to member focus. That’s how the message might change. The association has been doing all this stuff for the industry. Now they will be doing things for their members. Because the work continues, organizations need to join so they can get those insights and information for the remainder of the year.

How can CEOs Use a Government Relations Framework to Recruit New Members?

First of all, I want to say this, I’m not beholden to legacy bias. I think Association business models have changed forever. Everything is on the table and should be if the communications, program, or the benefits of the service doesn’t help recruit a member. If something does not reinforce that joining was a good idea, gets them to join, gets them to be more involved, or encourages them to renew, I am not sure why you would do it. The fact of the matter is, people don’t buy because there’s too much risk involved. They don’t want to make a mistake. Show them that over the last 10 months, you have done everything to remove risk. You have deployed your government relations teams to make sure that you can revive and re-open your industries to keep them open and make them essential. You have extended a lot of information and demonstrated value to these groups. You have more people participating in your programs.

Some CEOs that I have spoken to have 100% CEO participation in their board meetings and used new platforms to deliver information. Younger people have become engaged because they have flattened the way people can get involved with them. They have eliminated risk and shown them their worth it. Don’t let that momentum dissipate. That is why it’s going to be the year of the association. It’s going to be the year of the association if we move forward and forget about the things that we used to do that may be antiquated and not worth it anymore.

I appreciate you so much for listening to this podcast. I want to give you a gift. If you send me your address to JP@MoeryCompany.com, I will send you a complimentary copy of my first book Association Hustle. Here’s how you pay me for it: zero dollars. Instead, please share this podcast on social media, with a friend, or your audiences. I would be grateful for it.

Talk next week.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page.

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a beat on the latest association insights from JP Moery and The Moery Company:

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Three good habits that we adapted at The Moery Company that have helped us succeed.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

It’s a special time of the year for everybody. We’re budgeting, planning, developing partnerships, and making decisions about who we’re going to work with next year. As we’re all making plans for 2021, it’s a great time to reinforce good organizational habits. Habits that make good sense. Things that have a compounding effect on improving individual behavior, collaboration, and building momentum within your company. Every organization is different and recently our team discussed the corporate habits that have really helped our organization.

Some background information on our company and how we’re set up: we have thirteen team members and our core competency and offering are sales, marketing plans, and programs for associations. We also provide consulting for our clients through qualitative and quantitative research to help their organizations grow better.

Here are the habits that have helped us succeed:

Regularity and consistency. No one likes surprises. Regularity is very important for small organizations. It’s important to be regular and consistent because it gives people a certain amount of comfort to operate.

How do we do that? Some are external functions, some are internal.

1. Twice weekly team pep rallies via Zoom. A 30-minute meeting with the entire team when we cover business fundamentals.

2. A weekly report sent each client that include pipeline activity for the week, agenda for the following week, and opportunities to collaborate.

3. Monthly team meetings. These are a from pep rallies because they’re more strategic. We go through the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet, and provide overall transparency on what is happening with the business. Everyone needs to know the trajectory of the business and we cover a lot of those strategies there.

4. Bi-weekly one-on-ones with the manager. These are more internal. Every team member has a conversation with their manager at least every other week, “What’s on your agenda? Here’s what’s on my agenda. What are our next steps and action items that we need to cover before we meet again?”

5. Quarterly reviews. Where is the team member with their goals? It’s a compounding effect because then we go into the annual review process.

At this point, there are very few surprises. Plenty of time to get feedback, sort out issues, evaluate challenges, leverage opportunities, take advantage of things that we see in the market that we can respond to. Plenty of chances for everyone to make a point or receive one. Very, very powerful.

Thought leadership. Every team member has a voice and they provide thought leadership for various digital platforms. We have a podcast, newsletters, videos, blogs, and more. Everyone on the team submits content for those thought leadership assets. It gives voice for everyone, internally and externally. Even publicly, they have a voice. It builds a culture of showing the team that their expertise is valuable.

Providing thought leadership internally and externally gives everyone a chance to contribute and it makes them feel valued. If you look at data regarding job satisfaction, people want to feel like they’re bringing something to the team and that what they bring to the team is actually valued by the company. Wow, we knocked it out of the park and I thought we were just having people submit thought leadership pieces for the newsletter.

Demonstrating trust. Regularity and consistency enable us to trust team members to do their job. I know they’re going to do and send their weekly reports and I trust them to do the work. Secondly, I don’t track vacation time because, frankly, I don’t care. I want you to enjoy your time off. I don’t track time at the office and we’re not watching the clock. You have a job to do and I trust that my team will do it.

There’s a lot of sharing, collaborating, and pitching in because people feel trusted. They can try new things and feel like they can ask for help when they need it. Or, they can pitch in when someone is off.

This enables us to adapt quickly to change and I’ll give you a very specific example. Our ability to adapt to a virtual work environment was very easy when everything shut down in March. Why? Because, I trusted my employees to work from wherever 10 years ago when we launched the company. Trust enabled us to move quickly and to adapt.

So, when you have regularity and consistency, when you give people a voice, and when you demonstrate trust it provides a strong and incredible base to build off of.

I appreciate you so much for listening to this podcast. I want to give you a gift. If you send me your address to JP@MoeryCompany.com, I will send you a complimentary copy of my first book Association Hustle. Here’s how you pay me for it: zero dollars. Instead, please share this podcast on social media, with a friend, or your audiences. I would be grateful for it.

Talk next week.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a beat on the latest association insights from JP Moery and The Moery Company:

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Seven skills and qualities that every leader should have to survive a crisis.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I have spent some time over the last several weeks reflecting over leadership qualities and skills needed to survive the unprecedented time for our business. Here are some of the things that I have learned that have helped us survive – and in some ways flourish – during the pandemic.

Go where the money is

The first and most important thing that we, as a business, do was go where the money was. One of those things included the PPP loan. There was a moment in February and March when there was no money in association sales, membership, and sponsorship. Everyone locked down. Where was the money? The money was with the government. We as a business, felt like, “Hey, this is what it’s for, let’s go for it!” We spent a lot of time and effort trying to secure the additional funds and it really helped us navigate towards future.

Long standing virtual workplace

We have had a virtual workplace for years. When the pandemic hit – and we had to shut down the office – our work was not disrupted. We measure work based on what we do, not where we’re at. So, while people were struggling with making the switch, we were already set up for it.

Diversified revenue streams

It is important to have diversified revenue streams, but without losing focus. If you have been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that we do association sales in membership, advertising, sponsorships, and exhibits. All of that work over the years has also allow us to develop about 40% of our revenue to come from consulting in those same areas including value proposition, dues levels, membership categories, sponsorship pricing and inventory. Our ability to have the consulting work and the sales work in the same areas of expertise is really important because, in some cases, the sales were really dried up, especially in sponsorship. Membership sales activity stayed pretty consistent. If we didn’t have multiple streams, we would have had a big problem.

Stay focused

The consulting and sales work is different in terms of the revenue stream, however, we remained focused on organizational growth.

Know your strengths

What are you best at? What is your core competency? To us, it is important to us to know how to describe our value to our prospects. We had a pull to get into meeting management and we’ve lost business because we’ve been focused on our core competencies and not on being an all-inclusive consulting operation. I never thought that we would be the best at meeting management, expositions, or trade shows. I know that we’re the best when it comes to membership development, strategies, and sales for trade associations. What stopped be from expanding our portfolio was the Jack Welch theory: if you’re not number one or two at something, get out of it.

Get paid for your work

There are a lot of sales groups in the association space and others in the advertising space that will do sales and business development for commission only. We get paid commission and we also get paid to pick up the phone, craft email campaigns, host webinars for non-members, sift through crappy old prospect lists, track everything in Salesforce, and do sales development campaigns for our clients. We get paid a retainer to do that in addition to commission.

We know that we’re not the cheapest group in town. We lose sales because some think they can get it for commission only. However, if during the pandemic we were commission only shop, we would be out of business. For my friends in the association space who think that they’re getting a deal because they pay internal, or external, sales teams commission only: you’re not getting their best work. Believe me, you’re not because they’re going to do just the easy stuff. And we know that there’s no such thing as the “easy stuff” now, for sure.

Create a crisis plan

I set up a crisis plan in late March with a set of criteria for when to pull which lever. If scenario A happens, I’m going to pull these levers. If we hit the lowest point, then it’s over and we’ll need to pull up stakes and try to do something else to survive. I create the plan in the early stages of the pandemic and it gave me comfort knowing I could get through anything. I was more proactive about it.

Everybody’s got a strategy until you get hit in the mouth. I felt like I put a strategy together before I got hit in the mouth and it helped me know how to respond when I do get hit in the mouth.

There are many more survival skills that a business leader and organization should have in their toolbox, however, these are the ones that came to me this immediately – things that helped us survive and thrive this year. We’re going to be up this year, somewhere between 5-10%, depending how the last few days go and I’m counting my blessings these last few days of 2020. We’ve had a lot of great partners that have stuck with us and I appreciate them. It’s a knife fight every day and this year was the most difficult one since I started this business. Having said all of that, we can still pay people and we’re still delivering the very best value to our clients. We had to get better at all of this because we had no other choice.

Hey, I would love to send you a complimentary copy of my book, Association Hustle. Send me an email to JP@MoeryCompany.com or by filling out the form here. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next week.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a beat on the latest association insights from JP Moery and The Moery Company:

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On this special holiday episode, JP shares morsels of advice for association leaders and small business owners.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today, I have a special holiday themed episode of the Association Hustle. You might have your own traditions around the holidays. I love them. I’m recording this the day before Thanksgiving and we’re already in the holiday spirit. We all need it.

I’ve got my own traditions around this time of year. I always listen to Alice’s Restaurant on Thanksgiving Day by Arlo Guthrie. I watch the movie The Last Waltz about the band’s final concert, which was recorded on a Thanksgiving Day. It’s a great documentary by Martin Scorsese with a fantastic performance by Van Morrison. I love these traditions.

In today’s episode, I’m going to work my way “around the plate” and give you tidbits and morsels of advice. Some of the helpings are going to be larger and we’ll work around it give you a little turkey, a little dressing, lots of gravy, a dab of yams, maybe a special green bean casserole, whatever it might be.

Be Honest

I want you guys to tell the truth. The absolute truth about your business, not “kind of” the truth. Stop telling lies. It starts with you. Quit telling yourself lies like your team is well trained or that you’re doing all you can to make your business successful. Your clients and your team will value it.

Be Your Best

I want you to be the best that you can be. Offer the best solution, develop the best program and the money will come. If you work on being the best, the finances will take care of themselves. Stop worrying about the money. Stop crying, stop judging, work on your skill and talent – those things will help you win majority of the time.

Speed

You will lose business development and sales deals without speed and velocity. I see it over and over again. Get to know the person – your potential client – by learning something personal about them. Drop that knowledge into your conversation. Go to LinkedIn after your first meeting and connect with them and learn something about their professional career. Get intrigued by something in their story, look at their bio, and check out their thought leadership. The wait time between the presentation, the discussions, and the proposal is now shorter. Weave parts of their story or anecdote into your conversations as you share information with them. Is there a piece of content that could be helpful to them?

The day before you get back together to go over the proposal, send them a quick video message, “Hey, I can’t wait to see you and talk about what we’re going to do together!” Scan any content or leads from industry blogs and send it to that prospect. Offer value every time you’re interacting with them. Do it quickly and consistently.

Follow up

Follow up is about helping others and most people don’t do that. They follow up by saying, “Hey, I’m just checking in.” They’re checking in because they have to and check off a box for activity purposes. Instead, follow up by adding value and because that is what your potential clients expect from you. They’ll expect that from you as a client, too. This will allow you to differentiate yourself from every other person that’s calling them.

Send a testimonial without them asking for it – as soon as you have that final conversation – about something that you’ve done for someone that’s a similar project.

Listen

The number one thing that all sales people do is listen. I got this quick hack from that incredible sales guru, Jeffrey Gitomer. If you want to learn to listen better, take notes. If you write notes down, you can’t talk.

Be Concise

Be concise with your pitch. Make the story about the person you’re talking to and their business, not what you offer. Tell them about the solutions you provide and what it will result in rather than your elevator pitch and what you do and what services you provide. Tell compelling stories about how people use your services and how that helped them become successful.

That’s how to become a better salesperson.

Events

Let’s talk about 2021 and upcoming events. I see a troubling trend where organizations are sitting on inventory and waiting to release their sponsorship offerings because they’re working on “perfect” implementation and clarity on whether the event will be a virtual, hybrid, or in-person. The result of that is that they’re not getting any sponsorship inventory out into the marketplace. When the sponsorship inventory is delayed indefinitely, the potential sponsors don’t have time to decide.

We were making major progress on being more proactive with our sponsorship inventory and our prospectuses. I recognize that you might be unsure. However, we got to get something in the hands of our partners. Create standards around cancellation, their timeframe, and deposits so people can make decisions. They need to know if they can get out of the deal if needed. Address the sponsor’s risk because no one wants risk. If you can eliminate risk, they are more likely to buy.

Mergers and Acquisitions

These will continue as associations face financial headwinds and they’re unsure if they can sustain themselves in their current state. The real opportunity in 2021 is to collaborate more with other organizations and partner with others. Recently, I’ve been fortunate to help an association navigate a strategic alliance and the best progress is made when the members of that strategic alliance are talking about the members and how they might benefit, how the industry could thrive, and how they’re going to achieve their industry goals from an advocacy perspective. A lot of progress is made when the parties talk about and collaborate in those areas. When they start talking about board seats and who gets to decide and when they get away from the member benefits, that’s when the mergers and acquisition conversations come to a screeching halt. It will be a better outcome the more you think about collaborative aspect.

Data Quality

We’re going to have to go to the dentist for a checkup. This is what I use to compare keeping your data quality healthy. Every six months, you need to open up your mouth and look in there. Do you see a crack in your crown? A cavity? Is anything coming in crooked? You need to do the same thing around your data.

Check your emails and verify them. We use a system called BriteVerify to verify all of our email addresses. If email addresses are bouncing or not confirmed, it’s more than likely that the entire contact profile needs to be updated for that lead. I’ve seen a lot of contact lists that needed to be updated because there have been changes in the company. The company is still a valid a prospect and/or member it’s that the people within the company that you have listed are not the right contacts. Check the quality of your data every six months… and your teeth.

Revisit the No’s

Help yourself make a sale at the end of the year by going back to all of the prospects that you closed as lost and those who said no throughout the year. Ask them what it would take for them to revisit the opportunity now or next year. They’d love to hear back from you. They also might have budget leftover either now at the end of the year, or in the first quarter of next. I guarantee you, revisiting your former prospects – or people that were in the pipeline – is a great move for you to set yourself up for a final sale this year, or tee you up for a great 2021.

Have a great holiday. Thanks for joining me at the table. We’ll talk next week! Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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On this special holiday episode, JP shares morsels of advice for association leaders and small business owners.

Show notes: https://moerycompany.com/episode-261/

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Business model diversification for associations is more important than ever. Tune in to this week’s episode to learn how you can diversify your association’s revenue.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

We’ve learned this so much over the last eight months during the pandemic, including the importance of diversification for revenue for associations. Diversification comes in many shapes and sizes; however, it is more important than ever to associations’ business model moving forward.

Being a one trick pony probably not going to be enough to sustain your organization. Here’s what I see associations doing right now:

If you’re reliant on non-dues revenue, like a big event or a meeting, data shows that you are going to have around maybe 40% to 60% coming from events. It’s difficult to rely on only event revenue to pull you through. Associations are adapting and putting additional emphasis on membership development to offset their event revenue shortfalls by doing the following:

Improving the process for membership renewal. Membership renewal is a lot more than a billing cycle. The best associations are emphasizing the benefits, services, and return on investment regarding membership at least 10 times a year in a variety of different formats: webinar briefings about services, email campaigns, outreach and calls to the members from the staff and volunteers about new programs that are available to them that might be helpful.

Creating a very intentional membership recruitment program. To do this best, segment the membership to ensure the value proposition is specific and well-articulated to each group. For example, suppliers have different needs than the core membership in the manufacturing sector. As part of the sales process improvement, we need something that involves demonstration of the services and benefits. We need testimonials. We need a good CRM to track our activity and our hard work. The interpretation of government relations, activity, regulations, and PPP loans and all those things is a great ROI on government relations.

For years, we talked about how government relations is intangible. Not now, friends. You’re showing them the value of government relations and they’re getting your content because of your expertise and the way you interpret what’s happening.

Marketing General’s economic impact study for associations states that about 70% of the associations reported an increase in engagement this year. That means your value proposition is valuable because they want more of it. People in your industry are seeking more of your content, information, and they want to access your experts. This engagement and your facilitation means that non-dues revenue is a great opportunity.

Conversely, let’s flip the coin. If you’re primarily a membership dues-based business model, you might need non-dues diversification. I’m working with a great association that’s launching its first ever sponsorship program because they have access to the entire supply chain. Buyers and sellers may need you to facilitate and provide branding, marketing, and business networking opportunities – even in a virtual format. So, how do you do that? Conduct virtual meetings until you can meet together and reach more people than ever before. We’re seeing this type of engagement where the numbers and the data is more robust. Every meeting or event is inventory for a company to sponsor.

Along those lines, provide thought leadership for webinars and virtual events as a sponsorship opportunity – it’s hot and something that people want. They want the ability to speak and the ability to show their expertise and offerings.

The podcasting format has exploded. Provide branding, interview slots, and ads as a way to reach people on this very intimate platform.

Newsletters are once again viable as a sponsorship platform. We’re seeing it with our own. Our newsletter open and click through rates are increasing. Use your email newsletters as to offer sponsorship opportunity to your partners. We’re diversifying the contacts within our industry companies that we’re reaching. Over and over again, I’m hearing the executives who are reaching different people within the member companies. We’ve been looking for this opportunity for years and now we have it.

The opportunity now is to keep that activity momentum and maintain their activation after the dust settles post pandemic. We have to continue to implement all of the things that we’ve learned. I know you may want to go back to the good old days but we laid a lot of groundwork. We’ve developed infrastructure and we’re delivering value in different ways. We’ve learned so much so let’s maintain it and enable it to help us grow our organization through dues work and non-dues activity.

I got a special gift for you. Send me your mailing address to JP@MoeryCompany.com, or head over to this page to enter your information, and I’d be delighted to send you a complimentary copy of my first ever book – maybe the last – Association Hustle. Thanks for listening. See you next week.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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What does it mean to lead an organization these days? Tune in to this week’s episode as JP shares lessons he learned from a wartime general and how they can be applied to your organization.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today’s episode is about leadership. I don’t think there are bad companies or bad associations, however, I believe that there is poor leadership and that is the primary reason why associations and organizations don’t perform well. Yes, we’re in the middle of a pandemic and I understand it’s challenging which means strong leadership even more so important right now.

If you study business – even if you’re a casual follower – there are so many examples of companies and associations that grow, flourish, and expand when times are bad and industries are in decline. Even in times like these! Take a look at the association business, some organizations are circling down the drain right now while others are adjusting, rebounding, and increasing industry influence. In any case, leadership is a major factor regarding the trajectory.

What does it mean to lead an organization now?

I’ve been studying and reading materials from about half a century ago from General Bruce Clarke. West Point, World War II, Korea. He wrote the book on how to lead an army and so much of the information resonated with me. I’d like to share with you a few of General Clarke’s teachings with my own twist because, in some ways, I believe we are in a war. We’re in a business war right now.

1. Don’t ignore problems. They’ve been exposed during this battle. You know what they are your organization. This may be a little bit different than commanding an army, however, I believe it is important for organizations to address their problems; it’s an essential part of leadership.

If you’re unable to articulate the challenges and problems and address them as a team, you fail to portray credibility. Your team knows what’s going on and that you’re ignoring it. Your team knows an issue likely before you even do and if you address problems or challenges regularly, you will have a reputation as a leader that does not ignore issues.

In the same vein, I’ve learned that permissiveness doesn’t work. When you address problems, you’re going to be pulled to ignore or avoid them. Don’t take the bait. You can tell how great a coach is because of the things that they don’t allow. They’re not permissive. They stay on the details and that’s why they’re great coaches. That is why great leaders don’t ignore problems, they address them. Great leaders look for challenges.

2. Tell your team what you expect, it is not their job to ask you. Clarity is important characteristic of a great leader.

An important exercise that I learned from Manager Tools, a podcast and a blog, that is absolutely critical to my leadership – and a very simple task – is to ask your team members to list the five most important responsibilities of their job. You, as the leader or manager, list the five most important things of their job, compare and give feedback. My guess is there are some folks that are going to be totally aligned with you while there may be others that you’re not on the same page with. This gives you the opportunity to address specifically what you expect and how. It’s unbelievably powerful.

3. Training is critical. I have to be absolutely transparent with you, we’re not very good at it. I think it’s a challenge for smaller companies because there’s so much to do and you don’t find the time to train your people. Training your team needs to be systemic. I have to create the systems and for my company to get better. We have to educate and train the team to move in fire. Move in fire, to adapt. We got to do it routinely and it has to be authentic.

Train the team in multiple disciplines.

Ask the sales team to review a contract. Ask the database team to review a sales proposal. Have the CFO deliver a sales pitch, I guarantee you everybody will learn from that. It’s not to be redundant, bureaucratic, or to catch people in an uncomfortable situation. There’s a reason for this. When someone goes down or a colleague needs some time or they have to take a vacation or an extended leave or they leave for another opportunity, you have some redundancies in place and you have people that can step into the gap.

Problems need to be addressed. Expectations are made. Your team – army if you will – will feel well trained and equipped which will lead to a motivated and tight organization.

Here is what general Bruce Clarke says about professionalism. And, once again, I’ll give you my interpretation for associations. Raise the army, get your team in place, and train them. Organize them. Put the best people in charge of initiatives, including new efforts. Eliminate parts of your organization that are no longer needed. Equip them. Does your database stink? Is your CRM a mess? Fix it! Train them.

Senior leaders, do you know how to read a balance sheet? Does the membership team have a specific rebuttal for objections that they hear over and over again? Lead and command the team. Set the expectations and keep those expectations. Move the army. Take your value proposition and change it. Change how you deliver it. Change how you sell it. Move and attack!

Maintain the army, keep your members retained. Don’t just bill them. Have a process to maintain members and staff. Supply the army, provide the association with resources. Pay your staff. Encourage them. Add relevant programs to the value proposition so members feel like they’re supplied with good value. Employ them and deploy them. Take action and they will stay sharp.

Communicate. We have a three weekly team calls focusing on what is happening in the space, wins and losses, and addressing problems.

Friends, I went a little longer than usual. However, I think it’s an unbelievable time for leadership and it’s a big deal. Why? Because your business is changing forever. Whether we like it or not, it’s changed forever and now is the time for leadership. I want to thank you for listening all the way through so I’ve got a gift for you. If you like this content, email me JP@MoeryCompany.com or head over to this page to enter your information and I will send you a complimentary copy of my first book, Association Hustle.

Thanks for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a beat on the latest association insights from JP Moery and The Moery Company:

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Takeaways from the 2020 elections and how you can apply those lessons to your association.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hey, it’s great to be with you this week. November 11, 2020. A historic week for our country. An election held during a pandemic. There are unbelievable takeaways and things that I’ve learned that I want to pass along to you.

What are the lessons that association can take away from the most recent election?

Do we look at – and utilize – all of the options that we have available to us to engage our members? Are we, as associations and organizations, going to continue to rely on a legacy model to pull across the finish line and expect our members to get value from you? Donald Trump used an Election Day strategy that focused on people showing up to the polls on the day of and voting in person. That strategy has worked for a very long time. However, over the years, that has become a narrow strategy. There are now numerous ways that we can vote here in the United States: absentee, mail-in, and early in person.

There now needs to be a more diversified strategy to get us more votes, engagement, and activity. And, you have to work hard to implement it. It takes new strategies, optimization, and engagement efforts.

Now, I don’t care really who you were pulling for, however, I think what we have learned from that is that it’s not all about advocacy. If you’re just an advocacy organization, that’s a pretty narrow strategy. If your non-dues revenue stream is determined by a singular meeting that brings in a lot of people for one week out of the year – and you’re not diversifying the delivery system – you might lose opportunities when it comes to membership and engagement with your members.

Are you looking at the playbook and the rules of the game and are you doing all the things that you can to connect with your membership and to deliver value?

A recent Marketing General study revealed that 70% of all associations reported increased membership engagement this year. Read that again. An increase in membership engagement during a time when we have to be socially distance and cannot meet in person. That amazes me! Your members need more value from you than ever before. Your industries want more services from you! You have to be able to deliver them in a different way – rather than just in-person, during a certain timeframe of the year, during your three-day event, during your Superbowl, during your election day. That’s what I learned from the election.

The other thing that I’m very excited about this week is that I attended my first in-person meeting since March of this year. It was fantastic. Limited attendance. Well executed by the hotel with masks and social distancing. The social events were held outside and the doors were open for air circulation when possible. Every safety precaution was taken into consideration and implemented.

I was more eager to participate in the content than ever – hear people live – than I have been in a very long time. It was just like my first meeting ever! I was taking notes and very engaged. I will say this, though, the networking felt a bit clumsy, especially with people that I didn’t know well. It’s hard to connect, speak with, and read people when they’ve got a mask on and they’re six feet away. It’s a little stiff and a bit less organic. Most felt more comfortable connecting with the folks that they already knew.

It was a breakthrough for me. It is possible. Meetings can be done safely for some of your membership segments. My guess is we’re going to see smaller, more exclusive groups. My expectation is, hopefully, you’ll get to see those in the next several months. However, it’s going to be different than what we’re used to and it’s likely to be different for some time.

Final thought.

What an incredible democracy we live in. The process does work. This past election wasn’t disorderly. In fact, it was very orderly. It followed the steps that it was supposed to, regardless of how and if people wanted to change things midstream. The system doesn’t work that way. We’ve got a lot of counterbalances. We are not used to handling the volume that came through the system, that’s why it took longer. It still worked.

And, for our associations – especially those that have active government relations programs, now that this is being settled – my guess is that it’s likely going to be an amazing opportunity for all of us. One of the most exciting years full of different strategies and implementations, new Congress, and possible a new presidency. An amazing time and opportunity for your groups. And, we’re going to be with you all the way, giving you insights and thoughts.

Hey, I’ve got a thought for you today. If you would like a complimentary copy of my first ever book, Association Hustle, email me at JP@MoeryCompany.com or head over to this page to enter your information. I’d love to send you a copy. We’ll talk next week. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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The less concerned you are about being liked – or caring what others think of you – the more liberated you might be and it could be the catalyst to your greatness and meeting your full potential. Listen to this week’s episode for hard truths on integrity, customer service, and delivering value to your clients.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

The less concerned you are about being liked – or caring what others think of you – the more liberated you might be and it could be the catalyst to your greatness and meeting your full potential.

We’re in the service business at The Moery Company – whether we’re selling for an association or offering consulting services – we’re interacting with our clients on a pretty regular basis; if not daily, weekly. What I often see is a differential mentality; a one down mentality, if you will. In some cases, it’s because you just want to be liked.

This sometimes starts during the sales process, “Hey, I’m so appreciative of your time!” Or, “Gosh, I’m so grateful you would do business with us!” Yeah, I get it, I am thankful. However, my time is just as important as yours.

In the association industry, we have a cult of personality of deferral, “Oh my gosh, I can’t have any CEOs mad at me, it will be very uncomfortable at the next reception we’re at together!” I don’t think about it that way. Associations can also see this with their members. When I worked at an association and paying member was upset – like a former chairperson mad about their room – there was a meltdown in the office and a fire drill reaction to it. It’s ridiculous.

The best customer service is not about being liked or being differential, rather it’s about being respected. You hired me – or joined an association – because you have a problem that we can help you solve. There might be an avoidance of the problem or a lack of admission of the problem and, deep down inside, you likely reached out and hired me to clean it up or change the trajectory of your company. To perform the best customer service, you may need the very best advice, even if it’s tough love. You hired me for advice and the very best recommendations, so let’s reframe a few specific tactics that will make you great at customer service because these things really count when serving a client. Be on time, don’t miss a deadline, make every meeting, sign on to Zoom early, look like a pro even if you’re working from home, and so on.

Look at the agreement and project scope regularly. I’m always referring back to ours to ensure that we’re delivering exactly what our client asked us to do. From my experience, most problems in business are based on someone not doing what they promised they would and they didn’t do it in the expected timeframe.

Deliver value every single time you engage with a client, even if it is a status meeting. Provide expertise, observation from the field, nuggets of information, and anything else that might be helpful.

Have integrity. It’s not about a billing statement or over charging someone. It’s about perspective. If it sucks, tell them. If someone on their team is slowing you down and undermining your ability to deliver, say so.

I admit, I’ve sugar coated the truth before. And, you know what? I got fired anyway. The fault was mine. It was my mistake, it was my lack of integrity and not telling it like it is, it was my fault not sharing all of my expertise – whether it was good or bad. You can deliver on these – even if it’s tough love – sincerely. You’ve kept your end of the bargain if you do it that way.

In the long run, people might actually like you for that and I believe they will eventually respect you more. An added benefit is that you’re going to respect yourself more for doing it that way.

Hope this was helpful for you.

Hey, if you listened all the way through this episode, you deserve a treat! I’m going to send you a free copy of Association Hustle, my first and maybe only book that I’ll ever write. I put a lot into it – my heart and soul – and would love to give you a copy. If you listen to this podcast, I’m going to send one to you complimentary. Respond to me by e-mail, or LinkedIn, or wherever you want.

Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next week. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a beat on the latest association insights from JP Moery and The Moery Company:

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The less concerned you are about being liked – or caring what others think of you – the more liberated you might be and it could be the catalyst to your greatness and meeting your full potential. Listen to this week's episode for hard truths on integrity, customer service, and delivering value to your clients.

Show notes: https://moerycompany.com/episode-257/

Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://bit.ly/TMCnewsletter2

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Associations that have adopted business like behavior are succeeding while those that have not will continue to struggle. Which camp does your association fall into?

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Associations are adopting business like behavior and are operating more and more like corporations.

Some people, including myself, have said over time that associations should be acting and performing more like business-oriented groups. Now, we’re starting to see more and more associations changing their mode of operations.

What does that mean for the consultants, members, and staff members?

Shorter timeframe to make decision. For example, new contracts are being negotiated and signed at lightning speed because association leaders have a desperate need for services; they need to change the trajectory of their business and they’re ready to make decisions quicker than ever before.

The pace of decision making for associations has decreased considerably. Organizational patience is also shorter. They want things done tomorrow and are putting pressure on their partners and staff members to execute quickly and efficiently. Association CEOs are even more results oriented.

Staff consolidation has reduced association’s ability to carry out the necessary changes. Reduction has occurred for multiple reasons, such as financial reality or the need for new skill sets. If you’re not able to adapt from in-person meetings to virtual there’s not much that we can do for you.

This means that associations have to get out of the gate quickly, launch, and start doing the work. Don’t wait. If you’re an associations consultant then I advise that you do not wait for an internal staff member to slow things down because you’re going to be the one held accountable and expected to perform stringently. We’re acting faster for quicker results; we need them now. We may find ourselves in an environment where we’re having to step on some toes to get things done.

Association CEOs are looking for deep expertise and advice. Sometimes, consulting feels like we’re building a watch needing a lot of data, information, and backstory. The work to do so serves us well to do that; we need to do the background work. However, ultimately, they want us to tell them what the shot is. The association leaders that I’m speaking with want to know exactly what to do and what to do now. This is encouraging as we approach what I think is the year of the association.

Here’s why I say that:

Associations have demonstrated why their existence is essential. While industries were falling apart and failing, what happened? Associations stepped in and helped their industries and members with government relations. In many cases, for the first time ever, associations secured specific aid and assistance through the CARE Act, PPP loans, and through other types of relief. This was the ultimate culling of the herd.

A lot of associations express that they are in the government relations and influence business. However, for those that did not deliver, their members will have second thoughts when it comes to continuing to be involved with them in the short- or long-term future.

Associations have delivered more programs, education, and content for their industry than ever before, and in many different formats. We’ve seen the best content ever come out in the history of the industry.

You will have the best return on investment and efforts as you go into a new membership season. You will sell new – or retain – members because of all the value you brought to the table this year.

On the other side of the spectrum, if you couldn’t demonstrate government relations or influence, what the heck’s been going on? What have you built up over the last several decades? Were you delivering your expertise on Zoom calls? Or, did you complain about the platform and avoid it? Did you call it a fad? Did you say these things were not going to stik?

Did you say the same thing about social media as it was becoming a powerful mainstream platform? Did you wait to produce virtual meetings, hoping for the next live event – whenever those are going to happen again? Did you say people are not going to participate, that you we’re above it and you were not going to deliver to your industry, that you’re not desperate. If you behave that way, good luck to you. Let me refer you to a competitor that will sell your memberships and renew for commission only because they are desperate for any type business.

However, if you delivered – like I think many of you did in terms of influence, advocacy, programming, speaking and engaging more members than ever before – this is your year, the year of the association. If you adopt bottom line tactics that we’ve been talking about on this podcast for a long time, then you will see success.

Hey, got a special offer for you, my friends! If you want a free book, Association Hustle, I’ve got a couple extra copies. By the way, there’s going be another one. Think about all the content that we’ve put out this year? We’ve got some lessons learned that we’re going to pass along to you after this pandemic is over.

Want a copy? Send me an email and I’ll send you a complimentary copy of Association Hustle. I might even throw a Moery Company lid in there for you as well. See you next week.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a beat on the latest association insights from JP Moery and The Moery Company:

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Your sponsors and exhibitors are no longer the folks who are underwriting your food and beverage costs at an in-person event. They’re now your business partners. Listen to this weeks episode to learn what to include in your 2021 sponsorship prospectus to win over existing and new sponsors.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I want to give you some encouragement – and a dose of reality – in regards to what is about to happen. I want you to be successful. That’s what I’m all about. That’s my main goal with this podcast! I’m so grateful that you listen and I want you to take the information that I share and turn into something good for you.

Here are some thoughts around sponsorships for 2021 because you’re probably getting ready for it right now.

Your sponsors and exhibitors are no longer the folks who are underwriting your food and beverage costs at an in-person event. Now, and in the future, they’re going to increasingly become your business partners as registration fee revenue continues to be reduced for a significant amount of time.

Recently, I pulled research information from IEG’s sponsorship.com website showing projections that approximately 40% of all global sponsorship revenue will need to be made up in 2021 because a lot of the inventory disappeared. We know this from our own experiences in the association area; when events were cancelled, so was the sponsorship revenue. This means that we need to make up 40% of that revenue in other ways. Associations were way too reliant on sponsorship inventory built around live events to sustain themselves.

Associations that did not have good inventory prior to the pandemic – such as a coffee break sponsorship with the same company for a decade plus – get ready, you’re going to get a butt kicking this year if you don’t change now. However, I know you can change. I’ve seen it happen where organizations have completely transformed their sponsorship program.

Sponsors are going to reconsider their play not only with you but with everybody else. This is an opportunity because they’re rethinking all of the other association that they have worked with before. There’s no silver bullet solution to this; we’ve got to ask the sponsors about what they’re most interested in and their intended ROI. We’ve got to reconfigure our inventory and we’ve got to provide diversity in our offerings to them.

If we can’t perform – a live event, for example – they will want their money back. Your sponsors want to see clear statements around risk mitigation and how they will get their money back if things don’t happen as planned.

Collection and analysis of data will be a priority so male sure that it is part of the value proposition especially if you’re doing a lot of virtual stuff – webinars, podcasting, etc. – because your partners need to see what their money did for them.

Contracts and agreements are likely to look different than they did in the past. By the way, that’s fair, because our event contracts look different these days. Sponsors are now our business partners and we have to treat them that way. We do that by reducing their risks which will give us a chance in the market.

Here are some ideas to include as part of your 2021 prospectus:

• in-person events
• virtual event
• podcast
• video series
• webinars
• digital ads
• social media
• sponsored emails
• ads in e-newsletter to monetize that
• virtual exhibit booths at events + ability to upload white papers, videos, and a way to schedule one-on-one meetings

Which gets me to the next point: select a virtual event platform that enables you to schedule one-on-one meetings. Sponsors are looking for the direct connection because that’s been taken away from them due to a reduction of travel.

Think about putting your prospectus together right now, friends. Your potential and existing sponsors have a lot of uncertainty when it comes to their budget. Give them the opportunity to set it by getting your prospectus out into the marketplace before everyone else – today, tomorrow, by the end of October, or early November at the latest.

Now is also a great opportunity to onboard new sponsors because other associations that they may have been working with before are not responding as quickly or with a robust sponsorship inventory.

It’s important to be transparent about your event planning for 2021, whether they are in-person, virtual, or hybrid. Be transparent about what you have planned and the make the calls for pivots early. There needs to be enough information out there for people to be able to decide on what their plan needs to be. Your sponsors and your attendees will not show up if there’s a lack of certainty in your messaging.

Launch the prospectus with a webinar. Your partners deserve a chance to see the offerings in a live briefing and to see all the things that you’ve got planned for them. By the way, if you collect data on who registered for the event, you will know who the key prospects are.

These companies are really important to our businesses moving forward. You will knock it out of the park if you treat your them well and approach the relationship with full transparency, elimination of risk, and diverse inventory.

Best wishes to you. Thanks for listening. See you next week. Bye. Bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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This is the most important year for membership renewal and now is not the time to take your foot off the gas. Listen to this week’s episode for tips on how to prepare to have a successful membership renewal season this year and beyond.

P.S. Stick around for a free offer at the end of this episode!

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I have a special offer at the end of today’s podcast so hang with me over the next several minutes to find out what it is!

We’re seeing a fast track to 2020 being the most important membership year in the history of our association industry. Why?

We’ve had contraction across industries due to mergers and acquisitions and companies coming in and out of a recession. This has caused non-dues revenue to become uncertain and reduced for associations. If you look at the ASAE operating ratio study, the average association brings in anywhere between 30-40% of their revenue from meetings and events. That gross revenue is clearly reduced because we’re currently using virtual formats. Some associations are seeing success. They’re making money and we’re helping them net more money than we did prior to the pandemic. However, we’re not bringing in the volume and the gross revenue that we were before. All of these things are affecting our business model, which makes membership renewal that much more important.

A Marketing General study shows that an average association experiences an approximately 90% renewal rate. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw at least a 10% reduction in renewal rates next year to be closer to 80%. Association membership renewals are very important for 2021 and beyond.

In addition to the expected ruction in renewal rates, we are also seeing layoffs across the association industry. If you read CEO Update, Axios, or Politico you’re probably monitoring some of these layoffs and cutbacks that associations are making right now. I get calls from executives right now looking for their next deal.

We’re seeing it firsthand with the distribution of our e-newsletter. Every other week, we send out a newsletter and our reports show hard bounces – indicating that the e-mail address no longer exists – and out of office responses showing that the subscriber is no longer with the association. This is affecting the ability for us to develop and implement a good membership renewal and recruitment program because a lot of these people were in charge of that function. Membership related work will be the most important work that you do this year.

There’s a trend in membership development showing a more holistic approach when it comes to onboarding, renewal, engagement, and recruitment. We used to look at recruitment and renewal as two separate seasons with different methodologies and now there’s a lot more synergy.

In the last several months, associations have been delivering value in a variety of different formats: Zoom calls, webinars, newsletters, podcast, video, and more. You’re communicating with more people in your industries than you ever have. We also are facing what people are calling a K-shaped recovery that may affect renewal and recruitment efforts. Some of your membership segments may be doing better than others and we need to take this into consideration as we go into the renewal and recruitment process.

This shouldn’t stop us from asking your existing members to renew. Don’t assume what’s happening internally and don’t say no for someone else.

Small businesses have needed resources for PPP loan applications and now they are seeking resources on loan forgiveness and other survival tools. Every one of your members recognize the value of advocacy now, probably more than ever. Membership modernization continues to trend; we’re doing a lot of consulting projects in this area right now. Modernization includes – but is not limited to – segmented value propositions for different groups, introducing new dues levels, and introducing new membership segments. Associations are pulling in new member types with content, education, and advice. Some of these members come from different parts of the supply chain.

Mergers and acquisitions will continue to accelerate in your membership groups. The same goes for associations. Association members are going to be picking which associations they will remain a part of and we know that most companies that join associations are often members of multiple organizations. This is the year they will decide their membership status, will yours make the cut?

The virtual meeting format has become the norm; I think it’s viable long-term and that is not bad a thing. We have improved data, including about the content preferences of our members. We’ve been hearing a narrative that people are not as engaged in virtual meetings as they are in an in-person meeting. Make sure that you have a way true way to capture engagement data. Are your attendees tuned in or tuned out and doing work at the same time? Could the same be said during in-person events, too? I’m looking forward to the opportunity in 2021 to hold both types of event formats for our clients because I think they both have qualities with major upsides.

There’s another trend bubbling up that showcases the value of local and regional organizations, ones that I think were challenged in our previous environment. Now, national groups with a federated structure – where you can tie together a local state national organization in a fairly seamless value proposition – have a greater opportunity because people may be more willing to travel to in-person meetings closer to home. They may not be getting on a plane for a while, they’re going to be driving to their local chapter’s events. If you have strong relationships with your local and regional chapters and you’ve got consistency in terms of quality and deliverables, a federated structure has many possibilities as a vehicle to deliver your value.

As you think about renewal for next year, what I would encourage you to showcase your value to your members by listing out everything that you have done for them over a period of time. Let’s take a look at our friends over at the National Waste Recycling Association – hope they don’t mind that I’m talking about them her – they’ve been great partners of ours. The NWRA represents organizations that pick up our trash and recycle it. They recently sent out an infographic that shows all of the wins that they had in their industry over the last year. The infographic included:

• number of communications sent to the federal government
• number of letters sent to state and local government
• number of press releases distributed
• number of mentions in the media
• number of people that they’ve reached broken down by different formats
• number of social media posts they’ve put out advocating for the industry
• number of teleconferences that they held for chapters
• number of webinars they’ve conducted on behalf of and for the members and the number of attendees that participated

You have to tell your members the story and the NWRA did so with the infographic; it’s been an absolute home run in terms of demonstrating what the association has done during this pandemic.

Some people are going to make the argument that your association would have done all of those things, anyway. However, that’s not true. If they do not renew as a member, you will be doing all of those things for their competitors and do everything that you can to make them successful. Same as what you’ve been doing for them all along while they were your members.

My recommendation is to create a plan to communicate these items monthly and provide context around what it all means. Select a monthly theme and member service to promote. May be demonstrate the value of the service through a webinar.

To tie it all together, your monthly membership outreach plan may look something like this:

• monthly theme or service
• invoicing plan
• e-mail campaign
• social media campaign targeting your industry stakeholders
• direct mail campaign
• personal letters followed by personal phone calls
• phone campaign using volunteer staff or outsources membership professionals (like us!)

Every month, use a combination of the above components and you’ll have a successful renewal and recruiting season.

This is the biggest year ever for membership and one that can be a successful one if you plan for it.

I’ve got a special offer for you! If you send me a personal e-mail at JP@MoeryCompany.com, I would be pleased to send you a free copy of my book, Association Hustle. I look forward to hearing from you!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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This week JP shares insights gained from listening to his favorite podcasts and six steps to launching a new sales project.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today’s podcast covers two topics. The first will cover insights learned from listening to podcasts and the second will cover the steps to selling a new project – maybe a new prospectus, maybe a new membership category – I’ve got some thoughts on how to do that.

The Art of Discipline

There are five podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis – daily or weekly – depending upon the frequency of that podcast. Those podcasts are:

1. The Gary Vee Audio Experience about branding, entrepreneurship, and hustle.

2. To Sell or Die by Jeffrey Gitomer. This guy is hilarious and he’s great on sales tactics. Even if you’re not in sales, I’d listened to it because it’s that awesome.

3. Marshall Pruitt’s podcast talks about IndyCar racing and you know I love my fast cars!

4. In the Circle is about fastpitch softball. You know what I learned from it other than softball? I work with a lot of women and I value their opinions. By listening to this podcast, I learned a lot about communicating and working with the leading women in the industry.

5. Tim Ferriss’s two podcasts, The Tim Ferriss Show and Tool of Titans – in which he breaks down every chapter of his book by the same title. The chapter that really resonated with me this week was an interview with Jocko Willink, a Navy SEAL and a general badass. One of the points that he makes is that discipline equals freedom.

This led me to identify four areas of discipline for association executives that I think will help you be successful in the long term.

1. Members – or prospects – first. Their needs and objectives comes before the pitch or what the association has to say. We spend so much time talking about us, and not enough time thinking about them.

2. Prospecting. Allot time and activity each week on people or companies that you have never worked with before.

3. Renewal. It’s never a waste of time or money to develop intentional process on keeping a current customer, member, and sponsor. Identifying what they need, stay in touch, and observe them to see what they’re doing in the marketplace. Their desires and needs with you may change, however, if you’re not paying attention – and you don’t develop a discipline to revisit – you may lose them in the long term.

4. Action as a strategy. If you take extraordinary amount of action, you’re going to beat 90% of the organizations in the association game. I see it in sales and in consulting projects. If you continue to work and take action with a certain amount of speed and velocity, you’re going to wow your members and your customers.

Discipline equals freedom. What disciplines do you need for you, your association, or your business?

Selling New Projects

During one of our recent sales meetings, a question came up about the steps one needed to take when launching a new sales program for membership or sponsorships. Here’s how I would tackle it:

1. Create a plan. Spell out the sequence of events and the distribution of information. Selling a new program can be overwhelming and it helps to break it down into smaller chunks.

2. Develop a no brainer offer, an incredible incentive for people to buy. Even if they’re remotely interested, they’re going to listen.

3. Segment and build out a kick ass list. Too many times we fail because we’re in a rush to get product out the door and to start pitching that we forget who we’re really sending this to. Are they the right individuals? Is their information accurate?

4. Educate your segmented list about the offer and the incentive. The prospect may learn something new and you establish credibility in the process. You become the linchpin of this new program. Launch your new sponsor prospectuses by webinar and walk the prospects through the new inventory.

5. Set an expiration date for the offer. It’s not an incentive – or a no brainer offer – if it’s available forever.

6. Launch the new program again with a different sequence, offer, list, and expiration date. And then do it again and again.

That’s how you launch and sell a new sponsorship program, a new membership category, a new membership dues structure, or whatever it might be.

I hope these two very different stories are helpful to you and I’m so grateful if you would share this episode with somebody. Best wishes.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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This week JP Moery explains why it’s important to have a pulse on your organization’s culture followed by three incentives you can use to help recruit new members.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

We’re going to cover a couple of things on this episode of the Association Hustle Podcast.

First, I’m going to cover some internal developments that I’ve observed over the last several weeks and then then I’ll talk about membership recruitment.

Team Culture

Your business, whether it’s an association or a business that’s serving associations, is likely in a very different place than it was one year ago today. For example, you’re likely working remotely for an unforeseen amount of time. If you’re an association, your business model has been disrupted, specifically, non-dues revenue. Your membership renewals are probably a guessing game for 2021 at this time. You may not be sure how they’re going to come in. Will it be the same cadence as before? Will there be a different percentage of members renewing than previous years? A lot of unknowns there.

Recruitment will be a battle as we’re competing for discretionary budgets of our member companies that we’re trying to bring on board. So, with all that happening in the business side, here’s my advice: now is the perfect time to ask your employees about your organization’s culture. You’re working so that that you’ve probably forgotten to ask them how they’re doing. They’re working by themselves. They’re not together to pass on stories. They might feel like they’re out on an island and you’ve left them out there because you’re so focused on keeping the business operation afloat – changing, adding new programs, switching to virtual, all these things – and you haven’t thought about the people.

Recently, my team participate in a study with Heidrick and Struggles. The results were eye opening for me as a leader. I learned that the fact that we asked them about how they’re doing – and what the culture was like – had benefits to it in itself. Secondly, the importance of trust, honesty, and integrity with each other and our clients was our highest rated area. That’s great news because we put a lot of emphasis on that when we started the company 11 years ago. Frankly, if I go down with the ship and this company doesn’t live another year, I’ll know that we did the right things the right way by our team and our clients.

We ranked the lowest on diversity of opinions and thoughts and personal recognition. And our team is right. In fact, I thought about this a lot; I’ve been so proactive, assertive, and making many decisions –because I’ve seen organizations that were paralyzed by the pandemic – that I was, frankly, less collaborative. I was not asking my team for their views or getting their feedback and that’s big damn mistake. I didn’t even know it.

To respond to ranking in that area we are now having more discussions and more inclusion on decisions that we have to make about strategy and direction of the company. Sometimes, it’s just good to talk about the issues instead of the task and the project at hand. We were focusing so much of what’s out in front of us, we were missing some big issues and big opportunities long term.

As far as increasing public recognition, I think folks are so grateful that they’ve got a job that they’re really grinding it out and focused on it. However, they still need that feedback of, “Hey, you’re doing great work!” Have more discussions right now, even if it feels counterintuitive, about culture.

New Member Recruitment Incentives

Fourth quarter for us has always been a fairly successful time for new member recruitment. Companies have budgets, they are working on their plans for the new year, they’re looking upcoming elections, they are paying attention to advocacy and regulation, and more. We always have something good to lead with an open the door in the fourth quarter for new member recruitment.

One of the most successful things that we’ve been able to do with a number of our clients is – and this isn’t unusual or necessarily innovative – is 15 months of membership for a one year of fees starting in the fourth quarter. This incentive has been really good at cementing deals for us.

Make sure that you’re making this offer to companies that are already demonstrating interest, don’t make it a blanket discount, go to those folks who have been close to signing on or with those who are a viable deal. The 15 for 12 might tip them over.

Secondly, if you make the 15 for 12 offer, get some of the money up front. Your word is your bond and so is theirs, however, make sure to get some cash upfront to ensure that it is a true deal. The remainder can be paid during the regular billing cycle beginning in 2021, whether it’s in January or July or whenever it may be.

Lastly, think about your suppliers, how might you add incentive – with little or no cost to the association and to the 15 for 12 deal – for example, a basic entry level sponsorship that probably doesn’t cost you that much might be a difference maker for them. After all, the suppliers, vendors, associates, and allied members are probably joining because of the opportunity to sell and to develop new markets within your industry.

Often, the fourth quarter is good for recruitment and this year it may be absolutely essential for your business. So, those are my thoughts today on culture membership and recruitment. And I hope that’s successful for you. Thanks for listening. I can’t wait to speak with you next week.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Need help recruiting new members or renewing existing members for 2021? We have a rock star sales team on standby ready to help! Fill out the form below and write the word “membership” in the last field and we’ll be in touch!

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Virtual events have some downsides, however, they have a major upside: engaging a new or different audience you would not have otherwise reached due to barriers of in-person events (budgets, scheduling, etc.). Leverage the current conditions to engage new audiences and convert them into new members.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today, we’re going to discuss how to leverage what you have available to you in this current environment for new membership and sponsorship recruitment.

Membership

One thing that we’re learning a lot more about is the value of membership recruitment, membership engagement, and membership renewal. Event and non-dues revenue streams may be a bit uncertain right now and it may continue to be so for a long time. This should not paralyze us. We have members and industry that rely on us to deliver value; this is why we were put on this association planet, anyway.

Let’s look at how you can leverage virtual events for membership from a before the event, during the event, and after the event perspectives.

Before the Event

Registration should be an absolute land run. We’re seeing from data we have collected that you can reach more people – and possibly get more attendance – with a virtual event than an in-person. It’s obvious why; there are less barriers. There’s a reduction in needed approval to register because registration fees tend to be lower, there’s no need for travel and booking a hotel, there’s an overall reduction of expenses that an attendee has to expense. Therefore, I would eliminate any non-member registration discrepancy. Get them to register and attend and then deliver unbelievable value to them by putting on a heck of a show: on demand content, live entertainment, concurrent sessions, and more. Showcase your vendors and suppliers in a compelling way not only for your members but to your non-members. Demonstrate how valuable your association is to them and how much great information they will walk away with from this event.

During the Event

Think about how to structure your sessions and design some purposely with the intent on showcasing the value of the association to your non-member attendees. When we go to in-person events, there’s usually some kind of a new member or a non-member briefing. I’ve been a couple of those and, oh my God, you couldn’t get me out of there quick enough. However, in this case, you can really showcase the benefits of membership without it being in their face. Set up sessions for the non-member and promote them prior to the event. Here are some ideas for topics to cover:

How can I better monitor state regulations?

How can I gain more customers in the insert your industry?

How do I connect with other companies virtually?

What’s the latest data in our industry and consumer trends?

How can I save money for my company right now?

These topics cover the benefits – or the end results – of becoming a member of your association. If you can put those in concurrent sessions and promote them actively before the event to your non-members you’re going to really enhance the association’s portfolio. By the way, because of the data collected by the virtual event platforms, we know who’s attending those sessions and those are the people we’re going to sell membership to after the event.

After the Event

How are you going to follow up with the non-members who attended your event? We’ve found, over the last decade here at The Moery Company, that we’re able to leverage more non-member attendees at events as a reason to join – or a part of our sales process – than probably any other factor. So, let’s do it here!

Right now, executives are more accessible than ever before because of the current work environment. Scheduling is much easier than it was before, you just jump on a Zoom call and you can actually talk to people without jumping through too many hoops. You don’t have to worry about driving into DC, parking when you get there, or finding the right suite or office; it’s all put away.

Every single non-member in attendance should be called personally – not emailed – to learn about their experience during your virtual event. In many cases, it might be the first time they’ve ever participated; use that as a wedge to start a discussion, “Hey, if you like this, maybe your company is going to enjoy all the membership services that we have to offer. Let’s have a conversation!”

Sponsorship

Here’s a quick story about how to get more sponsors because this is actually something that happened to us the other day. Every supplier in the industry should be invited to the unveiling of your new virtual meeting prospectus. Use a virtual event briefing to talk about the platform. Here are the seven steps to launch:

1. Send a personal invitation for an exclusive briefing about marketing to the industry and targeted lead generation.

2. Capture contact information provided at the time of registration.

3. Share an overview of the event during your virtual briefing – or webinar, if you will – including speaker information and how it’s going to work. Share the expected audience and what companies might be participating.

4. Provide information on sponsorship and virtual exhibit opportunities, announce commitments that you already have, and give thanks to the sponsors that have already made their commitment to you or have purchased sponsorships. This enhances and develops a bit of competition and demand.

5. Demo the platform. Show where they might be listed, demonstrate how their exhibit will look, show them what a premium package gets them, and so on.

6. Outline the process and provide contact information about who the prospect should contact to purchase a sponsorship or exhibit package.

7. Reach out and call everyone who attended the briefing. Use the contact information that you collected during the registration process.

Here’s what we learned when we did this for a client: we were able to follow up with every single attendee. Here was a real kicker – this was amazing – attendees on the call were upgrading their sponsorships and ordering booths during the webinar.

We have a chance right now to adapt and be a nimble and maximize opportunities that do exist. There are so many new things that we can do with membership and sponsorship! We can reach a different set of people than we did before this year and the virtual world is exposing those opportunities.

Yeah, there are downsides, however, the upside is the ability to engage a different audience. And, that different audience may be with you for the first time. Take advantage of that chance, convert them into a new member or to a new sponsor.

Have a great day. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Need help converting your virtual event attendees into members? We have a rock star sales team on standby ready to help! Fill out the form below and include the word “membership” next to your event date and we’ll be in touch!

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This week we’re celebrating the release of the 250th episode of the Association Hustle Podcast. Tune in as JP Moery dives into the lessons learned and what the future holds.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hello, my friends, and welcome to Episode 250 of the Association Hustle Podcast. For those of you who have been listening for a long time – thank you, thank you! For those of you who are joining for the first time – thank you, thank you! If you haven’t already, go back and download previous episode, lots of good stuff!

On to episode 250. Today, I’m going to let it rip. The title of this one is, “Now, I Really Have Something to Say,” because I’ve learned a lot over the last 250 episodes.

One of the things I’ve learned is the power of podcasting. Friends, it the most positive communication tool I’ve ever launched in business and I’ve been in the association space now for almost 30 years. I don’t understand any association that does not have one by now. Until recently, we were getting about 400 people listening per month, now we’re getting over 4000. Podcasts scale overtime and you have the opportunity to reach people that you’ve never reached before; the possibilities are endless.

Here are some of the other things that we have learned… Virtual programming is absolutely scalable. It’s on demand and we embrace the variety of ways that we can use these platforms to connect with multiple audience segments and groups that you’ve never been able to reach before. If you think about your in-person meetings, it was only getting to a limited amount of people, typically one attendee from an organization. Now, you can reach whole departments, and even companies, with your virtual programs.

Meetings and conventions are going to reappear and they will do so with vigor, however, the business model for events will change. Anticipate smaller, more regional events. May be high end, and exclusive ones. I’m concerned about organizations that typically put on large events with thousands of people in attendance. I hope they can figure it out and work through it because they’re so important to our business model. In all of these cases, we’re talking about a blended and diversified series of programs to reach a larger audience to be more influential and we are able to deepen the bench in our member companies – if it’s a corporate membership – and be relevant in the lives of these member companies more than ever.

After 250 episodes, I’m also worried about inaction. My former colleague Don Neal, President of 360 Live Media, said recently in a blog post that he was concerned about the cost of inaction, and I am too. Over the last 250 episodes, we talked about a number of ways to embrace new and innovative ways to engage audiences, but I know that there are some associations that really need to check themselves and to see if they’re truly helping out their members while the industry they represent is under incredible stress and strain. Now, here’s what I’m fascinated by, some associations have absolutely woken up; in some cases, it’s new leadership that’s catapulting the organization forward. I’m going to name some people today for you: Chris Walker, of the Distilled Spirits Council, this is you. David Long of the National Electrical Contractors Association, this is you. These guys, they’re firing so much new! And, I know they’ve got staff doing it and helping them but these folks are leading and they’re firing so much new and innovative content, you can’t even keep up with it. By the way, they’re not clients of mine; they used to be but I’m not getting paid by them to say that. They’re producing so much content that I can barely keep up with it. Podcasts and virtual meetings and videos every single day! They are both fairly new executives, from industry. They are not career association folks. Twenty-year association execs, including myself, can learn a lot from them.

About half of our podcast episodes are about value delivery and monetization of value and then selling the value effectively. Serving the needs of someone – and having them break away from their well-earned cash to give it to your association or your business – requires a consistent delivery of value and we’ve talked about that freely.

It’s the spirit of free enterprise that I still believe in. When we started this podcast, many moons ago, there were some really smart people out there – speaking at ASAE meetings and on message boards – talking about free memberships and providing all content for free. I made the point that this mindset was not a sustainable model for advocacy organization. Where are they now? Probably broke and not publishing their archived content and still speaking at meeting.

The path is being made and it is pretty darn clear to follow. To me, it hasn’t changed that much and this is what we’ll continue to talk about and go into detail and describe and discuss over the next 250 episodes, every single week.

Communicate often and on mobile, that’s where everybody is. Advocate. Government Affairs matters now, doesn’t it? Elections matter, don’t they? So does your political program. We know that now more than we’d ever did before. Facilitate; bring your different member segments together is a difference maker. Virtual programs and in-person events are going to be critical in delivering unique and valuable information. Virtual programming, and in-person, are both going to be required and will live together as a hybrid moving forward.

You’ve got to communicate, advocate, and facilitate. Then, you have to sell it. You have to have someone on the other end that can do that.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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This week’s episode covers important trends in virtual event sponsorship sales, membership, and additional areas of focus for associations.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Two hundred and forty-nine episodes! I never thought I’d get this far and I never thought you’d be with me this long; I really do appreciate you.

Today, I want to give you some feedback on business development and what’s going on right now in the space.

Let’s start with sponsorships.

Virtual sponsorships are working and they are selling. We see this in the field as we are selling virtual event sponsorship inventory on the behalf of our clients and we’re having success doing so. Here are some observations:

1. Avoid assumptions. Don’t assume that your existing sponsors may not want to participate virtually. On the other hand, there may be prospects that would never buy a booth at your trade show that want to be a virtual sponsor. Know that renewing former sponsors may be a bit different than it used to be and that you are opening opportunities with partners that may not have been active in this way before.

2. Be prepared to spend time explaining and promoting your new platform. It’s really important to show momentum in the virtual space when partners are renewing, sponsoring new programs, and getting involved with your virtual platform.

3. Be prepared to provide more data than ever before. Data is why virtual platforms are so valuable, they can collect more and better data. Virtual platforms can collect contact information that you maybe were not able to provide them before and it’s easier to do so.

It’s going to be very difficult to sell your virtual event sponsorships if you haven’t hosted webinars or virtual programming that generated interest, people are not registering for events you have scheduled, or people are not showing up. Potential sponsors will ask how many people are tuning in to your webinars and their demographics. If you don’t have the numbers to back it up, it’s going to be very difficult to sell.

Let’s talk about membership for a moment.

1. Be certain that you’re connecting with prospective members right now. Do so by preparing your return on investment statement. Some things to include are:

Things that you have done for the industry and prospective and current members.

Number of calls made to Congress and the results on behalf of your members

Number of recorded sessions and webinars – how to apply for a PPP loan, for example – and other important information that you have shared.

You have to be able to articulate and develop the return on investment statement because you’ve been doing more work than you have ever done for your members. The reason why you need to do it is because your members are going to decide – in the last quarter of 2020 and in the first quarter of 2021 – whether they’re going to renew or not. Or they may have been, for the first time ever, participating in some of your programming and seeing what a great job you’ve done and how much you have helped them survive and thrive.

On that note, we (The Moery Company) joined an association that we had never joined before because of the information and the value that they’re currently providing us. They never asked for us to join, we did it on our own. However, you need to ask everyone who has benefited in the last six months to join.

2. The “you’re going to do the work anyway, whether we join or not” objection. We hear this one, a lot. We call it the free rider objection. However, we’re seeing that they’re starting to see the value of the association. You are helping them as a company so I think that when you hear that objection, they’re thinking about the industry overall. They’re beginning to see that they’re getting a direct return on what you’re doing for them. And in turn, we’re hearing the objection less because they’re getting direct impact. They’re getting direct value and you need to be able to articulate to them.

3. Lay out a series of scenarios for your renewal. Are you going to have to negotiate with some of your industry companies because of the impact of this pandemic? What was your renewal rate last year and how might you want to calculate renewals? What will the velocity of the renewals and the renewal rate be, broken down by industry sectors or member segments?

I think we may be headed into the toughest season ever. Some people think that things are going to return to normal and that they will keep operating their association like before and meetings will come back. What the hell are those folks thinking? We got to get ready for the next wave. The chickens are coming home to roost, you’re going to reap what you sow, or whatever analogy you want to put in place here, friends.

There’s a common theme in the marketplace that these business cycles affect associations in a delayed way. Right? We see industry trends and then we see similar business trends a little bit later in the association space. I think the bad stuff is the same. I know that there’s pain and that associations have made changes to staff. Some have had layoffs. Some have had to curtail the consultants that they use. I’ve seen it firsthand and I don’t think that this is necessarily over.

So, my perspective is this. There are three areas that associations really should be focused on right now:

1. Executing fantastic, incredible government relations – whether it’s regulatory, whether it’s in the States, whether it’s in Washington, DC – and articulating your hard work and telling the story about how you’re helping member businesses now. You know your members and industry need help and you have some incredible ways that you have been working to deliver value during this incredible era.

2. Proactively, consistently, and professionally selling the above message to your existing members and prospects, especially in this last part of the year.

We’ve got to be very good at government relations and mission centric things, and we have to be very good at selling. That is going to be a must in 2021 in my view. And, I’m with you all the way for another 250 episodes telling that story. We’ll talk next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Overall, business is good; however, we’re not out of the woods yet. Listen to this week’s episode to hear how we’re doing and the lessons that we have learned thus far.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I want to answer a question that I get the most right now, “How is business?”

Frankly, I don’t think people are asking it as a conversation starter these days – I think they genuinely want to know – people want to know what’s happening in the association space.

Business is great. I’m grateful because we are still here. It’s great because we have kept everyone on the team and working at full capacity. We had to make adjustments to do that, however, we’re all here and we’re all working. It’s great because I think we’ve executed better than ever before. I think our team members value their positions and I’m grateful for that, too. From that perspective, really good.

Now, a deeper dive.

We have two types of business. We have a consulting business that involves membership dues and sponsorship prospectus development and strategic planning, to name a few areas of expertise. Then, we have our business development side where we sell memberships, sponsorships, ads, and exhibits.

Our consulting and strategic planning business is going to remain soft for the remainder of the year. Associations are putting some of those projects off or they are trying to do it on their own without a facilitator. They’re developing their strategic plans – if they’re even trying to do that at all right now –because of the current situation that we’re in. Membership and sponsorship sales continue to provide us with opportunities because associations are going to need revenue as well as the people, the process, and the infrastructure to optimize the opportunities that they have. I think the opportunities for us to help associations are coming to us on that front.

There will be less inventory from a sponsorship and a non-dues revenue area to sell because the cancellation of events and with some organizations being slow to move to virtual programs. It has made non-dues revenue sales difficult because the associations aren’t moving forward at a pace that they should in order to survive.

Our overall revenue is up 5% and profits are similar to last year. Our net profit is right where it was before. It’s going to be a challenge to meet the net numbers that we did last year, however, I feel pretty good about the overall business. I have to be candid, though, it’s a fight with knifes every single day.

In the process of pivoting and adjusting, we’ll weed out the mediocre and see where we end up at the end of the day.

I have also thought about how we will change our associations and companies; I think everyone needs to think about that. What kind of things could happen, things that are going to change long-term and what things are going to be episodic?

Here’s what I see happening: our speed must improve and our speed is dependent on our data. You need good information for a sales team to be optimized. You’re not just going to start calling people without a plan, are you? Our association partners – and ourselves included – need to move quicker in this area. The prospectus and the membership narrative have to be really tight before we ever get out of the gate and that’s going to be very important.

Your narrative must be bottom line oriented. Companies will be making choices in 2021. Many associations have the same companies and the same prospects, that’s just the way it goes. Companies are going to be making decisions with reduced budgets about which associations gave them a return on investment in the previous year. They have multiple memberships and they will be making decisions that will pick the winners and the losers in the association space. It’s a competitive marketplace and it should be that way. I want our clients to be the ones that are most successful and we’re going to be doing everything that we can make that so.

What will we keep the same?

We implemented a pricing model that was retainer plus commission for our sales work when we started the company. I recognize that we’ve lost business because of it. Even today, we don’t win every deal because there’s always somebody who is willing to do business development work for commission only. I don’t and here’s why: I know how difficult it is to sell an association and our expertise in this area. Our price also includes us building out the infrastructure and hiring the best salespeople in the association space to do these things.

I know associations have good salespeople, too, but we’re very good at this and doing the work has value. Being out in the field, spreading the value proposition, and building your brand is a very good thing for you. This is one of the many reasons why we charge a retainer which is why we’re not the cheapest option in town.

If we did not have this model in place – in April, May, June, and July – I don’t think we’d be here today or we would have had to layoff a number of people in this organization and that would have broken my heart. Because if we were selling the inventory that was available and doing it on a commission only basis, things would have been bad.

Overall, business is good. But it is a battle, my friends.

Are we up to it? Absolutely.

If you’re listening to this podcast, I think you are, too. Change with better data and speed. Be prepared for every weakness in your organization to be exposed. Keep things the same, like your most valuable services. Don’t race to the bottom, hold firm. Keep your fundamental business values in place.

I’m with you all the way.

Go to MoeryCompany.com to see all of our new resources for virtual events.

Thanks for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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This week on the Association Hustle Podcast we have a special guest on the show! Patty Leeman, Chief Research Analysts here at The Moery Company, joins JP Moery to discuss the key takeaways from ASAE’s Annual Meeting held virtually earlier this month.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

JP Moery: Today we have a special guest on the Association Hustle Podcast. We don’t often have one so this is a special day! Patty Leeman, our Chief Research Analysts here at The Moery Company, is joining us today! She has been a great colleague for a number of years and we’re going to hit on a very important and urgent topic: virtual events and first hand account of an attendee’s experience. Patty recently attended ASAE Annual Meeting and she’s going to share her thoughts.

What was your overall impression of the conference?

Patty Leeman: Truthfully, I don’t even know how associations do it right now, to pivot on a dime and move from live to virtual. Wow, kudos to all those people doing it. I think ASAE did an outstanding job of scrambling; they moved the whole thing over to virtual, they had great content and good takeaways. I wrote a lot of notes down that I’m actually applying. Overall, I think it was a plus.

JP: This is so helpful for everyone because we’re in a phase right now where everybody is now implementing these things at variety of different degrees. We’ve had to scramble, we’ve had to adjust, we’ve had to launch, we’ve had to do it all. Now, people are having the events and we get the opportunity to learn from each other.

Tell me about the programming itself, was it live or pre-recorded? What was your experience like? What was the differences between the two?

Patty: I was really shocked by how much I loved the pre-recorded sessions, particularly for the breakouts. They streamed the pre-recorded session and then the people who were presenting were available to chat live. It became this amazing interactive session. JP, you do webinars all the time, you know how hard it is to manage chat at the same time!

JP: Yeah! Actually, I don’t do it that way because it’s very difficult to do simultaneously. It’s almost impossible to deliver the content and monitor the chat room and answer questions. What usually happens is that you run out of time. In this case, they pre-recorded their session and then they’re able to go in the chat and answer Q&A. I love that. You know, another area that we chat about a lot here, because it’s in our business, is sponsorships.

Tell me about sponsorships and how they were delivered. What can we learn from what you saw and experienced?

Patty: Let’s start with the keynotes. There was an incredible opportunity to show a short video at the beginning. Their biggest sponsors had a professional video shown. Those smaller ones, you could have a logo slide up. The smaller ones, they actually let someone do the Q&A and be able to run the Q&A live after a pre-recorded session. Now, I did want to give one comment about pre-recording because some of the sessions that were live had more problems because of the speaker’s connectivity, they would buffer in and out. I was shocked by how much I liked the pre-recorded sessions with a hosted Q&A after. That was really cool.

JP: You know what, that sponsorship area is really interesting to me because we know a lot of these sponsors really want thought leadership, they want to be aligned with sessions.

How was the sponsorship area utilized during the event?

Patty: ASAE had a really cool section on their meeting platform that you could go to anytime. They had slots for videos that were live so that the sponsor could interact with people; they called it a partner playground and they were fun. I actually watched way more of these than I expected because they tied it to their brand so I remembered who put them up. I thought that was one of the best ways to use the feature and space. As a takeaway, what I really noticed is – because we hear pushback all the time about not letting vendors speak or providing thought leadership – that this allows the sponsor to provide the thought leadership, the association can check the video in advance, and can approve it before it goes up in their virtual space.

JP: That’s really thoughtful because I think it eliminates one of the major resistance areas that we face when it comes to partner lead thought leadership, the fear that they’re going to do a sales pitch instead of an educational session. When you get that recorded in advance, it burns the card, and you can go back to them and say, “Hey, this is too much of a sales pitch, you need to add more education,” and you can solve that problem. This starts to open up the opportunity for thought leadership with the association long-term. The associations realize that no one’s hair caught on fire because you did it.

Tell me about the virtual exhibit hall.

Patty: Truthfully, I don’t know if any show can compete with the energy of ASAE’s live exhibit hall. There are so many people, exhibitors, and fun going on. I don’t think you can recreate that online. However, it was easy to click around and download product information that I then had to carry that home, which was nice. The number of vendors was down from the usual. It may be because of ASAE’s $10,000 starting price point for a booth. That’s a lot of money. They may have preferred it that way and chose big vendors to underwrite the show as a whole and it may be part of their process. I’m okay with that.

JP: You know, I think that’s very interesting what you said about the exhibit hall because you can certainly upload collateral information and demos and I would recommend that you use the virtual exhibit hall as a starter sponsorship for some partners. There might be organizations that take you up on a $1,500-2000 booth that have never done anything else with you because they don’t have the travel, pipe and drape, and stuff the booth. This may be a way to organizations engaged with you rather than committing a lot of dollars. It’s not going to replicate the in-person, however, it may be a way to start to developing a relationship.

Are there any aha moments or any tips that you’d like to share with people about planning their virtual conference?

Patty: As an attendee, I was a little confused as to what the flow of this show was going to be. Was it live? Did I really have to be there at the session? Could I watch it later? It was kind of uncharted ground and nobody really told me how to do that. I think a little bit of an indoctrination would have been helpful. I think the three days of education with timing that fit the live event, maybe wasn’t the best way to go. Fifteen-minute coffee break felt a bit long, there’s no line at the bathroom at my house when I’m home alone it’s easy to get in, get out. Get ready for the next show. You know, I think I’d like to see a little more compactness. I was really, really, really shocked how much I learned. I felt that relaxing on my couch and watching it on my laptop helped me really absorb the content. I was in the moment or was not distracted by the people in the room. I didn’t get waylaid in the hallway where I didn’t get into the session that I wanted to see. What was really great was that the sessions were recorded so if there were two at the same time that I wanted to see I could actually watch the other one later. Or, if I didn’t really like the session I chose, I could click around quickly and get right into one I really enjoyed. One of the sessions that with I went back and watched the beginning of because it was so good. I think that that was something that I was surprised at how much I learned and loved.

JP: Ladies and gentlemen, that’s my friend, colleague, and in this case, our “secret shopper” Patty Leeman. We appreciate her thoughts. We hope that these insights are helpful for you. Thanks for listening today. We’ll talk next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a beat on the latest association insights from JP Moery and The Moery Company:

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This week on the Association Hustle Podcast we have a special guest on the show! Patty Leeman, Chief Research Analysts here at The Moery Company, joins JP Moery to discuss the key takeaways from ASAE's Annual Meeting held virtually earlier this month.

Show notes: https://moerycompany.com/episode-247/

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Running an association – or a business – is going to be different than ever before and better than ever before. How you handle these changes and what you do next are depended on your philosophy and your why. On this week’s episode of the Association Hustle podcast, JP Moery dives into his philosophy and how you can apply it now to prepare for success in 2021.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today, I want to talk about the mindset we’re going to need to move forward in 2021. My goodness, I think it could be one of the best years we’ve ever had. Businesses are coming back, baby. It’s going to come back, it has to. It’s going to be different than it ever was before and it may be better than it ever was.

Let me tell you about things that I’ve been thinking about around mindset. I’m pulling from some of my old standbys. The other day, I was listening to Jim Rohn. And, for those of you who are youngsters, Jim Rohn is one of the best motivational, self-help, practical business speakers I’ve ever heard. Look him up. It’s some of the best content that you’ve ever heard and you’ve heard other people copy it for years.

He starts with philosophy. What’s your philosophy on life? How are you thinking about things? Philosophy then lends to your attitude. It’s all about attitude and how you’re going to face these things, friends. Attitude then turns into your action. If you’ve got the right attitude, you’re probably going to act. And then, through a positive attitude, great philosophy, and actions you build to great results. Because of those great results you get to have the lifestyle that you want.

Too many times we get hung up middle of this process. You may start with action without having the right attitude or philosophy to back it up. If you think about it, it’s similar to what Simon Sinek talks about. Do you have a good why? Why do you do it? This is how I think about Jim Rohn’s content here around philosophy and attitude that then leads to action to results and then to the lifestyle that you want. I think we’re going to need these types of concepts and an intentional step-by-step process to help us get through the next several months and to set us up for the next year. I would also add things like being helpful, adding value, having a long-term mentality, being the best that you can possibly be in the field, and also having some fun doing it. All of these things are going to enable us to take advantage of the new situation that’s now facing us in business.

I think we’ve improved during this time. Think about it, we’ve changed for the better. We’re more creative, we’re delivering value across a number of different platforms, different formats, and different situations. We’re also talking about new things and we’re increasingly engaged with what’s happening in government relations for our association programs. We’re delivering educational content and reaching more people than we ever have before.

I hope that we all have a great story to tell about the way that we’re connecting vendors and suppliers. They both need each other. We got to be able to say, “Hey, the core membership really needs these suppliers. We need to learn from them about what’s happening in our businesses and how they might be able to serve us better and what products might improve our bottom line.” Meanwhile, we’ve got to be able to tell the suppliers that our core members – our manufacturers, let’s say – really need their insights and information and that’s why we’re putting them together. Think about how different that mindset is from the past of, “Hey, supplier, will you give me $50,000 to be the premier sponsor of such and such event?” Totally different.

Think about how the workplace has changed in such a short time. We’re no longer going to have the same debates around flexibility in the office. For those of you who have wanted this kind of corporate culture for a long time, congratulations, you’ve won! For those of you who have been resisting this kind of workplace, now you’ve seen how capable, how creative, and how productive your work teams can be in a virtual environment. People are going to want to get together again. They’re waiting for the day that they can give a real high five or give that colleague a hug or a pat on the back.

Think about all the things that we’ve made better since the onset of the pandemic. We’ve got better platforms, better technology, and a better workplace.

I believe that 2021 is going to be the best year for the association profession. I guarantee it because of how we’ve improved things over the last six months.

Where does it start? It starts with that philosophy and attitude, then action and results, and then lifestyle. By the way, this applies to any kind of business that you’re in, whether it’s association, a consulting business, or a restaurant down the street. It’s immutable and will work anywhere.

By the way, this applies to all of my friends who are listening that are college students. It applies to your life, too.

I’m fired up. I’m bullish on what’s getting ready to happen. We just got to get there. I wish you the best and I appreciate you for listening to the Association Hustle Podcast.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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The third and final episode in our series on building virtual event sponsorship covers pricing and selling your new inventory. Tune in to hear a list of upsides you can use to bring sponsors on board and the variables to consider when pricing your packages.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today’s episode is all about the final stages of creating and selling of the virtual event sponsorship packages. If you need to, please go back to episodes 243 and 244 for the first steps you need to take in the process. I walk you through the steps you needed to learn about what’s happening in the industry as you begin to put out your virtual sponsorship program.

On this episode we’re going to cover pricing and selling your virtual sponsorships, a very important topic that many of you care about.

You should start with looking at several factors as you decide what your pricing structure ought to be and what the inventory will look like. What are the strategic imperatives of the event? What are the budget expectations? Is this a net revenue play? Are you looking at gross revenue that you’re trying to chip away at? What are other associations doing in your space? Are they offering virtual events, too? What does the competition look like? Have you been able to engage audiences online? Your sponsors will want to know prior to committing.

Then refer back to your sponsor discussions and interviews that we talked about in earlier episodes. What did they reveal about their company’s budgets, direction, and the level of support you might be able to expect? That helps you come together, not only with the pricing, but with the inventory.

Begin with an email campaign to launch the sponsorship program and inventory by first laying out the benefits of sponsoring your new and virtual events. You will have to educate folks on the upside of going virtual and the new opportunities that come along with it. Sponsors already know what a coffee break sponsorship looks like at the Grand Hyatt in St. Louis. They’ve never sponsored a virtual program before so you will have to educate, provide more information than you’re used to, and describe how everything is going to look and work.

1. It will probably cost less for the sponsor to participate in a virtual event versus an in-person one.

2. A virtual event will not require the same amount of time and resources. The sponsorship team, in effect, can be a bit more focused on selling and promoting their brand rather than sitting in sessions, standing behind the booth, traveling, and incur additional expenses.

3. You won’t have the issue of having too many vendors at the meeting. No one will be able to see them. It’s not that big of a deal. Remember this theme – and I’ve heard it many times – “Oh, there’s just too many vendors and we don’t want too many suppliers and sponsors there!” Everyone has gone virtual so they’re not going to be bothered by the too many vendors in the room issue. You also have upside that there is every indication that overall registration is going to be much larger; you’re going to reach a bigger audience.

4. Virtual events are more time efficient; you can respond to a lead in real time with automated e-mail campaigns and sales call follow up. You don’t have to wait to get back on the plane and go home and try to reach that lead again. You can do it in real time.

5. One-on-one meetings are easier to schedule. Attendees click on to your virtual booth and then you can set up a meeting, allowing you to have more conversations in today’s world. I’m certainly having them with people that were challenging to reach to have face-to-face meetings. Now we can just jump on a Zoom call.

6. You’re likely able to get the best speaker lineup you’ve ever had because you don’t have the challenge of physically getting everyone you want in the same space at the same time. People are more available and there’s flexibility of pre-recorded sessions. The programming is going to be fantastic.

Spell out the upside of going virtual and set the tone and context because next we’re going to sell the business objectives of the virtual sponsorship.

Begin with a webinar briefing to demo the platform and what is possible. First, virtual face-to-face meetings and the ability to match attendees that are most interested in the sponsors’ products or services. Second, you’re probably going to have the best data sets ever that are more than just the registration list. You can now provide behavior and engagement with virtual booths, collateral materials, video views, bonus sessions log-ins, and so much more. Third, the ability to deliver solutions through sessions and education. There may be less resistance now of content delivery and thought leadership from sponsors. Most of you are also running a more consolidated meeting so you may not have your usual number of sessions available. However, keep in mind, you can have additional thought leadership and bonus sessions after the scheduled portion of the event concludes. Fourth, the ability to promote within the virtual meeting platform with digital based advertising. There’s potential with ads, banners, and more in a virtual meeting setting with eyes on them from all of the event attendees. The exposure possibilities are huge. Finally, some food for thought. Keep in mind that the sponsors are there to get in front of the attendees, pure and simple. Asking your sponsors to support our association is not a sales theme that’s going to work anymore. They’re not going to sponsor because they want to support you, they’re going to sponsor because they need to get in front of your attendees.

I hope this message was helpful to you today. I wish you the very best success on selling these sponsorship programs.

Do me a favor, please share the podcast. Our listenership is up 75% over the last several weeks and it’s because y’all are sharing the info. Thanks for passing it along.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Need help launching your virtual event sponsorship program? Let us know below and we’ll be in touch.

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The next steps, after creating strategy and expectations for your virtual event sponsorship program, are to design the program. You can do so by researching, learning as much as possible about your chosen platform, and then teaching your sponsors so that they can get the most out of their experience.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I want to continue the discussion of developing a strong organizational framework for your virtual sponsorship program. If you haven’t already, please refer to our last episode, episode #243, as it lays the foundation for establishing your virtual sponsorship program. In that episode we covered things such as setting overall goals for the event. There needs to be different expectations for the virtual event than the in-person program that you’ve had for the last 25 years. Are there things that you would like the attendees to learn? And, it will no longer be just a handful of people that attend from each organization, there may be half a dozen or more people attend from that organization. Now they can all attend because they don’t have to travel and their budget can allow for more attendees.

Sponsors will also have different expectations for a virtual event. Typically, your sponsors were interested in in–person one-on-one connections because they were perceived to be the most valuable return on their investment. However, that is one of the more difficult aspects of the virtual meeting. So, what can you provide them? Is it better data? Is it an opportunity to speak which is something that, in my experience, has not been allowed during in-person meetings. Over time, I’ve heard sponsors ask for an opportunity to provide thought leadership as the number one request and it is the number one thing that the association declines.

So, let’s get started here and continuing on the journey of building your virtual event sponsorship program.

Research

The next steps, once you’ve completed the strategic consideration exercise, is the design of your virtual sponsorship. First, research to see what other organizations are doing. Examine virtual sponsorship models of other associations. Everyone is in this together and learning at the same time. I’m not sure anyone would say they’re an expert in virtual sponsorships yet. However, they’re learning, implementing, trying, and those experiences are things that you can learn from. I really like the way many associations are promoting their conferences and how to use virtual platform to learn, engage, meet other people. They’re really providing a great number of tutorials about how to do this and I think that’s very valuable. Compare association sponsorship pricing and benefits using public information published by other associations. Everyone is chasing their tail right now on pricing. This is why I think it’s important for you to be very clear on what you need to achieve financially because that is going to affect your pricing. If this is an attempt to just stay top of mind and reach as many people as possible, you’ll want to engage vendors and suppliers in your industry that have never been available. What I see here is the chance to have an entry level type program that can be used to build relationships that can then move into hybrid and in-person meetings and additional inventory in 2021. This initial research is going to be very valuable.

Registration Fees

We’re seeing that most of the registration fees are on the low end, many around $250 for a program that used to be $1,000+ in the past. Keep this in mind as you’re building out your virtual event and pricing sponsorship opportunities. The worst thing you could do is ask on a message board, “What should I charge for a virtual sponsorship?” I don’t have the foggiest idea. I want to do a research in the industry, see what other people are doing, and learn what the expectations are of your organization.

Platforms

When selecting a platform for your virtual event make sure that you learn about the platform’s sponsor benefit options. Exploring the options for virtual sponsorships is going to enable you to develop a great inventory! Oh, and by the way, we’ve developed a grid that has different qualities of various meeting platforms that we use to help our clients pick the best platform for them.

One sponsorship option that has been a favorite is the improved data that our association clients can deliver for their sponsors. The other favorite option has been virtual exhibit halls, especially for those partners who did not participate in the past when the events were in-person. We’re working through that right now with an organization that has never had an in-person exhibit hall and has opted into having one for an upcoming virtual event.

Learn

You have to get familiar with whatever meeting platform you choose to use for your event, similar to what you used to do with a convention center or a hotel. They all have different components, qualities, and strengths. Get familiar with them in order to be able to build your sponsorship inventory based on what’s possible within the platform.

Call some of your colleagues in the association space and see what their experiences have been. I have found that people are very open to sharing their experiences of what worked and what didn’t. Registration kits have gone virtual and event organizers are mailing items that, in the past, were room drop items. You can re-create some of these things within a virtual context.

Don’t be paralyzed by fear, instead use this opportunity to do some things that you’ve never tried before. For example, you can allow sponsors to conduct breakout sessions or demonstrations. This is liberating for your partners and enables you to become more innovative, develop new ideas, and implement them.

Teach

Remember the feedback that you’ve received from sponsors about why they sponsor and the value they get from partnering with you? Sponsors are in a new territory, too, and may have a difficult time understanding the new opportunities that you present them. Help them by providing in-depth description of your sponsorship inventory and demonstrations of the virtual platform. Schedule webinars or record videos on how they can best utilize and customize their virtual exhibits and get the most out of their sponsorship.

Hey, I hope this is helpful as you’re building your virtual sponsorships. I want to thank you for listening. And, if you’d like, check out our website for additional resources for webinar and virtual event sponsorship programs.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Need help launching your virtual event sponsorship program? Let us know below and we’ll be in touch.

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Virtual event sponsorships are a huge topic for associations right now. Take a listen to this week’s episode as JP Moery discusses the pros and cons of virtual events and then takes a deep dive into what you need to do to launch your own virtual event sponsorship program.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Virtual sponsorships are a huge topic for associations right now and we’re on fire about it!

Today we’re going to cover the pros and cons of virtual events and sponsorships and then we’ll cover how to get started in creating your own strategy.

Pros of Virtual Events

I’ve had multiple conversations with association executives and the following are the positives of virtual events and sponsorships that we all agree on.

There is an overall positive reception and feedback from attendees, they are having a pretty good experience when it comes to virtual events. One thing they’re happy about? They’re saving the cash by not having to travel. The other? They are able to download information that they want on demand.

The ability to track new attendees and new audience is a big pro. The opportunity is there to be able to connect deeper with our member companies. The events used to be a corporate decision. Before, a member company may have sent two folks to the annual meeting. Now, they can have those two people and all of the people that report to them attend as well.

There is also an increase in opportunity for content delivery and the ability to include sponsor and vendor thought leadership. Associations are more liberal with the content that they’re providing based on the prospectuses that I’ve seen thus far. You can add additional sessions without anyone being upset because they have the opportunity to attend them all. This enables us to allow sponsors, vendors, and suppliers deliver case studies and thought leadership.

Archived and on-demand content is another major pro. And, if you structure it the right way, you can have shorter and tighter programming options – two to three hours a day has been a favorable mix.

A virtual event is less expensive to execute. We’re not flying everyone out and buying a bunch of $30 gallons of coffee. We can execute these programs for less.

Virtual Event Cons

Here are some of the cons, or areas where virtual events have yet to prove their value over in-person events:

We’ve seen networking engagement be uneven with a wide variance of success here. No doubt that, in networking forums that I’ve seen, there is a need to facilitate and lead those sessions. The ability to bring people together around a particular grouping such as a topic or a specific subject matter is really important. You need to cultivate these opportunities for your attendees, both members and sponsors.

Gross revenue is lower and we use it to pay for the infrastructure back at the headquarters in Washington, DC or wherever you’re at. In some ways, that gross revenue supported a lot of other functions. However, the net margin of a virtual event may actually be better.

The effectiveness and sustainability of virtual exhibit halls and sponsorships is yet to be known. I don’t know if people will continue to do this. I do know that there’s a lot more ability and flexibility for the sponsor to share new collateral materials, post case studies, and do other interesting and unique things.

Schedule adjustment is needed for the surge of programming because we have shorter attention span. Another way of looking at it is that we used to fill a room full of people in classroom style seating and the guy in the middle of the row had no choice but to stay for the entire session because it was difficult to leave without anyone noticing. People no longer feel like the have to show up if the content is not good or to sit through the entire session.

Innovation and flexibility are needed when it comes for awards, passing of the gavel, and other similar tasks. We’re probably not going to be able to replicate the awards and recognition – things that we’ve done so many times. Were these valuable and interesting in person anyway? Maybe for the person that’s getting the award, not sure it’s really that interesting for everybody else. This is something that we’re going to have to replace, or innovative, in terms of delivering this type of benefit.

The other con to consider is that speakers will require additional training on the virtual platform. We’ve heard from several associations that have had virtual meetings where a speaker messed up the delivery because they did not take the time to learn the platform or the association did not provide proper training. And, as the CEO or the lead of the meeting, you need to evaluate whether that speaker that used to be really good in person and is a legacy appearance at the annual meeting can still deliver the goods in a virtual format.

Getting Started on Building Your Association’s Virtual Sponsorship Program

The first thing I would like for you to do is to connect with your meeting planning team to understand the virtual event platform and the event agenda to see where everything is and what is possible. Then, take a look at one year of sponsorship data that includes past participation, the amount of money they spent, and the type of sponsorship that they opted into. Then evaluate what is possible in terms of pricing, what your partners wanted in the past in terms of deliverables and other things like that. You’re going to have to adapt your sponsorship inventory and pricing to better fit a virtual event.

The next step is to conduct internal and external team interviews to discuss barriers and opportunities for virtual event sponsorships. If their focus and worry is content delivery they may not able to give you the bandwidth to deliver sponsor related promises and you need to know that now. Then, have conversations with your sponsors to learn about the value and the expected return on investment that they may have for your virtual offerings, including what data they interested in.

Data is one of the major benefits of virtual event sponsorship programs that can be delivered to sponsors in larger numbers and the data is better than what they have received in the past by walking around or meeting people at a reception.

This is the time to establish expectations for this program. It won’t be the same.

Gross revenue is going to be smaller, however, the margins may be really good.

Sponsors are going to have a different experience. They’re not going to have the type of face-to-face interaction that they’re used to, however, in many cases the interaction may be better.

To compare a live event to a virtual one is really unfair to both; they each have strengths and weaknesses.

Get ready to go throw your net wider and attract a larger volume of sponsorships and virtual exhibits. The barrier to entry is much lower. Potential partners can sign up online and “put up” their virtual booth. The ability to attract new partners enables you to broaden your reach. I’m hearing from association executives that they are pulling in folks to their virtual platforms to advertise and participate that they were unable to get previously. Your current and potential partners recognize that there’s more flexibility in a virtual exhibit hall. They don’t have to travel and put up a 10 by 10 booth anymore. They can upload collateral, information, case studies, and video chat sessions and track who visits. This kind of upfront assessment of the platform, its capabilities, and the ability to implement it all in collaboration with your meetings team.

Finally, it is absolutely essential to make sure you’re meeting the expectations of your existing sponsors and that you can deliver what you promise.

I hope this is helpful for you. I think it’s an incredible opportunity. Don’t apologize and say that it’s not going to be as good as your previous in person events. It’s going to be different and it might be better.

Thank you so much. Our listenership over the last month has grown literally by the thousands and it’s because you’re sharing the content. I’m grateful for that. And I hope this is helpful for you. See you soon.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Need help launching your virtual event sponsorship program? Let us know below and we’ll be in touch.

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It’s going to require incredible work ethic and hustle on everyone’s part to usher in the new era for associations. Here are JP’s thoughts on employee engagement, membership, sales, and meeting and their importance moving forward.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I’ve got some business observations for you and I’m fired up about them!

This week’s episode is going to be a little bit different. It’s not scripted and I’m going to riff on some things that I’m seeing in the association space that I wanted to convey to you right away.

I was thinking about all these items this morning… So, let’s get started.

Employees

I wonder if the value of the employee relationship is going to change. Here’s what I mean. Maybe part of the value – and the reason we hire people – is to control them. We had them come in to the office, look over their shoulder, and make sure that they were there from nine to five. We controlled them and then we paid them based on the control that we have. Now, in this environment that we’re currently in, people are working remotely and we may not see half of our employees on a daily basis. We’re participating in Zoom calls and that’s a lot of the way that we’re engaging with each other. Your employee – or the consultant – looks, frankly, very much the same. We’ve lost the in-person control and connectivity. I wonder if we’re going to be, as associations, much more open to outsourcing and hiring people on a part time basis to do the jobs that we really need because we’re also learning that we don’t have to control really good people that execute. We give them the goals and perspective and they take the ball and they run with it.

Membership

I’m also thinking about the way that we smooth out the membership experience for our member companies. We’ve got to make it easier. Think about the way we’ve been engaging with folks recently. Instead of going into a retail store and walking the aisles that we now order it online and the retail employee comes outside to deliver our order to us. They explain what they had to substitute or that our that they’ve delivered it to us on our porch.

Think about the association membership. Can we put the value proposition in a bag, explain it, and deliver it to individual member prospects? Membership engagement is going to be intense and we are going to have to bring member value to them. We’re going to have to figuratively meet them at their car and give them the information, the insights, and critical information that we have as part of our value proposition. It’s no longer going to be about a list of benefits that they have to get themselves. We’ll have to push it to them, engage them, bring the value of membership and the insights to the member company or the individuals that we represent.

The Death of Meetings

I know I just made a lot of people very nervous. What I mean by that is not necessarily meetings overall or forever but the death of a lot of events that I’ve been to over my career – boring, long, waste of time, passing of the gavel, sitting in a uncomfortable chair waiting for when it’s over so I can go meet the people that are really want to talk to you in the hallway and at the reception, and how fast can I get up into my room so I can check what’s going on in my business today? “Come and see me live” is no longer going to be the model. It’s going to be about providing specific information and pushing it out so that attendees can access it whenever they want. Can it help them make better business decisions? Can it help their company be more profitable? Can it make their business essential that their customers want? If we don’t have that information available to them when they want it and be able to deliver it to their car door or to their front porch, they’re not going to come see us put on a show live anymore.

Sales

Sales is changing fundamentally right now. It’s no longer about describing intangible services and what a member gets when they give us money. It’s now all about delivering information and expertise and the specialty network of people that they’re going to hear from and they can pull that information whenever they want it. That’s going to be the key moving forward.

Final Thoughts

It’s going to require the most incredible work ethic ever in the association game. And you and I both know it. Not a lot of people dying from overwork in the association space. Now’s the chance for the real hustlers to win and win in a big way. I’m excited for the folks who listen to this podcast because I know the type of mindset you have because I’ve spoken with you. You’re going to be more successful and valuable because you’ve embraced the idea of hustle. And, frankly, that’s what it’s going to take.

If this podcast has been helpful to you in any way, will you share it with a friend that might find value in it? I’m so grateful for your time. Thanks for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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The association business model is stressed, in particular the business model based on in-person meetings. Ninety percent of organizations will move to virtual events this year. Listen to this week’s episode to learn how to develop a new sponsorship inventory for virtual events to continue growing your non-dues revenue.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today I’m going to walk you through building a virtual meeting sponsorship program.

First, a little context. My friend Dean West at the Association Laboratory conducted a COVID Impact Study for Associations and here is what they found: the association business model is stressed, in particular the business model around meetings. Sixty-eight percent of association executives projected a decline in meeting revenue; the percentage of decline is estimated to be at 40%. Ninety percent of organizations will move to virtual or smaller events this year. Membership behavior is also changing with roughly 70% of association executives acknowledging that domestic travel reductions will occur and the number of the companies attending events will decline. Face-to-face meetings of volunteers will also be reduced with most moving to virtual platforms. Association executives are also aware of the fact that discretionary budget in their member companies will reduce and that’s going to have an effect on meetings, membership, and membership engagement in a lot of different areas. All of this is happening while simultaneously associations are shifting to virtual events, becoming more diversified with their sponsorship inventory, and developing new prospectuses and 2021 budgets.

I don’t know who we’re kidding here, there hasn’t been an association meeting face-to-face with a large number of attendees in months and I don’t see it happening for the rest 2020, do you? I mean, let’s be real. I know a number of you still have in-person events on your calendar. Maybe it’s for legal obligations or maybe you’re going through the due diligence process to see what’s possible. However, I don’t see it happening. So, how do you adapt? How do you change?

As I’ve mentioned in previous episodes leading up to this one, I believe that the virtual sponsorship component has some upside to it because we’ve been talking about the diversification of sponsorship inventory for a very long time. Virtual meetings provide us the opportunity to do just that. So, how do you develop this type of program? The development work falls into three areas:

1. A review of your association. 2. Industry analysis. 3. A system for direct sales and reporting. Direct sales will need to operate differently than what you may have been used to in the past because majority of your partners were in renewing their sponsorships fairly easily year after year. It’s going to be a different process once you develop this new program. You will have to sell the partnership all over again alongside new sponsorship inventory.

Internal Review

Have a clear understanding of your virtual event program, your event agenda, and the existing sponsor status of your organizations. Are you going to have to carry people over and convert them from your face-to-face meeting into a virtual opportunity? Get a real clear status check of where you are. Review your existing sponsorship sales and marketing process. This is, in effect, a relaunch.

Collect one year of sponsorship data including company participation, the revenue from each partner, and the type of sponsorship that they purchase from you. Did they partner with you for branding, thought leadership, or access to people? It’s important to know these things as you develop your new inventory. Then, conduct interviews with your education team and your meetings team about any barriers to virtual sponsorships and any opportunities that may be new as you convert to a virtual platform. Have a handful of conversations with your existing sponsors about the value they get from their existing partnerships with you and the expected return on investment. What do they think about your virtual offerings? One of the best benefits of a virtual sponsorship is data. Ask them what type of data they need from you. It’s really important to get an assessment from your association sponsors about how they see virtual sponsorships because, after all, they’re going to be the ones buying it. I think it’s important to know what they value from you most as you structure your virtual event sponsorship program. Compile what you learn and replicate it in a virtual format because your sponsors will become your business partners, if they’re not already.

Industry Analysis and Competitor Review

Take the time to examine existing virtual sponsorship models being used by other associations. We’re seeing groups that are using a hybrid model with a sponsorship program that is for an in-person meeting with a virtual component. There’s a lot of activity going on right now so it’s important to get an assessment, especially in your industry, of what other people are doing because I think you can learn a lot from the analysis. Compare the sponsorship pricing and the benefits from other associations and see what deliverables they’re providing to their sponsors. Get a sense of the meeting platforms that other associations are using. Different platforms offer a variety of different components and benefits that can be offered to a sponsor. We’re also collecting all of this information so that we can provide a better service to our clients.

Think about it this way: it’s like “back in the day” when would go to different hotels to see what components they offered and say, “Wow, if we did this over here, that would be a great sponsorship opportunity!” Or, “If we took this trip off site, we’d have an incredible experience and sponsors would want to be able to do that.” Same thing when it comes to virtual meeting platforms. Provide examples of virtual sponsorship programs to your colleagues and address the best practices that you’re seeing other organizations do. The industry analysis is an important part of creating your own programs. It allows you to collect information to share with your colleagues and get their buy in.

Sales and Reporting

The third piece of the puzzle is reporting and a direct sales methodology. Make sure to develop multiple scenarios for restructuring your sponsorship opportunities and inventory. This may include adding virtual meeting components, not only to the event, but to your annual partnership program. Your narrative should be one of listening to and providing opportunities for your partners whether it’s a virtual exhibit hall or face-to-face meetings. Then consider 30-day next step plan to educate and inform your sponsors. I love the idea of being able to do demonstrations of the meeting platform and the sponsorships so that your sponsors can see how to navigate these new opportunities. Doing so will establish a solid sales effort.

Your meetings and events team are under a lot of duress. They’re having to convert in-person events to online platforms. You may need help – or extra bandwidth – on the sales side. If they were involved in the sales process in the past, they are used to rolling out the same prospectus and getting 80% of the sponsors renewing year after year. This is, without a doubt, an invigorated relaunch program.

To recap.

Conduct an internal review of your association. What’s possible? What were people buying before? Interview the sponsors.

Industry analysis. What are your competitors doing as it pertains to virtual sponsorships? Do you have an opportunity to differentiate? Compare sponsorship pricing for virtual compared to in-person events and what the differences are. Get a sense of what the price point might be. Develop virtual benefits for your sponsorships based on the meeting platform that you’re using.

Lastly, focus on reporting and direct sales. The narrative here will be different than before, it’s going to require educating your sponsors on how to best utilize the virtual event platforms.

I believe, over the long term, this is going to be a fantastic opportunity for you to diversify your plans. You can do this. This is an opportunity to create robust plans that will allow you to create a lot of value for your sponsors and build long term relationships as they become your business partners moving forward.

I hope this was helpful. I have a favor to ask you. Can you please share this podcast with a friend of yours in the association space? I sure would value that. Thanks for listening. We’ll talk next week on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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We compared 2019 and 2020 association membership and sponsorship sales for Q2 and saw interesting trends. Take a listen to this week’s episode for observations, implications, and a way forward for association sales.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today I’m going to share observations about the state of association sales, including what is happening in non-dues revenue and membership. These observations are based on things that I’ve noticed from our work selling for associations across the country. The facts and figures that I’m about to share have been pulled from our Salesforce data sets and explained by qualitative observations.

So, let’s get started.

Our sales revenue increased 25% in 2020 over 2019. That’s hard to imagine compared to Q2 2019 to Q2 of 2020. Our total sales work (activities) increased 3%. A 25% increase for the year and Q2 increase is only 3%. We took a little bit of a hit, however, we’re still ahead of last year.

What’s behind those numbers?

For trade association memberships, it took 37 days to close a new member in 2019 and 31 days in 2020. Days to close went down! It took seven activities – phone calls and email – to close a sale both in 2019 and in 2020.

The “won rate” percentage – those who come into the pipeline and we close – was 48% last year in Q2 and 44% in Q2 of this year. To me, that’s fairly consistent.

Here is what we learned from those numbers: there’s been a surge in improved content and thought leadership pushed out by the association and increasing engagement by the association for the industry – webinars, Zooms, calls, etc. – has provided a great platform to raise awareness for the organization with some prospects paying attention for the very first time ever because it’s in a format that they prefer. Accessibility, not only the location but also the cadence of work – with people working from their home office and in a different rhythm than they had before – enabled us to reach more prospects directly than before. However, here’s the most important thing that I’ve learned from this: you have to do the work. These new members aren’t just coming in to your organization on their own. You have to have outbound outreach to take advantage of these inherent opportunities.

Sponsorship numbers are a bit more interesting. Again, we’re comparing Q2 2019 to Q2 2020. It took 46 days to close a sale in 2019 and 48 days in 2020. So, about the same. Average number of activities to close non-dues revenue inventory – such as sponsorships of an exhibit – was five in 2019 and four in 2020. It has always taken less activities to close non-dues inventory than membership because there’s usually a defined date that you’ve got to do it by, right? For example, a sponsor ad must be in by a certain date. The won rate, which is the percentage of closed deals, was 61% in 2019 and was down to 32% in 2020. The change happened in non-dues arena. There are a few reasons why that happened. For one, there were major inventory disruption. Meetings were canceled so those sales closed as a loss. Online meetings were introduced, but they were late and they’re unproven in terms of engagement and the ROI for the sponsor. Budgets were also tightened during this timeframe.

However, here’s where I see some upside in the coming weeks: online platforms are proving to be a good alternative for an in-person meeting. The virtual event space and the digital sponsorship can be maintained for months and continue to deliver value to sponsors after the live portion of the event concludes. It’s no longer just the three days of the in-person event; you can continue promoting your virtual exhibit halls for months after the event because it’s no longer a “one and done” opportunity.

Recently, I spoke with a very well-regarded meetings and event professional who told me that virtual exhibits and engagement with their members was good, however, they continue to get new registration and visitors to the exhibit hall after the meeting concluded. And, in this case, attendance and engagement from a major buyer that had never attended the meeting face-to-face in previous years.

I’m bullish for Q3.

Marketers need to continue to engage your audiences. The best associations will soon come out with a comprehensive sponsorship inventory with as many options as possible for both online and in-person events. It is important for the marketing plan to educate, engage, and make sponsors and exhibitors comfortable with the new inventory. It is also important to inform event attendees about the advantages of participating in new and different ways.

Build out a longer tail for sponsorships. Events are no longer a three-day thing; they can live on virtual event platform for weeks and months with additional promotional opportunities available to drive attendees back to the sponsor. Associations also have the opportunity to deliver better data on page visits, downloads, videos views, and more. Additional ROI is expected by the sponsors because they are not meeting people in the bar or the hallway – the efficiency of which is up for debate – and they are going to need good data to replace anecdotal meetings and relationship building opportunities. Folks, I’ve said this for weeks, this is a transformational opportunity for us not only in sponsorships but also for membership.

Why? The digital approach is a better process. We relied on organizational inertia, such as having a certain number of people renewing annually, with only having to send out an invoice with an 80% success rate.

There’s concern for the remainder of 2020 and increasing fear in 2021. Discretionary budgets will be smaller and we will have to work harder to get those renewals. There will be a reduction in meeting revenue and, in some cases, program will completely evaporate while other programs move online. Attendance, exhibits, and sponsorships will no longer be assumed. You will need outbound communication, education, and sales to bring in and replace your current revenue streams.

Another area of importance is the quality of your data. Conduct a self-diagnosis to make sure that your existing data is good and that you are collecting quality data. This will tie into the ROI that your sponsor is looking for from you going forward.

Lastly, there’s a realization that some associations do not have a true sales operation in place to bring in new business. Associations will need to invest in sales if they want to grow their revenue.

The biggest deciding factor for associations will be separating the good from the great and that separation is going to be obvious. It already is. I’ve said this for weeks and believe it will continue to be the case. My sense is that the people who listen to the Association Hustle Podcast are already buying into this mindset. We’re getting increasingly more enthusiastic about what’s ahead! Thanks for letting me be a part of that journey. I appreciate you listening.

Will you share this podcast with someone else? Grateful for that opportunity.

Best wishes.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Did you know that we have a dedicated sales team that sells memberships and sponsorships on our association clients’ behalf? Want to learn more? Connect with us by filling out the form below and we’ll get back to you shortly!

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We compared 2019 and 2020 association membership and sponsorship sales for Q2 and saw interesting trends. Take a listen to this week's episode for observations, implications, and a way forward for association sales.

Show notes: moerycompany.com/episode-240/

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Transparency, making promises, and vision are not new. However, they’re even more important now. Here’s how to weave these three things into your leadership practice to get your team’s buy-in on the decisions you make moving forward.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today I want to talk about some things that I learned when it comes to getting your team to buy-in. This is really about leadership, whether you are an association leader, you are running your own business, or you are running your own house. This is about leadership.

These are the things that I’ve learned over the last several months:

Transparency

I share our financials and other relevant numbers with my team every month. I probably do it more than I should because I think it’s very important to share the numbers and be aware of the trajectory of the business on an ongoing basis. People want to have certainty in their lives and in their career and that’s why I do it. The booking sheet, that includes commissions and new accounts is open at all times and everyone has access to it.

My advisory board – I’ve got a great group of association executives and communications professionals on our advisory board including public affairs people and lobbyists that help us out and give advice – gets a quarterly report from me about the trajectory of the business and our financials.

This type of transparency is very beneficial. I can’t make stuff up. It’s there in black and white and, one way or the other, you’re going to see it. The information makes it very easy for me to tell the story about the business and how it’s going. Frankly, the transparency part is more for me. I don’t have to keep things from people. I don’t feel like I’m hedging my bets or modulating what I’m saying. I can be very candid about what’s happening because they can see what I see and it’s all out there for everyone to know.

Transparency also provides certainty and clarity for the team. They understand where you’re going and the decisions you might make because they’ve got the numbers right in front of them. They may even help make a decision for you. A few years ago, I was getting ready to hire a new salesperson. Our business development team members have anywhere between three to five accounts and this number of accounts is based on the volume, scale, and rhythm of each account. Once we have three to five accounts per person, we start to look and say, “Wow, maybe we need a new person to help us sell on the behalf of our clients.” What I learned from sharing the numbers is that I get feedback from the team. You know what they said when I mentioned hiring a new team member? They said that the best thing for us at this time was to expand our bandwidth, collaborate, and work a harder to get through that moment. It turned out to be a better solution than hiring at that moment in time. We had another gear that I didn’t know until I had our sales team, who are familiar with the numbers, provide their feedback. By the way, they got more business opportunity because of this because they have more sales.

When you’re transparent, and when you share the numbers, you are building a decision-making infrastructure in your organization from top to bottom and that’s a really good thing.

Promises

Don’t make promises. It’s very difficult in this day and age to say, “Hey, no one’s going to get laid off.” Can you really say that? If you can, congratulations! Otherwise, don’t promise it. I tell my team what’s happening but I don’t make promises that I can’t keep. You’re being watched all the time. If you say something offhandedly, the team member is going to take it to the bank as gospel especially if you’re transparent and you say you’re candid all the time. In this day and age, it’s really tempting to paint a different picture than the actual reality, to talk about things rather than conveying the uncertainty, concern, or vulnerability that you have as a leader.

Don’t make promises that you’re not able to undertake. This is also very helpful when it comes to client relationship, too. Be candid with them to avoid surprises.

Boss Card

Refrain from pulling the I’m the boss card.

There’s a tendency, especially right now, to get in the middle of things because there seems to be a “proactive leader” mentality. However, these are things that you don’t really need to get involved with. It tends to look and sound something like this: “Fire this consultant! Make this change! Get into a new product area!” These things, long-term, can become a distraction or make the business worse. Continue being a long-term boss, one who knows how not to get in the middle of all the things. Allow your team to do the job you hired them to do. They’re motivated to do it well so let them do what you hired them to do. They won’t disappoint you.

Vision

Finally, it is important to develop a long-term vision. I’m spending a lot of time right now listening and watching to see what others are doing, especially in the association space. Association leaders are much more accessible right now. I’m calling them, asking questions to see how things are going, and getting their perspective in certain areas. Right now, you can reach folks and get them on the phone to have conversations that we may not be able to have 60 to 90 days from now.

How do you make adjustments, change the narrative, and update the deliverables to align with what your audience wants or needs from you?

I’ll give you an example how we’re doing just that. In the coming days, we’re launching a new system to evaluate virtual sponsorships opportunities. We’re going to give the association an evaluation of the opportunity, recommend inventory, and pricing for virtual sponsorships. We’re also going to provide a sales option to sell these sponsorships for you! There’s not much of a difference from what we’ve been doing over the last decade, however, it needed to be framed and adjusted to what our client’s needs.

Transparency, promises, and long-term vision are not new. These things have always been important and even more so now. Your team is watching you. My guess is your people are looking whatever is right in front of them so you need to get out in front of things more because that’s your role as the leader of the organization.

I really would value if you would share this with someone that you like, someone you want to be successful, and you think there’s something here that might be helpful to them. Go ahead and share it. I welcome the opportunity to engage with them.

Talk to you soon. Thanks for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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There’s is certainty in these “uncertain times” for associations and we need to act and adapt to these certainties if we want to thrive moving forward.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today’s topic: certainty in uncertain times.

I don’t know about you but there are a few phrases and words that I’m tired of hearing: uncertain, unprecedented, new normal (that’s an oxymoron), distancing, trying times, and essential to name a few. Phrases I want to eliminate to keep them from framing my approach and here’s why: it keeps us in a rut and from moving forward.

There’s quite a bit of certainty for us in the association space and we better latch on to it really quick and start acting before it’s too late.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

Corporate budgets for membership and sponsorship are going to be smaller in 2021 and for the foreseeable future. Congrats if you renewed all of your members in Q1! But what about 2021? We know many companies have multiple memberships. Money will be tighter in any scenario next year so, if I was scenario planning, expect about a 20% reduction in overall membership revenue in 2021 if you do the same thing you did this year. Let’s have a better and more intentional renewal plan executed for 2021 starting today. Right now, you’re making the case through the billing cycle of 2021 renewals. If you don’t have a focused and skilled recruitment team, don’t expect a new member next year – period. Smooth out your process to enable organizations and people to join your association easier. Have you ever gone to your website and tried to join? Was is easy or difficult to do so? Smooth out and improve the process if you want new members next year. You should also make sure that you have a team that is focused and is skilled in membership recruitment.

Our meetings will be virtual for the remainder of 2020. This is a major disruption for associations that gets 35% or more of their annual revenue from in-person meetings. Virtual meetings are going to be the norm for the remainder of this year and at least the first part of 2021.

Virtual meetings can and should be a unique experience. We have got to rethink these things. Registration fees are going to be much lower, we’re talking tens to low hundreds instead of thousands of dollars. And, instead of a corporate decision to send three people to Orlando, you may have the chance to reach hundreds, if not thousands, of new people and new attendees that have never attended your in-person events before. The format should be different. No one is going to sit in front of your computer for three days. The content can be built up over time to a big crescendo during a one- or two-day event. It has to be very tight. Virtual meetings are the norm now, not the exception.

Data is king and data equals revenue. The biggest value for virtual events, over face-to-face meetings, is data. The available data is much more detailed and significant than the ol’ sending a sponsor a list of attendees now. They are going to demand more if you want sponsorship dollars from them. If you can deliver significant demographic and participation data you might be able to secure the big brands that you’ve always been looking for – and you think should sponsor your event – for the first time ever.

Member demographics and behavior data with the association and the sponsor is important to track, so will the behavior within the virtual meeting platform going forward.

Who clicked on what? How long did they stay? Where did they go next? Where did they access information from? Did they go to a virtual exhibit hall and download a white paper?

This is the information that we should be evaluating our virtual platforms for because we can turn that into revenue and improved sponsorship programs.

Data and tech savvy associations that have the specialist on staff, or can hire them, are going to have a leg up on the competition. They will be able to ask for top dollars for that information especially if they can package it up for specific segments for the sponsor that’s interested in that particular group of members.

Sponsorship and supplier influence has increased. You will need revenue from the supplier community to help overcome the lack of registration revenue. Thought leadership content will make programming better and more valuable and the sponsors will ask for that opportunity and you will need to be ready for it. Your partners are going to request more data than they used to. In the past, when you had an in-person meeting, it may have been ok to send the name of the person and the company and call it a day. Your partners are not going to buy a sponsorship in that kind of environment anymore, friends. By the way, I don’t want to come off negative on this, I think is big time opportunity! We’re going to have a separation between the serious and the big-time players and those that have been faking it for years.

So, my question is, do you have the people in your organization to pull this off? Or can they learn it? There will be a great deal of work and time needed to execute our very best. There’s a big time shake up coming, folks. I am certain of that.

I hope you enjoyed the podcast. I have one favor, share it. Share this podcast if the content is helpful to you. We are up 133% in terms of downloads over last month. Man, I love it. Let’s keep it going.

Thank you so much for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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This week we’re concluding our Covid19 coverage with an overview of trends and observations that we saw during this time. We’re focusing on sponsorships and membership retention, renewal, engagement, and recruitment with a look ahead of what’s next for associations.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I’m pleased to say this is my last COVID-19 pandemic themed podcast of the year. I’m making that call right now. I’d like to wrap up things up with an overview of trends and observations that we saw during this time. Here goes.

Membership Retention

Let’s take look at where we were pre-pandemic: membership retention for trade associations was at 90%. We saw from the Marketing General membership study that 46% of all trade associations reported an increase in membership overall, 23% said that they were decreasing, and about 30% were flat. In other words, you had 53% of the industry that reported that they were flat or in decline. My expectation is that I think renewal rates will be at least 10% lower than before, so somewhere around 80%. I also think that the number of associations that will increase their membership will be somewhere around 25%. That’s based on things I’ve seen as well as things I’ve learned during my conversations with association executives.

Another trend I’ve seen? All of the value that you have delivered and you’re still delivering in an array of different formats! Zoom calls, webinars, e-newsletters, podcasts, video, and so much more. And I know that you will continue to do so for long term. The virtual meeting format is likely to stay and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

There’s also a continued trend toward membership modernization. A focus on segmented value propositions, new membership categories because you’re starting to engage different audiences, and revising dues levels to make sure that the organization can sustain itself.

Mergers and acquisitions are going to accelerate in your membership groups which will lead to your membership demographics/segments to shrink or merge together. Associations will also continue to merge.

The value of local, state, and regional organizations has increased significantly. National groups without a federated structure or a chapter have new challenges ahead because we will see some movement toward more gatherings at the local and regional level. People are hesitant to travel, they’re hesitant to stay overnight at a hotel, and they’re hesitant to being in large ballrooms.

I’ve got a story for you from one of my exec friends over at the National Sandstone Gravel Association. One of their members called him and said, “Hey, listen, some of these webinars have made me more engaged with you and your association more than I ever have been. I don’t have the ability – based on my location, size of company, and schedule – to travel to your annual meeting, however, now I can participate!”

Membership Renewal and Engagement

If you dodged the bullet with renewal because most of your members did so in the first quarter all I have to say is, “Congratulations!” However, know that members are evaluating right now for 2021. How valuable were you were during this time? This is one of the questions they are asking that will help them make the decision for next year. As you know, many of your member companies, or individuals, have multiple memberships. They’re going to decide this year who was there for them, who provided the most interesting and useful information, and who compelled them to stay engaged. The answers to those questions will decide which associations that they will choose to stay with or join in 2021 when, more than likely, budgets are going to be smaller than in previous years.

By launching new programming, you are demonstrating unprecedented value and you’re connecting with a new audience. My question is, can you keep up the pace? Because, more than likely, you’re doing more outbound communication than you’ve done before. You could potentially see the growth of your communication teams.

Did your response to the pandemics demonstrate the importance of some programs while highlighting others that are outdated and need to go? Your organization probably learned some new things and created new programs during this time that you’d like to see continue on in future. Many associations reached more people in a variety of industry segments due their COVID-19 information delivery.

For example, The Moery Company joined the National Federation of Independent Business for the first time ever during the pandemic. Did we know about them? Heck yeah! Diane Moery, our COO, used to work for them but we never joined. We joined because we are getting so much value from them.

My guess is that you’ve engaged people and they would be very likely to join you because of all the valuable information, interpretation of rules, and navigation of new regulations and such that you provided to those in your industries.

Membership Recruitment

Make sure that you’re capturing the names, titles, company names, contact and any other valuable information from non-members who have engaged with you during this time for future recruitment.

It’s time for a very strategic decision. If you haven’t moved into the recruitment mode, when are you going to do it?

You’ve demonstrated value, you’ve delivered specialized information and expertise, and you engaged folks on government relations and advocacy. Your chapters are likely to be working in better concert and coordination with you than ever before. So, when are you going to ask for these folks to join? Don’t say no for someone else. I know times are still tough. Organizations are rebounding. However, I believe this is one of the best times for membership recruitment. So, get out there and do it!

You have engaged non-members that may have a changed perception of your organization or the way they think about you. Right? They may have changed the way they think about your association because they’ve been participating.

Sponsorships

Your relationship with affiliates, allies, associates, and supplier members has changed, more than likely forever. You know now that they can deliver content, that they’re connected to you, and that you rely on them for sponsorship opportunities. It’s much more than just buying the coffee break. They’re now an even more valuable part of your membership and they likely need an updated value proposition and possibly dues structure because of it.

Expect different inventory pricing for virtual sponsorships. The pricing is usually less than what you’re used to charging for your face-to-face events. You’re also going to need to go into more detail in the description of your deliverables. There’s going to be increased need for sponsorship promotion and activation that are outside of the sponsorship on social media to give your partners increased branding opportunities. Virtual sponsorships are different.

Associations that are good at data, and ones that already have a strong virtual presence, will have an upper hand. Mining and delivering data back to the sponsor will allow you to ask for a premium sponsorship fee. Meanwhile, other associations may experience a staff and resource gap trying to catch up to get into the virtual and big data space.

Event planner skills may need to shift to virtual events and increased sales sophistication. What I mean by that is that your teams are no longer selling the same standard event sponsorship inventory that they’ve sold over the last decade. You’re going to have to provide more details for deliverables, do more outreach, and your teams will have to work harder for sponsorship dollars.

This is a long-term investment with new objectives, new strategies, and new ways of engaging the audience. This will allow you to attract new demographics and more members.

There are now more options for monetization when it comes for virtual event sponsorships. Some examples of inventory include pre-event sessions, direct advertising, and customized attendee experiences post-event with continuous and relevant information from the sponsor.

Make sure that these opportunities are based on solid thought leadership and content. You may recall that, in the past, when you had a bad session people would just leave and go have a cup of coffee or go back to their hotel room. If the content is bad in a virtual meeting, the attendees are never coming back again.

Take advantage of the opportunities and the things that you have learned coming during this time. I know that you’ll be a better association and more valuable to your members.

Best wishes to you.

Hey, if this content was valuable, will you please pass it along to a friend? That’s the only thing I asked for. I need to spread this message out to more people and I sure would welcome your help in doing that.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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This week we're concluding our Covid19 coverage with an overview of trends and observations that we saw during this time. We're focusing on sponsorships and membership retention, renewal, engagement, and recruitment with a look ahead of what's next for associations.

Show notes: moerycompany.com/episode-237

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Now is an incredible opportunity to innovate. Are you ready for the incredible opportunities that are about to come to you with the surge in virtual events, sponsorships, and membership recruitment?

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Are you ready for the incredible opportunities that are about to come to you with the surge in virtual events, sponsorships, and membership recruitment?

Now is an incredible opportunity to innovate. The bureaucracy, the task forces, and possibly the resistant meeting planners may have their influence diminished as organizations move forward with innovative thought leadership, event programing, and digital promotions.

Your sales team will be excited about the prospect of not selling the same old thing.

Here are some examples of inventory that I’m seeing right now on virtual events:

• track sponsorship
• recorded sessions
• sponsored breakout sessions and moderated discussion afterward
• the ability to upload promotional videos into a resource library or a landing page
• social media promotion of virtual sponsorships
• virtual exhibit hall with live meetings
• ability to schedule face to face discussions in a virtual setting
• visitor data for information downloads, videos, and session attendance
• segmented emails to registrants
• preliminary sessions, webinars, and Zoom calls leading up to the virtual event and on the topic

Very exciting!

Why double down on flawed delivery systems as far as face-to-face meetings go? Accent them! Develop dual programming with virtual and live events. We don’t want them to go away but I certainly want to be better coming out of this. I spoke with a veteran sales person who has been doing this for 20 years and they said “Oh my goodness, I finally have something to sell that these sponsors want! The ability to have thought leadership, face-to-face and one-on-one meetings, and the ability to promote those options digitally has been fantastic!”

Let’s talk about the surge in membership.

Over the next three months, there will be a surge in memberships for organizations that are ready for it. I hope you’re been laying the groundwork during the pandemic so that you could be prepared for the surge of new membership recruitment activity.

Here’s what I would do: develop a one pager and include information such as an infographic that includes communications with Members of Congress, letters to state legislators or local governments about essential nature of your business, the number of virtual events that you held for the industry, social media posts and the numbers of people that they have reached, information provided about guidance for PPP or reopening, the number of companies and members that you connected, and more.

Collect the names of all the non-members that have participated in this and all of the key accounts, or large companies, that may have listened to you for the very first time. Develop sales scripts with empathy, compassion, and relaunch themes. If you’ve never picked up the phone to recruit the next 90 days is the time to change that.

Time is now, the opportunity is there. Virtual events sponsorships, and membership recruiting. Let’s move!

Hey, I want to thank you. I’ve been asking over the last several episodes to share the content in this podcast if it’s helpful to you. Our listenership is up 66% over the last several episodes and we’re now on episode 236. Thank you for your support and we’ll talk next week.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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JP Moery learned a lot about business over the past couple of months. Listen to this week’s episode to hear about the five lessons that he learned while leading his company and team through a pandemic.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today’s topic is about the five things I’ve learned about my business during the pandemic. There’s probably another 25 but I’ve only got time for the top five today.

Here’s a little bit of context – I know we’ve got some new and international listeners so I want to give them a little insights – and a little bit about what The Moery Company does: our company is 10 years old, we are headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, and we have 13 members of our team.

Here’s a breakdown of our revenue:

60% comes from sales. We sell memberships, sponsorships, ads and exhibits for associations.

40% comes from consulting, usually around revenue growth, business models, sponsorship pricing, membership value propositions, categories, and things like that.

We’re 25% up in gross revenue and 40% up in gross profits. And, I can tell you, we are by no means out of the woods and, frankly, we never will be. I’m not sure I’ll ever be comfortable as a business owner ever again. However, we’ve certainly learned some things.

1. Inspired, focused, and motivated people rally. To be honest with you, I’ve seen the best work in the history of the company over the last couple of months. We’ve made 8,000 business contacts during the pandemic on behalf of our clients. We were empathetic, helpful, and absolutely dedicated to those association clients. Our team did the best work ever because it was about the people we were contacting and that made us better salespeople. My past expectations may have been too low for us or we might have been too comfortable. We started to really push and we really knew how important this work was. Business survival, frankly, was at stake. We actually sold memberships and sponsorship, when the economy was absolutely in a lockdown. Meetings weren’t happening. In fact, some associations were very nervous about moving forward.

Here’s a secret: I didn’t think this was possible. However, we move forward. Our team was inspired, focused, and did the best work they’ve ever done.

1. As a business leader, you have another gear. I’ve talked to several business leaders in the last several weeks and they all said a version of this, “Oh my gosh, I’ve never worked so hard my whole life!” Yeah, me neither. What I learned from this is what I thought was my very best would not be good enough for the future. I had this tightness in my chest to do more every day – and I did do more everyday – and I absolutely guarantee you that there’s more in your tank. Working more is now the standard.

I also learned to fight for my business more. We didn’t lower prices. It was tempting, but we didn’t panic. I watched some companies and associations pull up stakes. The fact is that they had less money coming in because they weren’t working for the new revenue or to take advantages of the opportunities that may have been out there. Don’t say no for someone else.

1. Don’t panic and make a plan. I’m not sure I’ll ever be comfortable again. I made three plans in the first week. The first was a big change that we implemented immediately: adjustments to discretionary spending. The second plan was created for a business crisis: significant changes to the team, with reduction of up to 50%. The third plan was for complete catastrophe and survival: stripping things down to one or two people, changing product and service offerings to sustain the business until recovery was possible. The fact that I had those plans in place enabled me to address the things that were right in front of me. Believe me, as you all know, opportunities were right in front of you every day. I wasn’t worried about all the long-term things because I had plans in place if I needed to implement them.

2. Don’t stop, ever. There are businesses, like I mentioned, that pulled up their stakes. They didn’t adapt, they didn’t change, they didn’t make adjustments. Other businesses did everything they could to stay open. I will never understand companies and associations that just stopped and threw up their hands because of an incredible, unprecedented – and hopefully never to come again – storm that we had.

If you have the means don’t stop, ever. Keep moving one step at a time. The associations that we worked with that did that were still thriving during the pandemic.

1. Some changes that were made during the pandemic will become part of the norm for associations going forward. Traditional meeting planner positions have, and will, continue to change. These folks will have to adapt and be better at the overall experience that association members are getting from the meetings, whether they’re face-to-face or virtual. The pace of communications with webinars, Zoom calls, and other types of virtual meetings will continue along with higher frequency of email newsletters. Recently, I saw a study where virtual meetings were going to be up 1,000%. Virtual meetings should stay. This kind of pace is what we need in the association community and I hope we keep it.

Your recent government relations work actually meant something to your members. You weren’t doing it because it was your job. You are doing it because you are trying to help them, and you are. That is why your members were so engaged with all this work. I’ve heard from several government affairs executives who mentioned that they have never had so many people on virtual government relation briefings. Specifically, briefs that covered PPP, reopening and liabilities. You know why? Because this information really matters to them.

We need to have a startup mentality in the association space. Your industry members are going through this and they’re going to be thinking about you and watching what you’re doing at the same when they choose to renew with you, or not, in 2021.

A lot of associations believe that they dodged a bullet because their renewals came in before the pandemic started. Let me tell you, in 2021, they’re going to consider what you did for them during 2020, during this pandemic, and if you helped them stay open. We just joined in association here at our company that we’ve never joined before. Why? Because of all the value we were getting from them such as the insights and the advice that we received during the pandemic. I’ll never forget that.

For the first time ever, in many of our professional lives, associations are seeing significant cuts. That’s not a good thing. A recent study came out saying that 20% of the associations were cutting back staff. Associations are cutting back people and they’re curbing salaries, just like regular businesses are. That means that we’re going to have to be more businesslike in the comeback, in the rebirth, in the rejuvenation of our association industry. And, you know what? We’re going to be better as an industry when we come out of this. Programs that no longer had value and legacy issues are going to go away. We need to support our member companies like our business and our careers rely on it because now they do and for the first time in many of our professional life associations are seeing significant cuts just like our businesses.

What will we look like coming out of this? That’s our greatest challenge. And, I think we’re up to it. I’ve seen it in the last several weeks, and I can’t wait to get in the game with you. Let’s talk next week.

How can we help your association move forward?

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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This week we’re covering topics that association leaders should be focusing on when it comes to communications, virtual events, and sponsorships. This episode is packed with useful tips and actions you can take today to help your association – and industry – move forward by shifting the focus to recovering, relaunching, and rebounding.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today I want to talk about communications, virtual events, and sponsorships and how to use them to help your association – and your industry – recover.

Communications

First, some observations on what we’re seeing here at The Moery Company. Our newsletter open rate is up 20% and our click through rate has gone up to 22%. Here’s why: we’ve been providing timely resources and insights for associations to navigate the pandemic and now we’re focusing our content on how to move into recovery mode. More resources, more interpretation. That’s what your members want from you.

Our podcast downloads are up 66% from last month. Friends, if you don’t have a podcast after this era of change that we’re going through, I don’t know what you’re doing. You need to get into podcasting as another channel for your thought leadership in your industry.

Our performance on LinkedIn remains very strong. In fact, it’s my favorite social platform for business people. Notes from our conversations with CEOs performed best last month. Again, insights into our industry geared towards the audience of the social channel helps drive more shares and more activity on LinkedIn. Give your audience – your current and potential members and sponsors – information that they’re seeking in a format tailored to each social network.

I’ve got some great observations on video, too. We post videos to Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We’re seeing best engagement on videos that are less than two minutes. That’s the attention span of my wonderful audience. That’s okay! One to two minutes means I need to get to the point, too. Good for you to know that.

The number of visitors to our website have doubled. Here’s the key thing, friends, all of this outbound communication and posting of content and resources that you have has to be directed back to your website so they can see all of the other resources that you have available.

There’s been a surge in demand for educational offerings and training. Some companies, like ours, received payroll protection money to help us continue moving forward. Others many not have as much work as they did before the pandemic. This is a great opportunity to focus on education since the workload may be lighter than usual and they have time to focus on additional training. If you have a virtual training program for your industry you ought to be doubling down on the marketing of it right now.

Here’s another important thing to note: we’re shifting from pandemic content to content focused on recovery. Now is the time to shift your content focus to recovering, rebounding, and relaunching your industries. Don’t forget that the tide shifts and to watch the trends in your content engagement. I’m paying a lot of attention to that, probably more than I ever have. It’s key to make sure you keep your audience engaged. Don’t just be trotting out the same old stuff.

Virtual Meetings

Virtual meetings are a big deal right now. The attention being given to virtual meeting platforms has, frankly, replaced the hotel site visit as a central focus for event planners.

Over the last several years we have paid more attention to content and the business connections that are being developed. That’s more important than having your meetings at destinations such as Charleston, Atlanta, or Nashville to name a few. The same focus needs to remain on finding the right virtual platform. Most of these platforms can deliver the basics, however, what’s really important is good education, information, and training for your speakers to make sure that they’re using the platform appropriately.

Focus on content quality. Community is built through the content. Continue to stay close to the attendees by bringing that group together over and over again, maybe even with a sponsor underwriting those continued conversations.

Start with a narrow program. An example of that could be a young leaders Zoom call with congressional members under 40 years of age. The National Sand, Stone and Gravel Association did that recently. Then expand that small audience to a larger event, like an election briefing with someone like Nathan Gonzalez who is the publisher of Inside Elections. The virtual event executed live will provide urgency and draw in a larger audience. A recording can be used for continued promotion and email marketing to the target audience of the potential sponsor. Webinars and Zoom calls – supported by sponsors – should be offered complimentary. Educational sessions and training may be better suited for a fee.

Sponsorship for Virtual Events

Some thoughts for you regarding sponsorship and monetization of these virtual events. Sponsorship relationships will never be transactional again. The association platform is no longer an afterthought for sponsors and sponsors will never be taken for granted by the association, either. There’s an opportunity to deliver what the sponsor has always desired. A target audience and a chance to connect with them along with the ability to deliver thought leadership and consistent branding. That has always been the case, regardless of the environment or the platform. Own the loss for the time being and find a way to offset the face-to-face meeting and sitting next to the CEO for the lunch.

How do you deliver the value to sponsors that they’ve always wanted from you? Consider the revenue opportunity with new companies, because you might be able to attract a company that you’ve never engaged before. Grace Lynch, who is a member of our sales team, sold a sponsorship with a company that makes the protective sheets between workstations in an industry. That would never have been possible just a few months ago, right? It’s all new.

Sponsorship monetization is going to be different through virtual events but I think will provide long term – and even more measurable results – through diverse deliverables that we’ve never had previously. It’s probably not going to replace what you were getting from a live event but it could certainly supplement it. It can be viable. And it may be a preferred venue for some of your sponsors that may not optimally fit your face-to-face event programming. Associations with a great digital presence and reputation will absolutely be better positioned for virtual sponsorships. If you’ve got a podcast, you’re going to be much better at this type of format.

Good data in the CRM and great email marketing is going to be extremely important to promote sponsors, webinars, virtual meetings, and more. Keep in mind that you will need to describe the virtual and the digital offerings in more detail in your prospectus than you had in the past for, let’s say, a lanyard or coffee break sponsorship in your face-to-face event program. They know what that means. They don’t know what they’re going to get when they sponsor a webinar. Be more descriptive in your prospectus.

The connection you have with sponsors is tremendous. They need your market, they need access to your members for leads, and you need their support in this somewhat unknown environment with suppressed registration, at least for the time being. Don’t underestimate these partnerships now. If you’ve never had them before, you certainly need them now. The associations that traditionally have given a stiff arm to the sponsor community and treated them like second class citizens have come to roost now. Invest in these relationships and optimize them. Work together and collaborate to help each other reach your goals.

I really hope you find this helpful because it’s an important movement in the association space.

Final thought for you. Actually, it’s a favor. I don’t charge for this podcast. I don’t put sponsors on it. Maybe I’ll have to? I just spill my guts about the things that I’m seeing out in the association space. Can you please share this on social media and do it right now? I would greatly appreciate that. Get the message out about the Association Hustle. Appreciate you.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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We’re getting ready to see an association sales crisis like we’ve never seen before. For those associations that adapt and get into it will be the ones that survive. It’s not too late. Listen to this episode for a plan on how to ramp up sales when it comes to membership recruitment, membership renewal, and sponsorships.

P.S. We’re doing a giveaway! Listen to the end of the episode for the details or check out the show notes below.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I’ve been in this association business for almost 30 years and I’ve heard a lot of conversations about membership sales.

And let me tell, you, I’ve heard it all!

“We’re just a nonprofit, we don’t really like selling that much.”

“You know, we really don’t need membership recruitment help. We’ve got 90% of the market!”

“Oh, we’ve got an 89% renewal rate! We just send out the invoices, no need for an intentional retention program.”

And my favorite, “You guys just take orders for sponsorships, ads, and exhibits. Doesn’t really take any selling. We just send out the prospectus and get the orders in so we don’t really need any sales help or strategy.”

Where are those people now? I guarantee you that they’re probably in the corner of the room in a fetal position because everything around them is falling apart or they’re sitting there wondering when things are going to “return to normal” and hoping that they do. Hope is not a strategy. We’re getting ready to see an association sales crisis like we’ve never seen before. For those associations that adapt and get into it will be the ones that survive.

So, I’ve got a plan with a number of steps to ramp up sales when it comes to membership recruitment, membership renewal, and sponsorships. And will share tips on leveraging communications that might be helpful to you.

Membership Renewal

You’re going to need a membership sales renewal process during this billing cycle more than ever. Sending out emails and invoices in the ninth month of membership will require more outbound work. In addition to the billing cycle you’re likely going to add additional calls and direct engagement especially if you’re extending deferrals, payment plans, and any kind of adjustment to your regular membership. My guess is to expect a 25% reduction in membership renewal rates from your average in 2021, depending upon when your billing cycle lands in a calendar year. You’re going to need outbound folks calling your members to talk to them about the renewal process. It’s going to be very critical if you have any kind of expectations to return to the renewal rates of the past.

Membership Recruitment

Associations are doing unbelievable work in the area of membership recruitment and the role of communication has enhanced. We’re stretching our communications teams thin! There are more Monday briefings than ever before with newsletters and videos coming out from CEOs. Associations are increasing content output by sending information to the entire industry about what’s happening, how to reopen their businesses, and how to adapt to a new era within their industries. It’s very good stuff. However, here’s the trick, every single outbound communication should be tracked for opens, clicks, and turned over immediately to the sales team to start developing a membership recruitment dialogue. My sense is that you have more prospects looking at your stuff but the recruitment team doesn’t have all of the necessary information. Capture the contact information from webinars, Zoom calls, and any other kind of virtual programming and be intentional about converting the attendees.

I have another belief, the organizations that are taking in the information you’re providing them are the ones that are most likely to survive the disruption caused by the pandemic. We are recruiting members right now for associations due to the unprecedented government relations clout that they are demonstrating and the engagement and the communications being delivered by the association. These are member prospects that have never thought about joining the association before and we’re converting them with ease.

Sponsorships

Now is the time to develop the 2021 prospectus by inventorying the entire organization for potential assets that could be sponsored. Look in your communications operation, there’s probably things that aren’t being sold right now. Look into government relations, there may be briefings that you’re having with a government affairs team that can be shared. In terms of webinars, why are they not being sponsored? We have a client that recently launched a brand new webinar program and sold five sponsorships in a week!

Plan for it now. We got to walk and run at the same time.

You may have current offerings based on existing content you that you can apply sponsorships to. You will rarely, if ever, get traditional sponsorship dollar amounts as you would get for a premium live event. There are some associations losing 40-50% of their revenue stream that traditionally came from live events. They’ve got to be able to supplement that with something else. Have this new prospectus include non-event and event related inventory in packages that are bundled together and have it ready for an August launch. The prospectus for 2021 should – and will – look different for the new and existing sponsors.

You may be developing a new list of companies to reach out to because some of the old players – the ones that have been with you for a long time – may have marketing restrictions for the foreseeable future. You remember that right of refusal thing that you used to have? It’s time to open that up because some of your existing sponsors – especially large companies – have restrictions or caps on their marketing spending, including spending money with your association. Now’s the time to bring in new viable prospects into your sponsorship program.

Now, here’s the kicker, you might not have the people that can do this kind of work or enough bandwidth. The amount of outbound contact that’s needed will be unprecedented in membership renewal, membership recruitment, and in sponsorships. The time is now to ramp up your efforts and I don’t care where you get the additional work force. Look inside other departments that have a reduced profile and cross-train them or hire outside of your organization to handle the outbound work because it’s going to take more than ever before to get at least what you had. It will require different skill sets and additional talent to achieve that.

We’ve been talking about this on our podcast for over 230 episodes. Now is the time for associations to hustle.

I’ve got one request for you today, will you do me a favor? Will you share this podcast on social media? We share all of our content with you for free and, frankly, I’m fine with that! It’s all about helping you grow. There are other opportunities where we can monetize our knowledge and I’m not worried about that right now. However, I would love for you to pass this episode along. If you share this podcast or our content, please tag me (@JPMoery)! I’m going to be watching and I will be giving away free copies of my book Association Hustle.

I really appreciate you listening today. Bye bye.

Do you need additional bandwidth for your membership and sponsorship outreach? Check out our Association Stimulus Package created specifically to address this issue or let us know in the form below how we can help:

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Things aren’t coming back like they were. This is a test. What grade will your association get? The latest on what is happening in the association field regarding memberships, events, and sponsorships.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

I’ve got a very direct message for you today: it’s time to get tough. Things aren’t coming back like they were. This is a test. What grade will your association get?

This is a great opportunity for us as well, here’s what I mean:

This is probably the biggest professional economic test we are ever going to face within our associations and in our lifetime. You will look back and recognize that it either knocked you out and it was never the same or you came out of it by punching through and in better shape than before.

It’s time for us all in the nonprofit, in the association, and in the small business space to get tougher.

Here is a personal take how to get tough and come out of this stronger on the other end of the pandemic:

I have developed a daily Power Five list, a list of items I must do every day. Some of them are business related, some of them are not. For example, my current list includes the following: read scripture, work out, say I love you to my daughters and my wife, send a thank you note, and contact 20 associations. I try to do those things every single day. Some days I win, some days I lose. It’s not a to do list, it’s a Power Five list that helps me stay focused on reaching personal and professional goals and live a better life. It also helps me stay productive. I got this from Andy Frisella, who’s a leadership guru, and I encourage you to follow him.

The other thing I want you to think about is how to measure yourself every single day. It’s very difficult, in this day and age when days and weeks blend into each other, to measure yourself every single day and share that measurement with someone else. Measuring and tracking your progress towards goals is more important than ever.

And here are my recommendations for associations:

There are a number of things that will happen in the next several months, if they’re not already happening in your association right now regarding membership, events, and sponsorships.

Membership

Membership recruitment, engagement and retention will be – for the foreseeable future – the key revenue driver for associations. Most trade associations are generating somewhere around 60% of their revenue from membership. That is at risk at a greater rate than it was before. I don’t think we can expect a 90% retention rate in 2021. Some associations tend to be good at recruitment, engagement and retention but often not all three. We’ve got biases and we have strengths. My point is, we should be good at all of those now.

Membership Recruitment

Have a specific plan, activity, and pipelines each week. Feel free to refer to past episodes to hear about membership recruitment!

Membership Engagement

Have a full year, step-by-step plan and start slow. Provide your members value and then continue to build it up as they become active in your association. As you know, activity and involvement in the association improves the probability of retention.

Membership Retention

Consistently building the case for the value of your association, over time, is important because when the invoice drops for renewal – regardless of the economic environment – they’re going to say yes.

Never balk from renewing a member, even if times are bad. Use the right tone but renew them.

Hey, I’m a business, too. I would never think about skipping invoicing a client for the work that we did. You’re doing the same thing as an association. In my view, associations need to get better at this. Fewer members and prospects are going to be around and more associations are going to be after their involvement and trying to get them involved. You have to be the best at this to come out on top. I know this because I work with so many of you and your associations often share the same members. Do you think that they’re sitting in their corporate headquarters and going, “Hmm, which one is the most valuable to me?” I guarantee you that they are.

Events

The future is uncertain as far as events and the way they have been executed in the past. We’re going to need a more diversified way to connect vendors and suppliers and in the delivery of education. Attendance for large events may not be coming back any time soon. And, to be honest with you, we were relying on a trip to a resort or Las Vegas or Orlando to prop up the rest of our business model, and we were doing it way too much. We were relying on destinations to make our association more viable.

How do we make sure that attendees and sponsors continue to get value from the events? We can still deliver on those things, even though we’re not going to the Greenbrier.

Event Attendees

Attendees want education, learning from each other, and learning how to better run their business. This has never been more true. They’re learning these things during sessions and in the hallway. How do you translate that into a virtual experience?

Event Sponsors

Sponsors want to get in front of your membership with meaningful conversations about their services, to showcase their expertise, and to build their brand. Those things have not changed. They still want to accomplish those things. In fact, I think the need for this type interaction, and value of that interaction, increased during this pandemic.

We’re going to see sponsorship opportunities change with meetings going virtual. However, this opens up more opportunities for consistent connections in multiple ways. We may see smaller in-person events. We will also see more virtual events moving forward. Connecting with members through virtual meetings becomes increasingly valuable. I’m not sure that will ever go away. In fact, I hope it doesn’t. Now, we can actually connect and bring people together in a variety of different ways. We’ve learned to be able to do that because we can’t go to Orlando and do it during a golf tournament.

Annual Conferences

We’ve been struggling with these for a while. The exhibit hall, in many cases, lacked energy. It was difficult to connect with younger members. Moving forward, we’re going to see smaller and more specific virtual face-to-face meetings and in our live events moving forward.

These are the things we have to get really good at when it comes to membership, events, and connecting people in general. All of those qualities that members wanted from associations prior to the pandemic are things they still want. The only thing that has changed is the means of delivery of those values.

Here’s what else I believe in, and I’m not going to back away from it: in our company we’ve established one of the best, if not the best, program for sales, memberships, sponsorships, ads and exhibits in the association space. And that is for good times or bad. We’re not really a necessity when things are good and you’re just chugging along. The good days are over, the new days are here, and you can and must do it better. Your revenue generation operation is absolutely critical right now and we can help you with that. Whether it’s a good day, or a bad day, we are with you all the way to help you generate revenue and weather the storm.

How can we help your association weather the storm?

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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We recently hosted an association executive roundtable to get a pulse on what is happening in the association world. We learned a great deal about how associations are pivoting, and even thriving, during the pandemic and how they foresee their operations continue to adjust moving forward.

An executive summary of the meeting can be found here.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hi, it’s JP Moery, welcome to the Association Hustle Podcast.

I want to dive right in by giving you some notes from a Zoom call that I hosted with our association CEO and COO clients. We talked about membership, events, virtual events, sponsorship, government relations. Let me tell you about some of the key findings.

Communications. Your industry is really hungry for information, the ability to communicate and connect with people right now is a key opportune time to develop relationships in your industry. Members and non-members really are welcoming compassionate messaging and great content. Your ability to show expertise and how to navigate the PPP program, emergency loans, access to capital, reopening issues, and other issues are being very well received in the marketplace. In effect, associations are working harder than ever before.

Membership Renewal. Most of the associations we were speaking with are launching their renewal program. They may be thinking about deferred payments, partial payments, lowering of dues for certain membership categories, temporary complimentary access for folks who have lost their jobs, and so on. Associations have also opened up information portals for non-members for now. Some non-members are actually ready to join as they see the information and the value that the association provides. We’re actually selling new memberships right now! Can you believe that? Make sure that, if you are offering complimentary information, to capture the names and the contact information of those people showing interest because someday, when business opens up and becomes more regular, they could be a very key prospective member.

Events. Everyone knows that associations are converting from face-to-face to virtual events right now, in terms of content delivery and marketing. We need to be mindful that not everyone’s going to sit through a four- to five-hour virtual meeting. They’re just not going to do that. Associations are thinking about the cadence of the delivery system. They’re also looking at segmenting groups into smaller, more focused, networking opportunities. Think of the early Zoom calls where you may have had 500 people on, now associations are starting to segment the meetings into smaller groups with shared common goals and to solve common problems. Partner and facilitate those discussions based on interest, problems to be solved, age group, and region of the country since different parts of your industry may be opening at different times. Something to think about.

Meeting Security. Associations and firms are forbidding the use of certain virtual meeting platforms because of security concerns. Whether it’s Microsoft Teams, Zoom, GoToMeeting; associations are really thinking about the security issues when it comes to protecting members in their associations.

Sponsorships. Sponsors perceived the value of virtual events to be lesser than face-to-face programs that they may have had with you. A $30,000 member that was exclusively hosting the welcome reception may not spend the same amount of money for exclusivity around a webinar series. Those things are a little bit in flux right now. Sponsors are not at the same commitment level that they were before. I would really encourage you to look at diversifying your sponsorship portfolios to include digital year-long opportunities. It’s a time to inventory all of the assets of the association to think about what the sponsorship program might look like in the foreseeable future.

Government relations and advocacy. Friends, this is an incredible opportunity to showcase the government relations expertise of your organizations. It’s unbelievable. There’s a heightened awareness of government relations value right now. Some associations are truly differentiating themselves from the organizations that are lightweight players. They’re helping people interpret rules. They’re helping them get access to capital. They’re providing webinars and information about how to navigate reopening on a local, state, and national levels. The organizations that have great government relations programs are able to showcase that expertise now in a very enhanced way. Make sure that you’re making that information available to even non-members for a temporary basis. We’re seeing people join associations right now because of what the government relations operation has been able to deliver on behalf of the industry.

Final Thoughts. More phone conversations are happening. People are seeking out human connections. Business conversations, in my sense, are now less about COVID-19 and the initial panic and now focus on, “We’re in it now, how do we move forward? How do we get back into business?” Because that’s what many of our association members want to do.

Friends, hope this is helpful to you. Let’s keep moving forward, baby. We’re going to do this. Thanks for listening. Talk soon. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Let us know below how we can help your association move forward during these turbulent times? :

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On this week’s episode JP provides an update on The Moery Company’s business operation and what we learned during out application process for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hey everybody, I’ve got a great story for you today: The Moery Company qualified and received a Payroll Protection Program loan last week. I want to share an update on the business operations and how this pandemic affected us and how we’ve responded.

We had a couple things happen last week. Our small family business here in Virginia received a Virginia 30 Day Fund grant, we had an angel investor loan us some resources, and the PPP loan came in. All of this happened within a 48-hour period. The process of this brought feelings of hope, frustration, gratefulness, and waves of other emotions. I don’t think there was any way the infusion of resources would occur without the help of many.

We pursued the PPP option in the same way we pursue new members for our association clients. We did it with professionalism, facts, tenacity and follow up. Without those things our company would likely be looking in from the outside at that program. All of these infusions added up to about $200,000 in cash for us.

We pursued the PPP loan and called our bank almost daily. We bank with Eagle Bank, here in the Washington DC area, and they were very helpful. However, there were times when we read information in the press or from other resources and it didn’t seem to be the same in terms of what we were getting with the bank. We were very tenacious with them, following up with our VP, and emailing our account rep. We had help with our forms from someone who had been successful in applying for another company. That made a real big difference because we wanted to make sure the information that we sent in was accurate. We stayed on top of it. I don’t know about all of the information that’s going to come out about big companies getting the loans, that’s for another day in another time.

My realization that at this time in place this was where the money was and the money is almost always in the system somewhere. In this case, the “system” had the money with the government and it was in a different place.

I recognized the money wasn’t in the traditional place that The Moery Company was used to getting it from. It wasn’t with new clients and we had limited opportunities in membership sales, sponsorship sales, and consulting projects. So, I had to go where the money was. I had to shift quickly to a new place to get resources and I had to do it. Here’s why: prior to this, we already put in place several savings decisions that we implemented and I was literally minutes from communicating with my team about salary cuts across the board that many of you and your organization’s have faced. My goal from the beginning of this economic freefall was to keep my team in place and all employees working at full salary. That is now a reality.

We will take a financial hit in the coming months, there’s no doubt about it. As sponsorship sales slow, and we change to new formats for sponsorship types, delayed strategic and membership recruitment cycles are going to lengthen and get longer. However, for the foreseeable future, we are intact with our team and delivering some of the best work in the company’s history.

I want to thank you for listening to this story because it’s really important that the program was available, we went after it, and we learned a lot by doing it. I also have always sought to be transparent, not only in this podcast, but in our videos, in our blogs, and in everything that we do. I’ve also sought to be transparent about our business and its trajectory. It’s usually a story of growth and expansion. In this case, the narrative is more about survival. And, in some ways, that story is actually even more gratifying.

I hope you are finding glimmers of hope and opportunity in this new environment. I don’t know how it’s going to end up but, I can tell you this, a lot of the qualities that you’ve used to be successful over your entire career are still needed right now. It just might be, in this case, a different place and with a different group of people. Keep your mind open to the opportunities. I think they’re out there and I wish you the very best in pursuing them.

Thanks for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Listen to this week’s episode to learn how you can adapt and adjust your association’s membership acquisition, value proposition, communications, meeting and events, and leadership to the current environment.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

It’s great to be with you. I’ve got another COVID-19 pandemic themed episode for you and we’re going to cover a lot of topics.

Association Membership

Every industry is being affected by this and I’m not sure how much. My sense is that it’s somewhere from catastrophic to very hectic. Despite that, this may be an incredible time for you to increase your outreach and your engagement with your members and industry.

A few ideas for you.

You can launch a trial membership during the pandemic that allows those that are non-members to access resources that you are currently providing to your members. Open up channels of communications with them, engage them, and continue to deliver more than ever. Give them a chance to experience how valuable membership is with your association.

Along with the trial membership offer you will need to have an intentional plan to convert them to full memberships when things return to “normal,” possibly in the next quarter. You may already know the difficulty of converting trial memberships so be ready. You’re doing so much fantastic work that the trial period should build loyalty that will help with conversion down the road.

Value Proposition

Relaunch your association with a new value proposition with access to corresponding materials. The other day I saw an association that launched a great program that extended membership for three months for free for those who are unemployed along with a $125 credit for any of their educational programs, and a COVID-19 resource page where they’re delivering webinars and podcasts on a regular basis. As you can see, they’re delivering all this value to their members without necessarily saying it will all be free forever. They set up a program that unique to the time to help their members and they’re delivering more information, services and benefits than maybe they ever had before.

Communications

Increase your information delivery. We’re seeing here, at The Moery Company, a 50% increase in social media engagement. Our open rates on our email newsletter has gone up almost 10%.

The other thing that could be unique for this moment in time, is connecting with people on the phone: more return phone calls and more phone conversations, in general, are happening right now. It won’t last forever. There is no doubt that the pace has slowed down but people are very active and they’re much more willing to speak on the phone. What an unbelievable time to connect person to person.

Meetings and Events

My guess is you have cancelled meetings. I saw a study the other day that said 65% of all associations have cancelled an event and they pivoted to adjusted meeting, holding sessions online, and found sponsors for webinars and Zoom gatherings. One of our smaller clients told me about a webinar that had near 1000 people on their online webinars, they’ve never had that before! Prepare for the future of smaller, more exclusive meetings, which were already becoming very popular. I’m not sure if folks will be willing to come out to a 2000+ person meeting you used to have. They may be interested smaller, more exclusive, gatherings. I think meetings will change and become more diversified. Hey, I’m not sure if an old guy like me will be comfortable getting on the plane and go to Las Vegas for a large show. I’m not sure when people will be comfortable with that. This is why the attractiveness of a more exclusive and targeted event is going to be even more valuable, in my view.

Leading Through a Crisis

When responding to the crisis I think you have to, overall, be very honest about the problem. Be realistic. As a leader, you may be more vulnerable than ever before and it’s okay to convey that to your employees. Assess where you are, know your strengths and weaknesses are, and be very candid with your team about it. From there, what I have done, was develop three plans: an adjustment plan, a crisis plan with significant changes, and a meltdown and survival mode. You can save the company, but I have no sense of what it will look like coming out of this. There are no guarantees. It’s absolutely fine to be totally candid with your team about those things.

Moving forward is the key. I don’t care what industry you are in. I understand many of you are in industries that are in total meltdown but I think you can still move forward with them and on their behalf. Don’t take your foot off the gas in terms of communications, delivering value, and asking them to engage with you.

If you do stop, paralysis sets in, and you’re going to get eaten up.

You will get out of this.

Personally, I don’t know what kind of shape you’ll be in. I don’t know if you’ll have a job or not but there will be an end to all of this. I think you have the opportunity to get up, get off the mat and come out stronger, better, and faster regardless of what your situation is. I know it’s easy for me to say but believe me, friends, I’m struggling with the same things you are.

Adjust.

Today, in fact, we’re launching an association stimulus program at the Big Red M!

Members need to hear from you and as part of our stimulus package we will develop a plan to engage and inform changes you might be implementing in your membership, such as extending renewals, and we will call your members. Or, if you are moving forward to an online meeting platform, we will look at the program and build a sponsorship program around it and sell it for you. People are in the stage of adjustment and the time is now to execute it. How can you change and adjust your traditional deliverables in this incredible new environment? That’s the challenge. Are we up to it? I think so. You wouldn’t be listening to Association Hustle if you weren’t.

Talk to you soon. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Association leaders are getting laser focused on delivering great information to their members and are really focused on long-term business projects with their partners while addressing the urgent needs of now. Listen to this week’s episode to learn about steps associations are taking to overcome these difficult times and come out on top.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hey everybody, thanks for listening today, it’s great to connect with you! Today, I’m going to share with you several themes from our From the Field videos that we’ve been posting on our website, on our YouTube channel, and a lot of our social media channels. In those videos, I share observations from our sales team and my conversations with executives from all over the country. I just had one the other day with some friends from Hawaii, as an example!

First, the pace right now during the pandemic is frenetic for our organizations. For most associations that type of pace is probably not sustainable for the long term. I’ve spoken with a couple of association executives who are working six or seven days a week focusing on helping members get through this. I hate the term uncertain times but it is a different time for sure. To be honest, I don’t think the association industry is accustomed to this amount of workload unless it’s during an annual convention or they’re working on a big bill on Capitol Hill. They’re currently deploying all of their association assets to help their members and doing it on a day to day basis. But it’s good for us, we’re building muscle that we have maybe never stretched before. Overall, this is a very good thing.

The second observation is that at the same time there’s a real focus on what is vitally important to our organizations, our members, and our customers. Vital now because there are some interesting issues being addressed with long-term implications. We’ve got urgent issues, along with important long-term ones, being addressed at the same time. For example, this week, I had a conversation with a very prominent CEO about their retention program. We’ve never done that before. He and I have known each other for a long time. We’ve never talked about retention, but he’s thinking about it because he has a little bit of margin to devote to it. He’s working harder than ever before and he’s also thinking about long-term items that he now has some ability to focus on. I presented a whole revision of a sponsorship program in the midst of the pandemic to another CEO yesterday. Their sponsorship program has been based on a face-to-face meeting platform; all of their sponsorships were connected to face-to-face meetings. However, now is the opportunity to leverage all of the assets of the association in their sponsorship efforts. This is something we’ve been talking with associations for a long time. However, because of the uncertain future of face-to-face meetings, it’s really important to have all of your assets in place: your thought leadership, your online programming, your publications, your magazines, and other sponsorship inventory. Our conference call was focused on now changing their long-term sponsorship program.

A third conversation was another conference call where an association CEO was speaking with state association executives giving them advice on membership renewals, how to go about it, and providing tips on how to address membership recruitment. I don’t think those conversations were happening before, to be honest with you. The point here is that people are getting laser focused on delivering great information and are really focused on long-term business projects while addressing the urgent needs of now.

The fourth thing that I have seen is how things can change with customers very, very quickly. We’ve had a client that basically pulled up stakes and said, “No, we’re not selling anything or marketing anything to anybody right now.” Then we have another organization that originally delayed a project for 30-60 days and then suddenly, this week, moved it up urgently asking us, “Can you talk today so we can get started?” This example underscores the importance of staying in touch with all of your stakeholders, your clients and your industry, because you never know how quickly things might change.

The fifth thing I wanted to mention to you is how tactics really matter right now. We’re seeing an increase in e-mail open rates of 10%, or more, from our current outreach efforts. I have also seen the reawakening of the phone call. Executives are surprisingly more accessible across a variety of industries. They’re interested in strategic conversations and to talk about what’s happening in their business today. This is an opportunity to, frankly, show your value. I’m not sure that this amount of phone call interaction is ever going to come back post pandemic. When things return back to a more normal pace, I’m not sure if we will have the opportunity to have these kinds of conversations like we’re having right now. I’m finding them incredibly valuable.

My second to last thought for you today is that this is a tremendous time to think. My hope is that your group can improve during this temporary setback and slow down. We can all take this time to get better. I think we already are because we are listening and being more self-aware than we maybe were before this happened. Simply, the improvement of paying better attention to the market could be the improvement that could change your association, or your small business, forever.

Finally, I want to say thank you. I’m so grateful that you listen to this podcast, watch our videos, and bought the Association Hustle book. By the way, I’ve got a couple boxes left, please go to jpmoery.com and order one if you want!

I have no expectation that we’ll ever do business together. None. I’m just pleased to have the platform to tell you about our observations. However, if you ever want to chat personally, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. Let’s start that conversation!

Thanks for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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On this week’s episode JP answers your most asked questions about membership renewals, events, and leading during a pandemic.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hi, it’s JP. I’m very excited about the opportunity to tell you about the conversations I’m having with association industry leaders during this pandemic and cover some of the topics, issues, and questions I’m getting from our clients and share them directly to you.

“Should I be doing our membership renewals now?”

Many of you are in the midst of this if your billing cycle follows the fiscal year and you may be sending out renewals right now. My answer to that question is yes. My sense is you are delivering unprecedented value to your membership base like never before. I have seen some of the best content, engagement, and advocacy possibly in the history of your organization. It absolutely makes sense to drop that membership invoice. However, I would also give them the option for a payment plan or a payment deferral. Be generous and be generous with your tone. This may be the best time to have a conversation about the real value that your organization brings them. I also think it is absolutely critical for you to do everything you can to keep some of the business transactions in place. After all, I think we’re in a scenario where we should not say no for people that we want to do business with. Give them the option to come back to you with deferral plans, payment plans, or other options. Don’t say no for them.

“Should we recruit new members during this time?”

I have seen a number of associations making trial membership offers during the pandemic with an intentional plan that includes converting people into paying members. I think it’s absolutely critical to do so because the problem with trial memberships is that after the trial few end up joining. However, now may be a great time to offer a trial membership program because of everything that you’re doing for your industry, just make sure you have a plan on what you’re going to do afterwards. You may also want to consider relaunching the association with your new value proposition and provide access to prospects to some of the materials without a full access membership. The idea is to connect and build your brand right now. The easiest thing to deliver right now may be education or certification; you may want to loosen your membership requirements there, especially for jobs where people must be on site and they could be doing nothing right now at their homes. Offer them the opportunity to get information to pursue their certification, to get online education in an environment that’s absolutely unprecedented. In other words, whether it’s renewal or a new membership, there’s never an opportunity like now to establish our relevance and these businesses.

“Should I cancel or delay my meeting that I have planned?”

Adjust the meeting instead of cancelling. There could be components that you could conduct online, ask partners to sponsor some of the content that’s already been prepared. We’re hearing from our clients that tell us they have thousands of people consuming their online content. I recently had a great conversation with our friends in the state of Illinois, they had 500 to 1000 people on their educational webinar. Wow. I asked, “Hey, are you developing sponsorships for those?” She answered, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think about it, we will next week!” This is a great opportunity to include your partners. You may have delayed the in-person meeting but that doesn’t mean you should delay the delivery of great information to your membership base and non-members.

We should also begin to prepare for smaller, more exclusive meetings, which were becoming very popular prior to the pandemic. There are exceptions, however, large events were struggling in terms of delivering valuable information and ROI to individual attendees. The small meetings are going to be the ones that I believe will become increasingly popular. I think meetings will change for the foreseeable future. Here’s an example: an old guy like me may not be ready to go to a huge event in the future and travel across the country to do it. I’m not sure how our mindset is going to be affected in terms of attending large scale events going forward. There may be a resistance in this area for a very long time.

“As a leader, how do you respond to the crisis?”

Here’s how I’m dealing with it. First, I wanted to be very honest and realistic about the problem. Could this put us out of business? Hey, I don’t know, it could. Here’s what I do know: every single day feels like a week. Ebbs and flows. Lots of emotion. Lots of high points. Somebody wants to work with us! Lots of low points. A long-term client has to pull the plug on a project. You need to be realistic about what could happen.

The second step is to assess where you are. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your organization? Focus on the strengths that you have, not just the weaknesses and how the ship might sink. Address the opportunities that exist for you. I can tell you that from The Moery Company perspective our ability to deliver podcasts, videos, webinars, and live content is something that we’re used to and will continue to focus on. We’ve seen the consumption of our content go way up and I think that will serve us for the long term. This is why I’m doing videos on almost a daily basis; it’s something we can do to provide value and we are already good at it.

The next step is to develop three plans. The first is minor adjustments that you need to make such as finding areas where you can be leaner. And, by the way, I found some savings and some things that we should have been doing better anyway and we’ve implemented them immediately. The second plan is for a crisis that includes significant changes regarding salary, changes in the direction of the company, and other things that you’re going to have to monitor. There’s going to be some pain in this one. The first plan may cause a little bit of discomfort, the second one is going to be hurt more. The third plan is for survival of a total meltdown. What I’m planning on here is when we’re basically hand-to-mouth, staying afloat, trying to keep the Big Red M surviving and getting through the next few months. That’s the third option and I don’t even want to look at it. The point is, I’ve put the plan together. I put that plan together with zero emotion and during a time that I could really think clearly about it.

There’s going to be a rebound, eventually. The challenge for us as leaders is to save the organizations right now to keep them from going under. This will provide you with the opportunity to bring people back on board that you may had to lay off or furlough. Survive so you can thrive in the future.

I hope all these points are helpful to you. I’m thinking about your families, your associations, and your businesses. And I wish you the very best. Talk soon. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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On this week’s episode we cover actionable steps you can take for rewarding webinar partnerships. We cover setting business objectives, managing expectations, and creating a variety of opportunities for your sponsorship inventory.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hi, it’s JP Moery. Thanks for listening, folks. We’re providing some special content during this uncertain time that I know many of our association friends are facing.

One of the things that we’ve heard about from our clients is the desire to move some of their live event programming to virtual ones: webinar or live streaming session, to name a few. We’ve been involved in these types of programs for a very long time. I’ve conducted dozens of webinars so I have some thoughts for you in developing a webinar sponsorship program, especially if you’ve never done this before.

Let me give you some context and considerations before you launch the program.

Focus on the sponsor’s business objectives. I know it is very easy right now to jump into online events for the purpose of replacing traditional meeting sponsorship revenue, however, I urge you to pause and think about the long game. Along with that, you will need to manage the expectations for the sponsors before you start. If you don’t have a track record for delivering huge audiences then you’re going to want to speak to the longevity, alignment with thought leadership, and distribution of the webinar beyond those who registered.

Manage expectations. Think about the sponsor. There’s a lot of pressure on you to think about the replacement of revenue and the delivery of content, continue to stay in the long game.

Every promotion of the webinar can be considered a promotion of the sponsor’s brand. Make sure that you integrate the sponsorship with ads, social media, email campaigns, print advertising, and more as you send out promotional notices. Add those promotion opportunities to the inventory of the webinar sponsorship to enhance its value.

Be very diligent about the sponsor’s type of involvement in the webinar delivery. Do they have an active part? Do they say anything during the webinar? Or is it just a promotion of their brand during the event? Are they going to introduce the speaker? Will they be providing some of their own content in terms of making the webinar valuable to the audience? You have to think about how you’re going to engage these folks because I know a number of you have different criteria for live events where you do not allow the sponsors to speak. Now is the time to loosen the rules because, to be honest with you, you really need their support to get this off the ground.

Be very thoughtful about the post webinar opportunities. I’ve been amazed at the value and the shelf life of a well delivered webinar. We still have people downloading our content from our archive of past webinars a year after we delivered it! Think about transcribing it to make an e-book, posting it on your YouTube channel. Make parts of it available in newsletters or magazine articles, things like that. Think about how you’re going to scale that content after the program is delivered.

Now let’s shift to what a naming rights webinar sponsorship could look like. Start with logo placements and link to sponsor’s website on all registration promotions that you send out and a social media campaigns promoting the sponsor. Do that on a weekly basis for the sponsors. Promote the sponsors in email confirmations to those who have registered with sponsor branding prior to the event, day of the program, etc. Highlight the sponsors in a prominent position on the webinar’s registration page.

The next thing to think about is how are you going to promote you partners during the webinar? You can place the logo on the viewing screen or on all of the presentation slides. The webinar host can provide a promotional intro prior to the programming as people are signing on or at the very end. You can have a 30-60 second “commercial break” or a promotional slide halfway through the webinar.

Finally, post webinar recognition is very important. Are you going to provide the registration list to the sponsor? Where are you going to archive the webinar on your association’s website? Make sure that you promote the title sponsor by linking to their company’s page. Send out a link to the recording to all of your members that includes a promotion of the sponsors. Think about transcribing the webinar into an e-book, a white paper, a newsletter, or magazine articles. Again, promoting the sponsor within those pieces of media as part of your post webinar recognition.

Pre-webinar, during the webinar, and post webinar promotion.

Folks, your sponsors may be very receptive to this opportunity and I hope you provide the opportunity to them.

Hey, we’re in this for the long game. Most of our associations are going to live through this. We need to take on these long-term investment strategies while at the same time think about how we can deliver value and be very important to our partners right away.

Thanks for listening. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

Are you looking to expand your sponsorship inventory to include webinars? If so, you will find our Webinar Sponsorship Program Template useful as you create new opportunities for your partners to reach your members in a new way.

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Listener note: this is a special broadcast of the Association Hustle Podcast. As associations deal with the coronavirus in their associations, and on behalf of their entire industry, we are providing almost daily updates via video on our LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter feeds. These updates are live “from the field briefings” about what is happening as we contact businesses all over the nation. We are thinking about you, your families, your associations, and your companies. Thank you for being a listener. This week’s episode covers some ways your association can pivot to move forward during a pandemic.

Transcript:

Listener note: this is a special broadcast of the Association Hustle. As associations deal with the coronavirus in their associations, and on behalf of their entire industry, I’m providing almost daily updates via video on our LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter feeds. These updates are live “from the field briefings” about what is happening as we contact businesses all over the nation. I’m praying for you, your families, your associations, and your companies. Thank you very much and onto the podcast.

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Catastrophic conditions, friends. Believe it or not, it has happened before and it’s likely it could happen again. Folks have very little control over what’s happening right now. However, we do have control how our associations and our teams respond.

It is the association leadership opportunity of our generation.

Let me repeat it.

It is the association leadership opportunity for our generation and that’s the way I see it. If we believe all the Power of A things, then now is the time to show whether it’s just an event ploy to get us to show up to the Building Museum or if it has real stuff behind it. For years, I’ve read membership brochures and watched videos and I’ve heard firsthand how connection works. Learning from others and exclusive information you can’t get from anywhere else is the reason why people join association over and over and over again. When I interview members for consulting projects about their value proposition, they tell me ~75% of the time it’s the connections that they make. So, now is the time to do exactly that and at a greater velocity and in a different way than we’ve ever done it before because many of your members are tied to a remote location right now.

So, what does that mean? Well, many of the things that we’ve been talking about on this podcast for the last almost 150 episodes is now more relevant than ever before. Now is the time for live video, podcasting, webinars on breaking issues, special editions of your newsletter on particular topics around this crisis, real time updates from your technical specialists and people in your industry. Reach out to your industry colleagues, if they have time to talk about it, and ask how they are responding and what they might need from each other. By the way, all of these items may be ways to keep sponsors involved. We’re in the field right now and sponsors are calling us to see if there are webinars that they can sponsor. Don’t forget it, your meeting that you just cancelled was a way that many of your vendors connected with your members. They need new opportunities or their business is going to fail. Make these things available to them with good manners and the right tone.

Here are some other ideas in the area of membership.

Lower the firewall on “member only” content and education. Now is the time to connect and show value. Implement grace periods for membership renewal. Here’s another thing that we’ve just been speaking about today, in our own office: now is the time to make sure that you’re enhancing and improving your contact list to go deeper into these member companies to ensure that you have more than one contact and the right contact information by email, phone, and mobile. You will be needing to reach out to those people and deliver more value and more information than ever before. This is the time to connect. I never thought I would actually say this because you can probably find Episode 78, or whatever it is, where I said a trial membership offered for three months is a terrible idea. It actually could be a great idea. Extend trial membership so your industry can get this critical information that you’re putting together because I’m seeing you do great work.

My message today is this: it’s challenge. Like I’ve said before, I think it’s the greatest association opportunity possibly we’ve ever had. If you aren’t working harder than ever before on behalf of your industry or, your members, just because you’re at home and working from a remote location, I really don’t know why you’re listening to this podcast. After all, it’s called Association Hustle.

Time’s now, opportunities are there, let’s prove our worth. Let’s go for it.

Thanks for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Coronavirus is not the only thing that has recently disrupted the association world. Large corporations consolidating their memberships and mergers and acquisitions are also causing major disruptions. Listen to this episode to learn about the three strategies that your association can implement today to adapt, change, and pivot to overcome today’s challenges.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hi, it’s JP Moery with The Moery Company.

Adapt, pivot, change, adjust. That is the theme for today.

Associations, over the last almost hundred years, have had the ability to rely on industry continuity. For a lot of their history they’ve been renewing members at, let’s say, 90%. They have a defined audience. People continue to show up for their meetings and events. You’ve got a certain amount of inertia that enables the business model to continue and sustain itself. We have well-known brands. We’re trusted in our industry. We have structural advantages that, frankly, can make us feel safe.

Today I’m not trying to scare you, but my belief is that it’s time to adapt, change, adjust and pivot.

Now.

There are things that are happening as I’m recording this podcast that give us all the indications that we need to be able to adjust and do it right away.

Here’s what is happening.

One. The coronavirus has disrupted meetings and events. According to ASAE the industry average for meeting and event revenue is somewhere north of 30%. When we have that kind of disruption to 30% of our revenue, it’s something we should take notice of. Some organizations were lucky because their event was earlier in the year. I was in a meeting with a client the other day and while we were sitting in this one-hour meeting, two industry events were postponed.

Here’s the strategy: evaluate your ability to deliver programming in different formats such as podcasts, videos, and webinars. For your suppliers and your sponsors, put an emphasis on the development of promotion of non-event inventory: magazines, newsletters, advertising, advertorials in the newsletter, podcast, and video streams. Things we’ve been discussing around diversification is now suddenly very important. The value of developing yearlong partnerships with diversified inventory and sponsorship offerings is really important so you’re not tied to a meeting to optimize the yearlong program.

Two. Mergers and acquisitions are causing consolidation. Here’s the story, and you probably know it well, businesses are continuing to merge and acquire each other. What I don’t want to happen is for you to be caught off guard when two members merge and hit a dues cap causing you to lose a member in the dues equation. You will also lose the possible engagement of the individuals within the two companies now that they are in one in your committees, programs, and other services that you have. Not only do you take a dues hit you also take an organization wide hit with your programs, your volunteerism, and your participation.

Here’s the strategy: modernize the dues structure for today’s business realities and the size of your industry. Eliminate these caps, if possible. You also need to make sure your industry members find your organization valuable so you can do this type of modernization. I’ve seen associations do the math and do the quantitative aspect of it but they don’t get a sense of where their industry is to be able to adopt a new structure. Also, consider new membership categories. More than likely you have disruptive companies, or organizations, that are coming in that were not a part of your industry before. Get proactive about recruiting new members. You thought I was going to say that, didn’t you? Because I’m right about it. We’ve got to get out there recruiting and bringing people in because merger and acquisition activity will continue to happen. It’s going to continue to happen within our associations, too. The healthiest associations are those that are going to be dictating, and leading, these mergers and acquisitions in the association space. I want you to be that type of an association.

Three. Large companies with multiple memberships are reevaluating membership with all of their associations. They are often the largest dues payer in all of their associations that they are active in. BP, the energy company, just issued a public report on association membership evaluating their alignment with 22 associations across the world. Three were dropped and they were all US based. Five were put on notice, I believe they were all North American based as well. This is going to continue.

Here’s what I think large companies with multiple associations are starting to figure out.

Which association is most valuable for us?

Which ones are we really aligned with us terms of policy priorities?

Where are we going to participate?

Here’s the strategy: establish a healthy and viable dialogue with small and medium sized businesses. Don’t forget the large folks and try to stay aligned with them, however, I think the game is going to be won with small and medium sized businesses. The way these groups use your programs, services, and information is also very telling. My guess is the value proposition is a little bit different. It needs some adjustment. It needs a different story around it. The delivery of the programs and services to small and medium sized businesses may need to be adjusted a little bit. They may engage with information in a different way than the larger companies do. You will likely need to recruit them a little bit differently. You’re going to have a lot of dependence on testimonials and stories from other small businesses. If that small or medium sized business does not believe that there’s going to be a fairly immediate return on investment, or value, they’re likely not going to join.

My friends, change is happening everyday and fast. You can see it happening right now. It’s the time to become nimbler, be quick, and adapt. When we establish and we improve these fast twitch muscles, if you will, these will help us survive the long-term game.

Thanks for listening.

Talk to you soon.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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The time to reignite your membership recruitment efforts is now. Don’t wait till the bottom falls out. Associations are no longer in a bubble or immune to market realities. The time is now to transform your associations so companies are coming to you because they either can’t operate without you or it is too risky for them to ignore you. Listen in to this week’s episode for three things you should to to reignite your membership recruitment efforts.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

“How do we reignite membership recruitment in our association?”

I get this question, a lot.

“How do we get things going again?”

“How do we get more energy around our program?”

I’ve got three main themes that I hope will help move you forward into this new era that we’re facing.

1. Purpose

Ask yourself, why do you want to reignite your membership recruitment? For what purpose? Is there a real reason to move forward with this campaign?

Don’t just go through the motions. Are you doing it due to obligation and not because you can achieve mission or spread success around the industry? Are you just keeping things moving along?

“What is the reason we’re moving forward with our recruitment efforts?”

Set goals for the program. I’m amazed that, often, associations don’t set standards or goals to move forward. When we asked them, “Hey, what do you want to accomplish with this?” They’re like, “I don’t know.” I don’t think that answer is going to give you the purpose and the energy to move forward. Set the stage of what might be possible if we reignite this association from a membership perspective.

What can we achieve with our mission? What kind of influence could we have? How much more valuable would we be to our industry and how can we make our companies more successful?

1. Holistic Approach

Make the effort to make this an organization wide program. Sometimes, I see that we put way too much emphasis on the sales and business development team. I recognize that because we’re in that game. Every single part of the organization has something to bring to the table if you truly want to reignite membership. For example:

Advocacy team – how about a new webinar series to inform and educate the organization’s priorities and what you see happening in this new political and legislative, maybe even regulatory, landscape. You might learn what your members really care about based on registration. This is a fundamental opportunity for us in associations because what we often talk about, as a key part of our value proposition, is government relations, but we rarely connect the government relations team to the membership recruitment process.

Communications team – have a contest for your members to tell a real story about their participation and how it helps their companies thrive. We’ve talked about this in a number of different podcasts. The stories members tell is the most effective way to communicate the value of membership. It has to come from them, their authentic story.

Finance and accounting department. Oh, you don’t think you’re involved in this? Yes, you are! Determine new processes to streamline applications, such as wire transfers to join, and other ways to smooth out the registration and the joining process. I see this all the time. Someone’s fired up, they want to join the association and it takes weeks, if not months, for this association to get out an invoice to get the person to join. This shows that the association really doesn’t care if you join or not. Get them smoothed out and enable them to join quickly.

CEO – call and visit the top prospective organizations. However, I’m going to give you a different way of doing that. Lay out your new program and tell them how you believe their company’s bottom line will benefit and how the association is going to move ahead with them or without them.

Event team – develop an incentive program for your events and be very intentional about it. Rethink how you’re going to use events and programs to get more members to join the association. And, for a moment, forget about your department profit and loss and think about how you’re going to help this organization by bringing in more members through your events and programs. After all, you provide the tangible experience that you can give a member and demonstrate how great it is to be a part of the association.

Membership department – be very transparent in how you should improve. That includes the sales process, the activities you need to be engaged in, honing your business development skills, and better articulating the value proposition. Sometimes, we in the membership game, can be a little defensive, “I need materials that are better. I need a new membership brochure. We need some more collateral materials. Oh, the GR team doesn’t help us that much!” Hey, here’s the thing, you’re going to own this effort. At the end of the day, you will be accountable to reigniting membership. You are the tip of the spear, you own the effort, so pursue it.

1. Why now?

Here is why it is important to reignite your membership recruitment, and I will be very candid with you, large companies are reconsidering multiple memberships and they will continue to do this. They believe that if they have multiple memberships, and some of these organizations no longer offer them alignment on issues or business priorities, they are going to eliminate those memberships. I guarantee it. I see it already. It’s happening privately and it’s happening publicly. The membership game now, and in the future, will be won in small and medium sized companies. However, my experience is that these are the programs that are a little soft. We’ve paid so much attention in cow tailing to large accounts that we don’t have a compelling company wide effort to recruit small and medium sized. The plan to do so may also include restructuring membership dues, so you can put together a program that’s worthwhile bringing them in. We have to be better, be more articulate, and be focused on the return on investment in terms of recruiting small and medium sized businesses. That is where the game is going to be won. It’s not going to be the 50 yard pass to the big company. It’s going to be in the trenches, three yards in the cloud, a desk kind of stuff. They are going to be key prospects but you must develop the return on investment for them, and do it in a compelling way.

Now is the time to reignite membership recruitment. You can’t wait when the bottom falls out of this thing, it’s going to happen very fast. We are no longer in a bubble, immune to business realities, because of our legacy and the fact that we’ve been around for 100 years. No one cares about that. The new leadership doesn’t care that the former CEO used to be on the board. It has no effect on their decision making now. The time is now to transform your associations so companies are coming to you because they either can’t operate without you or it is too risky for them to ignore you. I know you can do it. I’ve seen it happen, and I’m willing to help if you ever need it.

Thanks for listening today.

Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Want to learn how to experience extraordinary growth when it comes to you association’s membership sales? Listen in to this week’s episode as JP Moery divulges five proven ways that you can do just that.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today the topic is membership growth. I’ll give you two examples of trade associations that have experienced record membership growth during our time working together. They have more members than ever before! I’m going to give you a couple of tactics that I hope you find helpful.

Here’s the first thing that they did: they intentionally decided to engage non-members. There was intentional programming that put an emphasis on recruitment. It was not a focus for them. No one owned it. The association had this view of, “Oh, everybody’s involved in membership.” They’ve made specific tactical changes to focus on membership recruitment and put together programs intentionally designed to recruit more members.

Secondly: they took specific advocacy campaigns and used the urgency of those as membership leverage. Here was their theme: things are happening and you’re not going to know what is happening, therefore, your company could get swamped when this new regulation or legislation occurs. They took those advocacy campaigns and made them membership campaigns, because after all, what is one of the main parts of the value proposition? It’s government relations. Why don’t you take those advocacy and government relations situations and turn them and leverage them into membership opportunities?

The third thing they did was use members only meetings and events and use them to showcase the organization’s during their Super Bowl. They recognized that this was a onetime deal so they would say, “Hey, I’ve got a special invitation to invite you to this members only meeting. But, frankly, I need to reserve it only for companies that are serious about joining the organization.” This tells them that you’re serious about your membership and you also set a standard of, “Hey, this isn’t for everyone. It’s only for the people who are going to join, or are really seriously considering it. We’re just not giving these comps out just to drive up registration numbers.” It worked extremely well, and continues to, for organizations that are willing to draw the line between members and non-members. Access to services, registration, valuable programming and content, or not.

The fourth thing that both of these associations did was to draw a clear line between members and non-members. Sometimes I hear, “Well, we really need this non-member company’s feedback on this issue, or their views on this, because they’re such a big company. We really need their insights.” With that perspective, we need them more than they need us. Do you think that large company ever joins? They never do. Why? Because, when there’s a big industry thing that’s happening, they’re still going to go to that big company and go, “Oh, well, you please help us?” That association, in effect, is in a one down position. They are never able to recruit some of the big players in the industry and they scratch their head as to why. Instead, “Hey, there is a big issue going on. We’re moving forward without you. I wish it wasn’t the case, your feedback would be valuable, but that’s the way it’s going to be in this situation. If you want to change that membership status, or be involved, call me and I’d be happy to get you on board.” That’s a much different perspective. It’s one that I think these larger companies, over time, will begin to respect.

And then finally, number five: there was a clear identification of which types of companies were recruitment priorities. To be honest with you, I get really nervous when I hear a trade association that has, you know, 500 members say, “Oh my gosh, we have 10s of thousands of prospects.” Maybe, but not with the value proposition that you currently have or you would have more members. When I see these huge numbers, I see an organization often that is not focused and is not really determined what segments of the industry are most appropriate for them based on the value proposition that they currently have. Here’s what I mean. I could say, in my case, for example, every association is a potential client for The Moery Company. That means 10,000 associations out there that are of substantial size. That’s not the case. I know that, for me, it’s a medium size groups – say $2 to $10 million – that need sales help and probably business model assistance. I’ve recognized that we’re not for everyone. We’re for this particular segment. Now, we’ll get business from people that don’t fall in those categories, but by and large, that’s what our market looks like. I know that and I’m not trying to boil the ocean with services and programs that are so broad that we don’t stand for anything. We stand for generating more revenue through sales and advice on how to do it better. Associations can do the same thing. Hey, maybe we’re not there to represent the entire industry, but these leading companies that are interested in government relations, as an example, and focus on those groups.

Those are the five tips that I’ve learned in this case study of extraordinary membership growth. Again, as I said, record membership growth, frankly, in a time when their industries were in ebbs and flows. These associations were intentional about growth, they found strengths, and they leverage them. At the end of the day, they sorted people out: those that were interested and those companies that were not interested. In result: record membership. I hope you have the same.

Thanks for listening. We’ll talk soon. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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On this week’s episode, JP Moery covers the three steps to sponsorship success: learning about the program, developing the sales infrastructure, and initiating the direct sales campaign.

Learn how The Moery Company helped a small event triple it’s sponsorship revenue in one year by applying those three steps.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Hi, it’s JP Moery! Today’s topic: sponsorship sales.

I want to tell you a real-life story about incredible growth at a small event. The reason why I want to use a small meeting as the example is because I can really showcase the fundamentals that went into this process that enabled a small program to become quite successful.

For those of you that may have diminutive budgets and programs, I’m going to show you a path for growth. You can also implement this for your larger sponsorship efforts, too.

Here’s the step by step process. Then the results.

We meet with the client as the first step in the process and we built industry awareness during a series of one to two meetings. We have a briefing on the event: a general description of the sponsorship ecosystem, the prospectus, the price points, the ability to negotiate (or not), and review the sponsorship inventory. Secondly, we work to differentiate this meeting from the others that the association had, or other sponsorship availabilities, within the industry that could be made available to them. We talk about the audience that they’re going to reach with this specific, focused event. What kind of business development environment is there? Are people actually doing business, speaking to each other, and doing deals? We want to know that. We also address the benefits of signing up as a sponsor early in the process for branding reasons such as mentions on social media, and things like that. I like to emphasize that if you sign up early, you’re going to get all kind of earned promotion as people are starting to register, as they’re looking at the program, as they see your logo on the conference website, and more. I want to make sure that we emphasize the value of signing up early. And then finally, we discuss an administrative launch for the program. What happens with invoicing? What are the standard operating procedures once we get a contract? Who does it go to? Any and all kind of discussions around fulfillment and what the client wants us to do. An industry awareness session, or series of meetings, really gives us the necessary details about the sponsorship program and the event.

The second step is building a sales infrastructure. This is really important. We know that without a good sales infrastructure the likelihood to be successful, and actually grow the program, is going to be very difficult. We upload prospects into The Moery Company’s CRM and determine key accounts, or the most valuable prospects to sell to. We also determine any “do not call” list priorities, “Hey, the association will take on these two accounts because they’re a premier partner and they have a full year long partnership program and marketing effort that we need to be familiar with.” Then, we develop talking points for our emails, voicemails, and any phone sales appointments that we may have. This allows us to be consistent when we go to market for the client and have consistent responses to certain questions. We also compile responses to common objections that the association may get in terms of the sponsorship sales experiences they’ve had in the past. We will design an automated email and social media campaign for the sales launch. And, depending upon the length of the timeframe that will we will be selling, we’re going to schedule monthly emails, we may do a webinar launch about the sponsorship program, and also run social media campaigns for this sponsorship effort. Then, we will establish a weekly reporting system for sales activities. Every week, the client will receive a report that includes the pipeline and sales activity (such as: how many emails were sent, how many phone calls were made, and notes regarding those conversations). Our client also receives commentary about what we’re hearing out in the field. We build all of this into our sales infrastructure.

The third and final step is the direct sales program. We initiate the sales campaigns with email and digital campaigns to engage the prospects and track interest. We watch who’s opening the email and who’s clicking on the prospectus. This prioritizes the prospect for us and identifies those people that we should be calling first because they have shown interest in the program. We then conduct outbound sales phone calls and direct email determined by what we see them interested in and to the most interested prospects. We also respond to all inbound requests within one business day. We also ask that anyone who reaches out to the association, their contact information is provided to us so that we can reach out to them. And then, every month, we have a strategy meeting with the client about what we’re hearing in the field, any inventory changes that might need to be made, and any feedback that we’re getting from the market so we can continually adjust and implement an effort that is helping them meet their goals.

Here are the results for when we rolled out this program described for our association client. Again, small event but with good participation and good programming. The year before we got involved: $56,000 in sponsorship revenue. See, I told you it’s not huge. We came in and implemented the three-step process and the first year that we were involved in this program we increase it to $184,000 in revenue for the client. The client netted more than $152,000 from our efforts.

Here’s what else happened. We know that we had more engagement with sponsors. We built the awareness of the association to the vendors and suppliers in that industry because we were more active in selling and talking to them about the sponsorship availabilities. Secondly, because of the increase in the number of sponsors and the amount they paid, we added some sizzle and vitality to the event. People could see, “Man, there are people showing up!” And, “Oh my gosh, they’re doing business together!” It raises the entire profile of the program to sponsors and regular members, or attendees alike. And then third, you’re starting to establish a business development ecosystem of sponsors and members working together. Also, the association working more active with the sponsors. I’m a big fan of this process.

For those of you who run your association, or are in the meetings department, and may have sponsorship responsibility I want to make this very simple for you. It isn’t that complicated: learning about the program, developing the sales infrastructure, initiating the direct sales campaign, and getting better results. After all, isn’t it what it’s all about? I hope this content was helpful to you. I want your sponsorship program to grow.

If you like this podcast, there will be a lot more discussions about sponsorship in the coming episodes. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our biweekly newsletter, we’ve got all sorts of business development tips for you, go to MoeryCompany.com to sign up!

Thanks for listening.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Many associations are reevaluating their business models and focusing on optimizing their membership dues structures. Specifically, the associations that have 50% or more of their revenue coming in from membership dues.

The Moery Company has helped dozens of associations re-build their business models starting with the restructuring of membership dues. Here’s what we’ve learned and how you can start the process at your association for better membership and non-dues revenues.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast, president of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at the core. Here’s JP.

Hi folks, today’s episode is all about membership dues re-setting and membership category modernizations. Many associations now are addressing their business model. When 50%, or more, of the revenue comes from membership dues, looking at your membership dues structure and member categories is a logical place to start. I’ve got several observations, based on the now dozens of these projects that we’ve done, and recommended steps that you can take to do the same.

First, I want to address the mindset needed to come up with the optimum, or the best, model for your organization. It isn’t just a dues review, it’s really a business analysis. The way you tug or pull on your dues model, or a membership category, may affect the overall engagement that your members have with the institution in your organization. There are three key areas that we’ve used in our reviews to come up with the optimum business models. Things that board of directors and executive staffs are willing to navigate and come up with a new system. I really believe that this modernization and adaptation of these business models is very important. I have seen, in the past, organizations change their dues models every five to ten years when they can get away with it and they want to pass the resolution before everybody breaks for the golf tournament. What I’m talking about here is a more thoughtful process.

Start with a quantitative review of your membership data. It will look like this: renewal rates by membership category, dive into your non-renewals, and review the impact of mergers and acquisitions on your organization. Secondly, look at the distribution of dues by member company so you can see how many small members you have compared to the largest organizations and how they affect, and what kind of percentage they take up, of the overall membership revenue that comes into your organization. Then look at non-dues revenue participation to see the total business involvement in your association. This is really important with your associates, or your allied members. While they may not be paying a lot of dues, for example, they may be investing a lot of money into your sponsorship program and as a result they’re putting more money into the organization than the core members are. Then look at other programs, or participation. What’s the percentage of people showing up to meetings and events? How many folks are participating in committees? You’re going to get a real good idea of what the membership engagement is. Don’t forget to do the same thing with allied members. What I’m starting to see is a real opportunity to adjust the membership model for them and deliver more value and get better participation. So, that’s the quantitative review.

Second, interview members in different membership categories in face-to-face interviews. The qualitative aspect of this is extremely important. I’ll tell you why. What do they value the most from the organization? Not what you’ve got in the membership brochure or the membership section of your website. What do they tell you they value the most? What are their specific stories about that value? When you look at the major parts of your value proposition, are there things that these members don’t use or they don’t even mention? What other associations do these companies, or individuals, participate in? What do you value from those organizations? What do you get out of it? In some cases, they may be joining your organization for advocacy and they may join another group for business development purposes. Learn a little bit about that and how you fit in their ecosystem and how do they decide which groups to be a part of. Is it by individual executive? Maybe by product line? Or, is it more of a holistic, companywide strategy? Ask them if they think the value is fair. Are they getting a good deal for their membership investment?

The third thing, and the thing that I always like to do, is review other associations. These are associations that your members may also be a part of, folks that you might be competing with in some way, shape or form. How do their dues calculations work? What are the top three items in in their value proposition? Are you competing with them in those areas? Are they taking some issues while you’re focused on other things? Is it a blue ocean or is it a competitive environment? And, if the due rate cards are available, take a few of your members and plug them into their dues model and see the revenue models that they’ve got in place.

When you do these three things: quantitative, qualitative, and a competitive review, you’re going to get opportunities to address a couple of different things or issues may come up. For example, you might find your top end rate cap needs to be taken off because the big companies are all hitting the maximum and they have been doing so for a very long time while their businesses are growing. They might be growing due to your effectiveness in the marketplace in terms of opening markets and advocating for them and representing them on Capitol Hill.

Second, figure out how members view your association and whether they think they are getting a fair deal or not. I’ve said this before: it’s easy to do the math. If these folks don’t feel like they’re getting a lot of value, or they think that they’re paying more than their fair share, you need to reevaluate. I’ve said this before, it’s easy in a way to do the math and come up with a revised dues model. What’s more difficult is to see if your members of your association are actually buying into that. Do they think it’s fair? In some cases, these large members may be paying maximum due rate but they don’t think they’re getting that much value from you. It’s better to know that before you walk into a board meeting to introduce a revised membership structure.

Third, find out how your association fits into the decision-making process of that company and how they view your organization compared to others.

Fourth, associates are often paying low dues, but maybe spending significantly into your non-dues revenue. Creating new tiers with marketing opportunities within their membership may show themselves through this kind of analysis. And then finally, I’ve found new industry entrants may not have a category, or segments, that they fit into. It may or may not be worth recruiting them at an intense level and that information may show through in this analysis. They may not bring in any revenue or engage with your organization. You need to rethink whether the juice is worth the squeeze in terms of going after them.

Modernize, adapt, stay relevant in your industry, and adapt the business model in a way that makes you increasingly valuable to your members. Develop a dues model that is modernized and reflective of the business realities of today.

Hey, folks, thanks for listening today. Best of luck to you. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter at @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Developing a membership plan is not complicated, however, it takes work. Take a listen to this week’s episode for tips on how to get started, whether you’re starting from scratch or have been in the industry for a while, to reboot your membership plan for a successful 2020 and beyond.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here’s JP.

Today’s episode of Association Hustle is focused on membership growth. The ideas that I’m going to set forth are four steps with several steps within those. It’s the exact way that we launch a new project to sell memberships with our association clients. These steps are very scalable for most organizations. These steps work whether you’re starting out or if you need to evaluate your process again to make it a little bit better. Or, if you’ve been in the game for a long time, you need to reset.

First, we’re going to go through what I would call an association briefing. I want you to be really candid about these points. One, why should companies join your association? Second, compile specific circumstances of when you helped companies in each part of your value proposition. Let’s say it’s business development and networking, advocacy, and maybe education and training. Then, you need a testimonial from a member about how you help them and what happened when you did. The reason why they do not join is the third thing. Why are they not a participant in your organization? This is just as important to know as why they do join. And lastly, know your business model and dues model and get really specific about what works and what doesn’t.

The second point is really important that you should not skim over it: data collection. Your data sets should include the names of the companies to contact, both with digital and face-to-face marketing, email addresses of multiple people within that ecosystem that might be decision makers, and their titles. This information is absolutely critical to the sales process. Because, more and more, I no longer see the situation where it’s just one person making the call, it’s multiple people. Then, I want you to get really narrow. Identify the ten largest, or most strategic, companies that you would like to recruit in the next year. Look at your contact sheet, your relationships within that organization, and see where it’s really robust and gives you a chance to be successful. The third step within data collection: companies you don’t know, but should join, based on your value proposition and your experiences in regulations, advocacy, networking, in education, and other areas of your value proposition. The companies that you need to get in touch with, that you don’t have on the list now, that you’d like to attract. However, reach out only if they fit into your value proposition and you can move the needle for them in those critical areas.

The third part is the sales plan. What are the key issues, based on your plan, for the association and what you’re going to execute? What are the key issues to promote the association within this calendar year? Develop regular e-mail and communications campaigns about those key issues. Reach out at least once a month. Develop a plan to utilize live and in person events or webinars. How are you going to leverage when people get together? And, how are you going to utilize that for membership recruitment? Based on all these things, what are the specific sales talking points that you would use, or a volunteer would use, to talk about the organization? This is where I want to go back to those specific testimonials that you developed in the association briefing process. I want you to give a specific story about how you help organizations with government relations, how you help grow their business, how you help educate their workforce. That’s what’s going to sell and that’s going to be better than any kind of brochure you could ever develop. Those are the key items that go into your talking points.

The other thing is, remember when I asked you, “Why do they not join?” They’ll respond that dues are too expensive or that they don’t have time to participate. All of those value proposition talking points develop a narrative around the objections. You will hear them over and over again.

Final thing on the sales plan: develop recruiting reports for your colleagues within the association. One of the things that I think we miss sometimes is the ability to have a good conversation about who we’re recruiting in the organization. You might have folks in the government affairs department that are having regular communications with a key account and key prospect and you don’t know it. Develop reports that cover three of the following items:

One: the pipeline. Here are the people that we’re talking to and the likelihood of them joining.

Second: here’s the activity. Here’s what we’ve been doing in the last week.

Third: the narrative. Include the things that are really attracting people to the association or things that do not work, “Hey, we’ve got this member benefit that nobody really cares about, but we promoted all the time.” Those types of thing are really important to know.

The fourth part of the plan is execution. We develop weekly sales report, like I just talked about, that go out every Friday. I want commentary from the field, “This is what we’re hearing.” A monthly briefing on updates from the association about the value proposition, “Hey, Government Relations team, what’s happening right now that we ought to tell our prospects about?” Then adjust based on what you’re hearing in the field and from your association so you can marry those together to develop the very best story and go out to those prospects on that list that you have developed. In particular, those ten biggest companies that you want to recruit.

That’s how you build out a membership sales process that, when executed, will help with recruiting and retaining members.

Now, there’s a lot within each one of those sections, however, I think if you have these in place, you’re going to be very successful. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it’s actually very simple.

Association briefing. Why do they join and why did they not join? Know the business model. Data collection. What does the list look like and who are the most important companies within that list? The sales plan. What are we going to talk about and to whom? And how often are we going to do it? And then finally, executing all of that and reporting it out to your colleagues, your membership committee, and volunteers.

We’ve been selling, I’ll take the guess, as many trade association memberships as any outsource company for sure, out in the country. And, this is how we do it every day. I hope it’s helpful to you. If you got any questions about this, please reach out to me, the contact information is on the podcast notes. Thanks for listening today. Best of luck to you. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blogs at MoeryCompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter @JPMoery, as well as The Moery’s Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com

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Developing a membership plan is not complicated, however, it takes work. Take a listen to this week's episode for tips on how to get started, whether you're starting from scratch or have been in the industry for a while, to reboot your membership plan for a successful 2020 and beyond.

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Are you an association executive of a small- to mid-sized organization? If so, give this episode a listen. There are several factors that will cause a change in your organization in the next couple of years. Make those adjustments now and reap the benefits.

Transcript:

On today’s episode I’d like to chat with you about forces of change and decisions that association executives are going to have to make over the next several years. In particular, I want to focus on associations that are around five million dollars or less. I think it’s going to be very tough to be a highly effective association in the way that many of your industry leaders expect. In this environment, you may have less resources than some of the other associations. You’re going to need to be differentiated and special in one particular area. Too many medium and small sized associations want to act big and cover the issues that larger organizations and what they end up doing is watering down what makes them special: the ability to navigate, move quickly, be specific, and be niche. Those forces are going to enable you to differentiate your organization.

Your members are likely going to have other organizations they can join as a primary member, a core member, or an industry supplier. They have a lot of places where they can get value from. Association executives need to focus on all of the change that’s happening in terms of industry disruption, mergers and acquisitions, pressure on medium and small businesses, and the bottom-line. We’re going to need to make these changes now because now things are going well. There’s going to be a winter, it’s going to come, and we need to be prepared and ready so that medium and small organization can survive the future.

Look for mergers or acquisitions to make in the association space. I go to a lot of board meetings, I was just speaking at one yesterday, and the board members always ask me, “Hey, are there other organizations we should merge with or we should acquire? Events that we should combine?” They always ask me that. However, I rarely get that feedback or that question from the association executive. I think maybe they like the Washington DC reception circuit too much. They collaborate and work in coalitions with other organizations. They don’t want to infringe upon them. Let me tell you what, the members of the organizations that are paying multiple memberships and different associations, they’re asking the question more than the steward of the association. That needs to shift.

We’ve got to face the talent competition and the forces of change that are facing the workforce. Here’s what I mean by that: I would really look at the willingness to outsource some key functions if I’m a medium to small sized association. Things that you may not have been willing to outsource before: accounting, membership, sales and marketing, meeting and event planning, and even possibly some regulatory or government affairs relationships and programs. Adopt telecommuting and other ways to get and keep the best people. You may not have the resources and the budget to pay top-of-the-line salary for many of your employees, however, they may be looking for more flexibility. They may not want to drive in from Manassas to K Street. You may not be able to compete on salary, big brand, and an office on K Street. Use this to your advantage and be nimbler and be willing to adjust your workforce program. Some of the very best folks that have incredible experience are willing to do that for you if you’re more flexible with their time and where they need to be on a daily basis.

Next, industry consolidation may force you to modernize your dues structure and membership categories. I was recently at a board meeting and the association is looking at new membership categories and new membership groups that may encroach on another association’s space. But they need to in order to be able to grow. They are also looking at new benefits such as association health plans and other bottom line things that can help small- to medium-sized enterprises. I’m watching very closely what the National Association of Manufacturers is doing in the association health plans space.

Forces of change are going to force you to modernize who joins, for what price, and what membership categories. We’re need to be able to serve them because we have to be able to sustain the business long term. The largest trade associations have the luxury of sitting on an 85% retention rate of their members. I don’t think the small and medium sized associations do. Every event, piece of communication, networking group, advocacy initiative, etc. should do two things for your organization: get the renewal check or get someone to join. If a program doesn’t do one of two of those things, I’m not sure you should keep doing it. We don’t have the time and the bandwidth to waste our time on things that don’t renew people or don’t get them to join. That’s a decision that great association executives in these medium to small sized associations are going to need to make.

Finally, I don’t care who needs to change jobs, get fired, or get hired, but I think you need to be very serious about business development in your organization. Do you have the sales and marketing operation to identify what your members and prospects need and actively go get their business? And, if you say you don’t have enough time, that to me is just an excuse. It makes you vulnerable to organizations that are willing to do that. It’s like the frogs sitting in the boiling pot of water. Somebody else is going to turn up the heat and you might be getting boiled and don’t even know it.

These are the forces of change. These are the decisions that association executives are going to need to make. In particular, heightened sense of awareness for those organizations that are in that medium-sized category.

Thank you for listening today. If you enjoy this content, leave a review. Go to MoeryCompany.com, got a lot more stuff out there for you. See you soon, bye bye.

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Are you an association executive of a small- to mid-sized organization? If so, give this episode a listen. There are several factors that will cause a change in your organization in the next couple of years. Make those adjustments now and reap the benefits.

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At the beginning of the year, your association usually has a handful of top prospects that you want to bring into your association. And, there’s a reason for that. They bring in prestige, brand, and influence in your government relations activities. They have lots of people that can participate in your meetings, conventions, and non-dues revenue efforts. They’re also likely to be in your top revenue category for membership. It makes a lot of sense. This week we talk about tips to “catch the big fish” and when to let the prospective fish go.

Transcript:

Hi, it’s JP Moery.

I know that, at the beginning of the year, you usually have top prospects, some large multinational conglomerates, that you want to bring into your association. And, there’s a reason for that. They bring in prestige, brand, and maybe influence in your government relations activities. They have lots of people that can participate in your meetings, conventions, and non-dues revenue efforts. They’re also likely to be in your top revenue category for membership. It makes a lot of sense.

I’m a big fan of taking on strategic initiatives to bring in these big companies. My belief is that it has to be done a little bit differently because they haven’t joined up until now and, frankly, they usually need a certain strategy or a certain set of tactics that are a different than the normal mid-cap or small businesses that you’re recruiting into the organization. They need that because they’re joining for a different reason than some of those smaller entities. So, I’ve got some tips for you and I also have some things that I may recommend that you avoid.

First, identify the top 10 membership prospects for the year, by size. This doesn’t mean you’re not going to get another 50 in other areas but get those top 10 key accounts. The reason why I want you to focus on it is because these take more time, resources, and thought. I want to separate them out as a separate initiative and I have found that 10 is a pretty good number. If you get larger than that you start to lose your focus and you’re not able to implement as well. The first thing that you do with each one of those members is determine what key problems, or opportunities, your association could solve for them. That’s going to require some research and some thought. It’s going to require checking out their website, looking at their financials to see what challenges they might have, it may involve looking at statements from their CEO or other leaders about things that are important to them. Things like sustainability, workforce, industry image, or whatever it might be. Look for areas where your association connects on those issues. That’s absolutely important. Why? Because they haven’t bought into the idea that joining your association is a good idea for them. Participating in industry associations, attending conventions, and the CEO joining the board of directors is obviously not that compelling to them. Normal association recruitment tactics just haven’t worked. This is why we’ve got to be able to connect with them on a particular issue that you can help them solve. Okay?

Connect with an existing member that you have that had a similar problem. Let’s say it’s workforce development. You helped solve their workforce issues by some public/private partnerships, or whatever. Collect that story. We need to show this prospect an example of how we helped a similar company on the same issue. Then, develop your list of potential leaders to communicate about this membership opportunity. Here’s what I’ve found over time: so many of our association lists don’t go into a great deal of bench strength. We’ve got one or two contacts at the company but we really, in my view, need to get multiple contacts with that large prospect. Then, we’re going to push out a series of e-mails, or direct phone calls, to the senior leaders in this organization. We need to develop multiple connections about the problem that we can solve for that organization and how show them how we did it for someone else. So now we’ve developed a specific idea and we’re communicating with multiple channels within that company. We’re talking to manufacturing, communication, senior leadership, procurement, etc. It’s going to be great to develop that list. You never know where your angle, or your opportunity, is going to come from. We send out the information to connect on this particular issue with the story of how we help a current member on that issue. We then ask another association leader, or member, of the same kind of status and stature, connect with the senior leadership of the perspective member company. This is going to involve your work, this is going to involve research, this is going to result in a tangible reason for them to join. Follow it up with a member company. Use the testimonial story to provide the real-life example of value. This is the way you start to penetrate these large companies on something that’s very tangible. I’m boiling this down to the real basics for you but that’s the way I would go about it.

Now, I’m going to give you some things that I want you to avoid.

Don’t let them participate as a non-member. You lose leverage when you do that. Do not continue to let them in, participate, and get the benefits for free. They’re never going to pay for it. Don’t grovel. You have a great organization and value proposition so don’t get in one down position just because they’re a large company. In my view, they aren’t a great company until they’re participating and adding value to the industry. I see a lot of times where the association is too thankful that they would even consider or talk to them that they’re in a one down position. They lose a lot of respect and influence that way.

My final recommendation for you is this: if you can’t find a key problem or solution that you’re going to help them with then don’t waste your time. The fact of the matter is, for decades possibly, they’ve avoided being a part of the association. They don’t buy into the regular value proposition that you’re offering to everyone else. This is the reason why I’m recommending that you get narrow on a particular problem for them. Sometimes, they just are not interested.

I had an association that we worked with that had a multinational conglomerate with many business lines and the association kept groveling to this company. Frankly, their line of business would be a large association member but, for the company, it represented about 5% of the revenue. That 5% was a rounding error and they didn’t even really care about it. So, the association didn’t care. They kept banging away at them and wasting their time, and mine, because it was a big brand. And, I can tell you, they were never going to join that association and they never have. The very best thing is to move on. That’s why I’m recommending for you to identify a really big topic, or a key problem, that you might be able to solve for them. If you don’t have that they’re not a key prospect.

Hey folks, I hope this is helpful for you. It’s tough work but it’s absolutely worth the effort because if you can land two of these large key accounts, your association is going to be in great shape for the new year.

Best wishes to you, we’ll talk soon, bye-bye.

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Associations are outsourcing work and will be out sourcing even more in the years to come. Listen in as JP Moery taps into 30 years of being on both sides of the equation and provides six best practice tips for building and managing relationships for associations and consultants.

Transcript:

Hello, and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here’s JP.

Today I’ve got some tips for associations and consultants alike: how to manage your relationship.

In my 30 year career in the association and consulting space, I’ve spent almost equal time being the client (the association) and the consultant. I’ve got insights and perspectives that I’d like to share with you.

The following six things might be helpful for you in managing these relationships better, and in a more productive way, in the year ahead.

First, tell the consultant the real reason you’re considering them. Why do you need their help? Too often the client talks in circles about why they need help or making up excuses as to why the association needs the help. And, in fact, I think it’s empowering for the consultant, and very helpful, to know exactly the reason why they’re being asked to be involved in this project, including, “I just don’t want to do this.” I’ve got a guy who mows my lawn every week. I can make up a bunch of reasons, however, the fundamental reason is: I don’t want to do it. Go ahead and tell that consultant, and be very transparent, about the reason why you’ve asked them to become involved.

Second tip I’ve got for you: let the consulting firm do it. Fully. If you don’t want to do it in the first place then you’re probably not very good at it anyway. Let the professionals do it. I have had more mistakes happen because the expert, or the specialist, wasn’t doing the work. Or, the client wouldn’t allow the consultant to actually do what they hired them to do. It’s unproductive, it’s a waste of the consultant’s time and, frankly, it’s a waste of the association’s money. Hire them and then get out of the way.

The third thing that is productive is this: give the consultant the chance to get off the hook during the sales process. Ask them the following questions, “What is a red flag in terms of this project that I’ve described for you? Is there anything that’s unreasonable or that I might not have right that you need to tell me about now?” Give that consultant the chance to answer that question.

I’ll give you an example that I used to see in membership recruitment all the time, “Hey, Moery Company! Hey, JP! We want you to sell membership for us.”

Fantastic! We’re going to do it! Man, I’m fired up!

“Okay, tell me about the program right now and how we can help!”

“Well, we recruited five new members last year and we’ve got a new chairman. We’ve got a lot of people that are in this industry that we don’t have as members. We want to recruit 5000 new members this year. It’s a special program and initiative. We’re calling it Project 5000.” The numbers may be a bit expanded, however, it’s pretty close to the truth of what a client told us during a sales call. That may sound crazy, yet, the consultant may not tell you that that because they don’t want to jeopardize getting the business from you. I advise our association clients to ask the consultant this question, “Hey, this is what we think the project is about and here’s what we want to accomplish. Is there anything that’s unreasonable, or outside of the norm, that you need to tell me about now that we need to talk through?”

This leads me to number four: get clear expectations on feedback. Here’s an example: ask the consultant for a weekly report in writing. Request transparency. When I’m wrong, I want the consultant to tell me. Because when you’re wrong, as the client, I’m going to tell you. Get some real expectations and clarity on feedback and how you’re going to communicate back and forth. Talk about that in the sales process, it makes your whole relationship so much more productive. We get hung up by telling the client, or the association, things that they really don’t need to know. We’re afraid of it because we haven’t set up a feedback mechanism. It is really important to do that during the sales process.

The next item, number five: set clear goals. I know this is kind of elementary, however, it is essential to do it during the sales process and before you close the deal. What are the results, by when, and who is going to do it? Agree to that at the launch meeting, not after the fact. I can tell you, in our sales projects, I get really nervous when they say, “Well, we don’t know what the goal should be, but let us get back to you.” Or, “We’ll figure it out down the road.” In the rhythm of business and the cadence of closing deals, I’ll go ahead and sign that contract.

Here’s what ends up happening: I knew that this association had not been closing a lot of sponsorship deals. We crushed it! We were able to sell twice as many sponsorships in a shorter time frame than they have ever brought on board. I walked into our meeting thinking, “Man, we’re going to resign this deal. We’re going to make more money, for both of us, it’s going to be fantastic!” The association came back and said, “This really wasn’t what we expected. We expected it to be 3x instead of 2x.” Such a demoralizing thing for our team that really put a lot of work. Our team thought they were successful and celebrated that success.

We never got bad feedback from the client. They weren’t mad; however, they didn’t renew. They said they did not renew because we didn’t meet their expectations. Whose mistake is that? Frankly, it’s mine. All because we did not get clarity upfront and we didn’t push to get those clear expectations. Clear feedback, understanding, and how you’re going to communicate as well as setting the goals and expectations of the project, including deadlines are probably two of the most important pieces of information that I’ve got to relay to you today.

Here’s the sixth and final piece of advice: build one month of consulting into the agreement after the project is finished. Let’s say you want a dues review, you’d like for someone to restructure your sponsorship program, or whatever the project is. More than likely, during the project, you’re going to learn things, you’re going to get some feedback, there’s going to be some unexpected learning that you’re going to get. Or, you might need implementation advice or consulting in that area after the fact. Maybe you need to do one more final presentation to a different group of leaders in the association. This month gives you a little margin. It gives you time and the opportunity to address items which might not be expected that you learned about during the project. The association doesn’t have to go back and take advantage of the relationship by saying, “Hey, can you do one more report out to the board?” The consultant doesn’t think, “Gosh, you know, they’re taking advantage of me and they really should be paying extra.” Go ahead and build another extra month of consulting. It’s a minimal fee to cover the opportunity to continue to work together and tie up any loose ends that might need to be tied.

I hope these items are helpful to you because here is what is absolutely getting ready to happen, and it’s already occurring in the market that I can see: companies are going to be outsourcing more work, there’s no doubt about it. The better we get at collaborating and working with subcontractors and consultants, the better your organization is going to be. Thanks for listening, can’t wait to speak with you next time on the Association Hustle.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blogs at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter @JPMoery, as well as The Moery Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth. Go to JPMoery.com.

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JP Moery shares his top three productivity hacks for the new year featuring advice from Andy Frisella, Kseniya Martin, and Tim Ferriss.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here’s JP.

For today’s podcast I have three productivity hacks that I’ve received from other individuals that have helped me tremendously and I want to give them credit.

The first is the Power 5 List from Andy Frisella, who has the MFCEO Project Podcast that I learn a great deal from. By the way, you should go download some of those episodes, they’re very profane but I think very focused and very motivational. Five things that no matter what your schedule is or what you have in place or the number of meetings that you might have… What are the five things that you should do every day no matter what? And if you do all five, it’s a win. Let me give you my Power 5 as an example.

1. 1. Work out.
   2. Bible study and a 10 minute meditation. I have found meditation and Bible study so helpful to me.
   3. Thank you notes. I write one to at least one person a day.
   4. Twenty contacts with clients or prospects about the company or opportunities that we see and to do business together.
   5. Tell my family that I love them.

Those are the five things that, no matter what happens and I do those five things, it’s been a good day. I also write down, in my journal, those five things. Did I finish them or not? And, if I did, that means that day was a win.

The second productivity hack is selecting a theme for 2020, or a theme for the new year. I got this from our Communications Director, Kseniya Martin. I found it to be so helpful that I’ve already developed my theme for 2020 and I’ll tell you about it in a few moments. But first I want to give you a little context on what this all means. Pick one word that will be your theme, your North Star, or a specific focus for the year or a select time frame ahead. The word, or theme, can be focus, motivate, sober, prey, health, action, lead, etc. One-word themes that will become the filter and stay at the top of your mind and dictate your activity, your program, your priorities, your action. And it will from year to year.

As an example, my focus is on business.

Over the last ten years I’ve spent much of my time in the business: selling, doing client work, working on things inside of the business instead of on the business. And now, as The Moery Company goes into its next decade, it’s really important for me to work on the business. That means working at our pricing structure, looking at new services, considering collaboration or partnerships, or buying new companies, dropping or renewing new clients, communicating the culture to our team, making sure that we have the right people on the bus and in the right seats. Much of my focus in 2020 is going to be on business. Now, that doesn’t mean that I won’t still be doing some of this client work or I won’t be doing some proposals or working with my colleague Mike Thomas on some of those things. But be clear, the theme is on business in 2020, at least for JP Moery. So, what’s your theme? Make it an action word if possible.

The third, and final item, is conducting a calendar audit. I received this from Tim Ferriss from his Tools of Titan’s book. First, look at your calendar for the entire previous year to conduct an audit of the things that you spent most of your time on. For me it’s very easy because my colleague Amanda McMahon and I work on my calendar, and frankly, every minute of the day is allocated to something. So then, what you’ll do grab a piece of paper and list on one side all of the positive things that you’ve scheduled and that you like doing, things that give you energy. And then, on the other side, lists negative things that sap your energy, people that you don’t want to meet, activities that you don’t want to do. For the positive: I love doing podcasts, thank goodness. I love videos. I want to double down on providing you content and insights and reflections about what I see happening out there that might be helpful to you. So that’s a positive, I love doing that! We’re going to put out more content than ever before in 2020. One-on-one meetings with my team for 30 minutes on their job, and their growth, and challenges that they may be having that I can help with. Conversations with my advisory board. Oh my goodness, if you haven’t looked at The Moery Company advisory board, we’ve got some of the best people in the country in terms of business and nonprofit excellence and I probably don’t talk to them enough. But when I do, I certainly enjoy it so I need to have more of that structured into my calendar. And then, I still love doing sales calls. I want to schedule some time to make sure that I’m reaching out to the association marketplace and talking to them about opportunities to do work together. On the negative side, I love working with people and I love interacting with them but after hour receptions and activities that don’t have a specific focus or don’t turn into extended conversations or things that are going to have to go. Frankly, some of the project work that I’ve been involved in needs to be secondary or not even be included at all. The fact of the matter is, I’ve intentionally hired some of the best people in the association space to do the project work and to perform for clients. I need to let them do that and stay out of it.

Once I have identified the positive and the negative things in my calendar, Amanda and I are proactively schedule in advance for the entire year of 2020 allocated time for all those positive things that I get energy from and are moving the ball and we’re getting return on investment on. And we’re eliminating, or being very diligent about, whether some of these negative items show up on my calendar at all.

That’s how I’m trying to develop my productivity.

The Power Five list from Andy Frisella, theme for 2020 advice from Kseniya Martin, and the Calendar Audit provided by Tim Ferriss in his book Tools of Titans.

Hey folks, hope these are helpful to you. Can’t wait till next time. Thanks for listening in. Bye-bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blogs at MoeryCompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter @JPMoery as well as The Moery Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth go to JPMoery.com.

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Associations are thinking about their competition more than ever, however, their biggest competition is now the internet. And it’s not going away. You don’t have to do it all when it comes to competing in the digital age but you have to do it. And you have to do it at scale. Listen in as JP Moery provides insights into how The Moery Company has been able to scale content and the effort’s impact on the bottom line.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of the Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here’s JP.

I’m going to talk about competition. Oh, baby, I love to compete. And I know your associations are thinking about competition more than ever before.

Let’s talk about competing in a digital world, especially in the area of communications. I got news for you: this internet thing is not going away. It’s the biggest deal since the printing press. The iPhone is the new television. You can broadcast live right now, if you want to. Associations need to capture that kind of feel.

This new digital age of communication is set up for organic, new, fast-moving, and authentic communications. It means you have no choice but to do it. And you have to do it at scale; that’s the challenge that many of our organizations run into. We’re used to controlled, stay-on-message, respond, chain of command, and it’s almost like those characteristics are the antithesis of communicating in today’s digital world. So, that’s the challenge for our associations.

People are on their phone all the time; they can broadcast immediately. Think about the power of going to Capitol Hill with your members and doing Facebook Live about their experiences. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to hear a member say something a little bit different than what you might expect? Yeah? But the upside is you’re showing value in real time. That’s what’s really important. So, my challenge to you is, loosen the rope. Give yourself some bandwidth to innovate, to experiment, to try some new things, to do some live videos, to start a podcast. Launch it this year. Launch it now!

I’ve got so many association clients that are wringing their hands about email open rates, wringing their hands about a newsletter, wringing their hands about a magazine and the business model behind it. Yet they have no live video, they don’t have a YouTube channel, they don’t have a podcast. Man, they’re looking backwards! The ability to look forward is really what the opportunity is of embracing this new methodology.

By the way, here’s the other part of this: we’re talking about reaching the member of the future, reaching the members of our association that may be coming up the management ranks right now. They’re not thinking about, “Man, the magazine’s late!” They’re thinking, “Oh my gosh, what are they doing on all these new platforms?!” That’s what they’re looking for. If you want to get new demographics, if you want to get new members, if you want to meet the up-and-coming folks that are in your industry… Believe me, they’re on mobile. Believe me, they’re on digital. Believe me they’re on audio. That’s where they are and if you want to reach them, that’s where you need to put your content. That’s my simple perspective.

Let me give you a story about our company. About two to three years ago we started live video, we started podcasting, we started blogging at scale. Go to our website and there’s all sorts of resources on how we do it. And, by the way, we’re a small company. We’re smaller than most of your associations and their staffs are. We were able to do this, and do all of these things in a scalable way, and here’s what it’s done to our business: 34% top-line revenue growth and more inbound requests for our services than ever before. And, oh by the way, I’m not selling anything, I’m just telling you about our experiences. People are asking about what we do and the services we provide more than ever before. And, the beauty of it as well is, our pipeline not only has grown but the time to close a deal has decreased almost 25%. Why? Because they’re aware. They’re familiar with what we do and we’ve been able to build brand in a very positive way by giving away content as much as possible on as many platforms as we can get our hands on.

So, that’s how to compete. Take it from a small business person that services associations, and also joins associations, that’s the way to win in this digital world. I wish you the very best. Thanks for listening, bye bye!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you! Check out our blog at moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter @JPMoery as well as the Moery Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Associations don’t need to tell their stories, they need to tell their members’ stories! This episode explores the three types of stories you should be telling about how your association helps you members.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of the Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here’s JP.

Association storytelling… it sounds like that’s a session at some ASAE convention! I’m going to give you a little bit of my perspective. The associations need to tell their members’ story more. I realize that’s more work. You’ve got to capture that content. A lot of the association communication, even about their value proposition, even about the success stories of the organization is more about the association rather than the members. And, what I’m finding increasingly around membership development, it’s the stories that members have that are most important for the organization.

So, let me give you a couple of examples. And, by the way, I think this is a fantastic opportunity in the digital communication’s Internet 2.0 world, or whatever the heck we’re in right now! It’s built for this kind of organic, rough, authentic type of communication. Which is, by the way, what you’re going to get from your association members. So, as an example, I have a story from a member about how they’ve been affected by a regulatory issue and how an association helped them. I use this example often, because it’s true and it happened, association member prospect had a problem they didn’t even know existed about a regulation in California. They had product that was going to be illegal to sell to consumers in that state. They didn’t know about it until the association made them familiar with it. That was an easy sell once they were aware of it, once they knew the association was monitoring the situation and, in fact, they were negotiating with the regulatory body about some of the provisions in this regulation. Oh my God, that association prospect signed up right away. So that’s the kind of information or storytelling that we need.

Education. If you have an educational or training program worth its salt, I know that you have individuals that could tell a story about how it made them a better executive. How they became a better executive made their company better, more profitable, more innovative, more relevant in the industry. That’s the thing that’s missing in the educational storytelling that might be valuable to your industry and, not only your prospective members, but your existing members because they’re the people that buy the training and the educational programming the most.

Finally, I want to talk about business development and storytelling. Oh my gosh, folks, if we don’t have stories about how your members are working together, or how they’re collaborating on projects, then we’ve got a real problem with our value proposition. I was in a manufacturing association meeting the other day where a member told a story about how they were getting ready to buy a new piece of equipment. They called a competitor, and another manufacturing member, that had the piece of equipment so they could visit and see that piece of equipment in action. That’s only possible in associations. Those are the stories that we must tell because it’s relevant, because it’s real, because it actually happened and the people in the industry are the storytellers themselves. This is essential in this world that we’re in. Can you imagine those stories being broadcast on Facebook, captured in video on LinkedIn, or a part of your Twitter feed? You want to be an association storyteller? That’s the way to get it done.

Hey, I hope this podcast on storytelling was helpful for you. Thanks for listening to the Association Hustle. Bye bye!

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you. Check out our blog at MoeryCompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter @JPMoery, as well as the Moery Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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There is a handful of fundamental “items” that need to be in your association’s membership toolbox. Listen in as JP Moery, president of The Moery Company, explains the three main items you should focus on for successful membership recruitment and management.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of the Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty First Century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here’s JP.

Hi, welcome to the Association Hustle Podcast. Today’s question is: what’s in your membership toolbox?

I think there are some fundamental things that you got to put in that toolbox that you’ve got to take to work every single day so let me give you a few thoughts. Number one is the value proposition of your organization. Not what you put in a brochure ten years ago and you just continue to update and put some different graphics around it. What is the true value proposition of your organization according to the members of your organization? I want their real-life stories. Why they join, what they gained in terms of value from the organization. Tell me about a specific situation where the legislative affairs program helped them. I’ll give you an example. The other day I heard from a member of a manufacturing association that understood from a webinar [about] potential tariffs that were coming into their industry. They pre-purchased a lot of commodities because of the tariffs that we’re getting ready to happen and saved possibly millions of dollars. I want those specific stories.

The second [tool] is testimonials and referrals. Pick half-a-dozen association members that are willing to send a quick email [or] leave a voicemail message, in some way endorse or refer prospects to you. We need someone during the sales process at a strategic time to speak on our behalf and tell a story that goes something like this, “Hey, I was a small business, too. I wasn’t sure if the association was a fit for me. My perception was it was for big businesses but then once I joined and I went to the annual meeting I was able to meet some of the VIPs of this industry. I do work for them now and my business has grown exponentially because I was a member of the association. I was in the same situation you were and I decided to make the move and it’s absolutely changed my business.” Hard stop. But we need those kinds of testimonials. You’re probably not going to get them at scale but, man, two or three of those will be very helpful.

My third thing [that should be] in your toolbox is Salesforce CRM, or something similar to it. We’ve got a golden rule in this company: if it’s not in Salesforce it didn’t happen. I realized that’s a double negative but you’ve got to log every single contact you have with a prospect. Over time you start to learn what’s effective. You start to identify how many calls it might take to close a deal. You might see the tactics that work. Is it better to email? Is it better to make a direct phone call? Is it better to have a face-to-face meeting? You start to really learn the cadence of your membership development work. But if you don’t put it into a Salesforce [type] system, or a CRM where you can get a pipeline on a moment’s notice, or you can’t generate an activity report when somebody requests it… you’ve got a problem because your process isn’t sound.

Let’s revisit these real quick!

One: value proposition from the members perspective. Why?

Second: testimonials and referrals from members that have something tangible to talk about.

And third: develop that sales process including a great CRM that can keep track of things.

Hope this was helpful to you, thanks for listening, I’m grateful. Please share our content with someone else if you found it valuable. See you soon, bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you! Check out our blog at MoeryCompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter @JPMoery as well as the Moery Company’s Instagram and Facebook page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, “Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth,” go to JPMoery.com.

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Tune in as JP Moery, president of The Moery Company, talks about what’s working, what’s not working, and the trends he’s seeing in association membership sales backed by data.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP’s mission is to arm today’s associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here’s JP.

It’s JP Moery, I’m glad to be with you today. I’m doing a session on the state of association sales and I’m going to specifically stay on the topic of membership.

Association membership sales but, frankly, I know I’ve got a lot of folks that are entrepreneurs and they’re in just all the types of sales. I think it’s going to apply to you too.

Here’s what I see working in the association field right now: they’re starting to be some real improvements in the value proposition and membership category modernization. You’re updating your benefits, you’re updating your services, you’re letting new entrants come into the space, you’re developing membership categories for them. Very positive. The dues levels that you’re developing better reflect the industry realities. We’re seeing a lot of organization, as an example, taking off the dues cap because their membership based on revenue is growing so much so you’re modernizing those levels. It’s a good step forward.

The other thing: there’s an improvement of membership retention and engagement.

My friends at Marketing General, their 90 percent retention rate in trade association membership is absolutely fantastic. The other thing that I think is starting to happen is we’ve got a better acceptance that business development and sales can be an accepted component of a non-profit mindset. When I got into this business a few years ago, and business development was frankly a dirty word, now it’s becoming a more accepted practice in our nonprofit organizations.

The challenges, or what is not working: chief staff executives really have an apathy toward revenue generation. They don’t want to get their hands dirty with it, yet we see some of the most successful association executives of all time be very good at raising money and they have the resources to accomplish missions. Tangible data for reasons to join, renew, engage, or drop the membership is lacking. We’re collecting information but we’re not utilizing that data to make decisions about why people are joining, why they’re being engaged, and why they’re actually not renewing.

That stuff is so critical to move forward and develop strategies to either compensate, alleviate, or take advantage of those scenarios. A lack of sales process and reporting is still in place.

Association management systems, in my experience and what I’ve heard from my clients, are not great sales CRMs. If you listen to a lot of our podcasts, we use Salesforce. It generates weekly reports, pipelines, activity. It measures the sales metrics of closed ratios, number of activities, etc. It can be very valuable.

There’s a commitment to legacy programs in your membership, regardless of whether there’s a business justification for it.

There are some member benefits and programs and services, sometimes in the affinity area, that frankly need to go away. You’re wasting your time and your energy on those projects and frankly they don’t move the needle for your members anyway. When members don’t see value in a program it actually lowers their impression of the value proposition of their membership. So, keep the things that folks are engaged with that are important and you’ll be much more successful.

Got a few data points for you. It’s taking us about 60 days to close a membership. Two years ago, it took about 67 days. We’re getting faster and we’re closing that sales cycle. Days to close by money, by the amount of the dues. It takes us about a 120 to close the membership of $20,000 and up. It takes us about 40 days to close the membership less than $3,000. It takes a little bit more time but I still think the efforts toward a higher value membership are certainly worth your time and effort. We’re closing 75% of the deals that come into our pipeline. Seventy-five percent of the prospects that come into the pipeline end up joining. That’s up from a 54% in 2016. So, we’re getting better. We’re getting faster and it’s taking fewer activities than ever before to close membership in our organizations.

Here are some trends that I see: start collecting cell phone numbers from your members so you can begin to text them at scale, segment your audience for a specific value proposition. To make it simple: your association members want a different value proposition and a different narrative than your manufacturing members do. Develop specific stories from these member segments and how you help solve problems for them. That’s going to help you sell more memberships. If you want to be really valuable to your associate members develop thought leadership sponsorships for them and that will attract more revenue and more engagement from those associate members.

Hey, I hope this has been helpful to you! I’ve enjoyed being with you today. Thanks for joining us, see you next time. Bye bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of JP Moery’s Association Hustle Podcast. We’d love to connect with you! Check out our blogs at www.moerycompany.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also connect with JP on LinkedIn and Twitter @JPMoery as well as The Moery Company’s Instagram and Facebook Page. To purchase a copy of JP’s book, Association Hustle: Top Strategies for Association Growth, go to JPMoery.com.

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Here are seven sales presentation mistakes JP has made over the years, how he overcame them, and actionable tips on how you can avoid making them yourself.

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Here are seven sales presentation mistakes JP has made over the years, how he overcame them, and actionable tips on how you can avoid making them yourself.

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Hey folks, Host JP Moery believes there’s a canary in the coal mine for today’s associations with several forced to cease operations. The stark reality is many associations have critical business issues before them and two of the most significant questions you should be asking: “Is our association (and its revenue model) sustainable?” and, “Are we still relevant in the eyes of our members?” He warns that members are assessing their affiliation with you on an annual basis. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery sees a fantastic membership recruitment opportunity for associations who put some rigor behind their state advocacy efforts – and, things are moving fast. Corporations are intensely interested in what’s happening at the state level – whether it’s regulatory or legislative. One of the challenges for many associations is the ability to recruit large companies like these that are really focused on the risks that they are facing here. But, do you have a state advocacy infrastructure in place to best serve these prospective members?

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Over the last few months, Host JP Moery has been participating in meetings with clients and their staff plotting out plans for the future, and he’s got a few observations about your membership. He believes association members are looking for an organization that is more member-centric and they have a real good of what they expect out of your value proposition. The actual challenge he sees for associations is letting go of the legacy mentality. What’s holding your association back from moving forward?

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What better way to recruit new members than at a live association event? Host JP Moery believes it’s one of the most obvious strategies for membership growth – but most associations don’t take full advantage of this opportunity. This week, JP talks about how the key to success is tactical preparation on several fronts. Here’s the winning process.

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This week is a special edition of the show as Host JP Moery welcomes his wife and Moery COO, Diane Moery to discuss strategies the Big Red “M” has developed to demonstrate client return on investment (ROI) and how this approach can easily be adopted by associations who wish to develop and create and ROI document for their membership. Listen in as this power duo breaks down the process.

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There are a few things keeping association leaders up at night and one is declining membership numbers with the retirement of Baby Boomers. Host JP Moery knows this is a reality for most organizations. And, data show in the next decade there will be more Millennials in the workforce than any other generation. So, the question is, “How will our organizations adapt to meet the expectations of this demographic?“ Listen in on the latest edition of Association Hustle.

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Following a highly successful joint presentation on podcasting – Host JP Moery received some great feedback from conference attendees. However, there was one subtle comment that exemplified for JP a big disconnect between the association and vendor communities. Check out his latest episode to find out more.

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This is a fantastic episode if your organization is looking to add some rigor to your communications strategy. Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Ian Alphin and Patrick Mersinger from InLoop, an AI-powered content curator and publisher for associations. As users of the InLoop system, the Big Red “M” can attest to the value of this technology, which has enabled us to create an industry-wide news hub. Ian and Patrick do a deep dive on how InLoop can greatly improve member engagement by upping your communications game.

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Looking to make the next move in your executive career? This week Host JP Moery welcomes to the podcast his long-time friend and government relations search specialist, Ivan Adler, Principal of Ivan Adler Associates. Ivan, aka – the Lobbyist Hunter – brings his decades of experience in the search business to the show on what associations are really looking for in their next CEO. It’s a whole new all game, folks – do you have what it takes?

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During this milestone 200th episode, the tables are turned. Moery Communications Director, Kim Gilliam is behind the mic this week for a candid interview with Host JP Moery about his first book, Association Hustle – Top Strategies for Association Growth. JP reveals what drove him to write the book, his concerns for the association industry in an ever-changing world, and how associations can successfully adapt to remain relevant as he believes without the “hustle” failure looms.

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New sponsorship revenue takes many forms. Host JP Moery talks about three ways to bring new money through the door – and, some of his observations might surprise you. Listen in. #associationhustle

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Currently, many organizations are embracing technology by attempting to implement an association management system (AMS) and new marketing platforms – and feeling the pressure to do so. Host JP Moery has worked with several associations who’ve said, “Our AMS doesn’t work” or “We’re not utilizing it fully.” Before embarking on these endeavors, he has a few recommendations and advice on IT investment as well.. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery recently received a great question about the value of trial memberships – a situation in which a company is offered free membership for 6 months, or so. This week, he shares his experience and recommendations on this strategy. Buckle up and listen in. #associationhustle

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Let’s be realistic. Membership goals should not be an arbitrary number pulled out of thin air by a very well-meaning volunteer. Hey, Host JP Moery is all about aspiration and recruiting more members than ever – but, these goals must be based on solid data. During this week’s episode, he breaks down his top strategies for setting attainable member acquisition goals. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery has been working with a good many associations and hearing the same question, “We’re restructuring our membership model – what benefits need to be added?” This week, he offers a few recommendations. Association Hustle is now available on Stitcher**

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This is a can’t-miss-episode of Association Hustle. This week’s show is the final installment of Host JP Moery’s special series on “Why Members Hire Associations,” featuring his good friend, Dan Varroney, CEO of Potomac Core Consulting. JP and Dan discuss why members hire associations that are “relevant,” the market conditions driving this focus, and include the traits and attributes of these high-impact organizations. The episode incudes impressive examples of “Relevant Associations,” and the highly skilled CEOs who lead them. Listen in as the podcasting duo offers cutting-edge insights on this prevalent shift occurring in associations and the Industries they represent.

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During the newly branded “Association Hustle” podcast, Host JP Moery and guest Potomac Core CEO Dan Varroney offer the second installment of their series on “Why Members Hire Associations .” Today, they discuss what members expect from “Tomorrow’s Associations,” the traits and attributes these organizations have, what they execute on behalf of their members, what it takes to lead this effort, and more. Listen in as this podcasting duo offers fantastic insights on the shift occurring in the association industry.

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Kicking off the debut of his rebranded podcast, “Association Hustle,” Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Dan Varroney, President & CEO of Potomac Core • Association Consulting. This episode is the first of a 3-part series on Transformational Associations, Tomorrow’s Associations, and Relevant Associations. Today, JP and Dan discuss what’s driving members to hire “constant transformation.” He says, today several associations are stepping far outside the traditional lanes and shifting to a “full-on” commercial focus, helping industries solve problems and also positioning them for growth in their marketplace. This is a fascinating and insightful session – listen in!

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We know associations want to grow – but all too often Host JP Moery sees big barriers to that growth. Our membership applications are overly complicated, and the dues levels are antiquated and difficult for the prospect to figure out. He’s seen membership applications that are 5 and 6 pages long, and often prospective members need referrals from current members. Is there a way we can smooth it out for these folks?

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How well can your association articulate your value proposition? Defining member value and what differentiates you from other organizations in your industry is often a challenge – and, it can’t be developed by a group on K Street. During this episode, Host JP Moery shares the secret to developing a strong value prop.

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“I’ve talked a good deal about social media and how these platforms better enable you to communicate with members and prospects – and I still have plenty to say on the subject,” shares Host JP Moery. These communication tools help connect with your audience in very real and authentic ways about your organization and the value you provide. However, some associations don’t maximize the muscle behind the opportunities these platforms offer – and, its free! JP offers his top tips on how to take full advantage of the power of social to showcase the value of your organization in the eyes of your members.

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Bottom line: Today’s associations must have solid vision, mission, and value statements in place to be effective in moving forward. These organizational tenets help guide strategic planning, new initiatives, goal development, and better define its value proposition. Host JP Moery has worked with several organizations in developing these statements over the last 2 years and breaks them down, and explains how they build off one another.

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What drives Host JP Moery crazy is when “communications” just don’t get to the point, whether it’s a blog, e-newsletter, an email, and particularly during a podcast. Today, he hosts newly promoted Moery Biz Dev Director Jordan Weiss for a discussion on engaging association member prospects through clear and concise communication that cuts to the chase. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery has seen an interesting trend developing, and it’s the growing interest of volunteer leaders in the association business. He says, “We expect these leaders to be strategic and map a path for us and often we are of critical of their ability to do so. To be successful, we must ensure sure we give them proper context around our organizations.” JP shares his insights and recommendations during his latest podcast.

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Associations are getting serious about business development right now. Host JP Moery explains, “Today there is a real need for biz dev talent, and people are having trouble finding sales professionals for myriad reasons.” During his latest podcast, he offers three trends he sees developing in the association sales world.

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Your data should tell you. Tracking sales data is critical for association growth no matter the size of your organization. Host JP Moery found data tracking imperative to success when launching his 1-person business nearly ten years ago. Today he breaks down how a CRM is imperative to running a successful association sales operation. Listen in.

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If you want to be the “go-to” person in your business – Host JP Moery emphasizes the need to follow through with a vital method of communication. It’s so simple – you’ll laugh, but it will ensure your reputation as a business person will be fantastic. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery offers two association-specific approaches to podcasting, and he encourages leaders in the nonprofit community to pick up the mic and jump into the podcasting game. Why? More than 124 million people are listening – that’s why – and, listenership continues to grow year after year. The medium is a killer trend in 2019, and is the #1 way for associations to connect with their members. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery is fired up about selling the key account this year for his association partners. During this episode, he offers a 5-point plan to help build out this specialized sales approach for landing the big fish at your organization.

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What’s the very best way to motivate and best position your sales team for success? Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Moery SVP of Sales Mike Thomas to discuss the winning approach employed at the Big Red “M.” Does the carrot or the stick play a role? Listen in to find out.

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Host JP Moery recently launched Association Hustle – his debut book based on his real-life experiences and lessons learned working for decades in the association space. He explains, “Our 21st-century associations face mounting challenges requiring an innovative approach and a little bit of hustle to survive.” During this episode, he touches on five main topics – membership, sponsorship, sales, communications, and advocacy of which readers will find actionable takeaways to help strengthen their associations. Listen in and to order a copy for your organization – visit JP’s new website.

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During his latest podcast, host JP Moery addresses a quick topic about association sponsorships. Over the last year or two, he’s begun to see more and more associations accept the idea of having sponsors pay for the opportunity to deliver content – thought leadership. Partnering with your vendors on research initiatives and developing content relevant to your members can be a big win for all. JP explains how during his latest episode.

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For those of you in the sales game, you may agree at times it can feel like an absolute grind. Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Moery Biz Dev Manager, Jordan Weiss – a sales rock star at the Big Red “M.” The two have a frank discussion on how to maintain a positive attitude when the going gets tough.

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During the latest edition of the Association Playbook, Host JP Moery riffs on a significant trend he sees playing out nationwide: the increased focus associations are placing on their state groups. He details several ways national organizations can strengthen chapter relations – and, why it’s a winning effort.

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Host JP Moery conducts weekly training sessions with his sales team, which typically wraps with the “hat trick.” This exercise isn’t actually a “trick,” but an awesome training methodology designed to regularly address common sales objections – and, the entire team participates. Listen in as JP outlines the three advantages to this drill.

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“So, how do you get association clients?” Host JP Moery hears this question quite a bit. He’s partnered with more than 100 associations over the years and has a pretty broad background in the space. He says, “I’ll be honest – a lot of association vendors often get out of the business because it’s a slow-moving industry. Associations, in general, want to do their due diligence.” He shares his top 4 tips for selling to associations.

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Host JP Moery doesn’t hold a brainstorming session without a plan – otherwise, you’re doomed by the same old back and forth – “Hey, John. What do you think? Hey, Bob. What’s your idea?” During his latest podcast, he shares a few ways to successfully map out your approach. It’s a simple, yet effective framework that provides for direction to help move you forward to identify key priorities and new initiatives. Listen in!

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Host JP Moery frequently receives calls and questions from folks who are looking to break into the association marketplace for their career. During this episode, he outlines several strategies that might be helpful and if you like what you hear, share with a colleague who might be on the job hunt!

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To be clear, there are two types of gatekeepers, explains Host JP Moery – those who call you to get information about your association membership program; and, those who answer the phone when you’re calling to reach the decision maker. He shares a few thoughts on how to manage the process.

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Over the years, Host JP Moery has been pretty transparent and objective about where he’s gone wrong in business and his missteps in leadership. Today, he shares three things that have actually worked out! Listen in.

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Wanting this topic to come off the “right” way – Host JP Moery gives some context to the dilemma. He often contacts people for information and likewise, folks ask him for his insights – a meeting frequently held over coffee. Often these are not as productive as you might expect. He lays out some ideas on how to make this exchange more beneficial for both parties. Listen in!

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There are a few trends developing around Moery Company content delivery and our sales process, and it’s very exciting, says Host JP Moery. Over the last several weeks, he’s seen growth in content engagement and has observed the sales cycle at the Big Red “M” shorten rather significantly. Here’s why.

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It’s very rare if ever that a prospect says, “Hey, send me your membership information,” and then they sign up off the bat, explains Host JP Moery. But, created and utilized strategically, collateral materials for membership recruitment can significantly benefit your sales effort. During this episode, he breaks down his top 3 tips for generating the very best collateral information.

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Who knew there are strong parallels between farming and a fantastic sales process? This week, Host JP Moery welcomes to the show, Moery Biz Dev Associate Julie Divine who recently moved her family from Northern Virginia to where she describes as “the middle of nowhere with cows.” Julie, who telecommutes for the Big Red “M,” explains how tending to the farm mirrors her winning approach to sales for our association clients.

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A sports enthusiast, Host JP Moery, knows well the correlations between professional life and sports. Work hard, be on time, be a good teammate. The list goes on. This week JP welcomes to the show Moery Business Development Manager, Jordan Weiss, who’s played sports his whole life. In fact, he started coaching a youth lacrosse team and has begun to see the impact of coaching on his career outside of athletics. He shares what he’s learned in the latest episode of the Association Playbook podcast.

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Here’s a dose of reality for associations…. Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Moery Vice President, Elizabeth Johnson who’s been selling sponsorship programs for the past eight years at the Big Red “M.” During this episode, she shares her seasoned and unbiased perspective and some intel on selling sponsorship opportunities – and, what your sponsors really want. Listen in.

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Is your association equipped to manage the next public affair crisis – quickly? How should you best deploy your team and assets when urgent scenarios develop? What’s your narrative on the latest issue? Host JP Moery welcomes to the show, Stuart Roy, President of Strategic Action Public Affairs to discuss his recommendations to associations about their approach to public affairs in a disruptive era. Cadence and speed in communications are essential – but, how do associations keep pace?

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Associations may need a new playbook, folks. In the last few years, a disruption has occurred which has changed how advocacy will play out going forward, and you must adapt your approach, says Host JP Moery. This week, JP welcomes to the podcast Brian Wild, Policy Director, Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, & Schreck, to discuss new advocacy strategies for your organization as the political landscape continues to evolve.

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If your association is thinking about implementing a podcasting program, this episode is a must listen! This week, the American Boiler Manufacturers Association (ABMA) President and CEO Scott Lynch joined Host JP Moery to discuss the success they’ve enjoyed since launching their show. ABMA was one of The Moery Company’s first podcast service clients – a program which helped them develop “Inside the Boiler Room.” With six episodes under his belt, 1,300 downloads, and a top rank on iTunes – Scott breaks down the ‘how’s and why’s’ of his podcast, and where he plans to take the medium from here.

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Today’s association business environment requires us to stay abreast of ever-evolving technologies and be ready to pivot. Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Moery Salesforce Guru, Kerry Doyle who breaks down why associations need to stay ahead of the technology curve – and, this ongoing effort begins with a social media platform. Listen in.

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Thought leadership is a hot topic in business these days, and developing a thought leadership strategy is an excellent opportunity for associations to push membership value. Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Moery SVP Mike Thomas who spearheaded just such an effort at the Big Red “M,” and we are poised to have our best year in business – ever. JP and Mike break down this straightforward approach, which can be successfully implemented at any organization – large or small. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery openly admits that for a time during his career he was the “worst salesperson ever.” He had so much ego wrapped into the sales process – it was impacting every stage of the game. JP had to change his “mind set,” and he tell you how during his latest podcast.

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Implementing membership segmentation can significantly benefit your association. This week, Host JP Moery welcomes to the show CompTIA’s VP of Industry Relations, Pete Kaminskas and Moery Chief Analyst, Patty Leeman. Collectively, they’ve observed membership segmentation play out on a regular basis. They believe the more associations can identify these different personas and develop a narrative around them, the more successful they will at delivering value and growing their organization. Pete and Patty bring their “A” game to this episode – excellent insights and recommendations. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery has watched throughout his career as associations maintain lapsed members who haven’t paid their dues. And, for a very long time, in some cases. Why does it happen? JP breaks down the top 3 reasons and encourages you to send a strong message, “No dues, no benefits of membership.” Listen in.

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Over the last 24 months, Host JP Moery has seen an unprecedented need for the evaluation of dues levels, membership categories, and sponsorship inventory and pricing. Now is the time when corporate members are evaluating their relationship with your association – whether it’s worth it – are they getting the value they expect. Your association business model might need a closer look.

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Everyone remembers their first job and the dreaded learning curve. This week, Host JP Moery welcomes to the podcast Moery Sales Associate, Madeline Trabucco, who just celebrated her first year on staff. She’s a rising star at the Big Red “M,” and she shares three strategies she’s developed to stay at the top of her game. This episode offers a fresh perspective for both young salespeople and the seasoned professional.

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This is a big question, folks. Host JP Moery had a recent conversation with a good friend in the association space, which was extremely intriguing. He shared with JP a scenario he’d heard from a corporate member who put forth, “What if our company quit all associations for a year – drop our membership with the many trade associations we are currently a member of. I’d like to see what happens.” During his latest podcast, JP addresses this situation, which has already begun to play out.

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Podcasting is one of the fastest growing and most effective communications tools today. JP Moery has been hosting the Association Playbook podcast for 3 years now – and, 11,000+ downloads later, it’s had a tremendous impact on his business. If you are thinking about launching your own show – the critical first step is to engage in a “Discovery Strategy Session.” Before moving forward, JP recommends you nail down the answers to several questions. Listen in.

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If Host JP Moery could travel back in time and relaunch the Big Red “M,” he’d make some key changes to his approach. From setting a sustainable pricing structure to creating a platform for information distribution to focusing less on office space and several tactics in between, JP details what he’d do differently if he started The Moery Company today.

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This week, we celebrate an epic milestone – the 150th episode of the Association Playbook podcast. Host JP Moery welcomes a very special guest – his long-time friend and mentor, Leslie Hortum who manages the Washington, DC office of Spencer Stuart – an executive search and leadership consulting firm. Leslie and JP discuss today’s trends in the association CEO search process – and, with an unprecedented number of CEO searches taking place, this episode could not be more timely. Listen in.

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Over the years, one of the most common questions Host JP Moery receives by associations is how to get new sponsors through the door. This week, JP shares a 6-point sales methodology he’s been honing with his team at the Big Red “M,” which will help you develop more than enough opportunities to sign new sponsors to your program. Listen in and take notes!

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When it comes to renewing your members, obviously the goal is to get them back on board sooner rather than later, right? Host JP Moery says the quality of your renewal letter can impact whether your members “act now,” or if that request gets shelved for a later date. This week, He emphasizes brevity and clarity in your messaging and offers a few pointers in crafting a winning letter, which will effectively communicate, “Renew today!” Listen in.

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Host JP Moery dives deep this week on his team’s winning social media methodology, which has helped escalate brand awareness and had a tremendous impact on sales. Every small business and association can utilize this strategy, and it’s a minimal lift. JP breaks down the critical components of this effort during his latest episode of the Association Playbook.

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Podcasting is one of the fastest growing and effective communications tools today. Host JP Moery has been hosting the Association Playbook for three years, and it’s had a tremendous impact on his business. If you are thinking about launching a podcast – the critical first step is to engage in a “Discovery Strategy Session.” Before moving forward, he recommends you nail down the answers to some fundamental questions.

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Sponsorship sales is the hottest growth opportunity for associations today, and organizations continue to miss the boat. This week, Host JP Moery explains why and offers a 4-point strategy to revamp your sponsorship program.

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Some execs in the association space are looking to make significant changes to the sales structure within their organizations – however, Host JP Moery warns while sales activity is extremely important, it is not the sole component of a successful program. During this episode, he cautions to hold off on wholesale change, offers his observations, and recommends they step into a salesperson’s shoes for a month.

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A common theme most associations wrestle with is the question of how increased engagement can lead to renewal and acquisition growth. Host JP Moery’s guest this week is his good friend of more than a decade, Peter Kaminskas, CompTia’s Vice President, Industry Relations. Peter says, “While there are many avenues to pursue on this topic, the concept of launching new membership councils is yet another strategy to drive relevance, visibility and, yes – growth, within your association.” During this episode, JP and Peter discuss best practices for launching member councils. Listen in!

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Leading up to a client’s tradeshow can become a stressful time fielding all the vendor requests, and the line of communication between vendor and trade association is a critical task to ensure your sponsors have a positive experience. Host JP Moery welcomes to the show, Moery Business Development Manager, Jordan Weiss to discuss the myriad ways to manage an unhappy vendor, how to maintain those long-term sponsors, and ensure a successful show.

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“My philosophy has always been: ‘Work is what you do, not where you do it,’” says Host JP Moery. Employees are looking for the opportunity to keep their hours and come into the office when their schedule accommodates, but still be held accountable to a very high standard. During his latest podcast, JP breaks down three powerful elements of a virtual work environment, which can bring incredible success to your association or business.

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Creating a true “sense of urgency” can be one of the biggest challenges you face in the sales process, says Host JP Moery. If a prospect doesn’t see the ticking time bomb early on, your chance of closing that sale quickly decreases. JP welcomes to the show Moery Senior Business Development Director, Bethany Murphy who shares three strategies, which help her persuade prospects to “act now.”

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JP welcomes to the show, his long-time friend and partner, Robb Mackie, President and CEO of the American Bakers Association (ABA). They tackle the topic of association mergers – an issue on the minds of many leaders in the nonprofit space. More than a year ago, ABA went through a significant merger with the Biscuits and Cracker Manufacturer’s Association (B&CMA), and Robb shares what made the experience successful, his recommendations for CEOs about to enter the process, challenges he faced as a leader, the positive outcomes, and the additive nature of the merger. Listen in!

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We often make “assumptions” in the membership and sponsorship sales game, says Host JP Moery and warns, “Don’t make this mistake – ever, as the assumptive narrative has proven to be a dangerous one over and over.” This week, JP shares three common sales blunders and reminds us of what’s key to success.

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Conferences, conventions, and symposiums are incredible opportunities to recruit new members. This week, Host JP Moery welcomes to the podcast Business Development Manager, Jordan Weiss who just returned from two live events to meet with member prospects and the response was tremendous. He says live events are so much more effective than just a phone call because people tend to like meeting face to face and the excitement of the show lends to a more positive interaction. JP and Jordan discuss best practices in leveraging live events for membership sales.

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No matter how many years go by in our professional lives, our first job always sticks with us – the growing pains, getting our footing and gaining some confidence along the way. Host JP Moery welcomes to the podcast, Moery Sales Associate, Madeline Trabucco – the newest hire at the Big Red “M,” and a recent graduate of UC Berkeley. She shares her experiences making the transition from college student to young professional and shares three pieces of advice for anyone new to the career world, which also serve as good reminders for some of us more seasoned professionals.

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Data is key to developing winning sales strategies and this week’s guest is The Moery Company “data” expert – Salesforce Manager, Kerry Doyle. She and Host JP Moery discuss the methodology behind collecting quality data and how tracking and evaluating data trends can guide your next move in the sales process. This strategy takes the guessing game out of the equation, which leads to better prospects, more opportunities, and closed sales. Listen in!

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Host JP Moery welcomes to the show for the first time – Moery Biz Dev Manager, Jordan Weiss. A specialist at revamping association legacy programs, Jordan has developed a customized approach for two very distinct client groups – membership and sponsorship sales. He shares with JP his “best practices” for this tailored sales methodology.

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Association membership sales is a dynamic process and requires a specialized approach by your team. Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Mike Thomas, Moery Senior Vice President of Sales. Mike, a seasoned sales professional with more than two decades of success, shares four essential characteristics of a winning sales team.

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Some 20 years ago, when Host JP Moery was a young association exec, he began to realize the importance of setting priorities. When the narrative of your organization is “Protector of the Industry” – it is implied you need to be on top of a million different things to protect companies – on a daily basis. He discusses the resulting “battle fatigue” and the critical need for “laser focus” during his latest podcast.

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Host JP Moery has known a lot of great salespeople throughout his career. From possessing positivity, to an athletic mindset, to a willingness to fail – he breaks down his top 5 qualities of the successful 21st century salesperson.

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These two friends go way back in the association world. In fact, Host JP Moery and Casey Clark, Vice President of Strategic Communications at the American Gaming Association, have shared similar career paths in that both have worked on the association side and the consultant side of the game. During this week’s episode, JP and Casey have a candid conversation about what associations can learn from consultants (and, vice versa) – the similarities and differences between the two, and the immense success that can be realized through collaboration and clear communication.

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Host JP Moery has a quick tip about a unique barrier to growth within associations and small companies – behavior he’s observed for a long time and, frankly, struggles with himself. It’s the issue of control. He breaks down a simple strategy that can free you up for success during his latest episode.

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Host JP Moery welcomes to the Playbook, Bethany Murphy – Business Development Director at the Big Red “M.” JP introduces her as one of the most fantastic salespeople he’s ever hired at the company and one who’s changed the trajectory of the business forever. Bethany shares her 3 secrets for building successful client relationships.

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“I can say with some confidence that I’ve probably lost more sales deals than anyone that might listen to this podcast (or be willing to admit it!)” says Host JP Moery. He’s been in the sales game for a long time and made his share of mistakes. So, speaking from experience, he shares blunders made and new strategies with hopes you can be successful during your next sales meeting.

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Sidelining sponsors and vendors at your conferences – relegating them to advertising and exhibiting – precludes associations from fully tapping into expertise that could be invaluable to their members, says Host JP Moery. If your sponsors’ specialized “know-how” is developed, packaged and presented in educational (not blatantly self-promotional) ways, it can be extremely helpful to your mainstream association members – and, to your association as well. He details how in his latest podcast.

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Just how much time does your membership department devote to the “onboarding process” of new members? “We spend so much energy recruiting, assuring them how different they’ll be treated by this organization and how much value they’ll receive through their affiliation – then, what happens after they actually join?” asks Host JP Moery. In his latest podcast, JP reveals the #1 way to onboard new members – members who will be there to stay.

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An anemic approach to business development is holding associations back from achieving their missions, says Host JP Moery. He details three factors having the greatest impact on sales rigor within the industry and offers how best to tackle the issue head on.

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Today, many associations are gravitating toward the recruitment of small or large businesses, says Host JP Moery.  The biggest opportunity, although fraught with challenges, is the recruitment of the medium-sized business in your industry. After recruiting a number of them, we find these medium-sized companies are a different animal altogether. In his latest episode, JP explains why and breaks down a winning recruitment strategy.

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The Moery Company (TMC) faced major headwinds in its start-up phase, says Host and TMC President JP Moery. “Primarily, no one knew what the heck we did.” But, he learned early on about the value of thought leadership and content delivery as being the most valuable part of modern marketing. JP adopted a loosely defined content marketing effort, at the expense of traditional marketing programs, that transformed his business. In his latest episode, he offers a few tips to increase your personal brand by scaling the content.

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Although associations are communicating more frequently and with a wider variety of tools, they are not more communicating more effectively, says Host JP Moery. According to the 2017 Association Communications Benchmarking Report, many associations indicated the #1 communications challenge is their struggle to relay their membership value proposition. JP admits it’s a process, and offers several takeaways that will help you better communicate your organization’s value.

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There has never been a better time for associations to launch a podcast – the medium is surging in popularity with more than 67 million monthly listeners. Host JP Moery welcomes to the Association Playbook his good friend and podcast consultant, Chris Stemp – host of the Smart People Podcast. Together they lay out the pros of launching a podcast and break down the steps to get one off the ground. The Moery Company is offering a podcasting implementation service for associations this year – so take a listen and connect with JP at jp@moerycompany.com to learn more.

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Data is key to developing winning strategies around engagement and retention. According to Host JP Moery, data from your CRM and other sources can be utilized in myriad ways, and he insists there’s no reason to gather everyone in the conference room to brainstorm ideas without data to support them. Before you launch into the development phase of any new association endeavor, listen in on what types of things you should be looking at from your data. Start digging.

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Long-term strategic partnerships in the sponsorship area – it’s all the buzz, but what the heck does it mean? Currently, Host JP Moery believes “long-term strategic partnerships” are simply a proxy for, “I just want to go after the big dollars from my existing sponsors.” This approach is not strategic nor at all long term. During his latest podcast, JP talks you through four steps to developing a winning partnership with your sponsors that will stand the test of time.

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Just before Host JP Moery’s daughter, Grace left for college in the fall, they had a talk about leadership and why it can become “old and tired.” “It was an interesting conversation, one I embraced and it really got me thinking,” says JP. “Why doesleadership become a grind?” He details three of the draining aspects of leadership and offers three strategies on how to develop a winning leadership action plan.

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“The state of our association industry has been heavy on my mind lately,” says Host JP Moery. He truly believes that within the next decade (there may not even be that much time) associations must become extraordinary organizations. “We MUST offer exceptional programs and services to our members to thrive in a new world – because the world today demands excellence,” explains JP. He details key steps during his latest podcast.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Telecommuting is one of hottest perks for today’s work force and associations are beginning to hire remote employees. Host JP Moery welcomed to the podcast Todd Myer with Insperity, a full-service HR firm and Moery communications sponsor. Todd addresses the trends around working virtually, the challenges of creating and managing a mobile workforce, and tips on how associations can implement this valued benefit. If you have any questions on creating a virtual work option at your organization, Insperity is your go-to resource – connect with them at 703/821-7303.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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What makes a successful leader today – and, tomorrow? Host JP Moery welcomed to the podcast one of his very best friends in the association space, Bill Hudson. The former CEO of Global Cold Chain Alliance and current Partner at Heidrick & Struggles, Bill heads executive searches for CEOs for trade and professional associations. During this episode, he brings to bear his understanding of the association community, association leadership, and the changes taking place in the association landscape. He shares with JP the qualities associations should be looking for in a CEO candidate, how the organization should operate as they move into new leadership, and how that leadership role is changing. Listen in!

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“Associations without a sound political operation to complement government relations activity are only playing half the game,” says Host JP Moery. With this in mind, he welcomed Nathan Gonzales with Inside Elections with Nathan L.Gonzales and Erik Koeppen, PAC Director at the American Nurses Association (ANA), to the Playbook. Inside Elections is a nonpartisan, biweekly report many associations currently use to arm their members with the data they need to become more politically engaged. ANA co-brands with Inside Elections, and Erik says it’s proven to be a fantastic member benefit as well as internal resource of fact-based data and context for the ANA Government Affairs team. Check out Episode 113.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Thinking about embarking on a new endeavor? Host JP Moery is the first to admit there are a million resources out there to set up a business. But looking back to 2010, he reflects on three things absolutely critical to growing The Moery Company – which began with a sound, multi-point business plan. Listen in.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Host JP Moery launched The Moery Company (TMC) in 2010, a solo journey. Today, he has a team of 12 and is seeking new staff. As TMC has grown, the company has collectively worked toward building a fantastic team. Six building blocks have helped get them where they are today. “These efforts help create a culture and a strong culture will overcome many challenges you have in business,” says JP. He shares his 6 steps during his latest podcast.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Influencer marketing is a hot topic in the association space and host JP Moery welcomes Kiki L’Italien, CEO of Amplified Growth and host of Association Chat, to discuss the opportunities for associations who want to dig in. Kiki breaks down “influencer marketing” in terms of building relationships and identifying potential partnerships with influencers in their industry – folks who will move the needle on what the organization is trying to achieve. She reveals several key strategies for those looking to implement a successful campaign.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Host JP Moery’s philosophy has always been: “Work is what you do, not where you are.” Workplace freedom has been a big part of the culture at The Moery Company since the beginning – and, the approach has been truly successful and greatly valued by his team. JP’s very first employee, Elizabeth Johnson joins him on the Playbook to talk about her experience working virtually over the years, and today – as she and her family now live more than 700 miles away in Florida.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Association advocacy continues to evolve and while there isn’t a set “playbook” to follow in today’s political landscape, one aspect still rings true – the importance of relationship building. During the latest edition of the podcast, special guest, ACI-NA CEO Kevin Burke shares his unique perspective. Kevin’s early career in government affairs as a legislative aide and press secretary helped pave his way to association leadership. He describes just how much has changed in the world of advocacy and shares 3 things all new CEOs need to accomplish within their first 90 days! Listen in.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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For more than a year, Host JP Moery has been thinking about how he could help senior association execs accomplish their goals and have a champion in the market with their success in mind. With mounting pressure to grow the association’s bottom line, he saw a problem and wanted to provide a solution. In response, he’s designed and launched a new individualized consulting program for business development, membership, sponsorship, and marketing leaders to improve performance and achieve better results. JP invites you to check out the details during his recent podcast.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Having worked within the nonprofit industry for 25 years, Host JP Moery is contacted regularly by folks seeking employment opportunities in the association space. He receives any number of questions about what it takes to get hired, so he offers his top 3 tips on how to engage and be successful in the process.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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To be the best in business, do you need to hire the smartest people or those with the best attitude and self-awareness? Recently, Host JP Moery considered his most fantastic colleagues and what made them so. Upon reflection, he realized many of these special individuals weren’t always the “smartest in the room.” The individual superstars may not have looked best on paper. But, they did get great results through behavioral qualities – and he shares these in his most recent podcast.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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A good deal of advice has been bestowed upon Host JP Moery over the years – but, there are four bits that have stuck with him and shaped who he is today. He shares some great nuggets from his dad, an association mentor, a football coach, and a hiring manager whose name escapes him 30 years later. JP uses some choice words during this episode but felt it essential to delivering his message.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Why would an association established in 1888 need a rebranding? Host JP Moery sits down with Scott Lynch, President and CEO, American Boiler Manufacturers Association (ABMA) to discuss just that. Lynch’s predecessor served for 25 years, and when he came on board 3 years ago, he embarked on a “listening” tour across the country meeting with members of his board of directors. He soon realized ABMA could be doing so much more for the industry, and the rebranding started with a new logo. Listen in!

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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Host JP Moery welcomes to the show Todd Myer, CBPA, and Doug Constable, CBPA, of Insperity, a full-service outsourcing human resources firm. Insperity advises businesses and small- to medium-sized associations on how to run their organizations better. Managing a range of services from payroll, health care, recruitment, employee training, to workers’ compensation, Insperity works with associations to create efficiencies around an HR platform to help you meet your business goals faster. This is a fantastic company – listen in to what they can do for you.

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com for 703/821-7303.

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The association industry is on the cusp of a new and exciting opportunity. Host JP Moery recently had a fantastic discussion with Jonathan Baron, Principal, Baron Public Affairs, about his organization’s new Influencer Analytics program and how associations can truly benefit. Baron Influencer Analytics empowers professionals with a critical tool for understanding the sources that genuinely influence decision makers. For trade associations and other organizations, Baron Influencer Analytics optimizes public affairs analysis, messaging, targeting, and delivery. This episode features can’t-miss content!

JP Moery’s Association Playbook is Sponsored by Insperity. Contact Julie Long at Julie.Long@insperity.com or 703/821-7303.

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The 100th episode – what a milestone! Host JP Moery has come a long way since recording that first podcast back in September 2015, which featured some classic content on membership and advocacy. Today, with more than 7,500 listeners strong – he candidly shares 5 important lessons he’s learned along the way. Truth be told – JP shows up more fired up than ever when he enters the recording studio. He definitely has another 100 in him! He invites you to listen in to this special episode, particularly you folks who are thinking about launching your own podcast.

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Host JP Moery recently sat down for a recording session with his good friend and industry colleague, Heidi Brock, President and CEO of the Aluminum Association. He’s been truly excited in the last few years to witness the transformation of the Aluminum Association, under Heidi’s leadership. Heidi is unique in that she is a former member as well a member of a number of other organizations. As a CEO, this experience has afforded her a keen perspective and crystal-clear understanding of the need for a well-defined business proposition as well as creating an association that delivers concrete value to its members. She also saw a big opportunity in building out a culture of advocacy for the Aluminum industry – and, the effort has proven to be enormously successful. Listen in!

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“Having recently blogged on the best pieces of advice I ever received, my thoughts have naturally drifted to the bad advice I followed, as well the mistakes I made,” says Host JP Moery.  With his daughter heading off to college this month, JP has been a little more reflective these days. He shares some of his missteps and the life lessons he learned about finances, leadership opportunities, and that first job. This might be a good podcast to share with your kids!

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How many meetings have you attended this year, which were poorly planned and frankly, an unfortunate waste of your time? “We’ve all been in very good meetings, and we’ve all been in very bad meetings,” says Host JP Moery. He welcomes to the podcast Moery Chief Analyst Patty Leeman and together they outline steps and best practices for creating the most effective meetings for actionable outcomes to best achieve your business goals.

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When Host JP Moery first started his association consulting business, it was primarily a membership recruitment operation. However, the tide has begun to shift. With association data showing it’s more expensive to recruit new members than retain current ones; The Moery Company is moving into membership engagement services, as well. Sales Associate, Julie Divine has done a fantastic job developing a very successful member engagement program for a Moery partner. She shares this unique sales experience and the strategy behind the “warm handshake.”

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Upcoming sales meeting this week? New prospect . . . are you ready? Host JP Moery has been holding sales meetings for more than 20 years and has faced every sales situation imaginable. In that time, he’s developed an easy strategy to ensure that first meeting runs smoothly and has less tension. He shares his top 5 tips during his latest episode.

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Host JP Moery recently had the great pleasure of visiting his hometown of Hennessey, Oklahoma, and his high school alma mater – where he shared a few thoughts about with the 2017 graduating class. He lived there for 18 years – spent 12 of those in the school system and graduated with about 70 people back in 1983. He says, “It was fantastic to be back.” The experience left him reflective of where he came from and who he is today. He shares 4 small-town takeaways for success.

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A daunting CHALLENGE in sales is identifying who the decision maker is (and isn’t), says Host JP Moery. Today, the decision-making process continues to evolve within an environment of “flatter” organizations. To further complicate your effort, it’s not unusual to have a more collaborative decision-making approach as an organization’s membership dues may often come from different budgets within the same company! He breaks it down for you in his latest podcast.

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Host JP Moery welcomed friend and colleague, Mike Thomas, SVP of Sales at The Moery Company to his latest podcast. This was a great session – in which JP and Mike hashed through how the sales game has changed since they wore a younger man’s clothes. He and Mike discuss what it takes to be successful today and how Millennials are poised to make their mark.

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“Often we are more hopeful because of a pleasant conversation with a prospect than assessing the reality of how far along we are – or, how likely it is to happen,” says Host JP Moery. Improvements can be made by going deeper to find out what you really don’t know. And, the more you are uncertain of, the less likely this deal will truly happen. JP offers 10 questions, which may help you determine what deals are real – or a pipe dream.

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“I’ve learned successful leadership often comes down to some simple truths,” says Host JP Moery. Whether you’re an association CEO, company president, or head of a department, he imparts three leadership truths he hope can help you run your show just a little bit better.

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Does your prospectus follow the same old format? Host JP Moery has seen a few lately and can tell you from his experience, chances are your prospectus needs a fresh approach. It’s time to shake things up and create something that will catch the prospect’s attention. During this episode, JP details a half-dozen tips to get you started.

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This phrase truly rubs host JP Moery the wrong way. Anyone who knows him well, knows he takes every part of his business very personally. In fact, he totally believes it’s a differentiator for his company. So, it definitely strikes a nerve when a business associate throws him a curve ball and says, “It’s nothing personal.” Listen in to his recent riff.

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Selling sponsorships is hard work and if your program has hit a wall – Host JP Moery offers three sure-fire strategies that can take your sponsorship growth to a whole new level. Check out his latest podcast.

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We always talk about how “speed” kills in sports. If you’re faster – a good bet is, you’re better, says Host JP Moery. Now more than ever before, “speed” is having an incredible impact on business. In his latest podcast, JP shares his strategy for “picking up speed” at his own company. Listen in.

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“I’m concerned that small associations are facing structural headwinds,” says host JP Moery. He believes it’s a critical time for these organizations to undertake a more entrepreneurial spirit – a spirit he believes can absolutely unleash the strengths of these more diminutive organizations!

JP shares several recommendations during his latest podcast.

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Sitting the bench during his 7th grade football season just about killed host JP Moery. He describes the ordeal as “frustrating and pathetic. If you grew up in small-town Oklahoma, sitting the bench during a football game was NOT the place you wanted to be.” He decided to make some fundamental changes, which eventually got him in the game. Listen in to what he learned from that experience and how it still rings true today.

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How have membership sales been the last few months? Hitting your goals? Or, have they hit a wall with the same old tired approach. Well, you have a secret sales weapon [who] can greatly enhance your growth efforts. Host JP Moery believes leveraging association technical specialists is a fantastic sales strategy to help develop solid leads for your membership sales team. Showcase their expertise for a winning results. Tune to find out how.

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All business leaders deal with fear – how and if, you address the issue is likely a major part of a successful, personal journey, says Host JP Moery. So, what are you afraid of? What’s holding you back? What’s undermining your ability to move forward? In his current episode, JP shares his own fears as a leader, how he manages to beat them back – and, offers several strategies on how to confront the boogeyman under the bed.

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Host JP Moery is pretty pumped about a new engagement strategy that’s proven highly effective with his prospects. His goal is to play the long game, provide value, and build awareness about his business services. He shares this approach in his latest podcast.

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Chapter relations – such a common and frustrating issue within associations at the national level. Host JP Moery has heard the debates over and over again. Organizations want to know what they should be doing with their state chapters and local affiliates and whether or not developing these relations are really worth it. He shares several insights during his latest podcast.

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For months, host JP Moery, has dedicated an unprecedented amount of time communicating about growing a small business, leadership, and associations. He’s learned so much through this process – both good and bad. During his latest episode, he lays it all on the table: urging you to up the frequency in your social media efforts, showing vulnerability in your communications, and more. He hopes some of these learning moments can help your growth. We invite you to listen in.

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“The next big trend in executive development will be the honing of your mental skills and mind,” says host JP Moery. He believes wholeheartedly our mental acuity, intellectual curiosity, and flexibility are fast becoming key performance indicators for all executives. Along those lines, he shares some strategies that are working for him. Listen in.

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There are several business books that have had a tremendous impact on host JP Moery’s professional life and he points out there are some books, like classic movies, worth rereading – again and again. Some of those classics are probably sitting on your shelves right now full of excellent insights worth revisiting. In his latest episode, he recommends his top 3 business books, which are on his list of rereads for 2017.

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We are undergoing an incredible communications revolution – the biggest since the printing press was invented, says Host JP Moery. However, he warns because there are no barriers to entry, almost anyone can position themselves as an expert… and, take your money in the process. In his latest podcast, JP offers 5 hints for working with an “expert.”

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As 2016 drew to a close, many bloggers, leadership gurus, and self-improvement specialists provided you guidance on “resolutions” for the coming year. With February 2017 now coming to an end, most of us have to admit that some of those resolutions have fallen by the wayside. Host JP Moery – a good ‘ole Oklahoma boy shares several strategies to reinvigorate those goals you’d set for yourself.

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“No Phone Calls, Please,” is a common phrase in association job postings. Host JP Moery frequently reviews these job descriptions as he holds great interest in sales positions, and has often found his own business development services could be a great fit. But, seriously – no phone calls? What kind of sales person do you want? JP shares his perspective in his latest podcast.

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If the American economy were to tank again, host JP Moery firmly believes some associations will cease to exist; while others will simply become a shadow of their former selves. And, if you can see that on the horizon for your organization, isn’t it an incredible opportunity to totally hit the reset button. How do you do that in 2017? JP shares a few fresh strategies in his latest podcast.

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Here’s the bottom line: business people simply have less time than ever before and host JP Moery believes these folks, much like himself, want to make decisions quicker about their business. And, association and organizational salespeople must come to terms with this emerging trend. How do we shorten the sales cycle and, by doing so, successfully on-board our small business prospects? As a small business owner, JP will tell you how. Listen in.

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“We really don’t need anyone selling for us. No one knows our association like we do… How could you really speak on our behalf when you don’t work here?” Host JP Moery, President of The Moery Company, says this is the most common objection we hear when in discussions on our sales and consulting services. The fact of the matter is, it’s a fundamentally true statement. But, the most important part of the statement is first, no one knows. He explains in his latest podcast.

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What’s holding you back? Host JP Moery shares his story about arriving in DC some 30 years ago with a working-class mindset (which, he describes as having been “limited”) and, the impact it’s had on his career. He describes how limiting beliefs can put the brakes on excellence in our professional and personal lives and details what he’s learned along the way. So, what experience from the past is limiting your progress? Today can be a fantastic opportunity to liberate yourself and chart a new path. He talks you through it during this unique and personal episode.

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When looking at the most successful client projects The Moery Company has conducted over the last 12 months, Host JP Moery and Moery Chief Analyst Patty Leeman agree the winners are those organizations that have the most accurate DATA. No question. Patty and JP discuss key recommendations for helping associations begin to sort and develop their data for 2017. Data is key as it helps to assess the health of your organization. From identifying and differentiating membership and non-dues revenue streams, to hard data on marketing and sales processes, to the participation level of individuals in non-dues programs. What do those numbers look like? This podcast is a must for those associations looking get their data in line this year. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery welcomes to the show, Anthony Demangone, NAFCU Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Anthony and his colleagues at NAFCU are doing some of the best social media work in the industry. Anthony details the big opportunities for associations in this space and discusses the “unprecedented” ability to engage with members and the immense value it brings to the entire organization. Listen in.

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When host JP Moery launched his business nearly 7 years ago, it quickly became a family affair. JP welcomes his wife and co-founder of the company, Diane Moery to the podcast. JP and Diane discuss the challenges and rewards of running a family business and offer up some sage advice to those who aspire to follow the same path. This is a unique episode – listen in.

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While business in December traditionally sees a slow-down, host JP Moery views this month as a big opportunity for record-breaking sales. While he believes you can do some of your best work right now, he warns that the December “danger” is making mistakes in a rush to close the deals, which may cripple your business or career. Listen in on his experience.

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What does it take to go out on your own? Host JP Moery shares three core factors absolutely critical for entrepreneurs to be successful as they launch their own business. He invites you to listen in and wishes you the best of luck in your endeavors.

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So, when is the best time to pick up the phone and starting dialing up those sales calls? Host JP Moery recently held a fantastic staff meeting, which focused on effective outreach to prospects. He shares 4 main points, which can serve as a guide in strategizing your approach to prospect engagement. From the time of day – to the day of the week – to the mode of communication: JP is confident these tips will be helpful to you. Listen in.

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With December right around the corner, those in leadership positions are developing end-of-year reviews for their employees. Host JP Moery shares his most effective management tactic, which has helped him to better align himself and his direct reports as a manager. Listen in as JP shares the process and beneficial outcomes for both parties.

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Host JP Moery welcomes back Jamie Notter, co-founder of WorkXO, for his final installment on organizational culture – with a special focus on employee engagement. A recent Gallop poll indicates only 30% of employees are truly engaged in the workplace, which is a horrible statistic. So, are your people ‘all in’ or just clocking in? JP and Jamie discuss how to best address this organizational challenge.

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For association sponsorship sales success in the coming year, your team needs to kick it into gear today, says Host JP Moery. From developing the prospectus to strategic conversations with your lynchpin sponsors to effectively pricing your opportunities, JP offers 6 planning points that will drive you’re winning sponsorship campaign in 2017. Listen in.

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In our second installment on organizational culture, Host JP Moery welcomes back Jamie Notter with WorkXO, to examine the role of the CEO in building a winning culture within their association or small business. It’s important to note, CEOs should park their egos at the door to facilitate honest and constructive discussions with their staff. Notter recommends taking a hard look at what drives success in your organization and to work with a team of people to develop core values and behaviors that will enable a great culture. He and JP discuss in-depth strategies and critical steps to get you started.

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Recently, host JP Moery was inspired by a quote he saw posted on LinkedIn, which truly transformed his perspective on his own business: “It’s Not the Products You Sell, It’s the Problems You Solve.” And, he believes selling solutions is what association membership sales campaigns should be all about. Not the benefits you offer – but, the particular problems your association can solve for that prospect. He offers three examples in his latest podcast.

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So, what is organizational culture and will yours attract Millennials flooding into the workplace? Host JP Moery welcomes guest Jamie Notter, a founding partner at WorkXO where he helps leaders drive growth through cultural alignment. Notter discusses how organizations should develop or shift their culture to engage and support the success of this next generation of professionals. Attention: Baby Boomers and GenXers – Millennials are looking to rise through the ranks.

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We face many challenges in life in which we have to ask ourselves – is this worth it? Host JP Moery discusses the dynamic stress of this scenario as it relates to your professional life. In his latest podcast, he shares some sage advice about making your next career move – should you stick with it or jump ship? Listen in.

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“I’m fired up for a massive Q4,” says Association Labs host JP Moery. From utilizing solid data to a 3-pronged membership growth strategy to highlighting your rock star: JP offers several business “secrets,” which can help you meet your annual goals. Listen in and go get ‘em!

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There are terrible things going on in the world today, says host JP Moery. We are living in a complex and heartbreaking time, but he adds tragic events have always been an unfortunate part of a world occupied by the human race. In this personal episode, JP shares his belief in God’s plan and the opportunity to do good, to serve, to overcome, and to show love in light of recent and tragic events. He shares 3 strategies that enable him to best cope in the world today. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery’s podcasts typically focus on membership and sponsorship growth strategies and tactics to run your organization better, but for a change – he takes a break to share how his team sells association membership at The Moery Company. This could be helpful to your organization. Listen in.

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Host JP Moery and most business owners have had this experience – a client relationship that ultimately ‘goes south.’ There are myriad factors, but JP believes the #1 reason is you’re not on the same page. In his latest podcast, he talks about lessons learned, and how his strategy for success now starts with a frank discussion about mutual expectations during the launch meeting. Listen in.

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“We just don’t have the budget…” I hear this sales objection every day, says Host JP Moery.  “This rebuttal will always be the one to come up because it works. It’s effective with sales folks who don’t know how to overcome it.” In his latest podcast, JP offers his strategy for successfully tackling this common sales challenge.

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“When are my best days in the office?” Host JP Moery riffs on this question in his recent podcast, offering personal strategies from getting your blood pumping through a great morning work out to ensuring full and effective scheduling of your day. Business success, he says, is within reach when you are physically and emotionally at your best, and when the day is structurally sound. Check out this high-energy episode – it will inspire to make some changes.

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Host JP Moery completely embraces digital communication. He says, “Email has transformed our business communications enabling us to cover more ground and respond with lightning speed – It’s unbelievable.” Over the last several weeks, however, he’s been increasingly surprised by how effective problem solving can be through face-to-face conversation or by just picking up the phone. Tune into his latest episode for the power of ‘old school’ communication.

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Host JP Moery had the opportunity to return to his high school in Hennessey, Oklahoma to present at a career day event. His speech to a group of teenagers turned into a self-reflective essay on his own career navigation and what really matters in business. During his recent podcast, he talks about two tenets, which he hopes will help you along your path in business and your personal life.

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Increasingly, host JP Moery is finding association chief executives becoming more active in the fundraising programs of their organizations. Possibly prompted by some recent rumblings from their Board – “Where’s the growth? We need additional revenue to fulfill our mission.” JP offers several concrete recommendations for CEOs who wish to actively embrace a business approach to generating new association revenue in his latest podcast.

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Hungry to catch “big game” in sales? Host JP Moery discusses his methodology in landing the big accounts. Obviously, everyone wants to make the big money, says JP – and, he presents from two different perspectives: how to recruit big members and keep the ones you have. Listen in to his latest episode!

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Host JP Moery has been speaking with a number of sponsors in different industries and what he’s learning is fascinating. “In those discussions with sponsors – vendor and supplier members – within our industry associations, they’ve been very forthcoming with what they want,” says JP. Listen in as he shares his sponsorship intel.

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Host JP Moery is so encouraged by people who show desire and enthusiasm for success. Here’s the tough love: Are you willing to work or sacrifice enough to be in the top 5% of your field? For most, it’s an emphatic “no.” JP shares some thoughts on what it takes. Do you really want it?

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Host JP Moery is a big fan of Marketing General’s annual Membership Marketing Benchmark Study. Word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations rate as a top recruitment strategy, and JP highlights 3 effective ways to create and utilize word-of-mouth recommendations (without having to actually ask your members do too much). These are fantastic, so listen in.

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As associations begin to feel the revenue squeeze, the inclination is to implement a membership discounting program. Host JP Moery has participated in a number of discussions this year centered on this strategy; however, he believes the approach is one leadership should think twice about. He shares his rationale and several recommendations for successful membership development. Check it out!

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Host JP Moery keeps his finger on the pulse of the association industry – and, one of his tactics is to review job openings. Recently, he’s seen a troubling trend around what’s required of Membership Directors, Membership Associates, and/or Membership Development Managers. He’s found these folks have way too much on their plate. JP details its adverse impact on association growth and makes some sound recommendations in his recent podcast.

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Freedom, confidence, and liberation: these were the result of 3 linchpin moments experienced by host JP Moery in his early 30s. During this episode, JP reveals several personal decisions that propelled his career and shaped how he runs his business today.

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Host JP Moery admits to having had a huge chip on his shoulder when he started working in DC some 30 years ago. In his latest episode, he explains why and the impact it had on his career. Looking back, he wishes he’d been more self-aware because his path would have been a lot easier. JP shares the take-aways from his experience. Listen in.

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Have you ever been fired? Host JP Moery was given the ax once some 30 years ago. He reflects on that experience and offers the 3 things he failed to execute as a new employee as well as the critical mistakes made by the hiring company. The lessons learned guide his hiring practices today. If you’ve ever been fired, you might be able to relate. Check it out.

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Host JP Moery discusses the 3 books that have had the greatest impact on his professional growth – each from a different stage in his career. While he works well in strategy and big picture thinking – JP admits implementation has been his biggest challenge and he’s naturally gravitated toward execution-related reads. During this episode, he shares 3 empowering business books that have made all the difference.

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In his latest podcast, host JP Moery details his proven approach to developing an effective email marketing campaign, which can significantly increase your sales activity. Email marketing has completely changed how The Moery Company reaches out to prospects and the results have been fantastic. He shares the rationale, methodology, and best practices behind our approach and hopes the take-aways will enhance your efforts as well.

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Whether you’re heading up an association or a small business, host JP Moery’s latest podcast will speak to you as he discusses three keys critical to CEO success. A business owner since 2010, JP has learned some major leadership lessons along the way and shares three tips he hopes can help you run your organization just a little bit better. Listen in!

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The bottom line: JP Moery sees major shifts occurring around association business development, requiring some revolutionary ways in which you sell your organization. He outlines the strategies associations must embrace to engage new prospects (sales professionals needed!); establish distinct value props for various member groups; restructure membership categories and dues structures, accordingly; and revamp sponsorship programs. In his latest podcast, JP lays out a plan for an association sales revolution and invites you to check it out.

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“Go all in on social media,” is host JP Moery’s fervent advice to association leaders and small business owners. Although he’s not an expert in the area, he riffs on the strategies that are most successful for him. In addition to weekly podcasts and blogs, he pushes quality, industry-related content on Facebook, LinkedIn Pulse, Twitter and most recently, Periscope. He shares with listeners how these social media channels can amplify your organization’s communications strategy. He encourages you to get moving today!

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Is selling association advocacy a top priority for your organization? It should be – government relations is a huge part of your value proposition – so a strong sales strategy is key. Host JP Moery shares 4 surefire tactics for success – from taking a clear position on priority issues in your industry, to showcasing your legislative and regulatory experts, to creating messaging that resonates with your audience, to (and, this is important folks) – drawing a definitive line in the sand between members and nonmembers. Check out JP’s 30th episode.

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Over the years, host JP Moery has addressed a number of questions from association leaders and noticed a recurring theme in their queries. He offers the top two questions he’s received: how do 3rd parties sell for associations and what do small businesses want from their organizations? Tune in for his answers in the latest Association Playbook podcast.

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For long-term success with a business partner, host JP Moery discusses the imperative need to set clear expectations from the client to the contractor and vice versa. He’s found great partnerships are a two-way street and outlines how to establish from the outset – mutual accountability and expectations from a values perspective. Check out his latest episode.

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Host JP Moery’s latest episode focuses on small business decision-making items. Addressing several questions from listeners, he offers his #1 piece of advice for small business owners; reveals the top benefits of running your own show; and, discusses his philosophy on hiring and outsourcing.

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Sponsorship programs are one of the most under-performing segments of the association business model. Host JP Moery offers his approach to creating customized or “boutique” sponsorships, which when successfully executed, can provide exponential revenue growth.

Today’s sponsorship opportunities are like ordering from a dinner menu, but just like any restaurant – the best waiters make suggestions, additions, and substitutions for whatever you order up, right? The same tactic can be applied to sponsorship sales. Consider packaging opportunities in a different way – customized or “boutique” offerings not featured in the prospectus. In his latest podcast, JP will tell you how – and, it often comes down to asking one question. Check it out.

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Host JP Moery welcomes to his podcast – guest Dean West, President of Association Laboratory, a consultancy specializing in association business strategy. West and his team recently published a research report entitled,Looking Forward 2016 – Association Business Environmental Scan. Highlighting the findings of their analysis, he shares the most significant issues impacting association members and the implications of these issues on association strategy.

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JP Moery welcomes to Association Labs, guest Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and host of Onward Nation podcast. A nationally recognized digital marketing authority, Woessner offers his “8 Money Draining Mistakes” that can cause an organization’s web site to “leak serious money.” He also discusses “8 Money Making Opportunities” that can enable organizations to boost revenue via their digital space. This podcast features fantastic content and is a must-listen for association and business leaders.

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Host JP Moery addresses a number of questions from listeners on how he runs his business – from his hiring philosophy to his dedication to transparency to why he’s recently taken a “back seat” from the day-to-day operations of his company. Check out this new Q&A format.

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Host JP Moery is one fired-up salesman. In his latest podcast, he discusses the difference between sales people who pester (and, find little success in the association space) and those who exceed their goals through purposeful persistence. He carefully explains the elements of this sales strategy, which includes a combination of good planning and old-fashioned research. JP follows with several meaningful “conversation starters,” which could ignite your association sales efforts. Be sure to tune in!

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In his latest podcast, host JP Moery reveals his top three tips for success. Whether you are a small business owner or an association leader – the take-ways in this episode can help move the needle in the right direction for your organization.

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Effectively moving your organization ever forward requires leaders to take a big step back from the day to day to fully focus on emerging challenges. By removing themselves from the daily “in-the-business” routine; they can concentrate on specific strategies for improved operations and continued growth. In his latest podcast, host JP Moery explains the “hows and whys” of this approach and encourages association leaders to start working ON the business at hand.

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There are many non-profit and for-profit organizational behaviors that when combined and employed by the other, can be very powerful for their overall success, says Host, JP Moery. In his latest podcast, he discusses the varying approaches to vision, mission, and values; finances and procedures; and, the all-important “why” you do what you do on a daily basis. His point being – associations and small businesses can implement the best practices of the other to make a stronger organization. Listen in.

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Adopting membership dues increases. Developing better association data for growth. Embracing the value of automated in-bound marketing – these are but a few of the 5 top association trends podcast host JP Moery discusses in depth as sure-fire strategies for success in 2016.

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Whether you are a small business owner or an association CEO, the latest Association Labs podcast is a must. From serving as the #1 sales person for your organization to promoting authentic and comprehensive communications to interestingly enough: being vulnerable in business – host JP Moery breaks down his tips for growing your organization in the coming year.

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Association Labs host, JP Moery, welcomes to his latest podcast, Patty Leeman, MBA, IOM, CAE, Senior Analyst at Association Laboratory. They discuss in depth an across-the-board business approach to running an association – and, how the end result can be a stronger organization. Tune in as JP and Patty uncover the critical steps toward this endeavor, which begins with a comprehensive business analysis of the association itself.

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Considering a new job? Well, this podcast is a must. During this episode, host JP Moery shares some advice and resources for “Getting Hired.” Having hired nearly 100 people during his professional career, he offers his criteria when looking for the best candidates. Some may surprise you.

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Association Labs host, JP Moery breaks down the top 5 association sponsorship questions he’s received in recent years. From how to find your best prospects to the big trends to what sponsors really want from associations – these, and more are addressed during Moery’s latest podcast.

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Recently, the tables were turned on Association Labs host, JP Moery when a few sales folks came calling on him for a change. In his latest podcast episode, JP talks in-depth about why those sales people failed to sell him on their products and services. He reveals 4 strong sales tactics that could have sealed the deal.

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Nathan Gonzales, Editor & Publisher of The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, recently joined Association Labs host JP Moery to share his perspective on the 2016 Presidential race as well as those critical Senate and House races that are underway.

He discusses advocacy and co-branding opportunities available through his non-partisan publication to effectively connect associations with their constituency in a meaningful way. This is an excellent episode – download from ITunes today.

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During the most recent Association Labs podcast, host JP Moery discusses elements of motivation in the workplace – from the characteristics of self-motivated sales people to tactics on how to motivate your staff to recommendations on how to manage that employee who just isn’t the right fit for your organization. This episode offers some intriguing food for thought.

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Association Labs host, JP Moery welcomes guest, Ivan Adler, Principal at The McCormick Group, and one of the foremost recruiters in Washington, DC. Adler shares some of the secrets of executive recruiting – for both associations and corporations: from what qualities make the best candidates to sure-fire ways a contender can get on a recruiter’s radar. So, if your organization is looking to hire or you are planning to make a move, check out JP and Ivan’s conversation – excellent content.

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Association Labs host, JP Moery comes clean on a series of mistakes and failures he's made in business and what he's learned along the way. From failed communication with his business team - to a lack of follow through with a potential client - to taking on projects outside of his core mission: these are just a few. Tune in for the "take-aways."

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In the 8th edition of Association Labs, host JP Moery highlights common sales objections and how best to turn the tables. The Moery Company sells memberships and sponsorships for some of the top associations in the country and makes more than 100,000 sales calls annually. Objections happen all the time. Today, he shares the top 4 sales objections and offers several response strategies to successfully overcome those objections. Listen in!

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Association Labs host, JP Moery shares several sales trends in association membership growth – in fact, did you know that since 2010, this is the best year ever to be recruiting new members? If you’re organization isn’t growing right now, you'll want tune in to this podcast episode and listen to JP’s recommendations on improving your recruitment approach.

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If your looking to run your own show - you need to check out the latest episode of Association Labs Podcast. Host JP Moery offers a unique perspective and discusses his own experiences in launching The Moery Company 5 years ago. He shares 5 tips about going out on your own, but first asks you to answer the fundamental question, "Why are you doing this?"

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In the 5th episode of Association Labs, host JP Moery discusses four important traits that all great association CEOs share - from an appetite for raising cash to hiring the best talent. Tune in!

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In this episode of Association Labs, host JP Moery reflects on his 25-year career and offers up some observations and tips for success in business. Are you willing to do what it takes? Check it out.

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In the latest installment of Association Labs, JP Moery talks about success in selling – not just for those in the association space, but for anyone in the business world.

He describes himself as the “worst salesman in the world,” when he started out – yet, he worked hard and after honing his skills – met with great success launching a sales and consulting firm in 2010, during the height of the recession. He shares the mistakes he made along the way and the strategies which can enable you to make the winning turn. Tune in.

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In the latest edition of Association Labs, JP Moery shares his unique insights on association sponsorship growth and some of the top trends he's observed this year. He details the types of benefits that attract corporations to a program or event – and, offers key strategies on how to approach that prospective sponsor.

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