A Shift in Our Focus – Members’ Customers
Deirdre Reid writes about association and business management, with a focus on building communities in the association, non-profit and business world. She also shares her ideas at Reid All About It and on Twitter.
As I was studying for the Certified Associate Executive (CAE) exam, I came across some ideas by Bruce Butterfield in “Professional Practices in Association Management” about defining the future. He says that by studying the customers of our members, we can better anticipate the emerging needs of our members and be in a position to provide true value to them. He lays out the steps of this process:
• Examine the trends and emerging issues that will change the kind of customers the association’s members will face.
• Identify new demands that these customers will place on the association’s members.
• Identify the new skills, services and partners our members will need to meet these new demands.
• Recommend new functions, products and services that the association will need to help its members meet these new needs.
• Define a new position and revenue models for the association based on the new mission.
Later in the book, Richard C. O’Sullivan writes that “associations need to think in terms of demand networks in which their members’ customers, not the members themselves, command the focus of association business planning.” He says that we must look beyond our members to engage a wider range of stakeholders whose interests align with our goals and with the marketplace success of our members. For example, a home builders association would think beyond the builders and their contractors and suppliers to the homebuyer and also those in other businesses and organizations that serve the homebuyer or affect the new housing market.
When we go through our planning process, we normally rely on input from members and staff (via surveys, focus groups, committee reports, town hall meetings, etc.), and we examine the trends and issues affecting our members and their businesses or profession. But are we digging deeper to look at the changes affecting our members’ customers or clients?
How does this affect an association’s revenue model? Instead of relying on our members for revenue, can we tap a new revenue source, the members’ customers as well as other individuals and organizations that are aligned with our interests by offering products and services of value to them?
There is a lot of concern about the viability of a membership dues model for associations. Yet, if we are providing real, bottom-line enhancing, value to our members by understanding the changing needs of their customers, and providing services and products that make a difference, associations will remain healthy evolving organizations. And if we diversify our revenue sources, we can fund both operational and strategic budgets that will meet current and future (“visible but not yet seen”) needs of our members.
Tags: association, CAE, Deirdre Reid, membership, revenue
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Posted by SmartBriefScoop on September 29th, 2009 at 6:01 am
SmartBlog Insights contributor @DeirdreReid on the benefits of studying the customers of assn members: http://ow.ly/ruhp
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Posted by deirdrereid on September 30th, 2009 at 5:01 am
My latest SmartBlog Insights post – A Shift in Our Focus: Members’ Customers http://ow.ly/ruhp
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Posted by A Shift in Focus: Our Members’ Customers « Reid All About It on September 30th, 2009 at 6:46 am
[...] 30, 2009 My latest guest post for the SmartBrief Insights blog was just published. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about providing real member value [...]
Posted by MemberClicks on October 1st, 2009 at 10:41 am
A shift in focus: members’ customers by @deirdrereid: http://ow.ly/sbCE
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Posted by Acronym on October 2nd, 2009 at 3:03 am
Quick clicks: Much ado about X…
Happy Friday, everyone! – The association blogging community has been abuzz about a meme started by Maddie Grant’s post “The Xer Meme: Have We Sold Out?” Generation Xers and others have replied to her question in droves, including Maggie McGary,……
Posted by Lynn Morton on October 2nd, 2009 at 7:26 am
Deirdre,
I’ve had similar thoughts about this as well, especially when I worked with the Mortgage Brokers (just as the housing crisis started and they were getting blamed for everything).
As associations we focus so much on the direct needs of our members that we forget that if we give them the tools to do their job better or to attract more customers, then we have done our job by making their job more secure. I think it gets a little tricky when you get into the healthcare field if you’re a provider association, I’m looking at ways I can help promote the profession I work for. Haven’t really nailed down any ideas yet, but the focus on wellness & preventive care could be that key.
Thanks for reminding me to think about the people my members provide services to.
Posted by Splash: A Blog from MemberClicks » Blog Archive » Friday Top Five: A jumble of topics on October 2nd, 2009 at 9:17 am
[...] Over at SmartBlog Insights, Deirdre Reid wrote about the need for associations to shift their focus from members to members’ customers. But are we digging deeper to look at the changes [...]
Posted by Jer_Zee_Girl on October 7th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Food for thought for Association Executives from SmartBlog: A Shift in Our Focus – Members’ Customers http://bit.ly/gQKro
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Posted by SmartBlog Insights � Blog Archive � A Shift in Our Focus – Members? Customers « Kevin Shannon – Trends, Tools, and Technologies on October 8th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
[...] October 8, 2009 SmartBlog Insights � Blog Archive � A Shift in Our Focus – Members? Customers Posted by Kevin Shannon under Uncategorized Leave a Comment SmartBlog Insights � Blog Archive � A Shift in Our Focus – Members? Customers [...]