Tuesday, April 14, 2009

SPRING IS THE BEST TIME TO GET NEW MEMBERS

This is the time of year to roll out the big guns and recruit new members as they begin to think about boating.  Boaters are “dreamers;” in the current market they tend to learn skills or get ready for a future boat, or look for ways to get more out of their existing boats.  Our programs are a bargain!  Post a three month schedule of programs.  Here are two suggestions:

 

1)      Offer sessions of Americas’ Boating Course – use National Safe Boating Week as a focus – offer one session before, one during, and one in June – post all three and use the common advertising to get attention.  This gets us new boaters and their families.  ABC3 flyers and posters are available at Headquarters.

 

2)      Offer a Series of Seminars – try one every two weeks through June on the same day of the week and the same location.  Post the entire schedule.  Get people accustomed to your being there.  Attendance will build.  Offer a discount, e.g. – “Take 3, get one free.”  Don’t be hesitant to charge for them.  This gets us experienced boaters and their friends/family.  Seminar graphics are available on line and some new flyers are in stock at Headquarters.

 

We have discovered that those districts and squadrons that plan and promote a series of programs at a specific location or small group of locations do far better in attendance.  The list and choices of dates presents a more impressive presence than programs one at a time.  Use a team approach to recruiting those who show up.  Show them what we do for courses and events.  Remember, the seminars also help with member retention.  Make sure members get special privileges and a discount.

 

Bob Sweet, NEO

 

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Monday, April 13, 2009

REMINDERS FROM MEMBERSHIP

Please notify your Membership Chairs and Member Involvement Chairs of the following: 

·         Non-renewals have always been a problem for many squadrons.  The solution can be broken down into two parts:  1).   Have a plan that describes how to connect and encourage non-renewals to rejoin; 2). Determine who is up for renewal and in which month.  A sample renewal plan along with a sample retention plan will be up on the Membership website -http://www.usps.org/national/membership/ - by 20 April 2009.  Use the steps below to find your renewals on the USPS® website.

·         MIRA awaRD deadline has been extended until 15 June 2009.  Again, see our website for instructions. 

·         We have been hearing from new members that sometimes they don’t have their certificate number until a month after they’ve joined.  Members need this number to take courses and access the secure areas on www.usps.org.  Please, be proactive! Two weeks after submission find the member’s certificate number by either:

1.       Downloading a new DB2000 roster file and notifying members of their new certificate number or

2.       Find the new member’s certificate number by doing the following: 

a.       Log onto the USPS® website, www.usps.org,

b.      Use the Information Center found on the drop down menu under “Member Stuff” on the main page

c.       Scroll down to the Member Information, found on the left-hand side and

d.      Click on “By Name or Certificate”. 

 If after two weeks you can’t find the new member’s certificate number, email membership@usps.org and we’ll research the problem.  Remember, the squadron’s job is to do everything we can to keep our members excited about joining USPS®.

 

Understanding the On-line Dues Report

The Online Dues Collection System Report is found at http://www.usps.org/dues/reports/reports.php and is very easy to understand once you take a moment to study the website.  Here is the easiest way to do that:

1.       Make sure you have the squadron account code (your treasurer usually has this) and one of the three DB2000 passwords (your commander usually has this).

2.       Go to the website address above and chose Member Status under Squadron Reports.  

3.       Enter the codes from # 1.

4.       On the right side is your squadron membership statistics.  You can find the definitions of the various status/types by clicking on the “click here” phrase at the top of the box.

5.       On the left side you can select one, two or more criteria and the list of members or past members that meet that criteria will appear at the bottom. 

6.       This list can than be exported to an Excel spreadsheet for use in Excel or Word for mailing and/or calling information. The page can also be printed as you would normally print a page from any website. 

7.       If you have any questions don’t hesitate to call me - Connie Beckman 727 867-3088 (Eastern Standard Time) or email me at membership@usps.org. 

 

Help USPS® grow by connecting to all non-renewals.  Most squadrons who do this have a successful renewal rate of 40% - 70%. 

 

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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Contact Me Program

Last year we introduced a program to let web site visitors who are interested in becoming members request that a squadron contact them. The initial deployment was largely a manual process initiated by an email message. The process has now been automated. When the visitor requests to be contacted, their zip code is used to find the closest squadron where one of the following (Public Contact, Membership Chair, or Commander) have an email address. A message with the contact information is sent to the squadron as well as a link to a page to report whether contact was made. A welcome message is sent to the visitor. If not results are reported, a reminder message is sent to the squadron on day 5 and day 9. After 15 days with no result recorded (Contact or No Contact) the opportunity is declared “Lost”. With the automation we have also begun recording the results. Thus far, 83 squadrons have had requests for contact. Some 60% of these opportunities were “Lost” while 34% made contact and 6% were unable to make contact. There are a several possible explanations for losing an opportunity to enlighten an interested party in USPS membership.

1) The squadron never got the three messages which were sent. This can be caused by a bad email address. Make sure your email address is correct!

2) The squadron got the messages, made contact and failed to report it. Reporting takes two click of the mouse. Hard to make it simpler.

3) The squadron contact’s SPAM filter is blocking messages from ContactMe@hq.usps.org . We have moved the management of the program to headquarters Customer Service and this is a new email address. Let your SPAM filter know that messages from this address are OK.

4) The squadron got the messages but ignored them. I seriously doubt that any of our squadrons are not interested in contacting potential members.

Please help us improve these statistics.

Dave Hinders

National Secretary

Squadron

Total Requests

Contact

Lost

No Contact

Absecon Island

1

1

Anderson

1

1

Asheville

1

1

Atlanta

1

1

Balboa

3

3

Baton Rouge

1

1

Berea

2

2

Birmingham

3

1

2

Boca Ciega

1

1

Carquinez

1

1

Charleston

1

1

Chicago

1

1

Cincinnati

1

1

Cleveland

1

1

Coastal Bend

1

1

Colonial

1

1

Dallas

1

1

Delhigh

2

1

1

Diablo

1

1

Dundalk

1

1

DuPage

1

1

Elizabeth River

1

1

Flint

1

1

Ft. Myers

1

1

Ft. Worth

2

2

Gainesville

1

1

Golden Isles

1

1

Great Blue Hill

2

2

Great South Bay

2

1

1

Greensboro

1

1

Hempstead Bay

1

1

Hilton Head

1

1

Illiana

2

2

Jacksonville

2

2

Kalamazoo

1

1

Lake Hopatcong

2

2

Lake Murray

1

1

Lake Norman

2

2

Lake Pontchartrain

2

1

1

Las Vegas

1

1

Liberty Harbor

2

2

Mid-Hudson

1

1

Mid-Potomac

1

1

Minnetonka

5

5

Mosquito Lake

1

1

Muscogee

1

1

Muskegon

1

1

New Haven

1

1

New Orleans

1

1

Newport

2

2

None

6

4

2

North River

3

1

1

1

Ocean City

1

1

Orange

1

1

Pequossette

1

1

Pompano Beach

2

2

Port Clinton

1

1

Portsmouth

1

1

Poverty Bay

1

1

Rocky River

1

1

Rowayton

1

1

Salisbury

1

1

San Carlos Bay

1

1

San Diego

1

1

Savannah River

1

1

Saybrook

1

1

Singing River

1

1

Skagit Bay

1

1

Somerset

1

1

South Bend

2

2

St. Andrew Bay

1

1

Staten Island

2

2

Storm King

1

1

Toledo

1

1

Trenton Falls

2

1

1

Tres Rios

1

1

Ventura

1

1

Vero Beach

2

1

1

Virginia Beach

1

1

Vulcan

1

1

Wilmington

1

1

Winooski Valley

1

1

York

1

1

Youngstown

2

1

1

TOTAL

117

40

70

7

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