MEMBERSHIP SELLING AND
SALES MANAGEMENT INSIGHTS

The Most Effective Way To Evolve As A Membership Professional

What's the most effective way to evolve as a membership professional? Work with a plan.

Selling is not arbitrary, and results certainly aren’t either. If you want to grow as a membership professional and start seeing better results, you must shift to a more methodical approach guided by a well-thought plan.

An effective membership recruitment plan takes into account these things:

TARGET PROSPECT Who are you going to call? The quantity of calls you make is important, but quality matters too. By identifying the businesses that would be a good fit for chamber membership you will begin to address the issue of quality. When you have a quality prospect on the other end of the line, it will take a lot of the guesswork out of your membership recruitment efforts.

PURPOSE FOR CONNECTING Don’t pick up the phone until you can clearly communicate the reason for your call. Prospects will want to know why you are calling. Be prepared to answer the question succinctly. Think about what you want to say and practice before you make the call.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Membership recruitment is an interview process, not a presentation. Your goal in speaking with any prospect is to identify if that prospect is qualified for chamber membership. Have a preset list of questions, don’t make them up as you go. Your interview questions should be designed to uncover challenges that chamber membership might be able to resolve.

OUTBOUND CALLS How many calls do you need to make on a daily basis in order to reach your month-end goals? We believe membership pros should be making 40 dials a day.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT How will you keep track of your activity and how will you evaluate your results? Tracking performance helps shine a light on what’s working and where in the process your efforts are getting hung up.

To be successful in today's environment, membership professionals must be very intentional with how they spend their time and energy. Creating a plan and sticking to it will help you get better at what you do, save time, and ultimately improve your results.

If you have questions about this technique or other membership recruitment and retention issues, get in touch. We’re easy to talk to, and we want to help.

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