I wrote recently about being bold and taking risks. Focusing on profound change rather than incremental change is a related concept.
When you think about the work you’re doing every day, consider…
Focus on profound change, not incremental change Read More »
In the mail today I received three (3!) identical solicitation letters from the same organization to which I have donated money in the past. Each of the letters had a slightly different variation on my name: Two were correct (with my name as “Wes” on one and “Wesley” on the other). The third had my
Are you de-duping your lists? Read More »
I was talking to an association colleague recently. He was explaining how his association has had flat membership growth for the past several years. He said his association spends over $400,000 annually on membership, and the return is essentially break-even. His idea was that rather than spend the $400,000 on recruiting new members, he would
Regular readers of my blogs and articles know that I’m a huge fan of Amazon. I’ve been buying from Amazon for well over a decade now and they continue to impress me with the things they do. Here’s my recent experience:
I was searching for a specialized…
Amazon continues to Amaze Read More »
For those who don’t know, “uptalking” is when the speaker has a tendency to end any sentence on an “up” note, thus making it sound like a question rather than a statement. For example say to yourself…
"Uptalking" Makes You Sound Confused and Unsure Read More »
Just over a year ago I posted this item on how the Evangelical Press Association is using CiviCRM as its association management software system. To my knowledge, CiviCRM is the only open source product on the market that directly addresses…
CiviCRM a Year Later Read More »
I’ve posted a new article on my website. Increasingly I’m hearing from my clients that they want to create a position designed to manage the database. In the old days, they called them database administrators (DBA), which was a mostly technical job focused on keeping the database running (think auto mechanic). But what most association’s really need
New Article Posted – Skills Required of a Database Manager Read More »
Association management software (AMS) has existed for over 20 years, so I think we can fairly say the market has matured. That’s good news for AMS consumers, because these days you can get more functionality for a lower price than ever before. And what this means for associations selecting new AMS software is that an
Often it's about service, not product Read More »
When I work with my clients on selecting a new association management system, one of the first steps we take is to review what data the organization needs to manage. When I have these discussions with association staff, the tendency is for staff to focus on HOW data is processed (input), as opposed to WHAT
Focus on Outcomes, not Inputs Read More »
According to research firm Gartner, 65 percent of self-service interactions currently escalate beyond the Web to an agent. In other words, a customer has come to your website and is unable to complete his or her transaction, and thus needs to call your organization for help. Assuming this statistic is accurate, I’m dumbfounded. The whole purpose
Are your self-service web pages working? Read More »