Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

[ai_chat_window]

My most recent posts

Why bother with a consultant when I have AI?

By Wes Trochlil | October 14, 2026

Why bother with a consultant when I have AI? As AI becomes increasingly powerful, the value of using an AMS selection consultant (and many other types of consultants!) starts to come into question. After all, with very well-constructed prompts and responses, an association could develop a very solid needs analysis and RFP that could be used to […]

Guardrails can be helpful!

By Wes Trochlil | October 7, 2026

Guardrails can be helpful! When selecting a new AMS, I find my clients are often very tempted by custom software or “platform” systems (e.g., built on Salesforce or MS Dynamics) because these systems are infinitely configurable. After all, if I can make the system do anything I want, that’s a good thing, right? Well, maybe. In […]

“If you knew this information, what might you do differently?”

By Wes Trochlil | September 30, 2026

“If you knew this information, what might you do differently?” I had a conversation with a client recently about developing KPIs, reports, and queries from their forthcoming data warehouse. My client said: “We have a ton of requests for KPIs and reports. How do we determine which to focus on first?” My response: “When someone requests a dashboard […]

Showing is not teaching

By Wes Trochlil | September 23, 2026

Showing is not teaching In my experience, when new staff members are taught how to use their AMS (or LMS, CMS, FMS, etc.) they aren’t really taught how to use the system, they are shown how to use it. So what’s the difference? In a nutshell, showing only covers the “how” and “what.” But teaching […]

Data management is improvisation

By Wes Trochlil | September 16, 2026

Data management is improvisation I was listening to a podcast recently featuring TV writer Rob Long. During the podcast he said (I’m paraphrasing) that, in order to be successful, one needs to learn to improvise, because nothing in life ever goes as planned. One of my favorite sayings is, “If you want to make God […]

Older Posts

Try not to OFFEND your members…

April 20, 2022

Try not to OFFEND your members… I recently received an email from an association where I’ve been a member for nearly […]

How will you use that data?

April 6, 2022

How will you use that data? One of the beauties of technology today is how easy it is to collect data. […]

Pennywise and pound foolish

March 30, 2022

Pennywise and pound foolish One definition of the phrase “pennywise and pound foolish” is to “describe something that is done […]

How you respond matters

March 23, 2022

How you respond matters Very recently I wrote that I measure customer service by how a given company reacts to […]

Your one non-renewable resource

March 16, 2022

Your one non-renewable resource For any project, the three primary resources are time, money, and people. And with any project (and […]

No system is perfect

March 9, 2022

No system is perfect When working with my clients on the selection of a new system (whether it’s an AMS, […]

Ask your members to update their info

March 2, 2022

Ask your members to update their info One of the greatest data management challenges any association faces is keeping individual contact information […]

Customer vs. staff

February 23, 2022

Customer vs. staff In a properly designed AMS, when the customer goes online to your website to do business with […]

Measuring customer service

February 16, 2022

Measuring customer service When I work with clients on AMS selection, one question that often comes up is: “How good […]

Scroll to Top