Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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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

Measuring Member Engagement – The AMS Vendors Are Starting to Get It

April 1, 2011

In a few weeks I’ll be speaking at ASAE’s Marketing, Membership & Communications Conference. My session will be on leveraging your organization’s AMS to improve…

Focus on profound change, not incremental change

March 31, 2011

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…

Are you de-duping your lists?

March 22, 2011

In the mail today I received three (3!) identical solicitation letters from the same organization to which I have donated […]

Be Bold!

March 10, 2011

I was talking to an association colleague recently. He was explaining how his association has had flat membership growth for […]

Amazon continues to Amaze

February 25, 2011

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…

"Uptalking" Makes You Sound Confused and Unsure

February 22, 2011

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…

CiviCRM a Year Later

February 17, 2011

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…

New Article Posted – Skills Required of a Database Manager

February 16, 2011

I’ve posted a new article on my website. Increasingly I’m hearing from my clients that they want to create a […]

Often it's about service, not product

February 10, 2011

Association management software (AMS) has existed for over 20 years, so I think we can fairly say the market has […]

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