I ordered a hand exercise product online last week. It was from a website that I stumbled across, and the product was what I was looking for. I placed my ordered and received an email confirmation of my order. And since then…nothing. No delivery of product, no notice of when to expect my shipment, nothing. […]
Manage Expectations By Establishing Them Clearly Read More »
I’m always struck by the confusion that these two terms can create. This becomes most evident during software demos, when vendors are presenting their software to my clients. Clients will ask about…
Reports vs. Queries – What's the difference? Read More »
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…
Measuring Member Engagement – The AMS Vendors Are Starting to Get It 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 »
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 »
I’ve posted a new article on my website. I’ve been working in association management system (AMS) software since 1990. That makes me old. But it also means I’ve seen a lot of change over the years. In no particular order, here are the changes that have had the greatest impact on associations: Click here to read the rest of the
New Article Posted – Oh, The Changes I've Seen! Read More »