MEMBERSHIP MANAGEMENT & RECRUITING

Associations play a vital role in connecting professionals to one another and the information needed to succeed in their roles. That said, as membership organizations, they must explore new routes of connection and engagement to stay relevant to their members during these ever-changing times.

Miller Wenhold Association Management’s staff have vast experience in managing and growing membership for some of the leading individual, professional, and trade associations across the country. Whether it is overhauling membership operations and maximizing efficiency or finding innovative new ways to drive new member acquisition and improve retention, we have the knowledge and expertise to effectively grow your membership, thereby maximizing your association’s impact on the profession and bottom line.

Policies: Our team will manage and maintain membership requirements per bylaws and support

communication and documentation of membership requirements.

Member Service & Support: Our staff will respond to all inquiries from members, leaders, and the public. This includes all telephone calls and correspondence regarding membership.

Membership Database: We manage all membership infrastructure, including any membership databases and associated association management systems (AMS). Along with basic tracking and processing, we will improve the “data hygiene” of records within the database to ensure updated contact information, employer and job title information, and complete record of engagement with your association.

With this information, we will be able to better segment your audience, provide tailored

messaging and offerings and improve personalized service and overall membership experience for members.

Membership Operations/Dues: Miller Wenhold Association Management is well-equipped to seamlessly operate membership operations including application processing, prospect recruitment, renewal notices, non-renewal outreach (or “winback”), any CEU record-keeping, and more. We will manage the dues renewal and new member invoicing and payment processing. Our team will provide budget templates, dues payment reconciliation, and annual dues revenue forecasting. With vast experience working for world-class membership associations, we are also well positioned to create a best-in-class membership program.

Membership Innovation Strategy: To effectively serve their members, associations must consider the future of their membership structures, models, and offerings. Association membership is no longer “one size fits all,” and a sophisticated professional association should be positioned to provide value to its members and future members wherever they are geographically and within their career journey. Within this context, Miller Wenhold Association Management is well-positioned to support your association with regard to several critical facets of member value creation and delivery: membership models, segmentation and messaging, member value offerings, and personalization.

Segmentation & Messaging: Since no two association members are the same, Miller Wenhold believes that associations should not be talking to all its members the same way. Professional membership association best practices are focused on the journey to “segments of one,” where each member and prospect receives information, offerings, and messaging tailored to them. This also holds for the membership sales cycle. On the member recruitment side, distinct messages and outreach needs to be developed for prospects at the top of the sales funnel: awareness, consideration, engagement, and acquisition. Similarly, once prospects become association members, we need to segment our messaging and strategies for reaching members with great service, value-added services, and renewal outreach that is relevant to them. And finally, for lapsed members, we can find new and innovative ways to win them back and have them rejoin the association family.

Member Value Offerings: Developing innovative new benefits, products, discounts, and services for members should be at the core of an associations ongoing efforts to create greater value for members. New offerings such as these provide greater value for members while, in many cases, increasing non-dues revenue for the association. Similar to segmentation and messaging, we look forward to working with the board of directors to identify new offerings for members that will help the organization grow in relevance, revenue, and impact.

Potential new offering concepts could include:

Affinity products and discounts
Enhanced virtual learning opportunities (staff and/or member-driven)
Value-added services or membership bundles
Modular lifetime learning content and products

Personalization: We help recognize where members are in their career and membership cycle to help create “segments of one” that make members feel that an association is providing them with customized content, offerings, and education that enhances relevance in a way that improves renewal and retention. We have significant experience in this area for some of America’s largest membership associations.

Membership Reporting: Miller Wenhold Association Management is outcome-focused and metrics-driven. As part of our work to grow your membership, we will ensure that the board of directors has a clear, transparent “single point of truth” on membership operations and growth at all times. We will work with you to hone in on the membership metrics that matter and, as part of our promise around transparency, regularly report to you on how we are improving those metrics. Those reports can be monthly or on an alternate schedule of your choosing. Moreover, we will create a customized dashboard for you that clearly spells out our progress towards achieving the membership goals we define with you.