Why do a survey with us? Here are the top five reasons:

We specialize in surveys by mail or Internet, or a combination.

We always meet deadlines.

We are very cost conscious.

You will always work with a principal who has an advanced degree in research.

Our reputation is first-rate and very professional. No divas here!

Our surveys are always done scientifically and they will provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date information about member demographics, which can be critical to your growth, as well as member needs and opinions. Do you know which services they value the most and which they want in the future? Do you know which legislative issues they are thinking about and how they may affect your profession? Do you know where members want chapters?

There is no need to work in the dark and for a small investment you will have the data to do accurate strategic planning. For more info call 703-772-5263 or e-mail AllegianceResearch@gmail.com

The categories are based on member needs and expectations which takes you beyond traditional demographics. It starts with a one-page form that each member completes (distribute 100 points among your various services and products), and based on their answers we assign a 3-digit code to each. Then your organization enters the codes into its member database and now you know what each member wants!

The program is very simple to implement. There is no software to buy or manual to learn.

YTheyJoin can pinpoint your efforts with more efficiency and accuracy. Want members to serve on a committee? Contact Shapers. Want members to write or buy publications? Contact Cognoscenti. Want members to sign up for certification programs? Contact Boosters. Want to learn more about the members most likely to attend meetings? Contact Relevant Participants. Want members to write legislators? Contact Altruistics.

The program also includes a Workbook that has marketing and communications ideas for each of the nine segments – For example, why write the same renewal letter to all members? We show how to customize the letters for each segment so as to maximize response rates. There are numerous ways you can make this information work for you so you become pro-active rather than re-active.

For more info go to www.YTheyJoin.com or call 703-772-5263.

Title:    “Nine Member Types and Target Marketing for Associations”

Presenter: Dale Paulson, Ph.D. and President of Allegiance Research Group

Date:   Thursday, May 6, 2010

Time:   10:30 a.m. to Noon

Where: The National Conference Center in Lansdowne, VA

For more information about the VSAE Conference and their registration fee please visit www.vsae.org. For more information about the member segments and target marketing please visit Dale Paulson’s Web site at www.YTheyJoin.com

If you have a chance to attend he would enjoy meeting you.

An association of land developers:

Relevant Participants

Shapers

Altruistics

An association of doctors:

Cognoscenti

Altruistics

Relevant Participants

An association of nurses:

Altruistics

Boosters

Mailboxers

Some associations also like to break out a profile of full members and associate members, or national members and local chapters, and the differences can help you provide more effective services and spend money more efficiently.

Our program shows how to do target marketing based on the nine member types. For example, the first paragraph of renewal letters should change for each member type: a letter to Relevant Participants should emphasize meetings and speakers; while a letter to Cognoscenti should emphasize publications and opportunities to write.

Learn more at www.YTheyJoin.com or call us at 703-772-5362.

During this time I re-discovered a favorite place on the web and you may also enjoy it. It is www.Ted.com and it features lectures by influential and innovative thinkers on a wide range of subjects. Some of my favorites are scientists and the woman who brings a brain into the room and sets it on a table. This week was especially interesting because they held their annual conference and it was covered in the press. Keynote speakers included Bill Gates and Jamie Oliver.

Jamie Oliver, a famous chef, also received the annual Ted Prize and he talked about his mission to teach children about food. He has a project in West Virginia and has brought fresh foods into the schools and also teaches children how to cook healthful meals. His goal is to cut obesity-related illness in this country and he talks about the related challenges. He wants every child to know how to cook ten healthful meals by the time they graduate high school, he wants a Food Ambassador in every supermarket, he wants truth in labeling.

A conference theme this year was simplicity over complexity. I love simplicity and believe that anyone in the research business, such as me, should strive to keep things simple and transparent. Explain findings simply. Explain how many people are in a study, how they were selected, and if it is scientific or not. Too many people say “this is what most associations do!” when in reality they do not know that for a fact – and then you in good faith believe them and make decisions based on misleading information.

Want a simple member segmentation and target marketing program? See www.YTheyJoin.com

This article is a continuation from the previous article and shows another 5 ways to use your wit to defend the status quo.

Help your CEO maintain their privacy. I mean if the CEO is too accessible, what is this going to do to his/her golf score? Your evaluation could hinge on keeping a low profile.

Show hostility to new ideas. I mean there are some really great ideas out there. But, wait, don’t get in a hurry to find them and remember the Hummer ain’t dead yet.

Re-cycle the same old speakers. How do you find new speakers with fresh ideas? You got speakers, why change? Simply have them change the title of their speeches and seminars. What’s the problem?

Keep your dues inflexible. Don’t go there. You are losing members as it is. Association money is short. Flexible dues? What a dumb idea.

Make your Web site as bloated as possible. I mean it is hard to prioritize, let alone customize according to what people need. Throw stuff in there and they will find it – if they want it badly enough.

Now you have the 10 ways to keep your job simple. Remember “Change is Pain!” But should you be an association executive who wants to make a difference, I invite you to visit www.YTheyJoin.com

Let’s face it, there is some pretty lousy assn marketing out there. You can always blame poor economic times and if the boss is happy and the board is not complaining, why change? Occasionally a committee chairperson gets ambitious and asks “Why can’t we grow?” This is when your wit should hit the sham. In other words, use your wit to defend the status quo. Here’s how.

Outsource is what you should be doing. Yep, there are some good outfits that will do mass marketing for you. Take a company like Churn’em and Burn’em Inc. They will mail thousands of letters about your assn and a 2% response is considered wildly successful. Never mind that you can do the same thing yourself, and that 98% of the prospects say “No” to you because the mass mailing did not say the right thing to them. As a bonus, when things don’t work out you can blame your outsource buddy.

Assume that all of your members are basically the same. After all, they all paid dues didn’t they? But what if your members are different and have different needs? You must figure out what they want. You’ve got enough to do without opening that “can of worms.”

Forget preferred channels of communications. People like to get their info in different ways. What a hassle. I mean there are some great e-mail churners who will do all your communications. If people don’t want info the way you want to send it, ignore them.

Take your time responding. Some people are excited when they first see what you offer, but there are only 8 hours in the day and they can wait.

Make your assn like junior high. We all fondly remember jr high when it was important to belong to the right “clique.” Let some of your more aggressive members run things. They will like you better and it means less work for you.

There you have it, 5 ways to keep your job simple and 5 more in the next article. Remember, “Change is Pain!” But should you be an assn exec who wants to make a difference, I invite you to visit www.YTheyJoin.com

By Dale Paulson, Ph.D., President of Allegiance Research Group, Here is a Humorous Look at Hiring

If you wanted, for some unknown reason, to hire the worst possible employee how would you proceed? I’m talking the worst, the absolute worst. The type of person with their own agenda, impossible to supervise, petty, quick to take offense, and on their best days hinting that they have a great lawyer and that they know their rights. But how do you know that you’ve found a really bad employee? Much like jury consultants who ask prospective jurors about their attitudes related to our legal system, you should ask prospective employees about their work-related attitudes.

Some problematic work-related attitudes include the following: an over-developed sense of importance; a sense that they are special; and a belief that they don’t have to do anything extra because they are already there. We see this in the former beauty queen who refuses to give up her tiara. It’s called deservedness or a sense of entitlement.

As we continue our search for the bad employee, we look for a lack of empathy. The inability or disinclination to see things from the other person’s perspective. Rhett Butler’s famous comment, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” is humorous in movies but not on the job. “Do you have this in a size five?” “Frankly, my dear . . .” We also need some pettiness and a good memory for remembering slights. If you can’t hold a grudge, you don’t qualify here. “Tower, this is Aardvark 551, requesting permission to proceed to runway one eight.” “Aardvark 551, do you remember what you said the last time you were here?”

There you have some contextual attitudes that identify bad employees. It works the other way too-we can help you identify good employees. We use the contextual attitudes of the workplace (we have identified nine) to evaluate potential employees. All you need to do is have the job candidate take our Workplace Attitudes Test of 45 questions and we’ll evaluate it for you. You receive a bar graph that summarizes the individual’s work-related values and an overall score. This makes you a better interviewer. Now you can use the Workplace Attitudes Test to hire really bad or really good employees, the choice is up to you. The neat thing is, you won’t be doing it by accident. Remember, just because Ben Franklin wanted to make the turkey our national bird doesn’t mean you have to hire one! Call 703-772-5263 or visit www.WorkplaceAttitudes.com

By Dale Paulson, Ph.D., President of Allegiance Research Group

Dare I say the word “Recession?” In the late-1970s, Alfred Kahn, Jimmy Carter’s chief economic advisor, used the word in one of his discussions with the press. He was quickly summoned to the White House for a wood-shed moment and abandoned the word. He replaced it with the word banana even singing the song, “Yes we have no bananas, we have no bananas today.”

Now assuming that we are in an extended big banana, how does this affect the hiring process? It would seem that with more people looking for work, good people would be easier to find but are you screening for the right things?

Many job candidates in 2010 may be looking for a new position because they are facing serious financial problems, some may be facing foreclosure, and some may have less than excellent credit reports. A lot of time candidates are automatically disqualified because of their credit rating. The truth is that many people are in trouble because of circumstances, not irresponsibility. For example, it could be the housing meltdown, it could be a serious illness in their family, it could be they started a business that didn’t work out. It is better to judge applicants not by their credit report but by their work-related attitudes.

Are they entitled versus unassuming?

Are they adversarial versus accommodating?

Are they egocentric versus people oriented?

Are they judgmental versus accepting?

Are they vindictive versus forgiving?

Are they insubordinate versus respectful?

Are they undisciplined versus self-disciplined?

Overall, there is not much good about a recession but there are tools to help the interviewer in these challenging times. The Workplace Attitudes Test looks at several of the attitudes listed above, and more. Remember that the cost of hiring the wrong employee can be extremely high while the cost of a screening test is very low. For info about this pre-employment test, call 703-772-5263 or see www.WorkplaceAttitudes.com 

Some associations are actually afraid to hear from their members! Others value this feedback and use it to do strategic planning, to set budget priorities, and to give members what they want.

My company, Allegiance Research Group, has done membership surveys for over 100 national associations and this has been our specialty for twenty years. This data will prepare you for the years ahead and here are some types of questions we like to ask on a member survey.

Q Do you think you will be a member of this association in five years?

Q What words come to mind when you hear the name of this association?

Q Do you expect to find articles of interest in every issue of the association magazine? Topics you would like?

Q How do you like to receive communications from this association?

Q Do you plan to attend the next Annual Conference? Topics you would like?

Q What issues do you consider most important when we represent you before Congress?

Q Do you plan to take part in this association’s certification program?

Q Do you have ideas for books or articles by this association?

Q Tell us about yourself: age group; gender; region; years as member; etc.

Q What is your biggest professional need?

In twenty years we have never missed a deadline and we take care of all the steps involved in doing a survey such as: selecting scientific samples; designing the questionnaire; computer programming; and final report with narrative, charts and graphs, and crosstab tables. Most of our surveys are by mail or Internet. For more info call 703-772-5263 or e-mail AllegianceResearch@gmail.com