Green Lantern
Have Truck, Will Travel
Jeff is a bit long winded, but his post covers all the major issues.
Short version.
Times are tough and club stuff is a low priority to most.
We have to cut costs and generate members.
I will be pimpin' TLCA at the Jamboree, club meetings, and the Round Up.
Y'all please renew, add members, etc.
Happy Trails! N
Jeff Zepp wrote:
My fellow board members,
Thank you for electing me to lead TLCA. We have a rich tradition, and a long history. We have had difficult challenges in the past, and great successes. We are facing a challenging year, and we will need everyone’s efforts to be successful. Several months ago, I had originally intended this plan to outline how we can grow and become even more successful. That is still our purpose, however we have been recently confronted with realities which threaten our existence, and we must move decisively to address these realities.
The reality is, we are in a financial crisis, which if left to the status quo, will burn through our reserves and leave us broke within a year or less. The reasons for this crisis are many, but we have been spending more than we make, and need to reverse that to survive. The obvious solutions are to make more and spend less, but in order to make good decisions on how to do that, we need to define our goals, identify strategies to achieve those goals, and execute tactics to implement the strategies.
Our foremost goal must be to survive. We can not do that if we go broke, so we must prudently cut spending and improve income.
Second, our goal is to continue to be the world’s foremost club for those interested in Toyota 4x4s, and to bring those people together in our membership.
Third, we have six purposes and aims in our bylaws, which we must respect and continue to keep in mind in all our activities.
To achieve these goals, I have a number of strategies to outline. We have had many tactics over the years, but among the purposes of this plan is to tie those tactics in with our strategies and goals.
TLCA is an international organization, however USA leadership could do a lot better at making TLCA an organization which truly reflects that. I believe we need more advocacy at the elected board level to bring awareness to the needs and interests of our members, and potential members who live and wheel their Toyotas outside the USA. I propose a strategy of adding an International Individual Representative, who will not only fulfill the traditional role of IR in representing members who are not in a chapter, and helping new chapters become sanctioned, but in bringing an active voice to the elected board on issues for our members and chapters outside the USA.
Among these issues are the high cost of shipping printed Toyota Trails outside the USA. Alan’s E-Zine initiative is an excellent alternative for members and potential members who live outside the USA but might be dissuaded by the cost of mailing. Other interests include Land Use challenges our members face in countries other than the USA.
Clearly, printed media are facing tough times everywhere, and membership in TLCA is basically a magazine subscription for a majority of our members. The E-Zine initiative is an important way to us to change with the times. A strategy of offering membership an electronic copy of Toyota Trails, should they choose, will offer a way for persons to become or remain members at a lower cost to them, while enrolling or retaining existing members. I also believe that we need to continue to offer teaser articles on our web site, free to everyone, and to offer exclusive content on our web site, only for members. This content would typically be too long for our printed Trails, but still offer added value for members only.
Among the reasons for our budget problems are lack of membership renewals. We have executed a number of tactics over the years, with some success, but spotty continuity. Some of these tactics have not been followed, and we need to get them back in place, with zeal. Among them are email reminders, binded in reminders in their last and/or second to last issue of Trails, and calling each member personally. While the former two are relatively low cost and low effort, the latter has a nearly 100% success rate. As a tactic, I will be asking each IR, our MSVP, and our chapter delegates to be spending quality time on the phone with our expired members. Not only does this reminder offer a high success rate, it allows for invaluable feedback from those who would otherwise by shy about replying to boards, lists and surveys. And most importantly, it demonstrates to membership that we care about them personally.
We have many opportunities to recruit new members, and renew existing members at events, especially Open and Rally events. We will need a strategy of using events to promote TLCA. Each event which is sanctioned will have a chapter delegate. That chapter delegate is the logical representative of TLCA, and should be our point person to set up a booth at registration and be responsible for recruiting new members and renewing existing members. I have done this at the Rising Sun Rally for years and it’s not only effective, it’s fun. A tactic to implement this strategy will be to have membership kits available and distributed to chapter delegates for their events.
In the near term, we may have to cut back on Toyota Trails. Todd has graciously offered a number of alternatives to cut costs. He has been incredibly professional in offering these cuts before having them forced on him. I hate having to do this, but Trails is our biggest expense, and we have no rational choice but to cut back here for the short term. We have to tread very carefully here, as Trails is our number one product. If we cut back too much, we will end up in a death spiral of people letting their memberships lapse because members will feel that Trails is no longer worth their membership dues. At a minimum, we need to do this concurrently with offering more value to membership on our web site, and if we are successful at bringing our top line back up, then we can bring Trails back to what we have become accustomed to.
In customer service, we need to figure out how to keep our essential processes fulfilled in a professional and timely way while cutting costs. We can not afford to pay what we have been paying for our administrative services with our current income. Among our options are incentivising the position in some way based on membership, cutting the scope of the duties of the contract while reducing renumeration and distributing some of the contract tasks among others, outsourcing duties to a professional organization, some combination or the above, or other options which might be presented.
In advertising, we need to move our business model and budget from less reliance on print ads to more reliance to web ads, while maintaining our advertising income. Our current ad contact is highly incentivized for ad revenue and is self-sustaining.
We have an important challenge in that our current webmaster has indicated he will not be renewing when his contract expires at the end of March. In a strategy of addressing our 21st century presence in communicating with our membership and in promoting our club though new media, we will need to make sure our web site is well maintained, and a transition is orderly and seamless.
Clearly, our merchandise sales have been less than we would have wished. As a strategy to improve our finances, we can do a better in merchandise sales than we have. Tactics include having proven sellers in stock, making fresh, exciting merchandise available, making sure order placement and fulfillment is timely and professional, and making sure our web store stays up and online.
Alliance with other like-minded Toyota 4x4 clubs, organizations and forums is an essential strategy. We have made strides in that direction, and need to continue those efforts. Continuing our strategic relationship with Toyota corporate, their own budget cutbacks not withstanding. They still have a vested interest in seeing their vehicles promoted, and we have a vested interest in promoting TLCA to Toyota 4x4 buyers.
We need to continue to support access to wheeling spots throughout our membership’s geographic areas of interest. This is not just about writing a check to an umbrella organization, or having a column in Trails, but in promoting how to roll up your sleeves and make a difference. We need to be mindful of the different areas of the USA and the world in how we address and help out.
While chapter membership represents only around 20-25% of membership, chapter members are the most active in TLCA, and we need to nourish the enthusiasm that chapter members bring to TLCA. Most of our BOD are chapter members, and you are the ones we need to help us achieve our goals, by implementing our strategies and executing the tactics. Most of our ideas come from you, and many of your ideas have been successful in moving us forward.
This plan is not specific in detail, but is an overview of where I intend to lead TLCA in the coming year. It is subject to change and revision as circumstances warrant, and new information becomes available. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort on all of our part to winch us out of where we are now, and move us forward to where we need to be. I’m counting on you, and I know we can do it.
Thanks, and happy cruisin’!
Jeff Zepp
TLCA #4063, TLCA President Elect
Short version.
Times are tough and club stuff is a low priority to most.
We have to cut costs and generate members.
I will be pimpin' TLCA at the Jamboree, club meetings, and the Round Up.
Y'all please renew, add members, etc.
Happy Trails! N
Jeff Zepp wrote:
My fellow board members,
Thank you for electing me to lead TLCA. We have a rich tradition, and a long history. We have had difficult challenges in the past, and great successes. We are facing a challenging year, and we will need everyone’s efforts to be successful. Several months ago, I had originally intended this plan to outline how we can grow and become even more successful. That is still our purpose, however we have been recently confronted with realities which threaten our existence, and we must move decisively to address these realities.
The reality is, we are in a financial crisis, which if left to the status quo, will burn through our reserves and leave us broke within a year or less. The reasons for this crisis are many, but we have been spending more than we make, and need to reverse that to survive. The obvious solutions are to make more and spend less, but in order to make good decisions on how to do that, we need to define our goals, identify strategies to achieve those goals, and execute tactics to implement the strategies.
Our foremost goal must be to survive. We can not do that if we go broke, so we must prudently cut spending and improve income.
Second, our goal is to continue to be the world’s foremost club for those interested in Toyota 4x4s, and to bring those people together in our membership.
Third, we have six purposes and aims in our bylaws, which we must respect and continue to keep in mind in all our activities.
To achieve these goals, I have a number of strategies to outline. We have had many tactics over the years, but among the purposes of this plan is to tie those tactics in with our strategies and goals.
TLCA is an international organization, however USA leadership could do a lot better at making TLCA an organization which truly reflects that. I believe we need more advocacy at the elected board level to bring awareness to the needs and interests of our members, and potential members who live and wheel their Toyotas outside the USA. I propose a strategy of adding an International Individual Representative, who will not only fulfill the traditional role of IR in representing members who are not in a chapter, and helping new chapters become sanctioned, but in bringing an active voice to the elected board on issues for our members and chapters outside the USA.
Among these issues are the high cost of shipping printed Toyota Trails outside the USA. Alan’s E-Zine initiative is an excellent alternative for members and potential members who live outside the USA but might be dissuaded by the cost of mailing. Other interests include Land Use challenges our members face in countries other than the USA.
Clearly, printed media are facing tough times everywhere, and membership in TLCA is basically a magazine subscription for a majority of our members. The E-Zine initiative is an important way to us to change with the times. A strategy of offering membership an electronic copy of Toyota Trails, should they choose, will offer a way for persons to become or remain members at a lower cost to them, while enrolling or retaining existing members. I also believe that we need to continue to offer teaser articles on our web site, free to everyone, and to offer exclusive content on our web site, only for members. This content would typically be too long for our printed Trails, but still offer added value for members only.
Among the reasons for our budget problems are lack of membership renewals. We have executed a number of tactics over the years, with some success, but spotty continuity. Some of these tactics have not been followed, and we need to get them back in place, with zeal. Among them are email reminders, binded in reminders in their last and/or second to last issue of Trails, and calling each member personally. While the former two are relatively low cost and low effort, the latter has a nearly 100% success rate. As a tactic, I will be asking each IR, our MSVP, and our chapter delegates to be spending quality time on the phone with our expired members. Not only does this reminder offer a high success rate, it allows for invaluable feedback from those who would otherwise by shy about replying to boards, lists and surveys. And most importantly, it demonstrates to membership that we care about them personally.
We have many opportunities to recruit new members, and renew existing members at events, especially Open and Rally events. We will need a strategy of using events to promote TLCA. Each event which is sanctioned will have a chapter delegate. That chapter delegate is the logical representative of TLCA, and should be our point person to set up a booth at registration and be responsible for recruiting new members and renewing existing members. I have done this at the Rising Sun Rally for years and it’s not only effective, it’s fun. A tactic to implement this strategy will be to have membership kits available and distributed to chapter delegates for their events.
In the near term, we may have to cut back on Toyota Trails. Todd has graciously offered a number of alternatives to cut costs. He has been incredibly professional in offering these cuts before having them forced on him. I hate having to do this, but Trails is our biggest expense, and we have no rational choice but to cut back here for the short term. We have to tread very carefully here, as Trails is our number one product. If we cut back too much, we will end up in a death spiral of people letting their memberships lapse because members will feel that Trails is no longer worth their membership dues. At a minimum, we need to do this concurrently with offering more value to membership on our web site, and if we are successful at bringing our top line back up, then we can bring Trails back to what we have become accustomed to.
In customer service, we need to figure out how to keep our essential processes fulfilled in a professional and timely way while cutting costs. We can not afford to pay what we have been paying for our administrative services with our current income. Among our options are incentivising the position in some way based on membership, cutting the scope of the duties of the contract while reducing renumeration and distributing some of the contract tasks among others, outsourcing duties to a professional organization, some combination or the above, or other options which might be presented.
In advertising, we need to move our business model and budget from less reliance on print ads to more reliance to web ads, while maintaining our advertising income. Our current ad contact is highly incentivized for ad revenue and is self-sustaining.
We have an important challenge in that our current webmaster has indicated he will not be renewing when his contract expires at the end of March. In a strategy of addressing our 21st century presence in communicating with our membership and in promoting our club though new media, we will need to make sure our web site is well maintained, and a transition is orderly and seamless.
Clearly, our merchandise sales have been less than we would have wished. As a strategy to improve our finances, we can do a better in merchandise sales than we have. Tactics include having proven sellers in stock, making fresh, exciting merchandise available, making sure order placement and fulfillment is timely and professional, and making sure our web store stays up and online.
Alliance with other like-minded Toyota 4x4 clubs, organizations and forums is an essential strategy. We have made strides in that direction, and need to continue those efforts. Continuing our strategic relationship with Toyota corporate, their own budget cutbacks not withstanding. They still have a vested interest in seeing their vehicles promoted, and we have a vested interest in promoting TLCA to Toyota 4x4 buyers.
We need to continue to support access to wheeling spots throughout our membership’s geographic areas of interest. This is not just about writing a check to an umbrella organization, or having a column in Trails, but in promoting how to roll up your sleeves and make a difference. We need to be mindful of the different areas of the USA and the world in how we address and help out.
While chapter membership represents only around 20-25% of membership, chapter members are the most active in TLCA, and we need to nourish the enthusiasm that chapter members bring to TLCA. Most of our BOD are chapter members, and you are the ones we need to help us achieve our goals, by implementing our strategies and executing the tactics. Most of our ideas come from you, and many of your ideas have been successful in moving us forward.
This plan is not specific in detail, but is an overview of where I intend to lead TLCA in the coming year. It is subject to change and revision as circumstances warrant, and new information becomes available. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort on all of our part to winch us out of where we are now, and move us forward to where we need to be. I’m counting on you, and I know we can do it.
Thanks, and happy cruisin’!
Jeff Zepp
TLCA #4063, TLCA President Elect
