TLCA renewal reminder process

[Green Lantern]

I guess I'm confused. Sending magazines to expired members? I think that would be a database nightmare and a big postage expense. AmWeb ships out to current members, but expireds would require someone to research the database, make a list, and we pay for the postage and a fly in or bind in advert.

I think we do well with personal attention. Phone calls, handing out copies of Trails at events and other swag seems to stick with folks. At the TTR Jamboree last weekend, I passed out two boxes of Trails and 50 applications. That's all I had, but some shirts and stickers would have been nice too.

Happy Trails! N

Have we ever sent out a "complimentary" copy of TT to folks that have expired memberships? Don't we have a "few" extra copies of each issue sitting around?

 

[Kaderabek]

At the TTR Jamboree last weekend, I passed out two boxes of Trails and 50 applications. That's all I had, but some shirts and stickers would have been nice too.

Happy Trails! N

Sorry to get a little off topic here but I thought there were going to be TLCA event packs for each 2009 event. Has that idea been shelved?

TJK

 

[Rzeppa]

Jeff,

As far as I know, there was no interruption in the bind-in renewal process. It's still bound into a member's next to last and final issue.

TJK

I've been told by numerous people over the past year they didn't get bind-in renewal reminders when they expired. I don't know how widespread this has been. Our administrator stated at the 11/20/08 meeting that email reminders had not been sent out for 6 months.

I know I did not get renewal reminder bind-ins in my Trails at all this past year, but had in years past.

 

[Rzeppa]

Sorry to get a little off topic here but I thought there were going to be TLCA event packs for each 2009 event. Has that idea been shelved?

TJK

No, it has not been shelved. Art has the banner artwork from the /stuff/ page, and has transmitted it to our banner vendor. I will pay for banners for events, and Art will arrange to have them made and shipped to the events. Separately, he will contact the event chairs and determine an appropriate number of Trails, membership applications and stickers to each event, and coordinate with Jenn to get those to our events. I will be writing a "how to" on how to best man a TLCA booth at events to sign up new TLCA members and renew expired ones. As we move our top line up through these and other efforts, we will be able to ask the board for schwag to send to events as well.

 

[Kaderabek]

Did you expire in the last year? Unless you were expiring, you wouldn't have received the reminder. I didn't get one last year either because I signed up for 3 years.

I guess if you hear of more of these people not receiving the bind-in in the next to last and last issue, it would be helpful if you could provide those names to either the administrator or me.

I know this was received by the admin on January 16 of this year. I'll remove the name and email address:

“Thanks for the reminder page in trails. It really helps, you may loose a post-it reminding yourself to renew but that page is there first and foremost and a cruiserhead is not likely to loose the latest issue of trails. Thanks keep up the great job.”

Seems like the system is working for some people. Again though, send names of those who aren’t receiving and we’ll sort it out and improve the system.

TJK

 

[Kaderabek]

No, it has not been shelved. Art has the banner artwork from the /stuff/ page, and has transmitted it to our banner vendor. I will pay for banners for events, and Art will arrange to have them made and shipped to the events. Separately, he will contact the event chairs and determine an appropriate number of Trails, membership applications and stickers to each event, and coordinate with Jenn to get those to our events. I will be writing a "how to" on how to best man a TLCA booth at events to sign up new TLCA members and renew expired ones. As we move our top line up through these and other efforts, we will be able to ask the board for schwag to send to events as well.

Excellent -- glad to hear it.

TJK

 

[Rzeppa]

It would behoove the TLCA to initiate the personal phone call to expiring members and expired members. That will probably be the best retention effort of all. Good luck..
Erik..

That is currently the core of our initial effort. I have recruited Art, Cory, Justin and I have been playing phone tag with Thom. The strategy is personal phone calls by all 5 of us, and also distributing this effort through our delegates. Art and I are currently working on dividing up the call lists. Between the 5 of us that should be somewhere around 15 calls per week, quite manageable. And as we get our delegates more involved, that will be spread around even better. Many hands make light work of large tasks!

 

[Rzeppa]

Did you expire in the last year? Unless you were expiring, you wouldn't have received the reminder. I didn't get one last year either because I signed up for 3 years.

I guess if you hear of more of these people not receiving the bind-in in the next to last and last issue, it would be helpful if you could provide those names to either the administrator or me.

I know this was received by the admin on January 16 of this year. I'll remove the name and email address:

“Thanks for the reminder page in trails. It really helps, you may loose a post-it reminding yourself to renew but that page is there first and foremost and a cruiserhead is not likely to loose the latest issue of trails. Thanks keep up the great job.”

Seems like the system is working for some people. Again though, send names of those who aren’t receiving and we’ll sort it out and improve the system.

TJK

Yes I did expire, I'm not on multi-year. I renewed along with the rest of the folks I signed up at the Rising Sun Rally. I know my expiration month as well as I know my 4063 TLCA number, but most folks don't, and I didn't get a bind-in either the issue prior to, or my last issue.

It has recently been reported that people are currently getting bind-ins, and Jenn shared the email she got from a member thanking us for it. I don't know if there was an interruption on bind-ins during the past year, or whether there were gaps, or what. I do think this is an essential process for us to keep our churn minimized.

 

[Rzeppa]

Have we ever sent out a "complimentary" copy of TT to folks that have expired memberships? Don't we have a "few" extra copies of each issue sitting around?

Yes we have, I believe it's been on an ad-hoc basis here and there. As Nick pointed out, it's a lot of extra postage and extra administrative work. There are a number of other reasons why this is not something we should be pursuing right now.

An idea I had before I saw our financial situation was going to be to send an extra issue (in the same poly bag) to each member, to use to recruit new members as a hand out. I have tabled that idea for now, until we can afford the extra postage.

Right now our primary tactics will be personal phone calls and membership promotion at events, as these are no cost/low cost to our budget.

 

[Rzeppa]

I think we do well with personal attention. Phone calls, handing out copies of Trails at events and other swag seems to stick with folks. At the TTR Jamboree last weekend, I passed out two boxes of Trails and 50 applications. That's all I had, but some shirts and stickers would have been nice too.

That's the mantra right now Nik. And thank you SO much for your efforts at the Jamboree! We will be asking each event to promote TLCA at their events. Art and I will be contacting event chairs and the sponsoring chapter's delegates throughout the coming year to make sure this happens. Thanks again!

 

[Kaderabek]

Yes I did expire, I'm not on multi-year. I renewed along with the rest of the folks I signed up at the Rising Sun Rally. I know my expiration month as well as I know my 4063 TLCA number, but most folks don't, and I didn't get a bind-in either the issue prior to, or my last issue.

It has recently been reported that people are currently getting bind-ins, and Jenn shared the email she got from a member thanking us for it. I don't know if there was an interruption on bind-ins during the past year, or whether there were gaps, or what. I do think this is an essential process for us to keep our churn minimized.

Let me know what month you should have expired and I'll check with American Web about it. I suppose it's possible that they miss a few but the bindery tolerances for error are really low.

This could be a misguided memory but don't officers get renewed automatically as a thanks for service? If that's the case, you wouldn't have seen a renewal bind in. I'm not sure about that though. Any officers know?

Like I said to Tony earlier, bind ins present or not is important to know so we don't evaluate renewal processes based on faulty data.

I think the phone calls will be key and thanks to all for those efforts.

TJK

 

[Rzeppa]

Let me know what month you should have expired and I'll check with American Web about it. I suppose it's possible that they miss a few but the bindery tolerances for error are really low.

This could be a misguided memory but don't officers get renewed automatically as a thanks for service? If that's the case, you wouldn't have seen a renewal bind in. I'm not sure about that though. Any officers know?

Like I said to Tony earlier, bind ins present or not is important to know so we don't evaluate renewal processes based on faulty data.

I think the phone calls will be key and thanks to all for those efforts.

TJK

My renewal/expiry month is July. I am not aware of officers getting renewed automatically, and if that's the case I don't think it's right, but should at least be discussed at the board level. While we are volunteers, we should be treated the same as any other member regarding our membership. If there is any special perk for officers, that should be spelled out in the bylaws/SOPs, or at least explained in the budget.

I have paid for my membership each and every year I've been on the board as a delegate, and subsequently as an officer. I have gotten bind-ins in years past, but not this year. I don't recall ever getting an email.

Is Clarke Fine your contact at AW? I still have his business card from when I visited there, along with Jim Rossi's.

 

[Green Lantern]

Good point Jeff!

It's been my experience that elected officers have been renewed as a perk to their service. Tony Twiddy discussed this in a BOD call when I presented my first budget (David Gibb days). I had dropped the line item Misc Money for each of the elected officers. Tony agreed we didn't need unaccounted cash floating around and added that anyone volunteering deserved to be renewed. Of course, many of us (you & me obviously) continued to renew and send in a renewal check. Alan continued this practice.

If you saw a bind-in in the past, it was because your individual name still appeared on the AmWeb distribution list. I know my name was dropped from that list 3 or 4 years back, because I pay TLCA for extra copies for recruiting. I just pull a couple of copies from that box for my toilet library. So, I have never seen a bind in.

Finally, if any of us hear a complaint about renewal or failed delivery, it's important that we transmit the who and when to Jennifer. It's her job to determine what's going on. Earlier, I read a post that Brian Swearington wasn't getting his Trails. That's true, I spoke to Woody five days ago at the Jamboree. Woody wasn't upset, he was laughing about it. I offered to send him whatever issues he wanted on my dime. He said not to worry about it, he knows Bulk Mail gets lost and he travels a lot. Moral: Let's not make issues where they don't exist. And, transmit complaint info to Jennifer ASAP.

Thanks Guys!
Nick

My renewal/expiry month is July. I am not aware of officers getting renewed automatically, and if that's the case I don't think it's right, but should at least be discussed at the board level. While we are volunteers, we should be treated the same as any other member regarding our membership. If there is any special perk for officers, that should be spelled out in the bylaws/SOPs, or at least explained in the budget.

I have paid for my membership each and every year I've been on the board as a delegate, and subsequently as an officer. I have gotten bind-ins in years past, but not this year. I don't recall ever getting an email.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Jeff, you personally didn't receive a "bind in" due to serving as a rep as part of the exec TLCA BOD. While you did send in $ for a renewal with the others in your chapter any funds received by the admin from an Exec BOD member were donated to the TLCA because you were automatically renewed for your dedicated service to the TLCA BOD. Should this practice be discontinued? That's the call of the officers.. I personally find it a very cheap and nice perk for service.. YOu don't get a limo, or cruiser to drive from toyota like many executives of larger companies but a free membership to a car club where you donate your time and energy is something I enjoyed for a # of years. I never worried about my membership expiring and didn't have the time to pay attention. I guess i'l pay attention to that now but since i asked the Admin to not send me an individual copy and waste the postage I probably won't get a bind in either! I'm like Nick.. I just grab one out of the stack when they box is delivered.

One thing that might make your phone calls to expired membership more effective.. Utilize the list the Admin sends to American web.. There are 2 versions of the list.. One "Your second to last issue" bind in and the "your last issue" bind in.. Utilizing the latter of the 2 lists will indeed give you the feedback when you call those individuals to see if they indeed did get the bind in with their last issue. It will also ensure to the members that we indeed want them back and I belive the personal touch would be great.

Like Todd and Nick said above.. If you can provide specifics followup will indeed be provided but without names it's somewhat difficult to determine who you are referring to.

Bind in's are not send if they renewed after their first notice or renewed prior to the list being sent to American Web.

And FYI.. The 1800 # is working again. It was down for a while and Casey finally got ahold of a person and not a machine.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

On sending trails to expired members.. I have one idea.. if we catch out of the current crunch and can see an improvement.. running a query on those that had expired about 6 months prior would be a great idea.. Adding them as another list with American web.. Putting in a bind in that says something like .. "We miss you wondered if you miss us.. Please accept this complimentary Copy of the TOyota Trails as our gift"
Just thinking out loud.. They might actually notice they lapsed after 6 months and the issue showing up might get a renewal out of that member.
It'll cost the TLCA some.. but it very well might be a worthy return on investment. By sending them directly from American WEb it would save the logistic nightmare of stuffing envelopes, printing labels, metering etc. THe bulk rate from the publisher is much cheaper than metering them individually.

Do with that what you want. Just trying to present an option to Art's idea..

 

[Rzeppa]

Jeff, you personally didn't receive a "bind in" due to serving as a rep as part of the exec TLCA BOD. While you did send in $ for a renewal with the others in your chapter any funds received by the admin from an Exec BOD member were donated to the TLCA because you were automatically renewed for your dedicated service to the TLCA BOD. Should this practice be discontinued? That's the call of the officers.. I personally find it a very cheap and nice perk for service.. YOu don't get a limo, or cruiser to drive from toyota like many executives of larger companies but a free membership to a car club where you donate your time and energy is something I enjoyed for a # of years. I never worried about my membership expiring and didn't have the time to pay attention. I guess i'l pay attention to that now but since i asked the Admin to not send me an individual copy and waste the postage I probably won't get a bind in either! I'm like Nick.. I just grab one out of the stack when they box is delivered.

One thing that might make your phone calls to expired membership more effective.. Utilize the list the Admin sends to American web.. There are 2 versions of the list.. One "Your second to last issue" bind in and the "your last issue" bind in.. Utilizing the latter of the 2 lists will indeed give you the feedback when you call those individuals to see if they indeed did get the bind in with their last issue. It will also ensure to the members that we indeed want them back and I belive the personal touch would be great.

Like Todd and Nick said above.. If you can provide specifics followup will indeed be provided but without names it's somewhat difficult to determine who you are referring to.

Bind in's are not send if they renewed after their first notice or renewed prior to the list being sent to American Web.

And FYI.. The 1800 # is working again. It was down for a while and Casey finally got ahold of a person and not a machine.

Thanks for the info Erik, I'm still learning about some of the processes we have in place. Not that they're secret, I just hadn't been asking the right questions. There's a boatload of stuff that Jenn does that's (1) not in her contract but she does it anyway and (2) She does it so well no one even knows it happens. It "just gets done". And I want to thank her for all that extra work and dedication. I know the villagers at the gate with their pitchforks and torches are quite vocal, but it's good to find out about some of good this stuff that goes on behind the curtain.

We'll certainly start with the actual Jan/Feb expireds, and we will be expanding the phone effort to include delegates in a number of ways.

Among the many items on my to-do list is writing up a sample script for our calls, based on what I've used hundreds of times before. Art grilled me on it during a phone chat we had last night, and it was good practice for both of us.

Thanks for the info, and happy cruisin'!

 

[Rzeppa]

On sending trails to expired members.. I have one idea.. if we catch out of the current crunch and can see an improvement.. running a query on those that had expired about 6 months prior would be a great idea.. Adding them as another list with American web.. Putting in a bind in that says something like .. "We miss you wondered if you miss us.. Please accept this complimentary Copy of the TOyota Trails as our gift"
Just thinking out loud.. They might actually notice they lapsed after 6 months and the issue showing up might get a renewal out of that member.
It'll cost the TLCA some.. but it very well might be a worthy return on investment. By sending them directly from American WEb it would save the logistic nightmare of stuffing envelopes, printing labels, metering etc. THe bulk rate from the publisher is much cheaper than metering them individually.

Do with that what you want. Just trying to present an option to Art's idea..

That's an awesome idea, and I'll toss it into the toolkit!

I had a similar idea regarding older expireds as well, to basically add them into our call list once we've gotten through the first round of J/F expireds. This will kind of depend on how we are holding up burn-out wise and how much progress we can make over the next month or so.

 

[65swb45]

First time reading this thread. Interesting stuff here.

1. Phone calls. Agree with Tony, Jeff, Nick and Romer that the personal touch is THE most important aspect of the follow up calls. While enlisting the chapters support is a great idea, if those people are not the TLCA cheerleaders that these four guys are, I'd rather not have them make a half-hearted phone call. I'd rather not even ask them.

2. Bind ins. My renewal is the same time as Jeff's, and I have gotten a bind in EVERY year. I think if ANYONE has approached ANY member of the BOD, or a contractor with a complaint about this, their NAME should be shared privately with all interested parties so this can be fully addressed. Otherwise, it doesn't look much different to me than anonymous trolls on the internet that smear people's reputations.

Jeff, if people contact you with concerns but request anonymity, you should politely explain to them this is counterproductive to our organization. It will also protect you from the possibility of being accused of generating unsubstantiated rumors.

3. Back issues. I don't think I like the 'we missed you' idea of having AmWeb send out back issues. I don't think the percent of the target audience that would be swayed is large enough to justify the expense.

I think I'd prefer something more like what Jeff proposed in another recent thread: the 'but wait, there's more' concept. I think if those who made the renewal phone calls had the power to offer free back issues as an incentive to bring past members back, that would be a targeted expense. If we only use issues that have already been distributed in bulk, we don't have to hit up AmWeb for anything. I know that Jeff, Nick and I all have piles of these boxes that could be available for this purpose.

The newly returning member would be given a special 'code' number by their 'recruiter' to redeem their back issues. Not sure how the verification process would work. Just thinking out loud here. As Kowboy would say, Carry on!

 

[packman73]

First time reading this thread. Interesting stuff here.

1. Phone calls. Agree with Tony, Jeff, Nick and Romer that the personal touch is THE most important aspect of the follow up calls. While enlisting the chapters support is a great idea, if those people are not the TLCA cheerleaders that these four guys are, I'd rather not have them make a half-hearted phone call. I'd rather not even ask them.

2. Bind ins. My renewal is the same time as Jeff's, and I have gotten a bind in EVERY year. I think if ANYONE has approached ANY member of the BOD, or a contractor with a complaint about this, their NAME should be shared privately with all interested parties so this can be fully addressed. Otherwise, it doesn't look much different to me than anonymous trolls on the internet that smear people's reputations.

Jeff, if people contact you with concerns but request anonymity, you should politely explain to them this is counterproductive to our organization. It will also protect you from the possibility of being accused of generating unsubstantiated rumors.

3. Back issues. I don't think I like the 'we missed you' idea of having AmWeb send out back issues. I don't think the percent of the target audience that would be swayed is large enough to justify the expense.

I think I'd prefer something more like what Jeff proposed in another recent thread: the 'but wait, there's more' concept. I think if those who made the renewal phone calls had the power to offer free back issues as an incentive to bring past members back, that would be a targeted expense. If we only use issues that have already been distributed in bulk, we don't have to hit up AmWeb for anything. I know that Jeff, Nick and I all have piles of these boxes that could be available for this purpose.

The newly returning member would be given a special 'code' number by their 'recruiter' to redeem their back issues. Not sure how the verification process would work. Just thinking out loud here. As Kowboy would say, Carry on!

As far as the bind-ins, I've never seen one personally (because I renew before I get to that point). It would be nice to possibly post what they look like on the TLCA website so folks know what to look for. Just a suggestion.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

GOod idea Art...

Anyone know how to post a PDF? Or do I need to convert it to Jpeg? Either way it's gonna have to wait till i get to my home computer. Have the "proof" just not sure how to post. Maybe cause I let my silver star go?