Sorry for the long post, but I hope that helps you...

2010-02-10T09:36:30.646-08:00

Sorry for the long post, but I hope that helps you and your peers develop membership and retention strategies and how to keep your members engaged. Just think of your personal life and you will find the parallels.

Thanks again, Joe and good luck!
James

The 3 stages of a Relationship 1. Attraction - th...

2010-02-10T09:31:01.207-08:00

The 3 stages of a Relationship

1. Attraction - this is that instantaneous judgement we make about someone or some thing the second we see them. It is not logical or emotional, but rather the result of an aesthetic framework that was shaped by our upbringing. In your personal life, this equates to spotting someone from across the room and instantly being attracted to them. It isn't always a physical thing, but you get the point. In a professional environment, this first stage, Attraction is equivalent to sales and marketing and membership campaigns. People will look at what you are offering or what you look like as an organization and seek things that they find attractive. It is not emotional or logical, just a visceral feeling they have where they feel comfortable and attracted to what they see. If you are trying to attract someone, you need to first understand what they are looking for and make sure you put that on display. It doesn't mean that they won't come to love all the other parts of you or your organization, it just means in that first stage they are relying on what they know and what they are familiar with. Keep that in mind when developing membership campaign ideas.

2. Passion - Passion is the stage that occurs after the initial attraction. It is that early period in a relationship (the length of time varies) when everything looks and feels fantastic. They funny thing about the passion stage is that things aren't always what they appear to be. In a romantic relationship, it is that time when we are willing to overlook all of the flaws and annoying habits the other person has because we are just happy to be in a relationship or because we have a specific objective in mind. It could be marriage, it could be sex, it could be the comfort of knowing you have a date for Valentine's Day. You ignore the fact they they eat with their fingers, have a terrible laugh, or never read The Catcher in the Rye. All because you either want something out of the relationship or because you don't want to admit that you made a bad choice. In a professional environment, the Passion stage occurs in the first few months or even year of the relationship. (Again, the length of time can vary, much the way it does in a romantic relationship). During that time, the relationship needs to be handled very differently. Your new members, still wide-eyed and passionate of this new organization they joined, need more attention and need to be fussed over and their flaws and annoyances have to be ignored, just as they are ignoring their likely discovery that your organization is not all they thought it would be. Keeping that passion alive is what keeps your members engaged and participating, especially in those early months and years.

3. Pair Bonding - The final stage of a relationship is pair bonding. This is when the attraction becomes less important and the passion is all but gone, but the relationship stays together because each person offers something that the other couldn't do on their own. They each make their lives better and easier. You can cook, I can't. You can hunt, I can't. You and take care of our children, I can't. This is part of our evolutionary development. In a romantic way, it is why we marry and stay together for (hopefully) the rest of our lives. Our needs, desires and expectations are very different than they were during the Attraction and Passion stages, The same is true in our professional lives. Loyalty occurs in the Pair Bonding stage and the way you treat and interact with long term members needs to be VERY different than those you are trying to attract and those who are in that early Passion stage. Pair bonding is an equal exchange where each party makes the other's life easier and better. If your organization isn't doing that for its long-term members - if it isn't making their life easier and better - than they have no reason to stay in the relationship and will start to drift away or seek someone or something else that does fulfill their needs.

Thanks for summarizing my presentation at the SLA ...

2010-02-10T09:20:06.535-08:00

Thanks for summarizing my presentation at the SLA Leadership Summit, Joe. You guys were a great audience an I hope the information is helpful. If you or your readers have any questions about the presentation or about specific loyalty issues they are having, please forward me the posts and I will be happy to answer them.

One other thing. I noticed in your post Membership Campaign ideas. I didn't have time to talk about this in my speech to all of you, but there is a process that humans follow when developing relationships with others - whether it be in a romantic way that ends with love, or in a professional way that ends with loyalty. I probably can’t describe it in one post, but I will post a second if it is too long.

James

Thanks for posting these Joe - it's great to get a...

2010-02-09T13:20:50.658-08:00

Thanks for posting these Joe - it's great to get an insight into what was being talked about, and it gives me some things to think about before New Orleans!

Comments on Nuthing But.Net: Some notes from the SLA Leadership Summit

Sorry for the long post, but I hope that helps you...

The 3 stages of a Relationship 1. Attraction - th...

Thanks for summarizing my presentation at the SLA ...

Thanks for posting these Joe - it's great to get a...