A Different Kind of Membership Campaign
Your membership drives herd marginally interested businesses and forces a quick yes or no. You keep about half in the second year and half that in the third.
What if you looked at it differently?
If you have to do a drive, a Business Services Drive is a different approach. Businesses rounded up in this campaign wouldn't become members until their first renewal (year 2). This strategy moves your finish line out 12 months.
What do they get in their first (trial) year? A subscription to benefits that look an awful lot like membership, but they aren't members yet.
During that year, you rain on them with great service, make them a little famous, use your drive team to strategically touch base with these members and connect them with solutions to the business challenges that keep them up at night. I bet you'd keep 80% of those in the second year and another 80% in the third.
But before you get big, get good. Bringing in more of the same kinds of members only draws more attention to the things that are broken in your organization. After you create a more strategic approach, you'll realize that your pricing can be improved. And that's the work that I love.