Recruiting new members
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Recruiting new members Our club would like to attact a few new members. One of our members has suggested that we advertise for members and then perform interviews before inviting a prospect to join. What are some of the drawbacks to this approach? Hi, Kathleen. You want to be a bit cautious in advertising, as there could be some SEC questions about 'selling securities'. However, there should be nothing amiss about perhaps making a flyer poster to put in workplaces or church bulletin boards of your members, or in a community complex you may live in. The best prospects come from people you know. Don't invite them to join, invite them to visit, and stress the educational aspect of the club, as enabling members to make wise investing and financial decisions. Your interviews can be somewhat informal, but yes, you want to determine their ability to attend regularly and contribute both the minimum monthly investment, and time to learn how to study stocks for purchase and to follow. Three visits should be a minimum before an invitation to join is extended, and have them complete an application that codifies your expectations. Good luck, and let us know what works for you. Gene Rooks, Space Coast Chapter Kathleen,
> Our club would like to attact a few new
members. One of our
> members has suggested that we advertise for members and then > perform interviews before inviting a prospect to join. > What are some of the drawbacks to this
approach?
Ha! Other than it's illegal!? <big
grin> To be perfectly honest, I can't even imagine the SEC ever finding
out about an ad in the paper for an investment club. Not unless you have a
neighbor who doesn't like you...and turns you in! Technically, you can't
advertise an investment unless you are licensed and bonded.
But...whatever!
Seriously, there are many ways to recruit new
members. Be careful what you wish for! We had 7 guests on our roster
last night! Two came to us by Googling clubs in our area
(metatags), 1 came from an article we put in the local paper about ourselves, 2
came from NAIC networking, another was a member's co-worker and the last was a
member's neighbor. Too many! When it rains, it pours! We
couldn't get anyone interested last year. Now we've got these 7, plus
4 more who are interested. This is the first time in 6 years we'll be
turning people away.
Here's what we've done to recruit:
1. Metatags. We have a homepage here at
bivio. When I created it, I put a metatag on the page so that, if anyone
Googles investment clubs in Minnesota, we are always the 1st or 2nd entry that
comes up. Try it! You'll see! <G> It's easy to do.
Everyone at bivio has the option of putting a "face" on their club. Using
your club's website address on your "advertising" not only makes it easy for
people to check you out, but it also makes you look more professional. If
you want help, write to me privately.
2. Advertising cards. I went to the office
supply store and purchased a ream of colored cardstock. You know...the
stuff business cards are made of. While there, I had their copy center
quarter the entire ream, creating 2,000 4" x 5.5" cards (there are 500 sheets in
a ream). I created a little flyer template in Word, and I print these
cards, individually, as needed, usually 50 or so at a time. I have
several versions, but here's what one of them says:
___________________________________________________________________
NW Metro Investment Club Looking for New Members!
Are you interested in learning more about the stock market? Are you looking to better understand how to invest for retirement? If so, you might enjoy belonging to a club!
Criteria for Membership: No experience needed - just a strong desire to learn! Computer with internet access and email; And, the ability to make a commitment! $299 to join - dues are $30.00 per month.
A New Member Prospectus is available on our website under Newcomers at www.bivio.com/crowriver Call @ 763/xxx-xxxx ________________________________________________________________
All members keep a handful of these cards in our car's glovebox. You never know when you're going to strike up a conversation with someone! We tack these EVERYWHERE at NAIC events. We post them on bulletin boards at Panera Bread, Caribou and Starbucks coffee shops, in the bank lobbies...anywhere there's a bulletin board.
3. More on Flyers. We haven't done it yet (although it WAS on our agenda until just recently!), but we planned to create a similar flyer on full size paper and put them in the homeowners' newspaper slots around the neighorhood where we meet. I think this is a terrific idea! Just don't put them in the mailbox, because it's a felony! This will be my next experiment, should we need more members.
4. Promote through the paper. I couldn't believe how easy this was. One of our club members is in Toastmasters, and she regularly sends articles to the local newspaper--small, multi-town readership of probably 20,000-30,000. Anyway, she took a picture of me and a guest last month, sent it to the paper with a brief explanation of how our club was dealing with the February drop in the market, and a blurb about how to learn more about us by going to our website or by calling her. Wow! I just about passed out when I saw the blantent "advertising". But rather than having the SEC knocking on our door (although I guess there's still time! <G>), we had an influx of hits on our website, which generated one new guest at last night's meeting. I can send that article to you as well. My member says we can "play that card" everytime something changes in the market. These small town papers and neighborhood shoppers are always looking for something to fill paper space.
5. Use the boards. bivio has a directory of public clubs on their homepage. Each club is listed in alphabetical order, including its home state. As bivio becomes more "visable" to NAIC members through the new alliance, you can bet that others might look for clubs to visit from this directory. I recommend getting on all the other message boards you can, such as meetup.com and fool.com and local boards. Never hurts to get the word out.
6. Invite a friend nite. Work the heck out of your members to bring family, friends, co-workers, church friends, etc. to the meetings. In fact, consider having a potluck some evening and have members bring these people. They get a free dinner, and they get to listen to a 20 minute presentation about investment clubs, in general, and how they can help them shore up their retirement! Of course, this is nothing more than a recruiting meeting, with members giving testamonials about how the club has helped them.
7. Oh yes! I nearly forgot! I put together a one-hour seminar on how to start an investment club. This was several years ago. The public library welcomes ANYONE who wishes to provide a free class at their branch. They even put up advertising near the S&P and Value Line table for me, and provided a room for free! The class was meant to help others, but I made sure my club's name and website was ALL OVER EVERYTHING. I got some feelers from that, but no members. Although, I only did it once. I'm sure that would have worked, eventually.
So there ya go. Those are bonifide ideas for recruiting members. But as Gene has already alluded to, getting warm bodies in the door...and making sure they qualify to be in your club...are two different animals!
Before I allow anyone to step into my home, I have a nice long talk with them by phone. I ask lots of questions. The first one is, Have you read our new member prospectus? That, alone, will weed out some people. I also convey the seriousness we place on showing up and paying on time. That weeds out the rest of the wannabees.
Then we make them attend 3 meetings. The first is to see if they even like it. That's for THEIR benefit. We invite them to the second meeting--a month away. I never call them. If they show up at the second one without having to call them, that's for OUR benefit. You can read the rest of our process in our prospectus.
NOTE: ANYONE IS WELCOME TO USE OUR PROSPECTUS AND APPLICATION. BUT DO NOT POST THEM ON YOUR PUBLIC PAGES. WE SCOUT FOR OUR STUFF OFTEN AND HAVE BIVIO REMOVE THEM. It's OK to print and use them, or put them on your private pages for storage purposes. We've got some great stuff from other clubs stored in our members' only folders, too!
Kathleen, if potential members can't show up for 3 straight meetings in a row, do you honestly think they have enough interest to show up after they have joined? My experience, after 13 years of clubbing is, NO. We have strict requirements in our club, and we make them clear before anyone joins. Because of this, we have no attendance or payment problems. Everyone comes prepared because it's not acceptable to do otherwise. How you bring people into your club is very important.
New members will typically gravitate to the current members who do the least amount of work. Those members are like a cancer that will eat through the productivity of the club. I have always said that I'd rather be in a club of 4-5 hardworking members, than be in a club of 20, where only 4-5 do all the work!
Keep that in mind when you recruit. Make sure your members are on the same page before you invite visitors! And make sure you have a system in place to mentor them, and get them up to speed. (That's a discussion for another day!)
Good luck to you!
Lynn Ostrem, President
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