Transcript The IMS SNAP System - ims

The Following is a compilation of ideas from my
own experience as IMS San Francisco Chair for 18
years and the lessons learned there, “experiments”
in other regions, as well as numerous ideas
“borrowed” from other successful Chairs.
You are free to use or not use any or
all of this suggestions, but there is
something to be said for not reinventing the wheel.
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What would it take to make
you jump for joy?
1. You have a backlog of Member Applications on file.
2. The person you’re calling always answers the phone.
3. You are exceeding your personal attendance goals.
4. Every session is at least a 6.1 and 5.8.
5. A no-show rate of zero.
6. All your member contacts are terrific and
7. You have had the same ones for years.
8. Etc.
9. Etc.
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What prevents this perfect
IMS day from happening?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Finding the “right” person
Attitude toward external providers
Who pays the $3,600
Lack of budget
Competition
Lack of decision makers
Time restrictions
Etc.
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Now… what can you do to
minimize these objections?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Research the organization FIRST. http://finance.yahoo.com/ is a good
source of data. We can provide D&B data to you.
Know who you are calling on before you call on them. Is this person
THE decision maker.
If not, find out who is, or at the very least ask how decisions get made in
that organization on the first visit.
Do they see the need? Do they want to do something about it? Do they
have the money to do something about it?
Avoid “entanglements” with training staff. These are typically not the
people that have power in the organization.
You will waste your time unless you KNOW that you are talking to
someone who can make it happen, not just the membership but the
partnership.
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Here are some results from last
year’s Chair’s survey
Almost 50% of contacts are training managers.
In four regions 100% are training managers.
Less than 10% are vice presidents.
In almost half of the regions there are no V.P. contacts.
Almost half the regions have never had an informal breakfast
with participants and the faculty.
The average time spent with the least active members is
21%, ranging from 40% to 10%.
Almost half of the Chairs have never set up a SNAP.
Participation and member retention are positively correlated.
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So how do you get the attention (and
involvement) of the more senior HR
professional?
I’m glad you asked that question.
First: Do your homework: research, research, research.
Second: Send the materials that make IMS different. Not those
that make IMS look the same:
A: The Many Facets of Leadership
B: The IMS Sounding Board
C: The Membership list
D: Your cover letter saying you will call
E: DO NOT send the schedule
F: DO NOT mention price
Third: Send it to a senior executive
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Why not the schedule?
A quick story… when I took on the job of overhauling all the administrative functions
(sales, accounting, production, distribution, marketing, operations research, etc.) for a
large corporation I was asked by the President what Vice President title did I want? I
replied that I did not want to be a Vice President. He thought that strange and asked why
not? I said if you make me a Vice President no matter what you put after that people will
know what I am not supposed to do; they will put me in a box. If people knew what I’m not
supposed to do it would hinder my chances for success.
When you get the appointment to meet with them that is the time to bring the schedule.
The important thing is not that the schedule exists… that is like all the others. The critical
and differentiating point with IMS is why these particular subjects and faculty appear on
the schedule. It is not humanly possible to divine that from simply looking at the schedule
it needs to be talked through. Yes, the faculty are a powerful sales tool, but you can
simply mention some of the key players (present and past) in your cover letter.
Otherwise they will put you in a box that you may never get out of.
But why not mention the costs?
Because, if you are talking to the right person, the costs are trivial!
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Now off to have
your meeting
Remember… no one buys ¼” drills, they buy ¼” holes!
Before you get there put yourself in the prospects chair.
What would you be looking for?
What are his/her objectives?
How can they ensure buy in by their managers?
Will people actually take advantage of IMS?
How can IMS be leveraged for improved performance?
Why IMS vs. the Aba Daba Institute?
They are already overloaded, who is going to do this?
Above all else… let THEM talk!
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Don’t leave the
meeting without
knowing what the
next step is.
(In this case prayer alone is not your best option)
And the other equally weak next step is the “try
it, you’ll like it” option… inviting them to attend
a session as your guest. They don’t give out free
samples, why should you? It only delays
(sometimes for months and months!) the
decision. Remember you are not selling them
something, you are offering them a truly unique
learning opportunity.
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Yes, but what about the involvement part?
Keep separate your principal contact (the senior HR professional
you just met with) from the coordinator. In some few instances
they may be the same but most often not. Unless, of course, your
principal contact is the Manager of Training in which case you
probably have a more serious problem.
Communicate on a regular basis with the Steering Committee
members i.e. your senior HR professional.
Try to get at least some of them together once in awhile.
Don’t hesitate to use them as your Sounding Board. See if they
won’t help you meet other senior HR professionals. After all, as
the saying goes “just ask the man who owns one.”
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…and above all else
think about how you “institutionalize” IMS
It should not surprise anyone
to know that IMS is not a top
priority for members, and
bear in mind even your very
best contact may not be
there tomorrow so whether
it is SNAP or some other
device, protect your flank.
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A Final Note on Recruitment
The fact that one person isn’t interested in IMS does
NOT mean than no one in the organization is
interested. Try another point of entry!
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Now that you have all the members you want what
strategies might help achieve your attendance goals?
When all else is said and done, IMS
attendance is a essentially a function of
direct mailing. Unsolicited direct mail has a
hit rate of about 0.5%. The hit rate for
solicited (IMS) direct mail is closer to 2.0%.
Simply put that means for every
1,000 who receive IMS notices
(of one sort or another) you can
expect 20 participants.
Said another way, if no one is aware of IMS, chances
are good that you will not have any attendance.
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It is well established that it is easier (and cheaper) to keep
present clients happy than to recruit new ones.
Recognize that their mission (and yours) is to educate their managers. You share
mutual objectives and remember, as David Berlo said, “they must believe that you
mean them no harm.”
The first thing is to establish, as fact, that the organization is serious about
professional development and learning… that it really does value its human assets.
Ask how they communicate that… and I don't mean the statement in their annual
report. What do they do to demonstrate their commitment and I don’t mean
establishing a corporate university.
Find out what would make them happy and see if you can make that happen.
Find out what prevents them from disseminating the IMS information.
Start with the list of present members who send single digits a year.
According to last year’s Chair survey time spent on the least active members is
about 20% of the Chair’s time, half that spent on the most active. More interesting is
that half of that 20% is spent with the training manager!
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What to do… what to do?
Each organization
faces different
issues with regard
to management
development. Ask
what they see as
their impediments
to success. When I
did this in Europe
one of the
members said that
“we can’t get
people to go.”
Sound familiar?
So what I
suggested is the
possibility that in
addition to time
pressures,
managers
sometimes view
“development” as
akin to admitting
a weakness.
Something no
one wants to
admit in this day
and age.
So the proposal
was to create a
Performance
Award Program.
Performance
certificate
(entitling the
bearer to attend
any IMS session
of their choice)
which would be
distributed
among the senior
managers.
So now let’s
take a look at
how this
fundamentally
changes the
attendance
proposition.
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In this way “development” is seen as a
reward for superior performance
(when and as it happens) and not a
remedial undertaking. Think of the
potential impact on performance.
Managers might even vie for these
awards as concrete and visible
recognition for a job well done and, in
the meantime, the organization
doubles its return on investment.
It gets improved motivation and increased performance. I can’t imagine
senior managers not buying into this program. And for those who deal
with contacts who want to retain control this strategy allows them to
manage the number of people who can go (i.e., the budget) while the
senior managers (rather than the training manager) make the decisions
of how best to improve their department’s performance for which they
alone are accountable.
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What to do… what to do?
…but IMS is already on our Training website.
Websites are largely passive and not likely to be used
by our target audience. Basically they offer visible proof
that HR is doing something. If all else fails at least get
their site linked to an IMS portal page… we will create it
for them. However, bear in mind that directors and vice
presidents are not likely to use these websites.
… but our managers don’t want any more e-mail.
There is the story of the farmer who loaned his best donkey to his neighbor to
help plow his fields. When the farmer returned a week later his neighbor said he
couldn't get the donkey to pull the plow at which point the farmer picked up a 2x4
and hit the donkey over the head. His neighbor gasped and asked why he did
that to which the farmer replied, “First you have to get his attention.” The point
being that if you don’t first get their attention you can’t expect to get much to
happen. A laissez-faire approach does not produce increased attendance.
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What to do… what to do?
…and I never get senior managers at my sessions
so my attendance is always low at those sessions.
It gets back to they don’t always know what they don’t know. If
you have limited visibility at these senior levels you can expect
not only limited attendance from them but, worse yet, limited
support… and their support is critical to member retention!
… but I have great coordinators and they tell me that they can’t get
senior (or non-senior) managers to go to seminars.
There is a maxim (mine) that it is almost impossible to sell development upstream.
Senior managers are not going to pay much attention, or give much credence, to
IMS sessions designed for them when it is the Training department offering them.
Training departments simply don’t have the reach. Yet almost 50% of the IMS
contacts are training managers, and in four regions they represent 100% of the
contacts. Less than 10% are VPs and almost half the regions have no VPs at all
as contacts.
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What to do… what to do?
…and I want people to go but they just don't.
You may need to create champions in the organization… that
is often NOT the coordinator. Ask them to make a short list (6
or 8) of the up-and-comers, known to and respected by the
organization. Ask the coordinator to take the schedule to them
and ask them to pick one session and make certain they get
there. Be sure that it is the right session for them!
…but I can’t get by the gatekeeper without offending them.
Send a copy of the Many Facets of Leadership and the Sounding Board to a senior
HR person. Chances are they are unaware of IMS. Ask if you can spend 15 minutes
with them sometime to introduce yourself and IMS. Who is getting the book-of-themonth? Maybe you could redirect it, or even invest in an extra one for the senior HR
person. Maybe you have a wine and cheese event after a high level session and try
to get a few of these senior HR managers to join you, assuming the faculty is willing
to stay on. But, whatever you do, don’t invite them for a freebee. They won’t take
you up on it and it cheapens IMS. If they want to go, they will be happy to pay.
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What to do… what to do?
…do those things that can make a difference.
One Chair told me that he couldn’t understand why
sending more e-mail correspondence never produced
any additional registrations. In this instance the Chair
knew that the individuals to whom he was sending the
materials did NOT distribute the information… to
anyone! Doing more won’t make any difference.
…use all your resources and use them to make a difference
More than half of all regions have never bothered to have an informal breakfast with
the faculty and some of the senior participants. This simple and inexpensive P/R does
several things for you. Call the coordinator (not the participant) because it gives the
coordinator something special to offer these managers. Faculty can be one of your
best salespeople. It gives the participants the opportunity to give the faculty some
“local” perspective and they may refer to these breakfast conversations during the
session which adds creditability. It keeps you and IMS visible to the very people you
want to reach.
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Remember… there is no secret to it, just get all your ducks in line.
You need to find some way to ensure that the information gets
distributed on a consistent basis, month after month.
Today it is increasingly risky to rely on your coordinator to meet your
needs.
Consider asking them to use a small pilot group of key managers the rising stars of the organization.
Can you (and do you) collect e-mail address at the sessions?
Show them how SNAP can virtually eliminate all their administration.
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Remember there is no big secret here or
as the TV ad says “it is not rocket
surgery.” You can have a terrific day
every day and you are the one that gets
to decide.
• Start with the assumption that no organization joins IMS that does not
expect to use and benefit from participation. Your job is to help them find a
way to accomplish your mutual objectives.
• Start with your attendance distribution lists in your materials. What percentage of
your attendance is accounted for by the four most active?
• What is the total annual attendance of your least active four?
• Set your objective to have no member with less than 36 attendees a year. Then
create your plan to accomplish it and remember as Dale McConkey said “You can’t
do a goal.”
• Consider a buddy system such as that used by Chicago and Toronto.
Above all else focus on the opportunities!
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The plain fact is that
recruiting new members
is all about the numbers
Its about making calls on prospective members. We can provide you with a
D&B list if that would be helpful. Whatever that list produces, you should be
in touch with at least 25% of those organizations at all times. It’s a passing
parade and the players (i.e., contacts) are constantly changing.
Some Chairs pay special attention to those coordinators who, for one reason
or another, leave and they are good candidates for another membership
The fact that an organization, or that one person in the organization, says
“no” one year doesn’t mean the answer will be “no” the next year persistence is the watchword here
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The plain fact is that it is
ALL about the numbers
If you were to devote enough time with existing members so that none had
less than 36 attendees annually, your additional attendance results would
look like this:
Atlanta
70
137
Philadelphia
244
Kansas City
Boston
186
446
Pittsburgh
82
London
Brussels
132
153
St. Louis
289
Los Angeles
Chicago
289
161
San Francisco
67
Manchester
Columbus
90
105
Scotland
153
Minneapolis
Dallas
60
140
Seattle
40
Netherlands
Detroit
88
307
Stamford
143
New Jersey
Hartford
97
39
Toronto
289
New Orleans
Houston
13
205
Washington
219
New York
… and it probably takes 36 or more per year to have some chance of
retaining the member. What if you concentrated on your least active
members more than 20% of the time?
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But it is not just aBout attendance…
95% of members drop because they do not get enough
participation to justify their membership. If each Chair were
to develop a working definition of success for each of the
single digit members I would expect the number of
members who drop to be (at the very least) cut in half in
2005
Imagine what a difference it would make if you knew how
the member would make the decision to drop or not. More
important, imagine the difference it would make if you
knew that in time to influence the decision.
Make the time to define success while you can still do
something to make it happen.
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As the famous 18th century poet Goethe said…
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the
chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there
is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills
countless ideas and splendid plans: that the
moment one definitely commits oneself, then
providence moves too…
Whatever you can do.., begin it. Boldness has
genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now”.
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One final thing to remember…
A MEMBER IS
A TERRIBLE
THING TO
WASTE!
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