Membership

I just read this case study about how an organization got its members to
sign up for an event....it seems there might be something in here we can
use to get those membership renewals....

Mike

Appendix 82

     Abraham Case Study #366 comes from a man who sells

advice to organizations.

     I was asked to assist this local chamber of

     commerce to get new members as well as sell

     existing members an irresistible offer to:

          1) Purchase a booth at their annual

          "Business Expo," which would feature

          businesses within the community.

          2) Renew their membership 2 months in

          advance if they weren't interested in

          purchasing a booth.

          3) For non-members sign up 2 months in

          advance irrespective of a booth

          purchase.

     So, where to begin? First, there was a mailing list.

Most organizations have one. This is usually the best

place to begin.

     Here's what I did...

          1) Wrote a compelling direct response

          sales letter to all the businesses in

          the Greenfield, WI business community.

     This is the essence of what we offered...

          a) For existing members, (who weren't

          interested in purchasing a trade booth

          for the upcoming Expo) I offered them a

          BONUS "The Unfair Advantage Letter

          Book" a 200 + page compendium of direct

          response brilliance manual created by

          Bill Myers - retail priced at $129.00

          if they renewed their following years

          membership dues 2 MONTHS in advance.

     This is the standard direct-response principle of the irresistible
offer. It has to be good. This one is very good. Bill Myers is a
genius marketer. I have worked with him for many years. He put
together a collection of ads that he wrote. Then he sold his
subscribers the right to give the collection away or sell it -- reprint
rights. It is a great free bonus to offer to business people. Any
promoter ought to buy the reprint rights to this collection. I did this
years ago. (www.bmyers.com)

          b) To motivate those existing members

          who were interested in purchasing an

          Expo Booth I offered them the BONUS if

          they purchased their EXPO booths within

          10 days of the offer. (They usually

          waited until the last minute to do it,

          which of course created chaos for the

          Chambers Business Expo committee)

     Jay always recommends a time limit on his offers --

the shorter, the better. As usual, most people waited

until the last minute.

          c) For non-members of the Chamber, I

          offered them the bonus if they signed

          up for membership 2 months in advance

          (within 10 days) and gave them the last

          two months' membership for FREE.

     So, here was another reason for signing up NOW. This

is the tried and true direct-mail tactic: "Act now!" But

give them a reason.

          The result -- all three potential buying

     business entities bit on one of the three offers.

     The president of the Chamber told me it was the

     most successful Biz Expo trade booth, new member

     and Chamber renewal promotion the Chamber had

     ever experienced.

     And the lesson in all of this...

          1. Irresistible offer (BONUS)

          2. With a time limit

          3. Risk Reversal -- Didn't cost the

          businesses a penny more, just got them

          to act on the time limit (the sense of

          urgency and fear of loss if they didn't

          respond one way or another and what did

          they get in return? Tens of Thousands

          of Dollars of Brilliance by receiving

          Bill's Unfair Advantage Letter Book.