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Essentials in
Membership
Growth comes from working smart and simple
Are you driving away potential members, or are you growing like these chapters?
Updated: 6/24/2002 10:50:00 AM
How did your chapter do during last fall’s "Easy as 1-2-3" recruitment campaign? If your chapter was like many others, you simply held a special "guest night," and now your chapter is bigger and stronger than ever, right?
Didn’t think so.
If the point of 1-2-3 didn’t sink in the first time, here it is again: Do something. Do anything. If you can’t come up with something that really attracts new members, we have a whole raft of proven recruiting ideas that have worked for other chapters. Society and district membership experts were and are still ready to help you implement your plan. I’m not one of Kenosha’s recruiting experts, but I know the guys who are—and I know some really sharp district experts, too—and you ought to be kicking yourself if your chapter passed on their expertise and settled for the "zero growth" status quo. Yes, "guest night" is technically a recruitment method, assuming you’ve bothered to learn how to do that right. If not, perhaps your guests often feel something like this:
Guest: Wow, that’s great music you guys were singing . . .
Host: Well, while we’re taking a break, let me introduce you to the guys. Over here is—
Member 1: —Ah, fresh meat!
Guest: Hi, my name is—
Member 1: You sound like a tenor! We need more tenors to boost our Singing scores at District...
Guest: Your what? . . .Anyway, my name is—
Member 2: Did I hear ‘tenor’? Ooh, do you think you can learn "Smile" by next week?
Guest: —Bob. And sorry, but next week is my wedding anniversary, so—
Member 1: And tonight’s my 40th anniversary, and look where I am! You’re not one of those hen-pecked types, are you?
Guest: No, I’m quite—
Member 2: Good! I’ll get your learning tapes and sheet music.
Member 1: And I’m the costume guy. Got your checkbook?
Guest: Look, I was just hoping to sing a bit and maybe learn a few—
Host: Hold that thought! Time to get back on the risers!
Okay, so maybe this exaggerates what goes on, but that’s pretty close to how some guests feel: wanted but overwhelmed. Joining a chapter is like getting on a moving train, and there’s a steep learning curve and a lot of unfamiliar practices and concepts. No, you don’t want to leave anyone in the dark about what’s involved, but consider this: Guests first need to want to jump on your moving train. Remember, many of the things that motivate us as members can actually turn off the uninitiated.
If your recruiting efforts have been largely unfruitful, let’s look at your motives: You’re inviting guys because you want to build your chapter, you want people to be as excited about the hobby as you are, so you want to show guests what you do every week ...
Aha! There’s one problem: you You YOU! You’re building a recruiting program around your needs, whereas successful programs are designed around his needs. Let’s look at three recent successes.
Give guests a chance to love the music and the hobby
By simply following a plan outlined in Society resources, the Langley, British Columbia Chapter roped in more than a dozen new members, with the promise to gain many more in the future.
The planning began in the summer. As recommended, the chapter developed a brochure, organized learning tapes, ordered music and set a goal of having 100 men in their Christmas Chorus. The campaign offered a no-cost, no long-term commitment and a chance for men in the community to perform in a concert after five weeks of rehearsing. The participants were told that the proceeds of the concert would go to help underprivileged families and children in the community. This charitable aspect made it easy for chapter members to approach potential singers, and the word quickly spread—singers came from other choral groups just to help out.
Before this event, the chorus averaged 45 men at a chapter rehearsal. The first night of the Christmas practice saw 107 men in the rehearsal hall! This continued for the five weeks, with some dropping out but others coming in their place. Naturally, once they heard the wonderful harmonies, several decided to stay on. Other men said now that they knew about Barbershop, they would return at a future date. Eleven of those men joined the chapter by March, while several others seriously considered joining.
That isn’t all. The concert also involved a local high school choral group, a children’s choir, as well as other local talent such as a Celtic group and an award-winning ukulele ensemble. The young men in the high school music program were so enthusiastic about the barbershop sound that three 16-year-olds immediately joined the chapter, and two of their friends joined shortly thereafter. The chapter can’t wait to assemble another Christmas choir this year.
The Christmas Chorus is also a great example of Tip #3.
— Courtesy of Danny Tryon at dtryon@sprint.ca
Match the method to your chapter’s strengths
No official word on the number of members who’ve joined, but nonetheless, Cleveland’s West Suburban chapter pulled off nothing less than a publicity coup. They hosted a well-publicized barbershop "March Madness" competition during the same two weekends as NCAA basketball "March Madness."
Quartets were paired against each other in a public setting, judged by non-Barbershoppers, and the winner moved to the next round.
Frank Koenig, membership chairman of the Tower City Chorus, came up with the idea and found that a local shopping mall was delighted to host the competition. And why wouldn’t they? The mall staff knew that people loved competition, they loved music, and the event piggybacked nicely on the NCAA’s marketing blitz.
The mall staff created publicity signs in the mall and a huge quartet competition board that listed the quartet pairings. A local radio station made daily announcements of the competition.
The first round of competition was held on March 24, with hundreds of enthusiastic spectators. The sounds of chords ringing drew more people, and soon the whole concourse was filled with cheering fans. The mall publicity manager and a writer from the local newspaper served as judges. A local TV station provided spot coverage.
The finals were held on March 31, with Final Edition from the West Suburban Chapter vs. Catfish Bend, a college quartet from Bowling Green State University. The West Suburban chapter performed while the judges decided the winner: Catfish Bend.
Afterward, a number of quartets found a corner to sing to their new fans. Parents could be seen holding young children by the hands, their children’s eyes wide and mouths hung open, listening to a quartet perform. At both events, literature was passed out, including promotions for upcoming annual shows and membership information.
Not every chapter can pull off such an event. It takes a good PR man to get the ball rolling, a good emcee to pull off the event, and a sympathetic PR partner like the one at the mall. More important, it needs to be done in areas where there are enough good quartets to be entertaining to the mass public. (Each of the eight competing quartets was considered solid by Society standards.)
March Madness is also a great example of Tip #3.
— Courtesy of Mike Vislosky at MVISTA@aol.com.
Package the "product" in terms already familiar to outsiders
Simply offer a guy who “sings in the shower” an absolutely free opportunity to learn to sing in the barbershop style, and he will give it a try. That’s the philosophy behind the successful rebuilding effort of the Buffalo chapter, with 36 new members and still counting.
Imagine running a newspaper ad asking who would like "membership in the Barbershop Harmony Society." No one would know what you were talking about. But advertise "free barbershop singing lessons," and there’s an ad people will understand.
A few years ago, Buffalo’s membership had dwindled from 100 to a "struggling" handful. Duane Crawford, Sal Sciandra and Will Ceier decided to try a new approach they hoped would save the chapter.
Here’s how it works: Potential members attend one evening class per week, held in conjunction with regular weekly chorus rehearsal so they can mingle and sing tags with chapter members during breaks and after class. A diploma is presented to the student, and he gets to sing in a quartet with the members. He is invited to join or continue to attend weekly rehearsals. At no time is he pressured into joining the chapter. He usually asks about joining.
The idea is to help potential members acquire basic skills and confidence before they hit the risers, and it seems to have worked. In five years, 64 men have attended 14 classes. Thirty-six joined the chapter and 31 are still active. Seven or eight of these newer members have held or now hold offices ranging from board membership to president.
This success has prompted the Seneca Land District to ask class instructor Duane Crawford to teach this program to chapter membership VPs at their “Pow Wow” educational weekend this month.
Singing lessons are also a great example of Tips 1 and 2.
— Courtesy of Bob Tiffany at bobtiffany@yahoo.com.
Bottom line
Once you see recruitment from the outsider’s perspective, the picture gets much clearer. Do something! Start by visiting www.spebsqsa.org/membership.
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