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Reluctant to Abandon a Member Service? How to Know When
to Let It Go!
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The planning session is going extremely well -
dynamics and teamwork are resulting in a large number of new and
creative ideas. The innovative juices are flowing and potential
opportunities for new services are being discussed. There seems
to be no shortage of ideas. If the Board has its way, several
new services would be put in place next week.
But hold on! We just moved into dangerous territory. Why? There
is a good chance that the association does not have a new services
approval policy or a services abandonment approval policy, and
a decision is going to be made to add new services without a solid
feasibility review. In addition, an exercise to examine what services
could be abandoned to free up time and funds isn’t likely
to occur.
The fact is that associations have limited resources to devote
to an unlimited number of challenges. As such, it is imperative
that association managers know when to discontinue a particular
service in the face of waning member interest or support. I refer
to this as service abandonment. Associations that do not abandon
services at the appropriate time run the risk of using their limited
resources in a less than efficient manner. The challenge, of course,
is to determine when the time has come to stop offering a service
that perhaps some members have perhaps come to expect.
Associations, like businesses, operate in highly competitive
environments that change quickly. This demands that an association’s
products and services receive constant attention to ensure member
value. Failure to deliver high-quality, timely and value-added
products and services will lead to member dissatisfaction, non-renewals
of membership, and perhaps a loss of the association’s reputation,
its most valuable asset.
There are a number of tools the association manager can employ
to help them make informed decisions about whether or not to abandon
certain products or services. These include:
Member Surveys. Member satisfaction surveys help define
member service needs and priorities. When properly designed, undertaken
and analyzed, member surveys serve as a critical tool for identifying
areas where services have become less important and may be targets
for abandonment.
Analyze Member Participation Ratesand Costs. Association
managers should monitor and critically evaluate member participation
rates and service net costs. Declining member involvement in an
association service over a period of time must be considered in
the overall balancing and weighing of priorities. Doing so will
allow association managers to make service abandonment decisions
in a timely fashion.
Watch the Competition. In many cases associations compete
with their services. Competition could be from another association,
a company, or even a government department or agency. Understanding
what the competition is doing and how well they are doing it will
contribute to the decision-making process in terms of service
enhancements or abandonment.
Alternatives to Abandonment. While product and service
abandonment is a reality in the association environment, there
may be other alternatives to consider in any given situation.
While it may no longer make sense to offer a particular program
or service under the same funding or delivery arrangements, members
receiving the service might be inclined to assume a greater share
of the costs or receive a reduced level of service as an alternative
to outright abandonment. Another approach may be to develop a
strategic alliance for delivery of the service. The bottom line
is that alternatives should be explored.
Evaluation
Many associations do a poor job of evaluating the effectiveness
of their services. If they do it at all in any formal way, it
is often an opinion-based process rather than one based on performance
indicators and outcomes. There are numerous ways to conduct an
effective evaluation, a key component of any strategic planning
process, on which to base your decision-making. The key is to
build sufficient financial resources into your annual budget to
fund your evaluation initiatives.
Evaluation occurs on different levels. The feasibility of introducing
a new service must be evaluated. The feasibility needs to examine
factors such as support of strategic intent, meeting needs, resource
capacity, degree of competition, price, service design, quality,
cost and method of promotion and distribution. A solid evaluation
process for a new service may reduce the risk of having to abandon
a service in the near future.
Abandonment of a service is often difficult. Nobody wants to
admit to failure, however, failing to abandon a poor performer
means valuable and often scarce resources are being used inefficiently.
Association managers have to make sound judgements on what to
abandon and when. This is done using information on performance
indicators and outcomes gathered through the evaluation processes.
Evaluation of services can occur by answering questions such as
the following:
- Does the product or service continue to support the association’s
mission and strategies? How or why not?
- Is the product or service currently meeting the needs of
the membership? What evidence do we have to support this?
- Is the product or service being used by a significant portion
of the membership? What evidence do we have to support this?
What has been the rate of decline or achievement of performance
indicators?
- What is the competition doing with similar services?
- What is it costing annually and how much per member? Can
we continue to efficiently and effectively deliver this service
with our current resource capacity?
- If so, should it be fixed or should another service be developed
instead?
- If one of our products and services has to be dropped, would
this be the first choice?
- Can another organization or a strategic alliance offer this
service more effectively?
Association executives need to be aware of influences, beyond
those in their own association, that can help or hinder delivery
of their services. Engaging in regular external environmental
scans will help you keep on top of trends or issues that could
impact on services delivery. In recent years, technology trends
and improvements have resulted in some associations abandoning
some services and methods of service delivery. A key question
to address external influences is:
- What external trends or issues from a political, social,
economic, technology, or sector perspective will impact on our
services?
How is the decision made to abandon or approve a new product
or service in your organization?
The above question is part of course CAE 200 - Association Membership
and Services, in the Certified Association Executive Program.
Based on a review of responses to this question over a number
of course sessions, following are observations made:
- Only one or two organizations out of hundreds have a product
or service abandonment policy in place.
- Many association mangers have never seen a product or service
abandoned. This includes individuals who have been with their
organization for more than 15 years.
- Some abandonment occurs, but not without challenges.
- The decision to abandon is made primarily by the Board, based
on staff recommendations. In a few situations, this decision
is made solely by staff. The type of governance model and strategic
management model used influence the approval process. In some
cases, committees, chapters and other groups are involved in
the decision.
- Some recommendations for abandonment get turned down because,
“It would be a shame as some people like this program”,
or, “We have always done this so why stop now?”
- Having documentation in order is critical. A survey of members,
financial reports and analyses play a key role in identifying
what products or services are not valued by the many and are
costing too much, and will provide hard evidence of what is
not working or contributing to strategy.
- Services are not reviewed on a regular basis to determine
if they are still effective and relevant, and often the membership
has not been consulted to determine if services are meeting
their needs.
- A member segmentation strategy and delivery of services will
often result in services used only by a few, but in most of
these cases they are not a financial burden.
- There is a poor link with strategic planning and performance
measurement.
- Communications to support abandonment are critical, especially
if users are a vocal and active group of members. If the situation
has 1,700 members subsidizing 100 individuals at a significant
cost for one event, these facts must be shared, along with what
better use could be made of the resources.
- Abandoned services have been mainly affinity type programs.
- Technology has resulted in some hardcopy publications moving
online, but special attention is needed to support members that
should be in the technology loop.
- In tight times staff positions are often cut, and there is
a limited number of staff to effectively run a program. Some
staff wonder why the program is not cut as well.
In order improve your decisions regarding service issues it is
good practice to have written policies and procedures in place
regarding development, implementation, management and abandonment
of services. This information will provide continuity, support
orientation and training, and call for due diligence and feasibility
reviews, as required. Successful application of good policies
and procedures can help associations remain relevant and make
the best use of their limited resources.
This column features innovation and practical solutions applied
to challenges, trends, issue and opportunities for the association
community. Column editor Jim Pealow, MBA, CMA, CAE is a consultant
and the Association Management Education Program Lead Instructor/Coach
for CSAE. He can be reached at jim@amces.com.
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