Park Cities Stamps - Texas Philatelic Association

Retention efforts help keep clubs thriving
By Arthur P. von Reyn
The first three installments in this series
on invigorating your stamp club outlined
methods of attracting new members and retaining
the ones you have, primarily in terms
of a new or renewed commitment to newsletters,
meeting programs and publicity.
An appropriate conclusion to this series is
a discussion on how to make those hard-won
visitors feel “at home” and to demonstrate to
your current members that they are a vital part
of your organization.
MAKING AN IMPRESSION
Most clubs experience the phenomenon of
the visitor from the local area who comes to
just one meeting and then vanishes for good.
If this is a frequent occurrence, then it’s likely
your visitors don’t get a good impression of
your club, most likely because they aren’t receiving
the special attention they deserve.
My experience as a guest has typically
been signing the register, having my presence
acknowledged during the business session,
and then being asked to stand up and state
my collecting interests.
While I don’t have a problem with that, I
do know there are some collectors who don’t
like to stand up before a group of strangers.
Why not avoid that situation by collecting
the required information before hand and
announce something like “Jane Doe is visiting
with us today for the first time and collects
Rabbit topicals. Is there anything else you
collect Jane?” Jane can then expand on her
interests if she wishes or let it go at that.
Too many clubs just leave a visitor to sink
or swim once his or her presence has been
acknowledged. The introductory process
should be taken one step further by having a
Editor’s Note: This article is the last in
a series on how to inject new life in your
local stamp club.
30 The Texas PhilaTelisT July-August 2007
hospitality committee that assigns a “buddy”
to the visitor for at least the entire first meeting
and, if that individual returns, a few more.
This “buddy” should have the responsibility
of explaining what the club has to offer and
introduce the guest to other club members
who share collecting interests.
The first impression a visitor receives is
vitally important, so make sure your group
offers a favorable and memorable one.
IDENTIFYING AND RETAINING
WAYWARD MEMBERS
As has been discussed previously, having
a newsletter and variety in meeting programs
goes a long way towards keeping your members
coming out. Nonetheless, sometimes
regular meeting attendees seem to disappear
from the face of the earth.
According to an often-quoted “Why Customers
Quit” survey that purportedly first appeared
on a company’s bulletin board years ago
but lacks substantiation1 Proper handling of the introduction of visitors to
meetings will insure that all-important first impression
of an organization is a favorable one.
, the reason customers
(i.e. your members) disappear is:
1% die
3% move away
1 A PowerPoint presentation by Rita Hodgins, Michigan
University Extension Service Agent, Upper
Peninsula Region, refers without attribution to these
and other statistics quoted in this article.)