Association Field Report (March 27, 2020)

Hey, good afternoon friends. It’s been a heck of a week, right? I have a few observations for you and a bit of a different take on a topic.
It’s been a very interesting week, to say the least. What I think we have are two extremes.
A) Very active business development, almost surprisingly so. One thing that we’ve talked about as a team is to not let the circumstances say no for you and your work. We’re seeing pockets of activity, and some that are very promising, even in light of all this change and everything that’s going on.
B) On the other hand, you have the other extreme where you can’t get hold of anybody. It’s very dark. People don’t want to talk. I don’t know how much of that is personal, how much of it is their mindset, or how much of it is actually financial. We’ll see more of how that plays out over the next weeks.
The other thing is, I’m listening to people say, “Well, we absolutely want to talk to you about this program or this membership, when things returned to normal.” I don’t know what normal is going to look like or when it is going to occur. My point to you today is to make sure that you are engaging with your industry enough to get the sense of when normal starts, because I don’t think you’re going to get that from CNN, Fox, or whatever your preferred media outlet is. Normal is going to return when your businesses and your members start to respond. I’m not sure when that is, but I do know this: contacting them, being engaged with them, delivering new services and programs may help you identify when that happens. We’re acting as a barometer for our clients in this area.
The final thing I want to mention to you is a little bit different. It’s more of an internal reflection as you go into the weeks ahead. This has been an extremely disruptive time for our teams in our association ecosystem. Which team members have stepped up to another level? Which have responded in this crisis regardless of where they are, their department, their seniority level, or their position and title? Who has stepped up during this time and is providing great value to you?
Secondly is this, which association consultants or firms that you work with have done the same? What have they done to bring more value to you? What did they offer to pivot or change some of their scope to serve you best during this time frame? My guess is some organizations have really stepped it up, and others are kind of hunkered down waiting for you to give them a phone call about the future of your business. I’d like to be the first one rather than the latter.
Good luck this next week. We’re going to be fine. We’re going to get through it. Best wishes. Bye bye.