American Legion Auxiliary A Blueprint for Membership Recruiting Subject Matter: Type of Class: Seminar Logistics: Class participation: Length of Class: Number of Instructors: Audio Visuals: Evaluations of Participants: Lesson Plan Author(s): Membership Recruiting Seminar and Class Participation. Seminar: tables and chairs Open space (chairs and tables moved to the side of the class room). Seminar: 2 hours Class participation: 1-2 hours Seminar. 1 instructor Class participation: 1-2 instructors Easel By instructor and peers. Lesson plan formatted by W. J. Habshey, The American Legion Date: 1999
A Blueprint for Membership Recruiting Seminar Portion (two hours) I. Introduction (10 minutes) A. Attention Step: Left to individual instructor s ingenuity. B. Overview: Membership is the lifeblood of The American Legion Family. Whether you are Legion, Auxiliary or Sons, membership, both in terms of quantity and quality has a direct impact on increasing and maintaining our service to veterans and providing meaningful partnerships and support to their communities. Transition This is something that we all know. I am not going to waste anyone s time today discussing what we know has to be done. Talk is cheap as they say. Today we are going to discuss how to get from Point A to Point B...then from Point C to Point D and so on. We are going to talk about how you do membership recruiting as opposed to what needs to be done. We all know what needs to be done. C. Thesis: Today we will discuss: * The Nature of Proactive Membership Recruiting. * The Various Phases of Development. * Recruiting for the Unit. * The Organizational Meeting
II. Body (40 minutes) A. Main Point: The Nature of Proactive Membership Recruiting. Proactive membership recruiting is thinking outside the box. 1. It works because it is strategic, cohesive and flexible. (a.) Research, Planning, Execution, Follow up (b.) Based on your community. 2. It works because you are going to them - the potential new member - instead of sitting back and waiting for someone to knock on your door. 3. It works because you are going out and identifying new audiences from which to draw from. The results are long lasting. Your Post, Unit or SAL will be able to: 4. Increase service to veterans, their families and their communities. 5. Increase membership and stop the decline of membership. 6. Build a stronger membership base giving strength to our cause in protecting Veteran benefits. 7. Provide a strong American Legion Family, presence and influence in the local community. B. Main Point: Phases of Development 1. Site selection (identifying target areas). (a) New Units. A great place to start is with that newly developed Post. The Legion places Posts in: (1) Communities with no Post, population of 350 or more having a consolidated school or county seat. (2) Location where a Post Charter has been canceled. (3) Communities with a Post that has closed its membership. (4) Bedroom communities. (b) Revitalize Units. If a Post is already in place, look for these indicators to start or revitalize a Unit. (1) Units leadership that has lost vision/interest. (2) Units not holding scheduled meetings. (3) Units membership has declined at alarming rate. (4) The community is growing but Unit membership is declining. (5) Unit has no active programs.
2. Goals. (a) Determine the number of new recruited members or transfers required for Temporary Charter/Revitalization. (1) Check Department s requirements for membership application on a temporary Charter as they may vary from Department to Department. (2) Check with Department to see if another Charter or Revitalization effort is already underway in the area you have targeted. (b) Set time frame for Chartering or Revitalizing a Unit. (1) Check time of the year/community events/veteran activities. (2) Completion of this process should not exceed two months or 60 days from start to finish. 3. Site preparation (a) News releases (1) For use in local newspapers and neighborhood bulletins. (2) For broadcast use (radio, cable T.V. or PBC channels in your area). (3) Use in community bulletins (church, recreation centers). (4) Use in newsletters of other community base organizations/corporations. (b) Posters on bulletin boards making announcements of recruiting activity giving time, place, contact name and purpose for the proposed meeting. Special Note: Use posters anywhere there is a high traffic flow of people -- bowling alleys, barber ships, grocery stores, hardware stores, dry cleaners, city utilities payment offices. (c) Make arrangements for a recruiting station. Check grocery stores, post offices, barber shops, places with a high traffic flow, strip mall (Kmarts, Walmarts, food stores), bank lobby, hardware stores, quick-shop. (d) Locate a place for a monthly or organizational meeting. Check town hall, church annex, fire stations, library, bank building, community activities center, county office annex, township hall. Break (10 minutes)
C. Main Point: (30 minutes). Recruiting for the Unit 1. Recruiting Preparation (Utilize Basic Recruiting Materials). (a) Build a sales kit for success. (b) Be certain you are familiar with all your materials (tools) you are placing in your sales kit. Auxiliary at a Glance brochure Membership Applications Member Benefits information Auxiliary Magazine Junior Brochure How to Organize a Unit Area Map Leads listing 2. Running down your leads. Use national products (expired lists), Department and District products (past membership lists). (a) Use leads for making personal contact with all prospects, informing them of The Auxiliary Goals, utilizing the tools from your sales kit to assist you in this effort. (b) Provide prospects with information pertaining to the time, purpose and location of the unit s first/next organization meeting. (c) Show an interest in the prospect s views on subject material. Listen to the prospect; identify their view with the Auxiliary s views on subject material whenever possible. (d) Invite the prospect to join The Auxiliary, thus allowing them an opportunity to be recognized as one who has an involvement in their community and America s future, and of being on the team of winners, who are Still Serving America. (e) Assist the Prospect in becoming a member by offering to filling out an application for membership, noting the dues are only dollars. (You may want to compute this amount to a monthly dollar figure). (f) Upon completion of the application with signature, inform the applicant of the need to trade them a receipt for the annual dues amount. 3. Before you move on. When you complete the above action, thank the new member applicant. Once again provide information on time, purpose, and the location of the first/next meeting. Inform the new member of their membership card being issued at this meeting. 4. Ask for leads. Quiz the applicant for leads. Utilize any and all leads developed by these individuals. 5. Develop leads by working with other organizations in which you maintain a membership.
D. Main Point: (10 minutes). The Organizational Meeting 1. Contact all new members (by letter and phone) and inform them of the meeting. 2. Department Officers should be invited. 3. Contact leads who did not sign on during the recruiting effort. 4. Inform the membership of the duties of the Unit Officers. If possible, hold an election for Unit officers. 5. Inform the membership of Auxiliary benefits. 6. Set time and date for next meeting. 7. Cover information pertaining to projects the Unit can be involved with. III. Closing: Instructor s ingenuity. Today we discussed HOW to recruit members as opposed to lamenting on WHAT we should do when it comes to membership. We all know what to do...get more members! By addressing Proactive Membership Recruiting, the various phases of development of recruiting, recruiting for the Unit and setting up the organizational meeting, you have made an investment in securing a long time member for Auxiliary. The key is thinking outside the box. How do you get outside? Through proactive, personal contact..
Class Room Participation (1 to 2 hours) I. Introduction. II. Body A. Attention Step. Left to instructor s ingenuity. B. Overview: Now we are going to do a little on the job training. We will accomplish this by role playing. You have the easy part. You get to be the salesperson. A. The instructor asks the class to role play. They can be any type of potential member (new, current or expired). The instructor demonstrates to the audience how to make the sale. B. The instructor then switches roles and has students make the sale to him or her. (1) The student gets at least two minutes to get thoughts together before they start. (2) After five minutes the instructor and class reviews how the person did, pointing out strengths and areas for improvements. C. The instructor has one of the better salespersons in the class work a sale with fellow members. III. Closing: The purpose of this exercise was to get you to think in terms like a salesperson and to strengthen your ability to recruit for the Auxiliary.