Congratulations on Your Appointment!
YOU are now on NUCA’s Recruitment & Retention Committee! I attended the committee meeting at NUCA’s Fall Leadership Conference and if you weren’t present, I nominated you to be on the committee. You’re welcome! Your nomination to perhaps THE most important committee — the committee that helps NUCA grow — was unanimously approved (imagine wild applause, confetti, etc.). Alex Kocher, the Recruitment & Retention Committee chairman, is excited to have so many new members. Recruitment is truly everyone’s responsibility, and the data shows that new members join when asked by a current NUCA member.
During the committee meeting, Kenneth Sommer, NUCA’s director of Chapter Development, conducted a very helpful “mini-workshop” with tips to help ALL OF US recruit and grow our chapters’ memberships. Ken gave some great examples of how we can use our experiences where NUCA helped relieve a common headache or cooled a common hot button issue — related to advocacy, safety, education and training, workforce development and other member services — to recruit new members. He also reminded us to emphasize the power of local and national networking during NUCA events that provide us with the opportunity to relate experiences and share inspiration, ideas and, of course, some great laughs with our fellow NUCA members. Don’t be afraid to use the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) tactic — let a prospective member know what they are missing!
Recruitment materials abound. Your chapter’s executive director has access to published, formal materials that can assist you. You may not even need formal recruitment materials. You may already have information from NUCA in your email or your NUCA files. The Recruitment and Retention Committee meeting helped me strategize on how to recruit three prospective members for NUCA of Nebraska.
- Hot Button Issue Approach. The contractor likes politics. I plan to give him a copy of one of Will Brown’s Political Insider emails, show him our Washington Summit brochure, relate the value of NUCA’s advocacy efforts and invite him to be a part of the process.
- Headache Approach. The contractor recently experienced a nasty utility hit that wasn’t entirely his company’s fault. I will be speaking with him about NUCA of Nebraska’s recent progress relating to our state’s one-call law and giving him a brochure that details NUCA’s Damage Prevention and Claims Avoidance Program.
- FOMO Approach. The equipment supplier is a new branch location of a NUCA National Partner Program member. I will use the Utility Contractor Membership Directory Issue to show them the company’s other branch location members and their local competitors who are already members. I will be sure to have a list of all the state and national NUCA events that they are missing by not being a part of the association.
Also during the meeting, we reviewed the TEAM NUCA recognition programs for recruiters. Kudos to TEAM NUCA members Jim Kissick (Kissick Construction, NUCA of Greater Kansas City), Warren Graves (Team Fishel, NUCA of North Texas) and Jeff Hughes (United Rentals, NUCA of Greater Kansas City) who, as of this writing are atop the TEAM NUCA leader board! If you’d like more information about how to be a part of TEAM NUCA, visit NUCA’s website at www.nuca.com.
Our strategic plan goals do not focus us on getting to a certain number of members, but rather on programs that deliver value and results. New membership (recruitment) and membership renewal (retention) will naturally follow. It’s already working. Our membership has increased by 400 members from this time just two years ago, and we can continue to grow with YOUR help.
If each current member asks just ONE prospective member to join and just one-third of us were successful, we’d grow our membership by roughly 500 and surpass the 2,000-member mark! Please join me in the effort to make this happen. How much progress can we make by March 6, the start of NUCA’s 2018 Annual Convention in San Antonio?
Identify your prospects, prepare your materials and go for it … and always be #NUCAproud!
