This may come as a shock to some of you, but IAEI members, not IAEI staff, are responsible for recruiting and signing up new IAEI members. IAEI staff us responsible for providing the best possible services to IAEI members.
I have been in the association management field for over 25 years, and it never ceases to amaze me how many association members don’t realize that part of their obligation as a member is to go recruit new members to the association. This is not unique to IAEI, it is a misconception across all associations that the staff is responsible for recruiting new members.
The IAEI staff is here to provide its members with the tools and assets to recruit new members, such as the newly updated membership application you will find in this magazine, along with the list of member benefits. You may not realize how much influence you have on your peers when it comes to promoting an IAEI membership to a friend, coworker or colleague. You come into contact with multiple electrical professionals on a regular basis who will gladly take 2 minutes out of their day to hear about IAEI. But you must start the conversation.
I have heard, “But I am not a salesman/saleswoman” many times from our IAEI and other association members. Guess what, you don’t need to be! All you need is your voice and honesty. So let me give you a perfect sales pitch based upon what we believe are the value-added propositions that IAEI offers that IAEI offers: Career advancement, belonging to a diverse family of electrical professionals, IAEI training and IAEI Publications.
Approach a colleague or coworker holding the latest edition of the IAEI print magazine:
“Hey there how are you doing? Do you have a second? Hey, have you ever heard of IAEI? Well, I have been a member of IAEI for ___ years and I can tell you from personal experience that joining IAEI as a member is probably the best career decision I ever made. They have the absolute best electrical training taught by the leading electrical professionals in the world and these training courses are offered at the regular chapter and division meetings that I attend. They also have the very best publication in the industry. Finally, and I am completely honest, I would not have the career I have today if it weren’t for IAEI and the opportunity to network with so many highly respected professional IAEI members from all segments of the electrical industry. Here, take this IAEI magazine that we get free 4 times a year. There’s an application in there you can fill out and mail in or you can join online. Feel free to list me as your IAEI sponsor member and if you just want to attend the next meeting to check it out first just let me know and you can go as my guest.”
That’s it. It’s really that simple to recruit new IAEI members. I am willing to bet if every one of our 8250 members tried this on 4 different people per year, we would gain at least 1000 new members. But it’s up to you, the member to take the initiative. And why wouldn’t you want others to enjoy all the benefits that you have enjoyed as an IAEI member. Share the wealth, please.
