Auntie ABATE / “Cuz” Report

Dear “Cuz”,

This just happened at our meeting in March. Someone that has been attending our meetings and showing up for poker runs, bringing other riders with him for years, who knows everyone by name just became a new member ABATE of WI. Now I’ve been a member for nearly 20 years, and I had no idea that he wasn’t one of our long-time weathered members. When questioned he said, “No one ever asked me.”

Sincerely,

Just Floored

Dear Floored,

Well pshawkrev (sp) & bless your heart! I bet that there are a lot of people out there that really do support our mission of motorcycle rights and safety, but no one has ever asked them to join.

Everyone LISTEN UP! If anyone ever wonders into a meeting or event it is your job as an ABATE member to help them feel welcome and engage them in conversation. Ask them if they are a member. If they are not, invite them to stay for the meeting or the event and let them know you can help them join if they wish to. It is not just the job of the Regional Rep. It is everyone’s job. It is OUR job. A tiny effort from you today could make a huge difference to ABATE of Wisconsin in the future.

The secret to membership growth is not selling memberships and then ignoring the people that bought them. The secret of membership growth is to cherish and develop the members you have and keep them with you. Many of you “get” this and hang with this organization through thick and thin. You are the members that are the “experts”. Use your knowledge of ABATE of Wisconsin, your knowledge of the event you are at, your knowledge of who is who, and share that knowledge with those that are just starting out. The more a member knows about us, the more reasons they will have to stay with us and be more involved. In short, what I’m saying is grab the “kids” and “introduce them to the family”.  Every year ABATE of Wisconsin takes in a ton of new members… and every year we lose about half that ton. We lose them because none of us took the time and made the effort to get them engaged. Shame on us. We are very good at many things… we are awesome at some things… and we are the best in the country at a couple of things… but retaining new membership isn’t one of our best skills, and we better all start working together to get better at it.

Carry on,

“Cuz”