Committee Membership

Food For Thought - For our next meeting. 

These eight-member benefit ideas are ones I use when reviewing and or supporting a sustainable association growth strategy

The items starred/highlighted we do not currently have or utilize the best we can yet: 

1. Online Member Community

2. Flexible Online Learning and Certifications (*)

3. Mentoring Programs (*)

4. Members-Only Job Boards (*)

5. Virtual Events 

6. Directories (WIP)

7. Volunteering Programs (WIP)

8. Exclusive, Industry-Specific Offers (*)

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Anne Sawyer
Executive Director
90 Minds, Inc.
CA
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Sage has #2 and they do a pretty good job with it.

With respect to #3 mentoring I’ll be candid - for a period of time we matched people up with new members. I reached out to maybe two or three via email and never heard a peep. I’m not sure any of those people ever showed up online either.

I’m just not interested in chasing people to see what “makes them tick” with regards to membership

So I’m either a really bad mentor ( likely ), all my email went to spam or there is some other reason those folks paid to join but didn’t participate ( maybe replaced a departing staff member ? )

For mentoring it’s almost like you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink….

I think #4 job boards is a great thought although it may rub the larger members the wrong way —- why bring in more members from their firm only to allow them to find another job..

Some days I think I’m the only one in the group who actively uses the community for obtaining second opinions on isv solutions and how happy customers are with the solutions 1+ year down the road. I feel like this is just a huge customer/ member opportunity. Surveys, feedback / especially when the feedback is on anonymous web stuff ( the actual source can be anonymized but we should know it’s a valid member/customer who provided the info )

Also, we are in a new era where customers who are remaining in Sage 100 are increasingly multi-channel. They sell the traditional way ( through customer invoices ), through their website, through marketplaces and through Amazon ( really a marketplace but probably deserving of a category of their own ). It seems like some type of special interest group to formulate best practices would be of great value.

I know my customers don’t always want to spend the thousands on EDI or custom web programming and are curious about how other companies manage different sales channels as they grow.

For the longevity of the group we definitely need a focus on things the publishers can’t offer themselves otherwise members will just log into something like Sage City and ask questions. We also need to provide something the BPAC level orgs can’t or they won’t send more than one or two people to the group.





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Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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Hi Wayne - Thank you so much for this  - I am making notes of all of it.  

I would love to add some of these to our agenda for our next meeting.  I agree we need to meet a need that is not being offered in other places or at the very least provides supplemental support.   90 Minds Community is such a great foundation and I think we have much to work with there in terms of intentional engagement (of which you are the leader for sure) and networking with either technical issues or just feedback, business development and marketing, etc.  

Here are some considerations based on your feedback.   

#1 ISV Recommendations 

#2 Special Interests/Professional Development Groups (Best Practices and this could actually fit nicely with a mentorship model)

#3 Outreach/Due Diligence (Management of Different Sales Channels)

#4 BPAC Level Org Potential Collaboration Benefits

Thanks so much!​​​​

------------------------------
Anne Sawyer
Executive Director
90 Minds, Inc.
CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-18-2021 10:26
From: Wayne Schulz
Subject: Top Ten Association Benefits for 2021

Sage has #2 and they do a pretty good job with it.

With respect to #3 mentoring I'll be candid - for a period of time we matched people up with new members. I reached out to maybe two or three via email and never heard a peep. I'm not sure any of those people ever showed up online either.

I'm just not interested in chasing people to see what "makes them tick" with regards to membership

So I'm either a really bad mentor ( likely ), all my email went to spam or there is some other reason those folks paid to join but didn't participate ( maybe replaced a departing staff member ? )

For mentoring it's almost like you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink….

I think #4 job boards is a great thought although it may rub the larger members the wrong way -- why bring in more members from their firm only to allow them to find another job..

Some days I think I'm the only one in the group who actively uses the community for obtaining second opinions on isv solutions and how happy customers are with the solutions 1+ year down the road. I feel like this is just a huge customer/ member opportunity. Surveys, feedback / especially when the feedback is on anonymous web stuff ( the actual source can be anonymized but we should know it's a valid member/customer who provided the info )

Also, we are in a new era where customers who are remaining in Sage 100 are increasingly multi-channel. They sell the traditional way ( through customer invoices ), through their website, through marketplaces and through Amazon ( really a marketplace but probably deserving of a category of their own ). It seems like some type of special interest group to formulate best practices would be of great value.

I know my customers don't always want to spend the thousands on EDI or custom web programming and are curious about how other companies manage different sales channels as they grow.

For the longevity of the group we definitely need a focus on things the publishers can't offer themselves otherwise members will just log into something like Sage City and ask questions. We also need to provide something the BPAC level orgs can't or they won't send more than one or two people to the group.





---------------------------------
Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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