It was a busy couple of days at the ASAE 2016 in Salt Lake City. Here’s a quick recap of topics, conversations and fun stuff that happened at YourMembership’s booth #605 and the event. For more insights, observations updates, go to @jpguilbault and @yourmembership on Twitter!
At the booth
Pokémon Go and bacon! What a combination, and what more could you ask for? Attendees loved the five varieties of bacon being cooked and served at our booth. The idea was to play off of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon parlor game (Kevin and The Bacon Brothers rocked the event Monday night!), and show them that in keeping up with technology shifts, there’s now only one click—not six—to effectively connect with members.
While attendees noshed on the bacon, we helped them find legendary Pokémon hanging out at iconic and historical sites from around the globe. And the selfie sticks were a hit. Who doesn’t love a good selfie with a Pokémon!
Let’s not forget, though, some real business, as booth visitors also took in fully-functional demos of SocialLink, a game-changing social networking platform integrated to an association’s membership management software. Everyone was blown away by its features and functionality. We’ll share more about their reactions and feedback in the coming days!
Watercooler conversations
If there’s one thing you can count on at our booth, it’s plenty of good shop talk. Collaborative file sharing with popular tools was a particularly trendy topic. We hit on its importance in regard to work efficiency and best tackling the shifts in technology.
Connected systems using APIs was another hot conversation. Essentially, people want their systems to talk to each other. They are tired of having siloed technologies and separate data. Consider that one of the most challenging issues associations deal with on a daily basis is leveraging current membership data and getting members to update their information. When a member registers for an event like ASAE, that data should update their member record. But disperse systems don’t allow for that.
Selling to Associations
Finally, YM CEO JP Guilbault moderated a panel discussion for technology vendors that focused on selling to associations. The talk really came down to stressing the importance of creating a relationship with associations and starting them with physical, face-to-face experiences.
If you really want to gain an association’s trust, you don’t start the conversation with an email. Start by understanding their mission. Create micro-moments that give a positive emotional response. Surprise and delight your customers.
One of the biggest challenges that associations face is getting them to move quickly. They are conscientious of their own personal brand. The best way for them to build for the future fast is to embrace their goals and identity in a sincere and personal manner.
In that vein, here’s our top 3 do’s and don’ts when selling to associations:
- Don’t sell
- Don’t treat them all the same
- Don’t apply pressure
Instead,
- Do take time to first get to know the individuals
- Do find out how they want to interact with you
- Do not leave them after the sale; the sale is still on until the customer has implemented and adapted
There you have it. A busy two days of fun and productive conversations on the floor of ASAE 2016. Keep track of what’s happening by visiting #ASAE16, @yourmembership and @jpguilbault on Twitter. And look right here for more updates and industry thoughts coming out of Salt Lake.
