Want to learn how to experience extraordinary growth when it comes to you association's membership sales? Listen in to this week's episode as JP Moery divulges five proven ways that you can do just that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery's Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP's mission is to arm today's associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here's JP.

Today the topic is membership growth. I'll give you two examples of trade associations that have experienced record membership growth during our time working together. They have more members than ever before! I'm going to give you a couple of tactics that I hope you find helpful.

Here's the first thing that they did: they intentionally decided to engage non-members. There was intentional programming that put an emphasis on recruitment. It was not a focus for them. No one owned it. The association had this view of, "Oh, everybody's involved in membership." They've made specific tactical changes to focus on membership recruitment and put together programs intentionally designed to recruit more members.

Secondly: they took specific advocacy campaigns and used the urgency of those as membership leverage. Here was their theme: things are happening and you're not going to know what is happening, therefore, your company could get swamped when this new regulation or legislation occurs. They took those advocacy campaigns and made them membership campaigns, because after all, what is one of the main parts of the value proposition? It's government relations. Why don't you take those advocacy and government relations situations and turn them and leverage them into membership opportunities?

The third thing they did was use members only meetings and events and use them to showcase the organization's during their Super Bowl. They recognized that this was a onetime deal so they would say, "Hey, I've got a special invitation to invite you to this members only meeting. But, frankly, I need to reserve it only for companies that are serious about joining the organization." This tells them that you're serious about your membership and you also set a standard of, "Hey, this isn't for everyone. It's only for the people who are going to join, or are really seriously considering it. We're just not giving these comps out just to drive up registration numbers." It worked extremely well, and continues to, for organizations that are willing to draw the line between members and non-members. Access to services, registration, valuable programming and content, or not.

The fourth thing that both of these associations did was to draw a clear line between members and non-members. Sometimes I hear, "Well, we really need this non-member company's feedback on this issue, or their views on this, because they're such a big company. We really need their insights." With that perspective, we need them more than they need us. Do you think that large company ever joins? They never do. Why? Because, when there's a big industry thing that's happening, they're still going to go to that big company and go, "Oh, well, you please help us?" That association, in effect, is in a one down position. They are never able to recruit some of the big players in the industry and they scratch their head as to why. Instead, "Hey, there is a big issue going on. We're moving forward without you. I wish it wasn't the case, your feedback would be valuable, but that's the way it's going to be in this situation.

On this week's episode, JP Moery covers the three steps to sponsorship success: learning about the program, developing the sales infrastructure, and initiating the direct sales campaign.

Learn how The Moery Company helped a small event triple it's sponsorship revenue in one year by applying those three steps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery's Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP's mission is to arm today's associations with insight and strategy to thrive and a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here's JP.

Hi, it's JP Moery! Today's topic: sponsorship sales.

I want to tell you a real-life story about incredible growth at a small event. The reason why I want to use a small meeting as the example is because I can really showcase the fundamentals that went into this process that enabled a small program to become quite successful.

For those of you that may have diminutive budgets and programs, I'm going to show you a path for growth. You can also implement this for your larger sponsorship efforts, too.

Here's the step by step process. Then the results.

We meet with the client as the first step in the process and we built industry awareness during a series of one to two meetings. We have a briefing on the event: a general description of the sponsorship ecosystem, the prospectus, the price points, the ability to negotiate (or not), and review the sponsorship inventory. Secondly, we work to differentiate this meeting from the others that the association had, or other sponsorship availabilities, within the industry that could be made available to them. We talk about the audience that they’re going to reach with this specific, focused event. What kind of business development environment is there? Are people actually doing business, speaking to each other, and doing deals?  We want to know that. We also address the benefits of signing up as a sponsor early in the process for branding reasons such as mentions on social media, and things like that. I like to emphasize that if you sign up early, you're going to get all kind of earned promotion as people are starting to register, as they're looking at the program, as they see your logo on the conference website, and more.  I want to make sure that we emphasize the value of signing up early. And then finally, we discuss an administrative launch for the program. What happens with invoicing? What are the standard operating procedures once we get a contract? Who does it go to? Any and all kind of discussions around fulfillment and what the client wants us to do. An industry awareness session, or series of meetings, really gives us the necessary details about the sponsorship program and the event.

The second step is building a sales infrastructure. This is really important. We know that without a good sales infrastructure the likelihood to be successful, and actually grow the program, is going to be very difficult. We upload prospects into The Moery Company's CRM and determine key accounts, or the most valuable prospects to sell to. We also determine any "do not call" list priorities, "Hey, the association will take on these two accounts because they're a premier partner and they have a full year long partnership program and marketing effort that we need to be familiar with." Then, we develop talking points for our emails, voicemails, and any phone sales appointments that we may have. This allows us to be consistent when we go to market for the client and have consistent responses to certain questions.

Many associations are reevaluating their business models and focusing on optimizing their membership dues structures. Specifically, the associations that have 50% or more of their revenue coming in from membership dues.

The Moery Company has helped dozens of associations re-build their business models starting with the restructuring of membership dues. Here's what we've learned and how you can start the process at your association for better membership and non-dues revenues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery's Association Hustle Podcast, president of The Moery Company, JP's mission is to arm today's associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at the core. Here's JP.

Hi folks, today's episode is all about membership dues re-setting and membership category modernizations. Many associations now are addressing their business model. When 50%, or more, of the revenue comes from membership dues, looking at your membership dues structure and member categories is a logical place to start. I've got several observations, based on the now dozens of these projects that we've done, and recommended steps that you can take to do the same.

First, I want to address the mindset needed to come up with the optimum, or the best, model for your organization. It isn't just a dues review, it's really a business analysis. The way you tug or pull on your dues model, or a membership category, may affect the overall engagement that your members have with the institution in your organization. There are three key areas that we've used in our reviews to come up with the optimum business models. Things that board of directors and executive staffs are willing to navigate and come up with a new system. I really believe that this modernization and adaptation of these business models is very important. I have seen, in the past, organizations change their dues models every five to ten years when they can get away with it and they want to pass the resolution before everybody breaks for the golf tournament. What I'm talking about here is a more thoughtful process.

Start with a quantitative review of your membership data. It will look like this: renewal rates by membership category, dive into your non-renewals, and review the impact of mergers and acquisitions on your organization. Secondly, look at the distribution of dues by member company so you can see how many small members you have compared to the largest organizations and how they affect, and what kind of percentage they take up, of the overall membership revenue that comes into your organization. Then look at non-dues revenue participation to see the total business involvement in your association. This is really important with your associates, or your allied members. While they may not be paying a lot of dues, for example, they may be investing a lot of money into your sponsorship program and as a result they're putting more money into the organization than the core members are. Then look at other programs, or participation. What's the percentage of people showing up to meetings and events? How many folks are participating in committees? You're going to get a real good idea of what the membership engagement is. Don't forget to do the same thing with allied members. What I'm starting to see is a real opportunity to adjust the membership model for them and deliver more value and get better participation. So, that's the quantitative review.

Second, interview members in different membership categories in face-to-face interviews.

Developing a membership plan is not complicated, however, it takes work. Take a listen to this week's episode for tips on how to get started, whether you're starting from scratch or have been in the industry for a while, to reboot your membership plan for a successful 2020 and beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery's Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP's mission is to arm today's associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. 21st century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core.

Here's JP.

Today's episode of Association Hustle is focused on membership growth. The ideas that I'm going to set forth are four steps with several steps within those. It's the exact way that we launch a new project to sell memberships with our association clients. These steps are very scalable for most organizations. These steps work whether you're starting out or if you need to evaluate your process again to make it a little bit better. Or, if you've been in the game for a long time, you need to reset.

First, we're going to go through what I would call an association briefing. I want you to be really candid about these points. One, why should companies join your association? Second, compile specific circumstances of when you helped companies in each part of your value proposition. Let's say it's business development and networking, advocacy, and maybe education and training. Then, you need a testimonial from a member about how you help them and what happened when you did. The reason why they do not join is the third thing. Why are they not a participant in your organization? This is just as important to know as why they do join. And lastly, know your business model and dues model and get really specific about what works and what doesn’t.

The second point is really important that you should not skim over it: data collection. Your data sets should include the names of the companies to contact, both with digital and face-to-face marketing, email addresses of multiple people within that ecosystem that might be decision makers, and their titles. This information is absolutely critical to the sales process. Because, more and more, I no longer see the situation where it's just one person making the call, it's multiple people. Then, I want you to get really narrow. Identify the ten largest, or most strategic, companies that you would like to recruit in the next year. Look at your contact sheet, your relationships within that organization, and see where it's really robust and gives you a chance to be successful. The third step within data collection: companies you don't know, but should join, based on your value proposition and your experiences in regulations, advocacy, networking, in education, and other areas of your value proposition. The companies that you need to get in touch with, that you don't have on the list now, that you'd like to attract. However, reach out only if they fit into your value proposition and you can move the needle for them in those critical areas.

The third part is the sales plan. What are the key issues, based on your plan, for the association and what you're going to execute? What are the key issues to promote the association within this calendar year? Develop regular e-mail and communications campaigns about those key issues. Reach out at least once a month. Develop a plan to utilize live and in person events or webinars. How are you going to leverage when people get together? And,

Are you an association executive of a small- to mid-sized organization? If so, give this episode a listen. There are several factors that will cause a change in your organization in the next couple of years. Make those adjustments now and reap the benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

On today's episode I'd like to chat with you about forces of change and decisions that association executives are going to have to make over the next several years. In particular, I want to focus on associations that are around five million dollars or less. I think it's going to be very tough to be a highly effective association in the way that many of your industry leaders expect. In this environment, you may have less resources than some of the other associations. You're going to need to be differentiated and special in one particular area. Too many medium and small sized associations want to act big and cover the issues that larger organizations and what they end up doing is watering down what makes them special: the ability to navigate, move quickly, be specific, and be niche. Those forces are going to enable you to differentiate your organization.

Your members are likely going to have other organizations they can join as a primary member, a core member, or an industry supplier. They have a lot of places where they can get value from. Association executives need to focus on all of the change that's happening in terms of industry disruption, mergers and acquisitions, pressure on medium and small businesses, and the bottom-line. We're going to need to make these changes now because now things are going well. There's going to be a winter, it's going to come, and we need to be prepared and ready so that medium and small organization can survive the future.

Look for mergers or acquisitions to make in the association space. I go to a lot of board meetings, I was just speaking at one yesterday, and the board members always ask me, “Hey, are there other organizations we should merge with or we should acquire? Events that we should combine?” They always ask me that. However, I rarely get that feedback or that question from the association executive. I think maybe they like the Washington DC reception circuit too much. They collaborate and work in coalitions with other organizations. They don't want to infringe upon them. Let me tell you what, the members of the organizations that are paying multiple memberships and different associations, they're asking the question more than the steward of the association. That needs to shift.

We've got to face the talent competition and the forces of change that are facing the workforce. Here's what I mean by that: I would really look at the willingness to outsource some key functions if I'm a medium to small sized association. Things that you may not have been willing to outsource before: accounting, membership, sales and marketing, meeting and event planning, and even possibly some regulatory or government affairs relationships and programs. Adopt telecommuting and other ways to get and keep the best people. You may not have the resources and the budget to pay top-of-the-line salary for many of your employees, however, they may be looking for more flexibility. They may not want to drive in from Manassas to K Street. You may not be able to compete on salary, big brand, and an office on K Street. Use this to your advantage and be nimbler and be willing to adjust your workforce program. Some of the very best folks that have incredible experience are willing to do that for you if you're more flexible with their time and where they need to be on a daily basis.

Next, industry consolidation may force you to modernize yo...

 

At the beginning of the year, your association usually has a handful of top prospects that you want to bring into your association. And, there's a reason for that. They bring in prestige, brand, and influence in your government relations activities. They have lots of people that can participate in your meetings, conventions, and non-dues revenue efforts. They’re also likely to be in your top revenue category for membership. It makes a lot of sense. This week we talk about tips to "catch the big fish" and when to let the prospective fish go.

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hi, it's JP Moery.

I know that, at the beginning of the year, you usually have top prospects, some large multinational conglomerates, that you want to bring into your association. And, there's a reason for that. They bring in prestige, brand, and maybe influence in your government relations activities. They have lots of people that can participate in your meetings, conventions, and non-dues revenue efforts. They’re also likely to be in your top revenue category for membership. It makes a lot of sense.

I'm a big fan of taking on strategic initiatives to bring in these big companies. My belief is that it has to be done a little bit differently because they haven't joined up until now and, frankly, they usually need a certain strategy or a certain set of tactics that are a different than the normal mid-cap or small businesses that you're recruiting into the organization. They need that because they're joining for a different reason than some of those smaller entities. So, I've got some tips for you and I also have some things that I may recommend that you avoid.

First, identify the top 10 membership prospects for the year, by size. This doesn't mean you're not going to get another 50 in other areas but get those top 10 key accounts. The reason why I want you to focus on it is because these take more time, resources, and thought. I want to separate them out as a separate initiative and I have found that 10 is a pretty good number. If you get larger than that you start to lose your focus and you're not able to implement as well. The first thing that you do with each one of those members is determine what key problems, or opportunities, your association could solve for them. That's going to require some research and some thought. It’s going to require checking out their website, looking at their financials to see what challenges they might have, it may involve looking at statements from their CEO or other leaders about things that are important to them. Things like sustainability, workforce, industry image, or whatever it might be. Look for areas where your association connects on those issues. That's absolutely important. Why? Because they haven't bought into the idea that joining your association is a good idea for them. Participating in industry associations, attending conventions, and the CEO joining the board of directors is obviously not that compelling to them. Normal association recruitment tactics just haven't worked. This is why we've got to be able to connect with them on a particular issue that you can help them solve. Okay?

Connect with an existing member that you have that had a similar problem. Let's say it's workforce development. You helped solve their workforce issues by some public/private partnerships, or whatever. Collect that story. We need to show this prospect an example of how we helped a similar company on the same issue. Then, develop your list of potential leaders to communicate about this membership opportunity. Here's what I've found over time: so many of our association lists don't go into a great deal of bench strength. We've got one or two contacts at the company but we really, in my view,

Associations are outsourcing work and will be out sourcing even more in the years to come. Listen in as JP Moery taps into 30 years of being on both sides of the equation and provides six best practice tips for building and managing relationships for associations and consultants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hello, and welcome to JP Moery's Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP's mission is to arm today's associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here's JP.

Today I've got some tips for associations and consultants alike: how to manage your relationship.

In my 30 year career in the association and consulting space, I've spent almost equal time being the client (the association) and the consultant. I’ve got insights and perspectives that I’d like to share with you.

The following six things might be helpful for you in managing these relationships better, and in a more productive way, in the year ahead.

First, tell the consultant the real reason you're considering them. Why do you need their help? Too often the client talks in circles about why they need help or making up excuses as to why the association needs the help. And, in fact, I think it's empowering for the consultant, and very helpful, to know exactly the reason why they're being asked to be involved in this project, including, "I just don't want to do this." I've got a guy who mows my lawn every week. I can make up a bunch of reasons, however, the fundamental reason is: I don't want to do it. Go ahead and tell that consultant, and be very transparent, about the reason why you've asked them to become involved.

Second tip I've got for you: let the consulting firm do it. Fully. If you don't want to do it in the first place then you're probably not very good at it anyway. Let the professionals do it. I have had more mistakes happen because the expert, or the specialist, wasn't doing the work. Or, the client wouldn't allow the consultant to actually do what they hired them to do. It's unproductive, it's a waste of the consultant’s time and, frankly, it's a waste of the association's money. Hire them and then get out of the way.

The third thing that is productive is this: give the consultant the chance to get off the hook during the sales process. Ask them the following questions, "What is a red flag in terms of this project that I've described for you? Is there anything that's unreasonable or that I might not have right that you need to tell me about now?" Give that consultant the chance to answer that question.

I'll give you an example that I used to see in membership recruitment all the time, "Hey, Moery Company! Hey, JP! We want you to sell membership for us."

Fantastic! We're going to do it! Man, I'm fired up!

“Okay, tell me about the program right now and how we can help!”

"Well, we recruited five new members last year and we've got a new chairman. We've got a lot of people that are in this industry that we don't have as members. We want to recruit 5000 new members this year. It's a special program and initiative. We're calling it Project 5000." The numbers may be a bit expanded, however, it's pretty close to the truth of what a client told us during a sales call. That may sound crazy, yet, the consultant may not tell you that that because they don't want to jeopardize getting the business from you. I advise our association clients to ask the consultant this question, "Hey, this is what we think the project is about and ...

JP Moery shares his top three productivity hacks for the new year featuring advice from Andy Frisella, Kseniya Martin, and Tim Ferriss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery's Association Hustle Podcast. President of The Moery Company, JP's mission is to arm today's associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here's JP.

For today's podcast I have three productivity hacks that I've received from other individuals that have helped me tremendously and I want to give them credit.

The first is the Power 5 List from Andy Frisella, who has the MFCEO Project Podcast that I learn a great deal from. By the way, you should go download some of those episodes, they're very profane but I think very focused and very motivational. Five things that no matter what your schedule is or what you have in place or the number of meetings that you might have... What are the five things that you should do every day no matter what? And if you do all five, it's a win. Let me give you my Power 5 as an example.

*  Work out.

*  Bible study and a 10 minute meditation. I have found meditation and Bible study so helpful to me.

*  Thank you notes. I write one to at least one person a day.

*  Twenty contacts with clients or prospects about the company or opportunities that we see and to do business together.

*  Tell my family that I love them.

Those are the five things that, no matter what happens and I do those five things, it's been a good day. I also write down, in my journal, those five things. Did I finish them or not? And, if I did, that means that day was a win.

The second productivity hack is selecting a theme for 2020, or a theme for the new year. I got this from our Communications Director, Kseniya Martin. I found it to be so helpful that I've already developed my theme for 2020 and I'll tell you about it in a few moments. But first I want to give you a little context on what this all means. Pick one word that will be your theme, your North Star, or a specific focus for the year or a select time frame ahead. The word, or theme, can be focus, motivate, sober, prey, health, action, lead, etc. One-word themes that will become the filter and stay at the top of your mind and dictate your activity, your program, your priorities, your action. And it will from year to year.

As an example, my focus is on business.

Over the last ten years I've spent much of my time in the business: selling, doing client work, working on things inside of the business instead of on the business. And now, as The Moery Company goes into its next decade, it's really important for me to work on the business. That means working at our pricing structure, looking at new services, considering collaboration or partnerships, or buying new companies, dropping or renewing new clients, communicating the culture to our team, making sure that we have the right people on the bus and in the right seats. Much of my focus in 2020 is going to be on business. Now, that doesn't mean that I won't still be doing some of this client work or I won't be doing some proposals or working with my colleague Mike Thomas on some of those things. But be clear, the theme is on business in 2020, at least for JP Moery. So, what's your theme? Make it an action word if possible.

The third, and final item, is conducting a calendar audit. I received this from Tim Ferriss from his Tools of Titan's book. First,

Associations are thinking about their competition more than ever, however, their biggest competition is now the internet. And it's not going away. You don’t have to do it all when it comes to competing in the digital age but you have to do it. And you have to do it at scale. Listen in as JP Moery provides insights into how The Moery Company has been able to scale content and the effort's impact on the bottom line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery's Association Hustle Podcast. President of the Moery Company, JP's mission is to arm today's associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here's JP.

I'm going to talk about competition. Oh, baby, I love to compete. And I know your associations are thinking about competition more than ever before.

Let's talk about competing in a digital world, especially in the area of communications. I got news for you: this internet thing is not going away.  It's the biggest deal since the printing press. The iPhone is the new television. You can broadcast live right now, if you want to. Associations need to capture that kind of feel.

This new digital age of communication is set up for organic, new, fast-moving, and authentic communications. It means you have no choice but to do it. And you have to do it at scale; that's the challenge that many of our organizations run into. We're used to controlled, stay-on-message, respond, chain of command, and it's almost like those characteristics are the antithesis of communicating in today's digital world. So, that's the challenge for our associations.

People are on their phone all the time; they can broadcast immediately. Think about the power of going to Capitol Hill with your members and doing Facebook Live about their experiences. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to hear a member say something a little bit different than what you might expect? Yeah? But the upside is you're showing value in real time. That's what's really important. So, my challenge to you is, loosen the rope. Give yourself some bandwidth to innovate, to experiment, to try some new things, to do some live videos, to start a podcast. Launch it this year. Launch it now!

I've got so many association clients that are wringing their hands about email open rates, wringing their hands about a newsletter, wringing their hands about a magazine and the business model behind it. Yet they have no live video, they don't have a YouTube channel, they don't have a podcast. Man, they're looking backwards! The ability to look forward is really what the opportunity is of embracing this new methodology.

By the way, here's the other part of this: we're talking about reaching the member of the future, reaching the members of our association that may be coming up the management ranks right now. They're not thinking about, "Man, the magazine's late!" They're thinking, "Oh my gosh, what are they doing on all these new platforms?!" That's what they're looking for. If you want to get new demographics, if you want to get new members, if you want to meet the up-and-coming folks that are in your industry... Believe me, they're on mobile. Believe me, they're on digital. Believe me they're on audio. That's where they are and if you want to reach them, that's where you need to put your content. That's my simple perspective.

Let me give you a story about our company. About two to three years ago we started live video, we started podcasting, we started blogging at scale.

Associations don’t need to tell their stories, they need to tell their members' stories! This episode explores the three types of stories you should be telling about how your association helps you members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to JP Moery's Association Hustle Podcast. President of the Moery Company, JP's mission is to arm today's associations with insight and strategy to thrive in a progressively complex and competitive business landscape. Twenty-first century associations must move forward with a little bit of hustle and revenue development at their core. Here's JP.

Association storytelling... it sounds like that's a session at some ASAE convention! I'm going to give you a little bit of my perspective. The associations need to tell their members' story more. I realize that's more work. You've got to capture that content. A lot of the association communication, even about their value proposition, even about the success stories of the organization is more about the association rather than the members. And, what I'm finding increasingly around membership development, it's the stories that members have that are most important for the organization.

So, let me give you a couple of examples. And, by the way, I think this is a fantastic opportunity in the digital communication's Internet 2.0 world, or whatever the heck we're in right now! It's built for this kind of organic, rough, authentic type of communication. Which is, by the way, what you're going to get from your association members. So, as an example, I have a story from a member about how they've been affected by a regulatory issue and how an association helped them. I use this example often, because it's true and it happened, association member prospect had a problem they didn't even know existed about a regulation in California. They had product that was going to be illegal to sell to consumers in that state. They didn't know about it until the association made them familiar with it. That was an easy sell once they were aware of it, once they knew the association was monitoring the situation and, in fact, they were negotiating with the regulatory body about some of the provisions in this regulation. Oh my God, that association prospect signed up right away. So that's the kind of information or storytelling that we need.

Education. If you have an educational or training program worth its salt, I know that you have individuals that could tell a story about how it made them a better executive. How they became a better executive made their company better, more profitable, more innovative, more relevant in the industry. That's the thing that's missing in the educational storytelling that might be valuable to your industry and, not only your prospective members, but your existing members because they're the people that buy the training and the educational programming the most.

Finally, I want to talk about business development and storytelling. Oh my gosh, folks, if we don't have stories about how your members are working together, or how they're collaborating on projects, then we've got a real problem with our value proposition. I was in a manufacturing association meeting the other day where a member told a story about how they were getting ready to buy a new piece of equipment. They called a competitor, and another manufacturing member, that had the piece of equipment so they could visit and see that piece of equipment in action. That's only possible in associations. Those are the stories that we must tell because it's relevant, because it's real, because it actually happened and the people in the industry are the storytellers themselves. This is essential in this world that we're in.