Stephen Noble, Ambassador for the Playground Corvette Club, offers advice on answering the question, “What’s in it for me if I become a Member?”
Museum membership seems to fall into three categories: Club members who fully support the Museum’s mission and already belong; those in the middle who will join after learning more about the Museum; and those who need nurturing through the “art of asking.”
During the 28th Annual Michelin NCM Bash Ambassador’s Meeting, I saw a path for effectively addressing the challenges of convincing reluctant club members to join the NCM.
The keys to success are the melding of the Museum’s membership benefits, the new Ambassador Points Program, and your enthusiasm.
The following tips will help you prepare a convincing ‘art-of-asking’ presentation:
Preparation
Use a dry-erase board to:
- Present the Museum’s mission.
- Boldly enter the percentage of your club’s Museum membership. Just use numbers, not names, to avoid embarrassing anyone.
- Define “What’s in it for M.E.?” M. E. = My Enjoyment!
- Show the Museum’s membership benefits.
- Ask them in writing to please join.
Use a foam board to:
- Present the new Ambassador Points Program.
- Challenge your club to excel by achieving the Bonus level.
Utilize a presentation table:
- Use it to display your dry-erase and foam boards.
- Place Museum literature such as Membership, NCM Insurance, R8C Program, Tribute Bricks, and copies of America’s Sports Car Magazine on the table for distribution afterwards.
Presentation
- Dress for success. You are representing the Museum. Wear your Ambassador lanyard and dress very nicely.
- Begin with the Museum’s mission and membership benefits.
- Be ready to discuss the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) partnership, which few will be familiar with. It is a tremendous value and worth much more than the cost of membership.
- Have club members who recently participated in a Museum event share their fun-filled experiences. This helped generate infectious enthusiasm during my talk.
- Mention future club rides to the Museum.
- Present the new Ambassador Points Program. This was the pièce de résistance of my presentation. The energy it created was simply amazing.
- Show the connectivity between Museum membership, the Ambassador Points Program, and your club.
- While concluding your presentation, sincerely thank those who are already Members and ask the others to please join us in supporting the Museum. Don’t be afraid to ask.
Post Presentation
My presentation resulted in two new Museum memberships. I called the new Members the next day and thanked them. One asked about NCM Insurance, and I was happy to share my personal experience with the huge savings and superior customer service.
Summary
Reinforce the importance of membership. Ask them to join. Remind them – Corvette ownership is fun, Club membership is really fun, and Museum Membership is a blast!
