It was a pitch - 50 years of being a pitchman never wore off the author.
It's always a "getting there from here" thing.
That report was tuned to the needs and observed values of barbershop - the thing to do is dig into the detailed analysis and see what's there.
But some basics that we observe... everyone must: 1 Greet members as you see them. 2 Greet guests, thank them for coming 3 Look for people who are absent, contact them soon
Then, give them something to do that was worth their coming, every time.
Let me see if I can quote from an email that came from our membership chair, about a fellow who was not sure he wanted to try out, and then did...
I say thrilled because we can all take credit for an awesome job last week. At 730 last Thursday, he told me he was on the fence about continuing. By 1130PM, he was convinced that this was a group he wanted to join. He told me it was the experience singing tags, some personal coaching from David P, and the way the rehearsal was run that helped make his decision.
Kudos also to Seth for a great Tag Time ( did you see the ovation Rob got after he came off the risers to sing? ) and to Ben for being extra attentive to him at practice and making him feel included. Having DTX sing tags with him at UNO's sealed it - he was beaming afterwards.
Don't make a fetish out of it. Make it a core thing - start with the personalities that make it worthwhile, and spread the magic. Thank people for coming, ask how they are, praise what they do well, make sure whomever is running WHATEVER has a plan to make it fun.
The rest is just lots of hard work.
PS Sounds of Concord has grown from 23 guys when I joined, to something like 57 dues-paying members in 3.5 years. And dues are a couple hundred... This stuff works.
PPS For current barbershop stuff, check out their materials on Operation Harold Hill at barbershop.org. Think the SCA could muster stuff like that?
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Date: 2012-01-26 10:55 pm (UTC)It's always a "getting there from here" thing.
That report was tuned to the needs and observed values of barbershop - the thing to do is dig into the detailed analysis and see what's there.
But some basics that we observe... everyone must:
1 Greet members as you see them.
2 Greet guests, thank them for coming
3 Look for people who are absent, contact them soon
Then, give them something to do that was worth their coming, every time.
Let me see if I can quote from an email that came from our membership chair, about a fellow who was not sure he wanted to try out, and then did...
Don't make a fetish out of it. Make it a core thing - start with the personalities that make it worthwhile, and spread the magic. Thank people for coming, ask how they are, praise what they do well, make sure whomever is running WHATEVER has a plan to make it fun.
The rest is just lots of hard work.
PS Sounds of Concord has grown from 23 guys when I joined, to something like 57 dues-paying members in 3.5 years. And dues are a couple hundred... This stuff works.
PPS For current barbershop stuff, check out their materials on Operation Harold Hill at barbershop.org. Think the SCA could muster stuff like that?