Growing Membership of the Nation’s Largest Professional Association

Case Study

Growing Membership of the Nation’s Largest Professional Association

Issue:

Nation’s largest professional association needed to develop an initiative to stem defection and spot growth opportunities.

Approach:

Conducted 12 focus groups in three cities (i.e., Chicago, Baltimore, San Diego) to gather the opinions about and needs from professional associations according to:

“Young” members
Minority members
Female members
Section loyalists
Lapsed section members
Non-members

Results:

Tests of concepts for new programs, products, and services supported the section’s development of its business plan. Attitudinal snapshots exposed issues of competition, segmentation and cannibalization.