Hall Associates

In the 18 months upto the end of 2006, the then 35,000-strong Institute of Physics (IoP) has enjoyed a cash-flow improvement from subscription income of well over £400k - and a 14% increase in membership retention, representing a further cash injection of £155k.

How so? Let's first look back to mid-2005. John Brindley, IoP's Membership Director, comments: "For many years we had a typically reactive and protracted reminder-based renewal process, with income trickling in throughout the year after an initial surge from the good payers and direct debits. We knew we had to do something about it but could not be certain that we could do it in-house either cost-effectively or with acceptable risk".

"Hall Associates were engaged to help us improve our membership retention especially amongst our non-professional grades of members who are, naturally, less committed to their membership. We found Hall Associates provided us with motivation and encouragement and extra hands to tackle those tasks that all membership organisations know they need to undertake (but invariably put off often due to time pressures) including direct member contact, review of communications, tighter management processes and greater analysis and understanding of members. All Hall Associate team members are very easy to work with and it makes a great deal of sense to get a fresh perspective from experienced practitioners."

We were rapidly able to demonstrate that our client was locked into a reactive cycle of response and process. Chasing members who should have renewed months ago was placing strain on limited resources and the emphasis on recruitment to maintain membership levels was stretching them even further.

What does a membership organisation do when the Government announces it is removing the traditional reason for members to renew their membership? That was exactly the situation the British Psychological Society (BPS) faced recently.

After many years of discussion with the BPS, and after several consultations, the Government announced in a White Paper in February 2007 that it would introduce legislation to make psychologists subject to independent regulation.

"Our experience with Hall Associates has been most positive and beneficial throughout. They have a highly professional approach, develop sound, practicable proposals and follow them through. Importantly, they listen well and absorb the client organisation's culture so as to gain a thorough understanding of it's operating environment."