How do you "sell" your organization?
 

What do you tell (or do for) potential new members to convince that your organization is superior to others?

By being seen in your letters doing things that put your house in good light. Helping others, answering questions in class, saying "hello", having a smile and a wave for everyone. That's how we're selling it. We're the smallest house on campus, but people know us for being "the down to earth girls".

Hmmm...not sure if I would use the term sell but I understand what you are getting at. We just speak the truth! Zeta speaks for herself.:D

I wouldn't use the words "sell" or "superior," but I think for my organization, it's about giving women of the campus community ample opportunity to see if our sorority is the right one for them. When I was an undergraduate, we'd invite the whole campus to come out to our service projects and educational programming. At these events, interested ladies had the opportunity to interact with us. We'd also have actual informational meetings in which they could ask questions and gain more information.

ETA: I wouldn't use "superior" because while my sorority is best for ME, it is not necessarily the best match for someone else.

Recruitment is a 365-day-a-year process! My advice: keep your members happy, communicate with your members and HQ regularly, be honest with your members, brag when you do something great, wear letters as much as you can and actively engage not only other Greeks, but the campus and surrounding community with your events and accomplishments. Also, turn everything into a COR/COB opportunity-- casual TV nights, dinner at a local diner, philantrhopy events, picnics, etc.

1) Members should be committed to the chapter, and attending all mandatory events. Chapters should embrace "Committees" so that all officers receive team support, and every chapter member has a "job" that makes her feel empowered.

2) KEEP YOUR MEMBERS HAPPY! The chapter officers should have regular town-hall like "How are we doing meetings" so that chapter members can express open and honest opinions for chapter improvement. When you weed out internal issues, your chapter is happier, and wants to work together. This is "sisterhood" at its finest, and it shows.

3) Community Visibility.
- Chapter members should plan a weekly "XYZ Day" where everyone wears letters to school. Groups can meet for lunch on these days, showing more ladies together in letters and building friendships.
- Campus involvment. All members should be involved in 1-2 campus activities outside of Greek Life. This is a great way to meet PNM's and develop other leadership and group skills.
- Community Events. The sorority should hold events with non-Greek groups, like service clubs, the residence halls, etc. These can be co-sponsored educational workshops (like Resume Writing 101, Cooking on a College Budget, etc.), service projects, etc. This is also a great COR/COB method when you plan events with women's groups!
- Be Panhellenic. Make friends in other Greek orgs. Have a Greek Sisterhood Supper at your house, and encourage Panhellenic Relations.
- Submit regular press releases to the local and school newspapers whenever your chapter does something great. Put a banner outside the house to recognize the achievement.
- When you hold a philanthropy event, think: how do I get the community involved, too? Consider holding an all-day event that involves Greeks, NON-GREEKS, parents, faculty, etc. Why not hold an all-day health fair and 5K run, that also includes local vendors selling food, local entertainment (battle of the bands, a kiddie dance school recital, a Greek Lip Sync), etc., and a rep of your philanthropy to make a speech about the org. It will involve lots of people, get a buzz going about your org, and promote your GLO to EVERYONE, including PNMs. Get a local radio sponsor to broadcast from your event, and voile! You're the talk of the town.

4) Your New Members are like gold. You've worked hard to recruit them. Work hard to keep them happy. Work hard to keep all your members happy. Respect one another.

5) Don't resent your advisers or HQ. Communicate regularly and if you mess up, tell them RIGHT AWAY so they can help you. When you try to cover things up, you get in trouble, and the chapter members become distrustful and discontent with your leadership. They grumble to each other and their non-Greek friends. BAD PR!

6) Encourage members to bring non-members to events and dinners. The best way to meet prospective sisters is to introduce your friends!

A happy chapter is infectious. Everyone wants to be a part of it! The best way to sell your organization is to keep your existing members excited about your org, and for them to share that excitement with classmates, other Greeks, their families and the community at large.

ADPIUCF friggin rocks!
 

Hijack:

Adpiucf is my new GC crush

/end hijack

1. Survey new members. Ask what made them rush for your org. Use this info in future rushes.

2. If retention is a problem that means that there is something wrong, it is rarely coincidence. Investigate. If people suddenly stop showing up at things ASK THEM WHY. This is crucial!

3. Always invite them to social events, PERSONALLY. By person or telephone. NEVER communicate to your interests by email!

4. Spy on your rivals.

5. Tell or show how your organization is unique.

6. Don't post flyers in places where thousands of other flyers are posted!

7. Sponsor cool (or even controversial) events and/or activities on campus.

Re: How do you "sell" your organization?
 

You don't tell prospects that your organization is superior. You make the prospects comfortable with your group, and invite them to select functions where your GLO is doing its thing. Most people join a group because a few people (actually, its usually just one person) made a connection with the prospect.

Recruitment is sales, but its not a fast paced, rapid-fire type of sales. Its low intensity, but involves a lot of follow up and perseverance.

Keep in mind that successful salesmen never rely on magic closing lines. Its about going through the 5 steps of a sale. If you're selling personal electronics behind a counter, you can go through the 5 steps in 10-20 minutes. If you're selling an upscale product, the 5 steps might take 2-3 weeks. If you're going to properly sell your group to prospects, you might be able to do it in a night, but that's not likely. People who join a GLO after knowing its members for a few hours are more likely to depledge, or not be very active. This is usually because the group did not go through the 5 steps of a sale.

Step 1: Opening the Sale/ Introduction/ Establishing Rapport
Closing a sale is very over rated. If you go through all of the steps correctly, the prospect often closes the sale for you. How you start the process is critical, and it is far more important than closing a sale. So, what do you do in this stage? You establish rapport. You talk about anything except what you trying to sell. This is where you get the prospect comfortable with you, and its also where you sell yourself.

Step 2: Qualify the Customer
This is where you ask a lot of questions, and do a lot of listening to see if the prospect is qualified to buy a product. This is where needs are probed with questions. These questions are known as "qualifying questions." Sometimes this is about money. No money? You're probably not qualified to buy a Ferrari. Sometimes this has nothing to do with money. You're a professional orchestral conductor, and you love to listen to music at home? You're probably not qualified to buy Bose, and will have to cough up the cash for a real stereo so that you'll enjoy your purchase. You're a man? You probably aren't qualified for a hysterectomy. You're a man? You probably can't pledge that sorority colony that just started up. You like everyone in XYZ, and you meet the membership requirements? You are qualified to join, and you should!

Step 3: The Presentation
At this point, you've established rapport, and you asked important qualifying questions. Now you present the product. This is where you use a technique called FAB (feature/advantage/benefit.) If you were selling discmen, and your showcase had 30, you would now be able to select a few and present them. The prospective client would not feel like you you were just trying to make a sale because you asked the right questions, and listened to the answers. You might FAB a product by saying "this has Feature X (feature) which is different (advantage) than the competition's Feature Y because you will experience (benefit) more bass. In the case of a GLO, you would present the virtues of your organization, by FABing them, so that you could go to the next step. I wouldn't refer to a feature of my GLO as a "feature." I would use a phrase like "great thing" instead. So, a FABing your GLO might go like this, "A great thing (feature) about XYZ is that, unlike other groups (advantage), you get to know MEEEEE!!!!!! (benefit)" Or, better yet, FAB your group against being an independent. This works especially well if the prospect is comfortable with several members, and may feel like formally joining is not needed. "A great thing about XYZ is our alumni network (feature). This makes it so much easier (advantage) to get a good job (benefit), anywhere in the Country, when you graduate."

Step 4: The Demonstration
If you were selling discmen, you could now demonstrate a few models. You would use methods like "predict and prove" where you tell the prospect what will happen, demonstrate the product, and then the magic happens. You said that feature X would produce more bass, and it does. It took you 10 minutes. You now have credibility, and (because you established rapport) the prospect likes you. The prospect will now probably follow your recomendation. Try demonstrating your GLO in 10 minutes. It can't be done. Try doing it in one night. Almost impossible. If you're going to effectively demonstrate your product, and its a GLO, you will have to take more time. The amount of time that is needed will depend on the prospect, but it will probably take any where from 2-3 days to a few months. The longer this process takes, if its done properly, the more likely the prospect will join when asked. Its also more likely that the prospect will become an involved member. So, "predict and prove" with a GLO might go something like, "we're going to have a car wash, raise some money for a charity, and have a great time doing it." The prospect participates, is one of 10 people who spend 3 hours to raise $80, and has a great time.

Step 5: Closing the Sale
Now you're ready to ask for the sale. In fact, you deserve the right to ask for it. You've done everything. There are no magic closing lines. You don't have to tell prospects anything to convince them that they should join. If they haven't asked you yet, ask them to join. Closing a sale is the easiest thing in the world to do if you've followed all of the proper steps.

Yeah, definately don't try to make your org sound superior. IMO anyways. During our rush, or when we talk to girls in the music department about SAI, we just tell them about us, what we have to offer, etc. If they ask us if we're better than TBS, we say, "no; they are different than us, but as far as quality, we are equal." Acting superior can drive people away.

I couldn't agree more!

Oh this thread was meant to be more of a poll. I'm not really asking for advice for my org. We are doing pretty well (finally!)

However, the "5-steps" are very interesting! Out of all of the workshops I've been to no one has ever told me anything about this.

The 5 steps are something that learned after college, and not in my GLO. I learned it selling for three different companies, and from attending or listening to many sales seminars. No matter who conducts it, no matter who that person works for, its always the same 5 steps. Its time proven, so its worth some consideration.

I've coached some chapters with this, and I've seen very good results.

We don't tell them anything, we show them. We show them our awesome new members having fun. We show them our cool new philanthropy. We show the strongest sisterhood on campus.

However, it does help to get people interested if in conversation you mention little things llike "My sisters and I are going to a date party" or "We worked at a shelter over the weekend". Usually, if a girl is interested, she'll ask you more about it.

And yes, happy REALLY is infectious! Seriously, MOST of our newest girls from COR are friends/roomates of our formal rush new members! They saw how much fun their friends were having and what they get to do, and decided they wanted to be in on it too

:)

Here's another way of stating the 5-steps of recruitment (which by the way is basic Pike recruitment philosophy):

1) Meet the prospect
2) Make Friends with the prospect
3) Introduce the prospect to your friends
4) Introduce the Fraternity experience to the prospect
5) Close the deal

And its just that simple.

Re: Re: How do you "sell" your organization?
 

Your whole post was really interesting, Russ.

Only one thing I thought I'd add -- while the statement quoted above is certainly correct, it may not be the whole picture. The man in question may not be qualified, but his girlfriend, sister, etc., might be and might trust his impressions.

Seems to me there really are 2 kinds of "selling" that GLOs have to do: (1) selling to prospective members to get new members, and (2) selling to the community at large to maintain goodwill and a positive reputation, which may help with selling to prospective members. (I realize the thread was aimed at selling to prospective new members, but I think that often the two sells go hand in hand.)