Smaller Groups-how can you make PNMs feel chosen?

[Faith4Keep]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I think one key would be for the individual who is rushing the PNM to make a special point of telling her that she is so happy to have another chance to spend with her - another opportunity to share the sisterhood that has meant so much to her.
HTH -

Honestly I think this can backfire. After looking through the retro recruitment threads, many posters have had an active tell them the deal-maker sentence at pref, "I'm so happy you're here"...including myself.

However, if a PNM was forced to go to a party of a chapter that they didn't want to be a part of (to maximize their options) and they knew that this chapter is struggling for members... having a sister say "I'm so happy you are here" could make the PNM think "Well DUH you're happy I'm here-- you need members!!!". This would be especially true if the PNM did not rank the chapter very high.

Although I have not yet done recruitment on the other side, I think that one of the best tools that chapters used to get me to feel important was when they told me how I could contribute to the chapter. So many times recruitment conversations focus on the people- high schools, sports and activities, interests. And I'm not just saying "Oh you played volleyball? Well we have a great intramural program...!!!" I would say compliment the heck out of them, and tell the PNM how you could see her taking on leadership roles, inspiring younger members in the future, and seriously contributing to an already-fabulous organization!

Now, this may freak some PNMs out. But when the chapters I rushed talked to me about opportunities for me to participate in the chapter, I felt like I was a part of their chapter, I was just interviewing for how I would contribute. This also returns the focus to the PNM, and downplays any chapter activities that might not be so great (poor campus reputation, trouble with scheduling socials, not so great attendance at greek events...?).

But again, if you were to take this approach you would have to be very careful. There is a fine line between "You could really contribute and be a part of something great" and "We need you to be an officer because we don't have enough sisters to fill officer positions".

Another idea- although drastic- is to change the way you go about your pref ceremony. If the PNMs have not been interested in you all along, they are probably not going to be interested in candles, ritual, and sisterhood. So, my idea would be that when you match up PNMs with actives to make sure the actives don't go straight into "This is why I love my chapter" story. Have them repeat things from previous days- philanthropy you support, any good socials or events you have that the PNM might not know about... because more than likely the prior days the PNM hasn't even been paying attention. Doing this may give them the chance to re-evaluate your chapter and the PNM will give your pref ceremony a shot.

I think the idea of having them connect with a familiar face is also a good one- just make sure the PNM likes the active!

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Faith4Keep

Another idea- although drastic- is to change the way you go about your pref ceremony. If the PNMs have not been interested in you all along, they are probably not going to be interested in candles, ritual, and sisterhood. So, my idea would be that when you match up PNMs with actives to make sure the actives don't go straight into "This is why I love my chapter" story. Have them repeat things from previous days- philanthropy you support, any good socials or events you have that the PNM might not know about... because more than likely the prior days the PNM hasn't even been paying attention. Doing this may give them the chance to re-evaluate your chapter and the PNM will give your pref ceremony a shot.

If she's THAT far gone that you need to start from square one rushing her, you might as well not even count on seeing her at your house the next day, even if there is a bid card printed with her name on it.

[Faith4Keep]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

If she's THAT far gone that you need to start from square one rushing her, you might as well not even count on seeing her at your house the next day, even if there is a bid card printed with her name on it.

Not necessarily. I think by the time recruitment starts winding down, and you are left with chapters you weren't looking at joining originally, a PNM has to think if she still wants to be greek or not. I know that when this happened to me- when I got cut from 2 of my favorite chapters- I kind of had to say "okay, what's left?", and really look again at the chapters I had previously dismissed.

You're never going to get some girls back, but I don't think it would hurt to reiterate some things that were talked about in previous rounds so that the PNM can get a handle on the chapter before she completely dismisses them because she can't remember a darn thing from previous rounds.

[bluefish81]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Everyone talks about their HQ's "pressuring" them to "get the numbers" but let me be the first to say that our HQ was fabulous to us and provided us with tons of resources.

We had an LC assigned to our chapter. She suggested implementing a marketing plan on one of her visits. We organized a chapter committee to work on it (which I was on as PR chair). She was available all the time if we had any questions about anything we were putting in it.

I agree wholeheartedly. For several years, my undergrad chapter struggled with formal recruitment, we were great at informal but when formal would come around some of the members who'd joined via informal weren't comfortable with the setup of Formal Recruitment. It took a long time for them to realize that while it was a different method of joining the chapter (then they had) it wasn't something awful to be feared and it was a lot less time consuming in the long run than COBing 5 days a week, every week of the semester. That is so draining on a chapter.

As many of the previous posters have stated, the solution isn't going to happen during a recruitment party with an unhappy PNM who doesn't want to be at your party in the first place. Chances are good that you know she doesn't want to be there anyway. Especially if it's pref. I think that in that situation it's probably best just to be as kind and gracious to her as possible but spend more time focusing on the PNMs that want to be there and will hopefully be joining your chapter the next day. That's not to say that a conversation that you have with her couldn't turn it around, she won't love your ceremony, the speeches won't strike some chord in her, but if she's just killing an hour until she heads off to ABC...

The real solution is a 24/7 PR effort, it's developing a PR plan and then implementing it. The undergrad chapter that I attended and used to advise started developing a PR plan a few years ago. AFAIK, this is something that all of Thetas undergrad chapters have to do. I also think it's important to have a committee develop the plan, but at some level, other members of the chapter have to be aware of the plan. Otherwise, how can you expect them to participate? Honestly, I also think this is where my undergrad chapter has started to see some of their success. Yes they continued to COB (so does every other chapter on campus to some extent), but they aren't getting 9 girls thru formal and 18 girls via informal anymore, it's more or less the other way around.

And Faith4Keep I'm going to be sending you a very longwinded PM!

[adrie435]

The thing that I think turned things around for my chapter was really spending a lot of time pre-recruiting (we have deferred recruitment) in addition to a new PR plan. When we got to know our rush crushes very closely outside of recruitment it was a lot easier to get them to forget about a stereotype and join the group with the girls they love. Sometimes all it took was three or four sisters being very close with them and really motivated to represent the chapter well. I think the important thing for us was that we didn't get to know them as sorority women.. we actually became friends and naturally introduced them to our friends (and v/v they introduced us to other freshmen). It becomes a lot easier when you know the girls to make them feel chosen-- they obviously know that you want them to be your sister since you are already friends..
My pledge class was about a third of quota my freshman year bringing our chapter size to about half of total.... Once our class got initiated, we got motivated and determined to turn it around. We took almost 2/3 of quota the next year and my class alone knew almost every one of the new pledges personally before recruitment began. We kept it up the next year with close to 2/3 quota and then my senior year we took something like 3 less than quota (with only 3/7 actually making quota) and ended up over total.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Faith4Keep

Honestly I think this can backfire. After looking through the retro recruitment threads, many posters have had an active tell them the deal-maker sentence at pref, "I'm so happy you're here"...including myself.

However, if a PNM was forced to go to a party of a chapter that they didn't want to be a part of (to maximize their options) and they knew that this chapter is struggling for members... having a sister say "I'm so happy you are here" could make the PNM think "Well DUH you're happy I'm here-- you need members!!!". This would be especially true if the PNM did not rank the chapter very high.

Maybe alter that with "I'm so glad you came back - I wanted to ask you about that Sex Pistols bootleg you mentioned the other night." In other words, you're happy to see her as a PERSON, not just a potential member, and even if she doesn't pledge, you'll continue to be happy when you see her.