Do the loyal members in your organization get the shaft? They pay their dues and accept rate increases without complaint year after year without getting much more in benefits to justify that renewal. Yet they remain our fans even after we throw incredibly valuable and attractive deals and promotions to nonmembers and lavish them with offers and attention to get them to join as a first timer and pay a ton of attention to them to get them to renew after the first year. Some of these loyal members seem to never go away no matter how rough we make their membership experience. However, when times get tough and money is tight and budgets are cut or they lose their job they eventually decide to leave. I’m not talking about the retiring members or those that leave by natural or tragic causes. I’m talking about that 10 year, 20 year plus member that has finally made a intentional decision to return the renewal notice with the word “cancel” written on it.

Loyal members are special and from what I can tell not many organizations are doing something special for those members. Sure certificates, recognition in the journal, and those lovely badge ribbons are nice, but what are we doing to give them the credit they truly deserve in return for their commitment to the organization. Hell! They’ve paid your salary for decades and kept that flow of cash fueling your organization’s engine without fail. Don’t you owe them some real recognition?

Make the Norms of Membership Special

Remember in the tv show Cheers when Norm entered the bar? Everybody in the bar shouted “NORM!”

That’s what I’m talkin’ about! A long-time patron walks into a bar and the entire bar shouts his name to recognize his long-term contribution and loyalty as a patron of the establishment. Now not everyone can receive the same treatment or it wouldn’t be special. (Although I’m sure Cliff Klaven would’ve been happy with it happening even just once.)

It’s really very easy these days to make anyone famous for a few seconds of their allotted 15 minutes. From becoming a Foursquare mayor to having a kid run to get the kicker’s tee during the football game to the kiss cam pointed into the stands. It happens all the time.

The Masters Golf Tournament is a great example of finding opportunities to pay tribute to individuals in symbolic ways. They have some of the legends of golf take the first tee shots to kickoff the tournament play. They present a simple (inexpensive) green jacket to the winner.

What is your organization doing to retain those ultra-loyal members other than taking their renewal for granted?

Here are a couple ideas for you to steal from this post and use to make your members feel “Norm”al…

Make Them Famous

Why not have some of your long-time members invited to sit on stage at the general session. Invite them to meet dignitaries & the keynote speaker at a reception just because they’ve been a member for so long. Have them help cut the ribbon at the exhibit hall at your annual conference.

There are plenty of social media opportunities to make them famous. Maybe use Facebook live to announce the anniversary of the member’s 30th year of membership (even if that exact date isn’t known for sure.) Be creative. Small gestures go a long way.

Award Them

Sending them a simple – or even better, an elaborate – certificate can go a long way to showing your organization’s appreciation. Or even a special membership card sent to them at different milestones. Hopefully they will be more excited than George Clooney’s character was in this memorable scene:

What has your organization done to pay more attention to your ultra-loyal members?