I am standing in a room that is filled with chaotic conversations. Conversations that I have asked all these people to have based on notecards I have provided them. The green ones (which is half of the room) have topics of conversation on them and each “green” has to have two conversations: one with a red notecard and one with a yellow. The red and yellow notecards have instructions on them on how guide the conversation. The yellows are told to smile, make eye contact, let “green” do most of the talking, and to call “green” by their correct name. The reds are instructed to do the exact opposite. When I get the group back together I asked the greens: “if reds and yellows were each representatives of groups that were trying to recruit you, which would you be more likely to join?” The answer was unanimously “yellows”. Then I asked the reds if they found it difficult to guide a conversation where they never smile, never make eye contact, do most the talking, and call the person by their wrong name. Again a unanimous yes. And on the flipside the yellows had an easy time guiding their conversations. And that is exactly the point.
In 1937 Dale Carnegie published a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. Don’t let the name fool you. It is less of a self help book and more of a study in communication and effective communication at that. In it he presents very simple concepts, some of which were used for the yellow notecards, that allow people to better communicate mostly in business. These concepts are simple but they are also powerful and they relate to so many things but they also very easily lend themselves to recruitment and retention of members. The book itself is divided up into four sections but we can really focus on the middle two sections and apply them to recruitment and retention. The first section we will explore is “Six Ways to Make People Like You” and can be thought of as “Six Ways to Make People Like Your Organization” and focuses a lot on recruitment strategies. The second section we will look at is “Win People to Your Way of Thinking” but we will call it “Keep People in Your Organization”. Again, all of these concepts are simple in nature but powerful in implementation and will certainly help in recruitment and retention of members.
“Six Ways to Make People Like Your Organization”
1. Become genuinely interested in other people
In the book Carnegie points out that the only animal that does not have to work for a living is the dog. A cow gives us milk to drink, we ride horses and race them, even cats are sometimes bought to deal with a mouse problem. The reason we own a dog is because when we come home there is a happy face and a wagging tail and a dog who has been waiting all day to see us. A dog who is genuinely interested in you and that is it’s only purpose and so we can learn a lot from man’s best friend. Now if you are sitting there trying to think of examples of other animals that don’t work for a living then you are missing the point. The point is not that a dog doesn’t work, the point is it doesn’t have to because they have learned how to be genuinely interested in other people. This sounds like a simple enough concept, and I told you it would be. However, the point here is not the fake niceness that so many of us project in our daily lives. Think about when you go to a restaurant and your server gives you the feeling that they are really only working you for the tip. It is not a good feeling to feel you are being used for their purpose. So when recruiting we need to make sure it comes from a place of genuine interest. Whether you are passionate about what you do, want to help people, or really think that your organization is helpful and has a lot to offer, be genuine with your questions and conversations. Be a genuinely excited dog.
2. Smile
Now pay attention because this is the most important item on this list. If there is one thing that you walk away from this article with, let it be the knowledge of the power of a smile. Think of a baby. When that baby smiles you smile back at it. You can’t help it. Smiles are the ultimate form of positive communication and absolutely must be used when recruiting members. But what if you are having a bad day? Everyone gets them and it makes it impossible to smile. Lucky for us we know that actions control emotions. If you are having a bad day then take a walk. And on that walk force yourself to smile. It is the action that controls the emotion and not the other way around. By the time you make it back from your walk, hopefully you will be in a better mood. In presentations I make people pair up. The person on my left is instructed to conjure up the weirdest, most goofy and silly smile they can possibly manage and then look over at the other person. The result? Always resounding laughter and returned smiles. Try it for yourself with someone you know. I bet you will be received with a giggle and a smile and maybe that person will share that with another and the chain continues. Because smiles beget smiles beget smiles beget smiles.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language
I will say this again because I think it bears repeating: remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. We all love the sound of our name. That much is true. We can try to argue that point but the bottom line is when somebody messes up your name it bothers you a little and when they get it right that can make your day. More important than that though is when somebody actually knows your name and uses it. For recruitment always try to find out people’s names and use them in conversations with them. People want to be a part of organizations where they will be recognized because recognition is the first step to appreciation. If you are in an organization now you might take it for granted that people call you by your name. But to those potential members it might make all the difference that somebody recognized them and took the time to learn their name. An excellent tool for this that lends itself to both recruitment and retention is the laminate. At St. Cloud State we make laminates for all of our events. This works for recruitment because they are personalized and have names on them. They also work for retention because members keep their laminates and literally have a stack of memories sitting at home on a lanyard.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves
Think of your best friend. Think of that person that you just feel like you could not get through life without. Do you have that person in mind? Now admittedly they might be your best friend because you go shopping together, have class together, live together or whatever. But if you really think about I bet that person that you have in mind is the person that listens to what you have to say more than anyone else. We are not friends with people because they talk. Friendship is really built on listening. Use this idea when recruiting members. People want to talk about themselves and if you give them that opportunity and encourage them to do so then you and your organization will stand out in their minds. After all, extra-curricular organizations are where friendships are built.
5. Talk in terms of other people’s interests
People are rational and make decisions that reflect their own self interest. Now that is not my claim. It is the basic idea that the entire study of economics is based on. People flock toward what they are interested in and what serves those interests. This is not a bad thing in any way. In fact it is those interested people that make up a strong organization. When recruiting don’t bore potential members with all the things that you have and you can do. Ask them what they are interested in. Chances are they will be interested in something specific that your organization does. Then focus on that. Specifically with a programming board a lot of different interests are represented and people will join and allow themselves to be recruited if their interests can be served.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely
There are four basic things that every human being needs. Food, water, shelter, and a feeling of importance. We need that feeling of importance to live. You might call it by many other names “a reason to get up in the morning”, “a sense of purpose”, “a feeling that what you do matters”. It all relates back to that feeling of importance. Potential members want to feel that too. And they are important because they will be the ones brainstorming ideas, volunteering at events, or even coming to events. If organizations do not have members, they do not exist. Let that notion come out when recruiting members and make them feel important. As with all of these other concepts though, sincerity matters. Remember you are dealing with college students. Young men and women who are intelligent enough to know when somebody is pandering to them and not being genuine. If you cannot make potential members, or even existing members, feel important in a sincere way then do not even bother trying to recruit them because that will only succeed in driving them away from your organization.
7. Smile
Did I say this one already? Good. Because it’s that important. A smile travels farther than words and a warm smile is the most appealing welcome mat to potential members. Smiles make people believe that they would be joining a group that people get a lot of happiness out of and they are drawn to that. Being involved in organizations and programming boards is fun and brings us all a lot of happiness. Never lose sight of that and share it with others in the form of a smile.
As promised, none of these concepts are mind blowing, life changing, or difficult. In fact you may already be utilizing some of these six…err…seven techniques when recruiting members already. And that is the point. Think about how you have already done some of these things. The real importance comes from evaluating how they work and why they work. The goal is to be more conscience in the future about your use of these techniques and to know you are using them when you use them. If you evaluate these ideas you can see that none of them are manipulative and they are not working toward trying to trick somebody. It is simply an understanding of what potential members are already looking for. It boils down to this: a lot of times potential members are looking for exactly what your group already has and these are just methods of showing potential members that you do indeed have what they are looking for. Try these out in a more concentrated way because I promise you, they do work.
Now what of retention of these members that you worked so hard to recruit? I promised more techniques from Dale Carnegie’s book that relate to retention of members. If you would like to see those techniques go online to the campus programming magazine website for the second portion of this article.
Click on Campus Activities Programming to access the article published in the Campus Programming magazine.