I still remember one of my first job interviews and the crucial revenue lesson it revealed.
Seventeen-year-old me was standing in an Old Navy clothing store in Sacramento, CA, looking for an item to sell to the store manager in a role play to test my sales skills. After less than a minute of looking around, I picked up a shirt and dropped into character.
“Hi there. I wanted to make sure you saw this shirt while you were browsing. The fabric feels great and it’s definitely your color. Would you like to try it on?”
“No,” she said.
My face fell. “Why not?”
“Well, it seems like a great shirt and I might buy it another time,” she explained.
“But you don’t want to buy it today?” I asked as I sunk down further into myself.
“No, because what I really need today is jeans.”
Talk about a swing and a miss. Now, the good news is that, despite my very rough role play performance, she hired me anyway because she saw my raw potential, and Old Navy taught me the rest. The even better news is that what was learned that day is a lesson that has massive applications for the association industry right now.
My crash and burn in that interview boiled down to this: I offered something she wanted, but failed to offer what she wanted most.
Associations often make the same mistake with our current and future members. We say, “Hey! Come join, and come consume our products and programs because we can help you get the career you want.” That sounds great at first, but it’s an incomplete understanding of what motivates members, which makes it incomplete as a revenue strategy.
Members want a good career. But what they want most is for that career to help them get the life they want for themselves and their loved ones. The main reason they will spend their money and time to engage with an association is because they believe that doing so will help them turn the work they do into the life they desire. So, while associations are saying, “we’ll help you turn association activity into career outcomes,” members are saying “please help me turn career activity into life outcomes.”
Those two messages share a lot of DNA, but they are not the same. Now, will the possibility of career outcomes motivate members to show up and spend? Yes. It is a partially true understanding of their motivations, and it leads to partially achieved revenue goals.
If you want to reach your goals, however, your best bet is to position your association as your industry’s essential guide on the journey of getting a great life from a thriving career. After all, isn’t that what associations are for? We should always be the best in the room at navigating the professions we represent, and there’s no shame in making sure people know that we are.
You may not have to change your membership model or pricing or programming benefits to do this. Often times, just pivoting your messaging from focusing on the association’s end goal to focusing on the member’s end goal is enough. Because, from a member’s point of view, an association that mostly helps you consume its products and programs is a place that you leave. But an association that helps you get the life you want through those products and programs becomes a place to stay.
A note from HC:
We see this all the time with the associations we partner with, especially in how learning and certification programs get promoted. Here’s what Phil’s shift can look like in practice:
Association-focused: “Earn your certification and 20 CE credits.”
Member-focused: “Earn the credential that opens doors to senior roles and helps you build the stability you want for yourself and your family.”
Same program, same price, very different reason to say yes. This week try to pull your last three membership or program emails and ask whether each one ends at the association’s goal (a registration, a credit) or the member’s goal (the life that credential helps them build). You might be surprised by the answer!
Not sure where to start? Our recent post on common roadblocks facing association certifications and programming is a great next step. Or, if you’re thinking through how to deliver more value to your members, let’s talk.
P.S. If you’re interested in hearing more from Phil, you’re in luck! This is the second in a series of articles on the HC blog; you can read the first article here. He’ll also be taking the stage as the keynote speaker at the upcoming PAR RevUP Summit in National Harbor, MD, November 3–5, 2026. Interested in learning more or registering to hear Phil speak? Check it out here.
