I recently participated in a virtual roundtable on non-dues revenue.
A few things that WEREN’T working:
- Launching a product based on the HIPO (highest influence person’s opinion, aka “the board thinks this is a great idea”)
- Launching a product that solves a problem without first testing whether it’s a problem worth solving (the problem in questions was a real problem for the target audience, but it wasn’t a significant problem – it wasn’t one of their top priorities)
- Launching a product based on untested assumptions (aka, no plan or due diligence, so a radical underestimation of the cost of the idea and overestimation of the likely revenue generated)
Unsurprisingly, all of those products failed.
A few things that WERE working:
- Staying alert to emerging trends in the profession or industry the association serves (so you can spot needs for things like training in emerging topics or sub-fields and micro-credentialing)
- Pivoting rather than killing a functioning but dusty program (participation in a program that was a major source of revenue was dropping off, and the association thought they might need to kill it, but they ultimately realized they just needed to shift the focus a bit)
- Thinking through ALL your revenue “wells” (association execs tend to focus on members and suppliers / corporate supporters, but are there opportunities related to customer audiences as well?)
- Considering ways you could repackage or repurpose programs, products, or services you already offer for different audiences (“create once – use many”)
- Looking downstream for your members (providing something that helps your members help their customers)
- Looking upstream from your members (helping companies that want access to and insights from your members get that)
A common tie? A lot of what was working was created, whether intentionally or not, in a lean startup influenced way.
The successful product development projects focused on solving a real and significant problem that was important to at least one of their audiences in a way that’s useful and makes sense to those people, and that they would pay for. The association teams involved maintained an experimental mindset and approach throughout. They started small and validated their assumptions before going big. They expanded their thinking about potential audiences they could serve. They relied on data. They chose meaningful metrics, and measured and reported on their progress towards those goals. They pivoted when they realized something about their understanding of audience, problem, or solution wasn’t quite right.
That’s all lean startup.
If you have an idea you’d like to try out but aren’t sure where to start, I can help. Check out Spark’s lean startup services, or drop me email to set up a time to chat.
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