Member Recruiting: A Focus on Marketing

1. Member Recruiting: A Focus on Marketing

2. Purpose • Help improve IUCRC member recruitment by highlighting marketing “best practices” • Summary of a recent survey of center marketing practices • Highlight some specific best practices • Stimulate discussion about what works and what doesn’t work when trying to recruit member companies

3. Who will join and who will decline? An analysis of factors predicting a firm’s decision to join a university-based industrial consortia Denis O.Gray, Ph.D & Drew Rivers, M.S. Psychology in the Public Interest Program NC State University

4. Motivation • Why Important • Recruitment of new members is one of the most, if not the most, important challenges a center directors confronts • Affects technology transfer • Joiners: • Sustain these centers • Get to influence the research agenda • Get technology transfer and other benefits (e.g. recruitment) • Decliners • Do not … • Factors affecting participation/non-participation in CRCs is an important scholarly issue • Very small literature

5. Study Plan • Center marketing practices • Web-based survey of IUCRC Directors • Complete • Factors within the firm affect decision to join/not join • Qualitative interviews • Underway • Quantify the importance of various factors to membership decision • Questionnaire • Next Year

6. Center Marketing Study- Overview • Motivation • It is the part of the membership process that Center Directors have the most control over • No literature! • Purposes • Identify which advertising, marketing and recruiting strategies directors use • Perceived effectiveness (best practices) • Explore empirical relationship of practices to “success”: leads; new members • Perceived facilitators and barriers to membership • Web-based survey of IUCRC directors & site directors • Response rate: 55% (n=47), 41 different centers • Analyses: Descriptive, predictive

7. Background:Effort and Results

8. Center Marketing Overview New member marketing is modest ad hoc activity • Annual budget (without staff time): $7,000; Std Dev: $10k • 18 hours/month or 4.5/week on recruitment • 9% report a formal, written marketing plan • 34% set formal recruitment goals • Use of marketing plans and recruitment goals correlates negatively with membership counts

9. Multi-site center recruiting [If your site is part of a multi-site center, please answer item 9] 9) Which of the following best describes how your multi-site center handles recruiting? (n=32) • 50%: Each site handles recruiting independently of other sites • 25%: Each site establishes their own leads, but other sites help 'sell' the center • 25%: Sites work closely together throughout the recruitment process

10. Recruiting Success Rates • Lead generation • On average, centers generate about 11 new leads over a 12 month period • New member commitments • On average, for every 10 firms actively pursued by centers for membership: • 3 will join • 2 will decline • 5 will be undecided

11. Descriptive Findings:Marketing Activities and Perceived Effectiveness

12. 1) Consider how your center/site identifies potential industry members. How effective have you found the following activities in generating leads for new members? From leads to prospect Many methods used to identify prospects Relationship networking viewed as most effective Percent reporting use Effectiveness

13. 7) To what degree are the following individuals or groups actively involved in the recruitment of industry members? Recruiting responsibilities Directors bear most of the recruitment burden Consultants also contribute Percent reporting involvement Degree of involvement

14. 6) For those organizations interested in learning more about your center/site, how effective have you found the following approaches at securing new members? Recruiting responsibilities Dedicated marketing visits appear to be superior Percent reporting use Level of effectiveness

15. Predictive Findings: What Factors Correlate with Memberships

16. Predictive Findings • Leads • Total center funding • Larger recruiting budget • Director administration time & past industry experience • Memberships • Presenting at trade shows and scientific meetings • Networking through other stakeholders (IAB, faculty PIs) • Director with industry experience • Industry experience director relationships • More leads • Higher percentage of rejections • Higher networking for leads through other center staff • Get other stakeholders involved in recruiting (IAB)

17. What else works? Director comments on effective practices • To generate leads… • Organizing workshops and conferences • Respond to industry need for consulting • Marketing materials… • Website • Re-prints of publications • PowerPoint presentations, videos • Changes to membership structure… • Tiered structure, associate membership • Guaranteed research project to new sponsor

18. Perceived Acceptance and Rejection

19. Factors that directors believe account for joining: Factors that directors believe account for NOT joining Acceptance and Rejection Factors

20. Marketing Model Termination Initiation Establishment Development Maintenance Dormant • Relationship development model Rao, S. & Perry, C. (2002). Thinking about relationship marketing: Where are we now? The Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 17 (7), pp 598 –614.

21. Summary General marketing model application Initiate & establish relationships Develop relationships Secure new members TT Key Factors Demonstrating technical relevance Future technology transfer Justifying benefits relative to costs Neutralizing IP concerns Facilitating within firm decision making • Relationship networking • Conference & tradeshow presentations • Involving other site stakeholders • Recruitment strategy Involving other site stakeholders (consultant) Face time Visiting the organization Hosting visits to the center Director Ind. experience Recruiting budget

22. Conclusions • A modified “relationship development marketing model” appears to do a good job of representing how directors market memberships • Technical issues dominate when membership is really decided • Understand “consultative sales” • Our early peek into how decisions are made within a firm is very intriguing • Need to move focus from doing the right thing to doing things right

23. Acknowledgements Support for this project provided by the NSF IUCRC and the NSF STC programs