Annual Meeting opening speaker discusses using talk triggers to grow membership

In the Cornerstone Annual Meeting welcoming and opening general session, Jay Baer, president of Convince & Convert, addressed Talk Triggers to Grow Your Membership: Turning Your Members into Volunteer Marketers.

According to Baer, word of mouth is responsible for as much as 50 percent of all purchases, and yet hardly anyone has a plan to generate it. He asked the question, “Do you want to be the same, or do you want to be different?” Because same is lame. We ignore average, but we discuss different. When you offer a differentiated, talkable customer experience, you compel conversation, and when customers are compelled to talk, they recruit new customers … for free.

Baer discussed the four truths for a differentiator to be a Talk Trigger:

1. Must be remarkable;
2. Must be repeatable (accessible to all);
3. Must be reasonable; and
4. Must be relevant.

Baer also stressed that members hate inconsistency. Experiences that are too grand create suspicion. But exceeding empathy expectations causes conversations. We are living today in an empathy-deficit environment. Credit unions care more.