Re: AISMEMBERSHIP
Bill Smoot wrote:
>
> Marilyn recently replied to my response concerning AIS Membership. First, let
> me clarify something! I did not mean this as a personal attack on Marilyn. It
> was my intention to bring attention to something that I feel is very wrong with
> our AIS Membership in hopes of correcting it. I don't know of any other person
> who works as hard and is as dedicated to AIS as Marilyn.
- snip --
As a brand new member to AIS (I finally joined in Aug), I think I have some experience
here. I also want to say that I have been emailing with Marilyn on several issues and
she has been very gracious, helpful and patient with me in answering some locally
specific iris questions.
Why it may be true that I will get the past issues of the bulletin, that is not the only
reason I joined AIS. Conferences etc. For whatever reason the AIS wants to have all the
billing notices go out in Dec. Prior to the last change in policy AIS surveyed a number
of groups for their policy. I don't know whether they asked what the re-subscribe rate
was, and it is hard to isolate the key issues in what it takes to keep someone coming
back. I know Marilyn has gone to the trouble of writing some letters to some of those
who didn't re-subscribe, and has had (in some cases) rather rude responses.
I liked the idea of the local offering $ credit against purchases at the auction or flea
market.
For whatever reason, AIS wants to have all the billing notices go out in Dec as opposed
to monthly. With that in mind -
My idea was to ALWAYS extend the membership to the end of the subsequent year. People
who join in Jan get a SURPRISE extra year. Those who join in October etc. get a couple
of extra months. What a great welcome letter that makes!!! Everybody gets a bonus. You
of course don't advertise that process, you save it as a surprise. There will always be
a few who delay a month or two to get the full extra year because we will blab to them,
but should be a minor problem.
Anyway, my two bits worth.
--
John | "There be dragons here"
| Annotation used by ancient cartographers
| to indicate the edge of the known world.
John Jones, 35572 Linda Dr., Fremont CA, 94536
jijones@ix.netcom.com, USDA zone 8 (coastal, bay)
