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Fernley & Fernley Story, continued
"We realized that a certain portion of the new potential client pool would only be selecting their list of candidate Association Management Companies from their Internet search.
I don’t think that we ever really considered using Fernley & Fernley as a recruitment tool when we began this project.
"We post that we are always looking for qualified candidates. We often get communications from extremely qualified individuals who look at our site and quickly recognize that this is a place where they would like to continue their career."
You have to strike a balance here. Yes, you can broaden your presence in the open market with a web site, but it will take dedicated work to keep the site fresh, interesting and relevant.
A poorly managed site can be worse than no site at all.
Without a doubt, the Internet has changed the face of business for Fernley and Fernley and other companies and organizations in their industry.
"It’s not just the fernley.com site, which is an additional marketing piece for prospective new clients and employees. All of the associations have utilized the advances in electronic medium in some way or another.
In fact, one of the associations we manage has gone completely digital, which allows near instant dissemination of information to members and reduction in mailing and printing costs."
Taylor says that Fernley & Fernley actively use their web site as a communications center for the various associations with which they are involved. They have made use of online newsletters, searchable directories and rosters.
They can provide access to important industry statistics (both public information and some accessible only to members), to association recruitment materials and online applications, and to meeting details and registration materials.
Their site enables them to facilitate the shared purposes that they have worked hard to create with their client/partners.
Is there a benefit to your customers that you can make available to them on a twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week basis? Is that valuable enough to your customers that it is worth the effort required to do it.
If it can leverage your customer service or sales efforts with the site it can return big dividends, but you don’t want to jump on a bandwagon just because it’s passing by.
The site has also become a clearinghouse for general industry information: state of the economy and safety information, links to other industry research resources, association literature, educational foundation and scholarship information.
The people at Fernley were early to recognize that the stronger the partnerships they forge with their clients, the more clearly their offerings directly help their clients be successful, then you’ve recognized a way that makes it much more difficult for competitors to lure their clients away.
The people at Fernley feel that they’ve built the capabilities to add that genuine competitive value.
The convenience factor, along with the rapid advances in digital technology, means that the trend of associations using the Internet to communicate with their members is only going to continue. Taylor feels that the day is not far off when associations will go completely digital.
"Websites will develop into more interactive centers, with features allowing for online registration for meetings, members being able to enter their directory updates online, and online ordering for those groups that sell products to the public and to members."
Their vision here is to create functional thought partnerships with their clients, both influencing them and learning from them.
Fernley & Fernley plans to use its own site to increase marketing power for certain departments and to position themselves to potential new clients.
For example, their Creative Services Department, which includes web design and desktop design, could be marketed to clients on a project basis, thereby greatly widening the opportunity for new business.
Many businesses with strong technical capabilities find that they can leverage those capabilities to help their less sophisticated business customers. You must be careful, though, that you aren’t distracting yourself from your business idea and brand promise.
Internally, Fernley & Fernley is developing an Intranet that will greatly improve efficiencies in all areas of their business behind the scenes.
When it comes to getting started online, Taylor had some very concise words of wisdom: "Jump in!"
"My advice is to be prepared that what you do in the beginning should be changed in the near future. Don’t approach this as a task that you can ever fully complete and cross off your to-do list.
Once you jump-in, be prepared to stay in, and know that you will definitely take various twists and turns with your strategy that will match the changes that are happening within your business."
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