As unlikely as it might sound, tracking career changes on job boards provides valuable information that helps with member retention and identifying new prospects.

How Does It Work?

Steve Doran, CAE, director of membership and marketing at NAFA Fleet Management Association, identifies positions on the organization’s job board that are important to NAFA’s membership and sets up alerts that notify him when someone is about to leave those positions or if they are opening up.

He builds a spreadsheet that lists the person leaving the position, the company they are with, and the day the job post went up. Then, he checks his database to see if he is losing a member or gaining a new prospect.

Sometimes it might be a company he has been recruiting for membership that has repeatedly turned him down. But now it has the potential to become a new prospect because the decision maker, the person responsible for paying membership dues to organizations for its employees, is leaving.

“That’s probably the most crucial person to be tracking on a job board,” Doran says. Because when the decision maker leaves a position that opens up the potential for losing five or six members from the association.

Why Is It Effective?

It increases retention. “You’re not waiting until the person leaves and then trying to get the dues renewal,” Doran says. Through the job board, “you’re basically getting notice that the person is leaving,” he says.

What’s the Benefit?

It keeps track of the primary contact for memberships at an organization. Because when that person leaves and the membership doesn’t get renewed, “All of a sudden your membership drops,” he says. It keeps membership consistent and helps keep the database fresh and up to date. It also doesn’t cost anything. “Some people pay for resources,” Doran says. “This is literally a resource that notifies you your membership is changing.”

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