| Plexus Consulting Group | Success Stories | ||
| Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) |
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Plexus Consulting Group, LLC |
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Vital Stats: The Association for Financial Professionals' (AFP) membership includes
nearly 15,000 individuals representing a broad spectrum of the treasury
and finance profession. The Challenge | The Solution | The Process | Unforseen Benefits | Measurements & Results | Lessons Learned
How to reorganize the association to attract new members, diversify its revenue stream and help current members to face their new roles within their organizations? In 1998, the staff of the Treasury Management Association (TMA), AFP's predecessor, recognized that the role of treasurers in nearly every organization was changing. Technology was taking over the transactional aspects of managing corporate funds. Competitive and shareholder pressures demanded that financial professionals take on a more strategic role in influencing their entire organization. At a time when TMA's members were coping with unprecedented changes in the financial services industry, TMA's membership numbers were not growing, nor were the association's product offerings. Facing a proliferation of Internet companies competing for TMA's
members, AFP president and CEO James Kaitz had to act decisively.
How could AFP prevail, expand its membership base and lead the market
in providing top-tier services to its members?
The solution was wholesale change, a new name, and a community-based business model focused on providing more value to members. In March 1999, TMA's board of directors, without approval from or discussion with TMA's membership, voted to change the association's name to the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), and adopted a new mission, "Turning Knowledge into Performance." The goal was to refocus the organization to broaden its membership base by developing new products driven by a value-bundling business model. An award-winning communications plan was developed to implement the solution. To address competitive threats to its market leadership and take advantage of a strong membership base and product infrastructure, TMA developed a new e-business model known as Value Bundling. Value Bundling links member communities to the products, services and delivery vehicles they need. It involves developing strategic alliances to "turn knowledge into performance" by driving content and transaction based products and services to members, with the goal of enhancing the quality and delivery of products and services demanded by members. To capture the attention of a wide audience of current and prospective members, AFP decided to roll out the new business model under a new and striking brand. Founded in 1979 as the National Corporate Cash Management Association
(NCCMA), the association changed its name to Treasury Management Association
in 1991 as its membership expanded from corporate cash management
professionals to encompass both cash management and treasury professionals.
To attract new members, diversify its revenue stream and help current
members face their new roles within their organizations, TMA became
AFP in October 1999.
The following steps were involved in developing and launching the new business model and brand:
Research AFP began the process by researching member needs. The objectives were to determine the kind and level of support members required and to define the gap between the content and delivery of AFP's existing offerings vis-?-vis the members' professional needs. This involved:
Research revealed that even though new products and services were offered every day, everywhere, financial professionals would benefit from a single, unbiased and trusted source of information. Communicating the role of the new organization was essential to the success and long-term growth of the association. Research results played a key role in the communications program that was eventually adopted. Planning
TMA created a special communications budget of $210,000 to augment the Communication Department's $1.3 million annual budget to implement the plan. The board of directors approved the re-branding in March 1999 with a planned launch and announcement to the membership at the October 25, 1999 annual conference. TMA identified the following objectives to be met through communications tactics:
During the planning phase, AFP organized all of its products and services according to professional categories such as treasury and cash management, and identified corresponding delivery mechanisms such as conferences and publications, etc. These 12 communities reflected the core knowledge base of the targeted expanded membership. The resulting "Value Bundling" business model focused product and service delivery around 12 primary member interest areas. AFP developed valuable "win-win" strategic alliances with groups such as Moneyline, the market data provider, to enhance product and service delivery to members. In return for enabling AFP to provide leading edge products and services, these revenue-sharing alliances allow vendors to build their brand with AFP's members. This strategy, in turn, reinforced AFP's new brand in the marketplace. Execution
The most critical element of this successful name change involved maintaining absolute secrecy until the announcement at the October conference. While Chairman Rob Simmons' speech hinted at "big news to come", all preparations were kept strictly confidential and all participation vendors were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. With a 20-year track record and strong reputation for credibility, one of the major challenges encountered by TMA/AFP involved conveying this strong brand equity from TMA to AFP via the communications plan. Since the name change was kept secret until the announcement, TMA/AFP
executives and staff had no idea what reaction to expect from members.
In fact, the association was concerned that the move might alienate
members and lead to defections. On the contrary, AFP found that less
than a handful of members resisted the change. In fact, AFP's 11.2
percent membership growth for 2000 exceeded the ten percent growth
target. "A good problem to have." At the inception of the program, AFP executives and staff anticipated
that the recruitment of strategic partners would be an uphill battle.
To their surprise, AFP was overwhelmed by inquiries from potential
alliance partners. So much so, that the association created a full-time
position and audit process (link to audit process background materials)
to manage the evaluation of potential strategic partnerships. The communications program was completed within budget. Due to its success, additional resources were devoted to the program to continue the branding process through 2001. Also, the program won Public Relations Society of America's Silver Anvil Competition's Award of Excellence and the PRSA Best in Maryland 2000 award. Savvy and fortuitous media relations work led to a major success, the Wall Street Journal's publication of the Internet Survey Report, on the day immediately following the name change. Overall, the communications program resulted in:
The secrets of implementing a successful name change are absolute confidentiality, precision timing and flawless logistics. Prior to joining AFP, Vice President for Communications Reese Nank
had just completed a similar process and was fully armed with lessons
and contingency plans for ensuring a smooth transition. Talking points
were prepared for each key internal and external audience, and all
staff received media training to ensure that only one story would
flow smoothly and consistently throughout the organization. Despite
the tight March - October deadline forced by the timing of the annual
conference, no one could have anticipated such a smooth process.
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