Groucho Marx is credited with saying, “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept people like me as a member.” It may seem counter-intuitive, but it is easier to recruit if you reject some candidates and retention is easier if you get rid of some of your members.
Fifteen years ago, Plainsboro Rescue Squad was down to a few members trying to take as many calls as possible, but floundering on nights and weekends – with a paid crew taking daytime calls from Monday through Friday. At times, it was necessary to have a paid crew handle weekends. They advertised, they held open-houses, they did everything possible to make it look easy and fun. My daughter became the recruiting officer and I was her only recruit. I then became recruiting officer. The president at the time told me that if I did a good job, they would make me president. The following year, the 50+ new recruits and 12 existing members elected me president.
Fifteen years ago, Plainsboro Rescue Squad was down to a few members trying to take as many calls as possible, but floundering on nights and weekends – with a paid crew taking daytime calls from Monday through Friday. At times, it was necessary to have a paid crew handle weekends. They advertised, they held open-houses, they did everything possible to make it look easy and fun. My daughter became the recruiting officer and I was her only recruit. I then became recruiting officer. The president at the time told me that if I did a good job, they would make me president. The following year, the 50+ new recruits and 12 existing members elected me president.
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