Case Study: Energy Trade Association

Success story: Mobilize key stakeholders of energy sector companies to support the trade association position on specific legislation regarding energy and environmental issues.

Client: A national trade association representing companies in the energy sector, with 31 state and regional affiliates and an annual operating budget between under $10 million.

Challenge: Identify and recruit key stakeholders of member companies to advocate the association’s stance on specific legislation in the 111th Congress. Encourage respondents to oppose Senate bill S.1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Mobilize support for S.3663, the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act of 2010.

Solution: A targeted, multi-state telephone campaign to identify and recruit key stakeholders in member companies to advance the association’s position. Those respondents supportive of the association’s position were provided background information on the legislation at hand, contact information for their elected officials, and key talking points to draft faxes and emails to their legislators supporting the association’s position.

Tactics: Our professional communications associates contacted member companies of a national trade association to discuss the specifics of pending legislation in the 111th Congress and encourage them to mobilize in support or opposition. Associates spoke with managers, owners and executives of member companies to inform them of pending legislation and determine their degree of support for the association’s position. Respondents that agreed with the association’s position received talking points and contact information for the elected officials immediately upon conclusion of the call to convey their opinion on the legislation at hand and encouraged to fax or email their elected officials in support of the association’s position, as well as submit a copy to our resource center for internal tracking. Associates followed up with respondents via telephone to confirm participation and ensure they provided a copy to us for internal tracking. Upon completion of the project, returned correspondence were digitized and provided to the client via compact disc, sorted by legislative district.

Results: Speaking with supporters in seventeen states, our associates identified 1,204 leaders in member companies that supported the association’s position on S.1733. Of those, 763 submitted comments to their elected officials via fax and email through our outreach effort, while 75 had already acted independently, garnering 69.6% participation for the campaign. While the companion legislation had already passed the House of Representatives by a seven-vote margin, the legislation ultimately sputtered in the Senate. Respondent outreach to their Senators helped the legislation advance through mark up in the Environment and Public Works Committee, but the legislation never received an up-or-down vote in the Senate.

Associates contacted 885 member companies in fourteen states to mobilize in opposition of S.3663. Ultimately 657 respondents took action in accordance with the association’s position, a 74.2% success rate. As a result of their efforts, the legislation did not advance beyond a second reading in the Senate, languishing without so much as a committee hearing or mark up.

Throughout both efforts, associates obtained updated contact information for the association, providing them with more accurate and actionable member data for future efforts. Associates telephoned members following their agreement to participate and, in so doing, reinforced the association’s image in their minds and strengthened the association’s relationship with member companies.

Click here if you are interested in learning how the professional staff at Executive Communications can achieve similar results.

Growing the Grassroots: Fertilizing Your Movement for Success

As technology becomes more prevalent, efficient and cost-effective, so too does citizen advocacy. Yet paradoxically, some grassroots organizations seem to be struggling to keep up with the constantly changing landscape and maintaining relevancy as citizens take matters into their own hands. As a result of the twenty-four hour news cycle and the growth of instant advocacy, many organizations have simply forgotten the fundamentals of effective and successful grassroots efforts. Organizations are constantly being pushed toward reactive efforts rather than long-term and proactive strategies. So what, then, are those fundamentals of grassroots advocacy that will ensure success and maximize your results?

• Clarity of purpose: Know what you want to achieve going in to any campaign, and stay on track. 
• Less is more: We all chafe at governing by slogan, but it works. Settle on a clear, concise and easily communicable message without becoming bogged down in the minutia of policy. Chances are your citizen advocates are not as wonky as the average beltway insider, and your messaging must take that into account.
• Efficient targeting: Focus your efforts on the coveted center – those moderate and undecided decision-makers that will ultimately determine the fate of your issue. Yes, there are some occasions when your citizen advocates need to support decision-makers on your side to steel their resolve (just ask any Wisconsinite), but you will get the most bang for your advocacy buck by focusing on those that have not rendered a final opinion on the matter.
• Balance quality and quantity: As with much in life, the quality of the contact can often be more important than the quantity. If time allows, it is often more fruitful to focus on high quality, personal contacts rather than a mass influx of uninformed callers spouting talking points. Find your supporters that have ties to their legislators, have strong reputations in the community, can speak with authority and can clearly articulate your position. While there are many occasions that require mobilizing the masses, it is still important to ensure they understand your message and can capably communicate it to their legislator. 
• Localize the impact: We all know Speaker Tip O’Neill’s famous maxim that all politics is local. That is as true today as when he first uttered those words. Grassroots advocates must frame their effort in terms of local impact; such as the effect a legislator’s vote will have on the district. Localizing the narrative mitigates the fleeting concerns of national politics and will result in a more favorable response from the decision-maker.
• Cultivate a sense of urgency: Even if you are organizing around an issue that hasn’t yet been placed on the docket, you should convey a sense of urgency to your constituents. Instilling in your supporters the importance of quick action will make it much easier to mobilize them and achieve positive results than if you encourage them to take action at some point down the road. Keep in front of the issue and ensure your supporters are well-informed of the process unfolding. When you call on them to act, ask them to do so immediately. The more urgent your call to arms, the more likely your supporters will act on the issue.

These are a few of the fundamentals of successful grassroots advocacy. There may not be a universally applicable strategy for grassroots success, but these basic tenets of organizing will go a long way in helping you achieve optimal results in your citizen advocacy endeavors. If you encounter difficulty along the way or need guidance implementing these principles, we’re here to help! With over thirteen years of successfully implementing citizen advocacy programs, Executive Communications has the experience, commitment and knowledge to help grow your grassroots and improve your chances of success.  Contact us today for more information!

The Employee Life Cycle: An Introduction

The benefits of streamlining employee recruitment and retention are clear, but how does an organization go about bringing efficiency to its recruitment program?  A clear commitment to improving the employee life cycle will help focus your efforts and yield optimal results.  It seems simple, but the employee life cycle is a critical component of any successful recruitment and retention program.  Simply put, the cycle represents all stages of employment – attracting a potential employee, recruiting them and, most importantly, retaining them.

Organizations must differentiate themselves from the crowd in order to attract the best possible candidate.  Do you stand out among your competitors?  Is your corporate brand recognized as a top employer in the area?  If not, then you aren’t going to attract the high-caliber recruits you want.  Brand is everything, we all know that – but we often limit our brand conscientiousness to how current and potential clients view us.  If you improve your brand recognition and corporate reputation with a focus on attracting quality, long-term employees, your customer image will also improve.  Why?  The energy and attitude of companies with hard-working, committed and energetic employees reverberates with clients and prospects, and helps improve their perception of your company.

Building prospective employee’s interest in your company is a great start, but then what?  Getting them interested and getting them on board are two entirely different challenges. Recruitment isn’t limited to pre-employment screenings and the hiring process, but also extends to the orientation and acclimation period.  Refining and improving this stage of the employee life cycle is a critical component of ensuring a successful human resources policy, and will make it much easier to retain high-performing employees and attract quality recruits.  Remember, first impressions set the tone for an experience, so make sure you put your best foot forward in the recruiting process.

Finally, what good is it to attract and recruit quality employees if you don’t keep them?  Turnover can cripple an organization and leave a team disjointed and overwhelmed.  Fostering an enjoyable and respectful work environment will help keep those high performing employees from getting restless or discouraged and moving on.  It is much easier and more cost-effective to keep a functioning, capable staff in place than it is to constantly search for new talent.

Now that you know about the employee life cycle, you can begin thinking about ways to improve your recruitment and retention program.  Remember – knowledge is power, especially when it comes to the employee life cycle.  It is impossible to streamline your recruitment and retention process if you don’t know what works and what doesn’t.  We launched Your Vital Feedback for that very reason…to provide actionable data that empowers your organization to improve recruitment and retention.  If you would like more information on our process, or would like to discuss the value we can bring to your organization, please don’t hesitate to contact us today by clicking here!

This is part of a series of posts relating to the recruitment and retention process.  Please check back often or visit us at Your Vital Feedback and Executive Communications, Inc. for more information!

The Importance of Efficient Recruitment and Retention

Managing your human resources efforts can seem like a daunting task.  Quite often, an organization’s recruitment and retention efforts are an assortment of extant practices and policies that, over time, have grown into what is accepted as a strategy.  It is important to take a step back and look at the big picture: is your recruitment and retention strategy a holistic approach to improving the organization at all levels, or is it merely the accumulation of processes and procedures developed as a reaction to outside forces?  If your approach looks more like the latter, then it may be time to reevaluate your strategy. 

Improving the efficiency of your recruitment and retention program not only improves the quality of your staff and membership, but it also improves your bottom line.  It is far more cost-effective to find a good employee and keep them than it is to endure a constant cycle of turnover.  In fact, the average cost of replacing an employee is 3-5 times higher than the cost to keep that same employee in place.  Simply ensuring that you keep quality employees in place and mitigate turnover can decrease your human resources outlay significantly. 

Successful recruitment and retention will not only save you money, it will save you frustration.  Turnover has a deleterious effect on those left behind, not only because they have to fill the void that person left but also because the transition period can be extremely stressful.  Chances are your loyal and long-term employees or members don’t enjoy a rotating door of new people to meet and educate.  Rapid turnover also undermines the cohesiveness of a team and can have a real impact on productivity and interpersonal relationships that further undermine the organizations’ objectives. 

Eliminating the constant cycle of turnover and improving your retention will have a dramatic effect on your organization.  We make it sound so easy, right?  That’s because identifying the problem is much easier than rectifying it (hence the first step – admitting you have a problem).  If you have accepted the fact that your organization doesn’t have its eye on the prize – efficient, effective recruitment and retention – then it’s time to move on to the solution.

Executive Communications has a thirteen year track record of success in improving recruitment and retention efforts for numerous organizations.  That’s why we launched Your Vital Feedback, a niche brand focused strictly on improving the recruitment and retention process.  Our breadth of experience allows us to hone in on what works and what doesn’t, and empowers your organization to increase its bottom line while attracting the best of the best.  If you would like more information on our process, or would like to discuss the value we can bring to your organization, please don’t hesitate to contact us today by clicking here or call 877.768.3638! 

This is the first in a series of posts relating to the recruitment and retention process.  Please check back often or visit us at www.YourVitalFeedback.com and www.executive-com.com for more information.

Communicating with Congress

Some of the ECI staff just sat in on an informative webinar by the Congressional Management Foundation and The Partnership for a More Perfect Union.  They presented the results of their most recent survey of congressional staff and their perceptions of constituent communication.  It was definitely illuminating, and had a lot of good points for those involved in political advocacy.  I’d suggest taking the time to read the report – it provides a much-needed insight into the minds of congressional staffers.

According to the research presented, Congressional offices give far more weight to constituents than to lobbyists. It’s good to know our government hasn’t gone completely off the cliff of corruption like so many think!  It’s also interesting to see the value ascribed to the message those constituents are communicating.  As one might expect, form letters are quite often viewed with suspicion (an astounding 53% of staffers surveyed agreed that form letters are often likely sent on behalf of constituents without their knowledge).  The survey underscored the value of that old maxim – quality, not quantity.  Rather than focusing on volume, grassroots organizations should attempt to effectively communicate the impact that the issue at hand has on the member’s home district. 

Another interesting finding showed that offices aren’t as concerned with execution as much as they are with messaging.  While email might be more timely and efficient, staff seem to give equal weight to messages delivered via email or standard mail (surprisingly, good old snail mail outperformed email by 2% among those surveyed, despite the lengthy screening delays implemented following the Anthrax attacks in 2001). 

These are just a few of the intriguing findings reported.  Check out the full report here: http://bit.ly/e3H1YF

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