By Randy R. Kilgore, CLU, RHU, LUTCF, NAIFA President

As we embark on our 114th year, our association faces some familiar challenges. In 1920, membership was a major concern for our 31st president, J. Stanley Edwards of Colorado; 83 years later, it still is.

Our association needs to be 100,000 members strong. It will take great leadership to accomplish this task. The 2003-2004 leaders of NAIFA need to be the trendsetters. They need to go the extra step to ensure that local and state associations are the best they can be. Most members look to their local association to determine if they are receiving value for their dues dollars. So leadership needs to shine at the local level where the members are enrolled. And this is why it is so important that local associations deliver benefits that are measurable. Benefits must help our members be more successful; we want members to be able to put more money on their bottom lines. To help achieve this goal, we are reviewing and repackaging our benefits. This will allow the locals to have meaningful programs that attract and retain members.

Get involved
One of the best ways to improve your practice is to be active in your local or state association. This is a great way to keep abreast of what is happening in our business. Your clients want an advisor who is up-to-date on the latest changes in our industry.

By being involved, you can also help NAIFA become the best it can be. At the convention in Kansas City, Mo., last month, I asked those in attendance to become “raving fans” of NAIFA. I am asking the same of you. If you become a raving fan of NAIFA, your enthusiasm will soon spread to the whole association.

If you become a raving fan of NAIFA, your enthusiasm will soon spread to the whole association.

In his book, Raving Fans, Ken Blanchard explains this three-step process. First, you need to decide what you want. This means you create a vision of perfection concentrated on the “customer.” At NAIFA, we have done that with our new vision and mission statement, concentrated on our customer—the member. We encourage you to imagine perfection centered on your customer—the NAIFA member in your area. NAIFA will assist you in finding ways for members to generate more revenue and keep it.

The second step is to discover what the customer wants. We are gathering better information on the demographics of our members and which benefits will make them more successful. I believe you’ll see this soon-to-be-finished product as one of NAIFA’s most useful contributions.

The third step is to “deliver plus one.” Deliver the vision, plus one. Deliver all the time—no exceptions. Then add the “plus 1 percent.” In short, deliver more than is expected.

Creating raving fans is not easy or automatic. But if we make a concerted effort, we will be successful. We will be successful when we receive an A+ on advocacy and on member benefits. Then, when we have delivered the “vision plus one,” we can move on to other challenges.

The theme for our convention was “All for One.” All of us need to be raving fans of NAIFA and promote what we do. As we go forward this year, please tell our story to as many people as you can find. We are all NAIFA.

Randy R. Kilgore is a New England Financial rep in Colorado Springs, Colo. A member of MDRT (life and qualifying), AALU and AHIA, he became president of NAIFA in September 2003.

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