Your first 300 members
How to get those first signatures
I was recently asked for advice by a community builder in the Effective Altruism universe on how to recruit their first 300 members for a project that required signatures in order to be approved by the government. We spent some time brainstorming, and I though this could be helpful looking for anyone recruiting members, allies, customers, or anyone who you want to smile when they see its you writing them.
Who knew helping could be so fun!
Grab the low hanging fruit first!
Are there people who know you, know the project, and don’t require an explanation about why you want their signature and money? Take the time to approach them first and wring them for all the attention will give you.
Asking friends and allies for concrete favors works really well. If people know you (and even like you) they will be happy to have an opportunity to help you.
Bother all of your internet friends
This particular group I was talking to had over 500 members on their Facebook group. Imagine sending each of them a personal message with a specific ask and a link for them to click on! We have sent personal messages to over 300 people, and the total time was less than an hour per hundred people ( or so). If you commit to writing 10 people on the hour, every hour, the list will be done before you know it.
Create a private Facebook group for those who have become members.
People are definitely signing up now. Still maybe not as many as you expected, but they are giving you their signature and some money.
Now is the time to make them feel special and to hit them up for even more time and energy (you dont even need their money right now, that in fact is the least helpful thing they can do for you right now).
First thing to do? Write these people again and ask them to recommend you to three friends. Give them the link to share. Write them a blurb. Tell them to say who sent them. Get that pyramid working!
Let people know how special they are right this very second, by joining you right now, when you need their help the most. They will make the biggest impact by helping your organization survive.
Make it meta on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a particular beast of its own kind. It expects its own narrative, it loves a story and it hates when you ask for favors that are not hiring related. So, now you get to go meta on LinkedIn and share the wonderful story of raising 300 members for your new organization. Oh and by the way if you want to be part of this, do get in touch and here is link, feel free to check us out!
My friend also suggests pictures with faces, people love faces apparently, and he is much better with the visual work than I am.
Have a product, a market, and a payment method
These are three things that people often get stuck on. Have a clear offering: What is it you are offering them. Are you asking them for something? Giving them something? In this case its both, and people dont often realize it!
Can you get that message out there, do you have eyes on the offering? Do you have the right eyes? It doesn’t matter if someone can save a life with 50 dollars if they dont know about it.
And then of course it’s time to close the deal. How do you get them to put some numbers into their computer and onto your database? How do you get them to act?
The mechanism that gets someone to act on their beliefs is extremely important and tricky to get right. They have to go get their numbers from their card and enter it on the computer. Not only do they have to do that, they have to sit there until it’s done. Never assume someone has bought until they have, in fact, paid. Or signed.
On your website, make your priority action opt-out, not opt-in. Make it the norm to do what you want people to do, do not feel like you have to explain the most important thing to them. Make the most important task the easiest, most normal thing in the world.
Make people feel they are getting more than they are giving.
Why are they choosing you? Because you are helping them get something they want, better than everyone else, and you are doing it for them at a steal.
Help others? We Effective Altruism makes it surprisingly easy.
Feel good about yourself? Well, haven’t we given you cleaver way to be better.
If you dont feel that what you are doing is either making people feel warm inside or helping lift a weight off of their shoulders, then you should reconsider what you are doing. Full stop. Period.
