As members of the AMC Institute, we talk to many Association Management Companies (AMCs) at the Annual Meeting and other events to understand the value that they provide to their clients, and what those clients truly appreciate from their AMC. For many associations, their Association Management Company is the heart and soul of their operations. Without the valued services of an AMC, many associations simply would not have the resources to exist.
Whether you are a full service AMC or offer just a few services, there is no denying the significant contribution you make to your clients’ success. Finding new ways to meet and exceed your clients’ expectations is a sure path to ensuring your company’s own success. Adding benchmarking to your service offerings can provide numerous benefits not only to your customers and their members, but to your business as well.
Set yourself apart from your competition by offering not only a valued service, but a valued service done better with an online benchmarking platform.
Associations thrive on member and industry data gleaned from benchmarking studies and the fresher and more customized the data, the better. By offering dynamic, online benchmarking services to your customers, you’re providing them with timely access to the key data points they value. Combine that timeliness with ease of data collection and access to customized reports and you have a unique selling point that will position you as a true innovator in your space, setting yourself apart from AMCs offering static surveys and reports.
Just as benchmarking studies are often used as an additional revenue stream by many associations, so can they be for your AMC.
Depending on your resources and client base, you could opt to manage and sell participation in your own industry study, or you could resell a benchmarking solution to your customers and even others in your industry niche. By taking the work out of developing a study and/or soliciting participants, you’re providing a highly valued service to your customers that can bring in significant revenue opportunities for your business.
By adding a new, highly valued service to your AMC’s offerings, you not only increase your opportunities for new revenue from existing clients, but also widen your reach into your target market and adjacent markets.
For instance, let’s say your AMC manages multiple associations that serve the healthcare market. By offering a benchmarking study that provides highly sought after information such as a Healthcare Workers Compensation and Benefits study, you will likely be able to attract not only healthcare associations you’re currently servicing but other organizations in the space that are not your clients (but could be!).
This not only benefits your AMC with additional revenue and potential new opportunities, but your clients as well by pulling in a larger study base that will deliver better benchmarking data than if they had conducted a study of just their own member base.
While many AMCs do offer benchmarking studies, you can still gain a competitive edge by offering a better survey experience and end product.
Most Association Management Companies use traditional surveying techniques, which includes distributing static reports weeks, if not months, after data is collected. This not only delivers stale, one-size-fits-all data, but it’s costly and time consuming for all involved. By utilizing dynamic data collection and customizable reports, you’re not only offering your clients information that’s more meaningful to them, but you’re doing it in a timelier manner with less investment of time and money on your end.
Adding benchmarking to your service offerings positions your AMC as a trusted source for industry information.
By providing your customers and their members with key data points to help improve their operations, you are not only seen as a valued business partner, but as an industry expert. By offering access to greater knowledge, your organization is positioned as a better, more trusted resource for the industry you serve.
Benchmarking studies offer a multitude of benefits to associations and their members. As an Association Management Company, benchmarking studies are a natural extension of the services that you’re already offering your customers and can provide you a competitive edge for retaining and gaining customers.