October 2010 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

RE: [arrl-odv:19468] Telemarketing Trial
by Jim Weaver K8JE 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

Harold, I suppose this question has been asked previously, but I don't recall the answer if it has. Of the 91 (8.7%) former members Telereach was able to reacquire as members, do we know how long they maintained their resumed memberships? My question is based on a $28 cost/reacquired member which comes from using GAD's low figure of 125 or ca 7% reacquired members and their low estimate of making only 1,800 calls). I am not debating the potential value obtainable from this maximum estimated cost/reacquired member. Instead, I am curious if we have records that give us a decent idea of how long we can expect these reacquired members to stay around as members to amortize this cost? Tnx, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661 ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio _____ From: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B [mailto:wj1b@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 11:34 AM To: arrl-odv Cc: Petrilli, Diane, KB1RNF; Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R Subject: [arrl-odv:19468] Telemarketing Trial In late August of this year, we proposed to engage the firm of Graven, Austin & Drake (GAD), a telemarketing company in Colorado to undertake a telemarketing test for us. Some Board members had some concerns about this experiment and we believe that we have now addressed them so that we can proceed ahead. Here are some additional details: Contract: 1. Chris has approved the final contract after his modifications were accepted by GAD. Thanks, Chris, for your help with this one. 2. Chris asked Maria Somma, our privacy compliance expert, to review the agreement to make sure that it meets our privacy regulations here in Connecticut. Maria agrees that it meets the State of Connecticut privacy regulations. The Firm: 1. <http://www.gadtelecom.com/> Graven, Austin & Drake (GAD) specializes in telemarketing for member associations. Here is a link to their page on <http://www.gadtelecom.com/Membership.asp> member associations. 2. GAD has been responsive and proactive in working with us to get the best results from the outset of the campaign. Our previous telemarketing firm in the 2008 experiment did not play a similar consultative role. 3. Some of GAD's clients include: . Federation of American Consumers and Travelers . American Quarterhorse Association . National Cattlemen's Beef Association . Mercedes Benz Club of America . BASS Fishing Club & Bassmaster Magazine . Classic Chevy Car Clubs . Christian Booksellers Association . Sports Car Club of America 4. At GAD's suggestion, Diane Petrilli and I have spoken with some these associations and they give GAD high marks. The Business Arrangements: 5. GAD will be calling lapsed ARRL members only and only those who are within 18 months of not renewing their membership. The 18 month requirement complies with telemarketing regulations. 6. The total cost is $3,500, which includes 100 hours of calling. Diane checked with a number of telemarketing companies and this is their standard arrangement. 7. We are able to listen in to all the calls that are being made by GAD and we can adjust the script and/or premium as necessary. These calls are recorded ( without credit card information) so that we can review any disputed conversation. Diane intends to do this. Anticipated and Historic Results: 8. GAD estimates that they will be able to reach between 1,800 and 2,000 members in 100 hours and estimate a close rate of around 7% -- for at total of 140 renewed memberships. 9. For your reference, in November 2008 we used a local telemarketing company, Telereach, to solicit lapsed members. While we, ultimately, did not like working with them, Telereach contacted 1,047 lapsed members, converting 91 of them to members (8.7% acquisition rate). 10. Finally, Diane, and others on the Sales and Marketing team, believe there are some lapsed members who would respond to telemarketing but not to direct mail. We need to take a broader approach to reaching our prospects. At the least, we need to give this another try. If this works well, this type of program could produce some substantial membership gains. I hope that this answers your questions. Now that Chris has approved the contract, we plan to sign the agreement and proceed with this experiment. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL -the national association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 (860) 594 -0220 _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1153 / Virus Database: 424/3225 - Release Date: 10/28/10

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[arrl-odv:19477] W2LC SM/WNY update
by David Woolweaver 30 Oct '10

30 Oct '10

I agree with Kay. It never hurts to be kind. David, K5RAV

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RE: [arrl-odv:19474] RE: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report
by Jim Weaver K8JE 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

Dave, I understand what you are saying. On the other hand, the website has been a topic constantly brought up by members in the GLD (if nowhere else). I have attempted to remain positive in the tone of my replies to comments and inquiries while simultaneously being honest in my replies. Because many members have asked to be kept aware of major changes regarding the site I plan to advise them of the change in management of it through my monthly e-newsletter. You are likely to see it for release in a day or two, I will be very factual in a statement.. My plan is simply to state that website development general management has been shifted to you, and that daily management of the work is being done by the IT Department under the direction of Jon Blum. I will avoid making judgmental statements. If you see a problem with anything in this approach, I am open to discussing it. Tnx, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661 ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio _____ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 3:43 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:19474] RE: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report Jim, it's not a secret and you're certainly free to mention it if a member brings up to the subject, but I don't see any point in broadcasting it. Dave From: Jim Weaver K8JE [mailto:K8JE@ARRL.org] Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 3:38 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report Dave, First, thank you. Next, based on the assumption that the change in management for the website project is common knowledge throughout HQ, am I correct that it is also OK to let members know of the change? Tnx, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661 ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio _____ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 2:55 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report Web Project Status Report October 29, 2010 To the Board of Directors Last week I assumed project leadership responsibility for completing the implementation of the current ARRL Web site. I promised weekly reports; here is the first. The previous week I met individually with most of the ARRL personnel who are involved with the project day to day. After announcing the change to the other department managers I called Brent Robertson of Fathom to let him know; Brent assured me of his full cooperation and that of his firm. Early on I came to the conclusion that responsibility for administering the Bugzilla system used by ARRL and Fathom to track issues in the website ought to reside in the IT Department rather than with Katie Glass. Katie's primary function is to help those of us who are responsible for Web content rather than to deal with technical issues. Katie and Jon Bloom fully agreed, and on October 21 Jon announced to staff that Maureen Farmer henceforth will be the principal administrator of the Bugzilla system. Katie will still enter and update bugs when she needs to. Maureen is also now the administrative point of contact with Fathom for bug-fix and other programming matters. Maureen was not on staff when the new Web site was launched but has now been here for four months; I'm glad she is able to take this on. Maureen immediately reviewed the outstanding bugs, cleaned out a number of them and reassigned several others. We are scheduling a meeting of ARRL IT and Fathom staff for next week to review all open bugs and what is needed to close them out. I will attend that meeting as part of my education but do not intend to insert myself into the communication between the respective technical staffs at Fathom and the ARRL. Observant regular visitors to the Web will have noticed that there is now a "quick link" feature at the top of the home page that provides direct links to popular and important pages. This was in the works already; I'm glad we were able to go live with it this week. Another, more subtle change was made the previous week to darken the font used for text throughout the site. Several attendees at last Saturday's Executive Committee meeting said they had noticed an improvement in readability. I am still making my way up the learning curve about the site and learn more every day. At this point my major concerns fall into two categories: 1. Training. Overall we have a pretty good handle on the content management system although some staff members are more comfortable with it than others. We have the ability to address this in-house. On the other hand, ARRL staff does not yet have as clear an understanding as we need of how to use the administrative tools to manage, for example, who gets to view which pages. Next week I hope to get a better idea of how much this is a training issue and how much has to do with deficiencies in the administrative tools themselves. 2. Siebel-to-Web (and vice versa) data communication issues. These lie at the heart of many of our ongoing problems and are particularly daunting because they require an in-depth understanding of both systems. Particularly now that our two new programmers Maureen and Dennis Budd are on staff, our IT department is coming up to speed on the Web side. David Sumner, K1ZZ - Chief Executive Officer _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1153 / Virus Database: 424/3225 - Release Date: 10/28/10 _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1153 / Virus Database: 424/3225 - Release Date: 10/28/10

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[arrl-odv:19469] Re: Telemarketing Trial
by Kermit Carlson 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

Harold; I do agree that the issue of member retention is important and should be a high priority. But in following the discussions I do note the following; It is estimated that for $3,500 Graven, Austen & Drake will contact upwards of 2,000 members. If I use the 8.7% "close rate" experienced in 1985 with Telereach, this will equate to 174 members renewed at a cost of $20.11 per member. I think that this is an exceptionally high amount to pay for a low return. The proposal has a cost of almost $35/hour for the telemarketing effort which although might be the reasonable prevailing commercial rate seems to be a significant amount over what I would expect we would encounter using an in-house effort. My other concern still resides with the longer-lasting negative impression that I suggest will be retained by the other 1,826 members (out of 2,00) who are subjected to essentially a blind sales call in the weeks following months of mid-term election phone calls. I believe that this approach has the potential of low benefit and high customer dissatisfaction. Thank You, - Kermit Carlson W9XA ViceDirector - Central Division ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kramer, Harold, WJ1B" <wj1b(a)arrl.org> Date: Friday, October 29, 2010 10:34 am Subject: [arrl-odv:19468] Telemarketing Trial To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org> Cc: "Petrilli, Diane, KB1RNF" <dpetrilli(a)arrl.org>, "Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R" <rinderbitzen(a)arrl.org> > In late August of this year, we proposed to engage the firm of Graven, > Austin & Drake (GAD), a telemarketing company in Colorado to > undertake a > telemarketing test for us. Some Board members had some concerns about > this experiment and we believe that we have now addressed them so that > we can proceed ahead. Here are some additional details: > > Contract: > > 1. Chris has approved the final contract after his modifications > were accepted by GAD. Thanks, Chris, for your help with this one. > > 2. Chris asked Maria Somma, our privacy compliance expert, to > review the agreement to make sure that it meets our privacy regulations > here in Connecticut. Maria agrees that it meets the State of > Connecticut privacy regulations. > > The Firm: > > 1. Graven, Austin & Drake < (GAD) > specializes in telemarketing for member associations. Here is a link > to > their page on member associations > < . > > 2. GAD has been responsive and proactive in working with us to > get the best results from the outset of the campaign. Our previous > telemarketing firm in the 2008 experiment did not play a similar > consultative role. > > 3. Some of GAD's clients include: > > * Federation of American Consumers and Travelers > > * American Quarterhorse Association > > * National Cattlemen's Beef Association > > * Mercedes Benz Club of America > > * BASS Fishing Club & Bassmaster Magazine > > * Classic Chevy Car Clubs > > * Christian Booksellers Association > > * Sports Car Club of America > > > > 4. At GAD's suggestion, Diane Petrilli and I have spoken with some > these associations and they give GAD high marks. > > > > The Business Arrangements: > > 5. GAD will be calling lapsed ARRL members only and only those > who > are within 18 months of not renewing their membership. The 18 month > requirement complies with telemarketing regulations. > > 6. The total cost is $3,500, which includes 100 hours of calling. > Diane checked with a number of telemarketing companies and this is their > standard arrangement. > > 7. We are able to listen in to all the calls that are being made > by GAD and we can adjust the script and/or premium as necessary. These > calls are recorded ( without credit card information) so that we can > review any disputed conversation. Diane intends to do this. > > > > > > Anticipated and Historic Results: > > 8. GAD estimates that they will be able to reach between 1,800 > and > 2,000 members in 100 hours and estimate a close rate of around 7% -- > for > at total of 140 renewed memberships. > > > > 9. For your reference, in November 2008 we used a local > telemarketing company, Telereach, to solicit lapsed members. While we, > ultimately, did not like working with them, Telereach contacted 1,047 > lapsed members, converting 91 of them to members (8.7% acquisition > rate). > > > > 10. Finally, Diane, and others on the Sales and Marketing team, > believe there are some lapsed members who would respond to telemarketing > but not to direct mail. We need to take a broader approach to reaching > our prospects. At the least, we need to give this another try. If this > works well, this type of program could produce some substantial > membership gains. > > I hope that this answers your questions. Now that Chris has approved > the contract, we plan to sign the agreement and proceed with this > experiment. > > > > 73, > > > Harold > > > > > > Harold Kramer, WJ1B > > Chief Operating Officer > > ARRL -the national association for Amateur Radio > > 225 Main Street > > Newington, CT 06111 > > (860) 594 -0220 > > > > > >

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[arrl-odv:19474] RE: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

Jim, it's not a secret and you're certainly free to mention it if a member brings up to the subject, but I don't see any point in broadcasting it. Dave From: Jim Weaver K8JE [mailto:K8JE@ARRL.org] Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 3:38 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report Dave, First, thank you. Next, based on the assumption that the change in management for the website project is common knowledge throughout HQ, am I correct that it is also OK to let members know of the change? Tnx, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661 ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio ________________________________ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 2:55 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report Web Project Status Report October 29, 2010 To the Board of Directors Last week I assumed project leadership responsibility for completing the implementation of the current ARRL Web site. I promised weekly reports; here is the first. The previous week I met individually with most of the ARRL personnel who are involved with the project day to day. After announcing the change to the other department managers I called Brent Robertson of Fathom to let him know; Brent assured me of his full cooperation and that of his firm. Early on I came to the conclusion that responsibility for administering the Bugzilla system used by ARRL and Fathom to track issues in the website ought to reside in the IT Department rather than with Katie Glass. Katie's primary function is to help those of us who are responsible for Web content rather than to deal with technical issues. Katie and Jon Bloom fully agreed, and on October 21 Jon announced to staff that Maureen Farmer henceforth will be the principal administrator of the Bugzilla system. Katie will still enter and update bugs when she needs to. Maureen is also now the administrative point of contact with Fathom for bug-fix and other programming matters. Maureen was not on staff when the new Web site was launched but has now been here for four months; I'm glad she is able to take this on. Maureen immediately reviewed the outstanding bugs, cleaned out a number of them and reassigned several others. We are scheduling a meeting of ARRL IT and Fathom staff for next week to review all open bugs and what is needed to close them out. I will attend that meeting as part of my education but do not intend to insert myself into the communication between the respective technical staffs at Fathom and the ARRL. Observant regular visitors to the Web will have noticed that there is now a "quick link" feature at the top of the home page that provides direct links to popular and important pages. This was in the works already; I'm glad we were able to go live with it this week. Another, more subtle change was made the previous week to darken the font used for text throughout the site. Several attendees at last Saturday's Executive Committee meeting said they had noticed an improvement in readability. I am still making my way up the learning curve about the site and learn more every day. At this point my major concerns fall into two categories: 1. Training. Overall we have a pretty good handle on the content management system although some staff members are more comfortable with it than others. We have the ability to address this in-house. On the other hand, ARRL staff does not yet have as clear an understanding as we need of how to use the administrative tools to manage, for example, who gets to view which pages. Next week I hope to get a better idea of how much this is a training issue and how much has to do with deficiencies in the administrative tools themselves. 2. Siebel-to-Web (and vice versa) data communication issues. These lie at the heart of many of our ongoing problems and are particularly daunting because they require an in-depth understanding of both systems. Particularly now that our two new programmers Maureen and Dennis Budd are on staff, our IT department is coming up to speed on the Web side. David Sumner, K1ZZ - Chief Executive Officer ________________________________ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1153 / Virus Database: 424/3225 - Release Date: 10/28/10

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RE: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report
by Jim Weaver K8JE 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

Dave, First, thank you. Next, based on the assumption that the change in management for the website project is common knowledge throughout HQ, am I correct that it is also OK to let members know of the change? Tnx, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661 ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio _____ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 2:55 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report Web Project Status Report October 29, 2010 To the Board of Directors Last week I assumed project leadership responsibility for completing the implementation of the current ARRL Web site. I promised weekly reports; here is the first. The previous week I met individually with most of the ARRL personnel who are involved with the project day to day. After announcing the change to the other department managers I called Brent Robertson of Fathom to let him know; Brent assured me of his full cooperation and that of his firm. Early on I came to the conclusion that responsibility for administering the Bugzilla system used by ARRL and Fathom to track issues in the website ought to reside in the IT Department rather than with Katie Glass. Katie's primary function is to help those of us who are responsible for Web content rather than to deal with technical issues. Katie and Jon Bloom fully agreed, and on October 21 Jon announced to staff that Maureen Farmer henceforth will be the principal administrator of the Bugzilla system. Katie will still enter and update bugs when she needs to. Maureen is also now the administrative point of contact with Fathom for bug-fix and other programming matters. Maureen was not on staff when the new Web site was launched but has now been here for four months; I'm glad she is able to take this on. Maureen immediately reviewed the outstanding bugs, cleaned out a number of them and reassigned several others. We are scheduling a meeting of ARRL IT and Fathom staff for next week to review all open bugs and what is needed to close them out. I will attend that meeting as part of my education but do not intend to insert myself into the communication between the respective technical staffs at Fathom and the ARRL. Observant regular visitors to the Web will have noticed that there is now a "quick link" feature at the top of the home page that provides direct links to popular and important pages. This was in the works already; I'm glad we were able to go live with it this week. Another, more subtle change was made the previous week to darken the font used for text throughout the site. Several attendees at last Saturday's Executive Committee meeting said they had noticed an improvement in readability. I am still making my way up the learning curve about the site and learn more every day. At this point my major concerns fall into two categories: 1. Training. Overall we have a pretty good handle on the content management system although some staff members are more comfortable with it than others. We have the ability to address this in-house. On the other hand, ARRL staff does not yet have as clear an understanding as we need of how to use the administrative tools to manage, for example, who gets to view which pages. Next week I hope to get a better idea of how much this is a training issue and how much has to do with deficiencies in the administrative tools themselves. 2. Siebel-to-Web (and vice versa) data communication issues. These lie at the heart of many of our ongoing problems and are particularly daunting because they require an in-depth understanding of both systems. Particularly now that our two new programmers Maureen and Dennis Budd are on staff, our IT department is coming up to speed on the Web side. David Sumner, K1ZZ - Chief Executive Officer _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1153 / Virus Database: 424/3225 - Release Date: 10/28/10

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[arrl-odv:19472] State legislative report
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

As state legislatures wind down the state legislative report becomes shorter. Here is the latest edition, provided earlier today by Chwat & Co. Dave K1ZZ <<ARRL SLR-September-October 2010.doc>>

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[arrl-odv:19471] Web project status report
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

Web Project Status Report October 29, 2010 To the Board of Directors Last week I assumed project leadership responsibility for completing the implementation of the current ARRL Web site. I promised weekly reports; here is the first. The previous week I met individually with most of the ARRL personnel who are involved with the project day to day. After announcing the change to the other department managers I called Brent Robertson of Fathom to let him know; Brent assured me of his full cooperation and that of his firm. Early on I came to the conclusion that responsibility for administering the Bugzilla system used by ARRL and Fathom to track issues in the website ought to reside in the IT Department rather than with Katie Glass. Katie's primary function is to help those of us who are responsible for Web content rather than to deal with technical issues. Katie and Jon Bloom fully agreed, and on October 21 Jon announced to staff that Maureen Farmer henceforth will be the principal administrator of the Bugzilla system. Katie will still enter and update bugs when she needs to. Maureen is also now the administrative point of contact with Fathom for bug-fix and other programming matters. Maureen was not on staff when the new Web site was launched but has now been here for four months; I'm glad she is able to take this on. Maureen immediately reviewed the outstanding bugs, cleaned out a number of them and reassigned several others. We are scheduling a meeting of ARRL IT and Fathom staff for next week to review all open bugs and what is needed to close them out. I will attend that meeting as part of my education but do not intend to insert myself into the communication between the respective technical staffs at Fathom and the ARRL. Observant regular visitors to the Web will have noticed that there is now a "quick link" feature at the top of the home page that provides direct links to popular and important pages. This was in the works already; I'm glad we were able to go live with it this week. Another, more subtle change was made the previous week to darken the font used for text throughout the site. Several attendees at last Saturday's Executive Committee meeting said they had noticed an improvement in readability. I am still making my way up the learning curve about the site and learn more every day. At this point my major concerns fall into two categories: 1. Training. Overall we have a pretty good handle on the content management system although some staff members are more comfortable with it than others. We have the ability to address this in-house. On the other hand, ARRL staff does not yet have as clear an understanding as we need of how to use the administrative tools to manage, for example, who gets to view which pages. Next week I hope to get a better idea of how much this is a training issue and how much has to do with deficiencies in the administrative tools themselves. 2. Siebel-to-Web (and vice versa) data communication issues. These lie at the heart of many of our ongoing problems and are particularly daunting because they require an in-depth understanding of both systems. Particularly now that our two new programmers Maureen and Dennis Budd are on staff, our IT department is coming up to speed on the Web side. David Sumner, K1ZZ - Chief Executive Officer

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[arrl-odv:19470] Fwd: Report of the General Counsel to the Executive Committee
by Chris Imlay 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

Greetings. I must apologize profusely for my failure until now to send to the full Board the attached memos that I had sent to the Executive Committee just prior to the meeting last weekend in St. Louis. President Craigie had to remind me twice to do this, and both times it slipped my mind, for no good reason. It was an obligation I was well-aware that I had, and the failure to send these to you before now is entirely my own. Sorry for it. Please let me know any questions that you have about either of these memos. 73, Chris W3KD Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG -----Original Message----- From: Chris Imlay <w3kd(a)aol.com> To: exec-com(a)arrl.org Sent: Mon, Oct 18, 2010 5:20 pm Subject: Report of the General Counsel to the Executive Committee Greetings. Attached in anticipation of this Saturday's meeting in St. Louis, and keyed to the agenda just circulated by EVP Sumner, please find my memo on agenda items 4,5 and part of 8. Also attached is a memo addressing Agenda Item 8.1. I will be prepared to address any other regulatory topic of interest to the EC at the meeting. I will be in St. Louis late in the afternoon on Friday if anyone has questions in advance of the meeting, or else I will reply by e-mail. 73, Chris W3KD Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG

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[arrl-odv:19468] Telemarketing Trial
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

In late August of this year, we proposed to engage the firm of Graven, Austin & Drake (GAD), a telemarketing company in Colorado to undertake a telemarketing test for us. Some Board members had some concerns about this experiment and we believe that we have now addressed them so that we can proceed ahead. Here are some additional details: Contract: 1. Chris has approved the final contract after his modifications were accepted by GAD. Thanks, Chris, for your help with this one. 2. Chris asked Maria Somma, our privacy compliance expert, to review the agreement to make sure that it meets our privacy regulations here in Connecticut. Maria agrees that it meets the State of Connecticut privacy regulations. The Firm: 1. Graven, Austin & Drake <http://www.gadtelecom.com/> (GAD) specializes in telemarketing for member associations. Here is a link to their page on member associations <http://www.gadtelecom.com/Membership.asp> . 2. GAD has been responsive and proactive in working with us to get the best results from the outset of the campaign. Our previous telemarketing firm in the 2008 experiment did not play a similar consultative role. 3. Some of GAD's clients include: * Federation of American Consumers and Travelers * American Quarterhorse Association * National Cattlemen's Beef Association * Mercedes Benz Club of America * BASS Fishing Club & Bassmaster Magazine * Classic Chevy Car Clubs * Christian Booksellers Association * Sports Car Club of America 4. At GAD's suggestion, Diane Petrilli and I have spoken with some these associations and they give GAD high marks. The Business Arrangements: 5. GAD will be calling lapsed ARRL members only and only those who are within 18 months of not renewing their membership. The 18 month requirement complies with telemarketing regulations. 6. The total cost is $3,500, which includes 100 hours of calling. Diane checked with a number of telemarketing companies and this is their standard arrangement. 7. We are able to listen in to all the calls that are being made by GAD and we can adjust the script and/or premium as necessary. These calls are recorded ( without credit card information) so that we can review any disputed conversation. Diane intends to do this. Anticipated and Historic Results: 8. GAD estimates that they will be able to reach between 1,800 and 2,000 members in 100 hours and estimate a close rate of around 7% -- for at total of 140 renewed memberships. 9. For your reference, in November 2008 we used a local telemarketing company, Telereach, to solicit lapsed members. While we, ultimately, did not like working with them, Telereach contacted 1,047 lapsed members, converting 91 of them to members (8.7% acquisition rate). 10. Finally, Diane, and others on the Sales and Marketing team, believe there are some lapsed members who would respond to telemarketing but not to direct mail. We need to take a broader approach to reaching our prospects. At the least, we need to give this another try. If this works well, this type of program could produce some substantial membership gains. I hope that this answers your questions. Now that Chris has approved the contract, we plan to sign the agreement and proceed with this experiment. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL -the national association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 (860) 594 -0220

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