Pick and choose recruiting tips

Let’s face it: Some people seem better at recruiting new Kiwanis members than others. The key word is “seem.” Perhaps some Kiwanians just haven’t found a method that works for them. After all, if you don’t feel comfortable with what you are doing, your attempts likely won’t appeal to those you are trying to reach.

With that in mind, here are a few tips from Kiwanis members who possess proven recruitment skills. Pick and choose the tips you think fit your personal style, and watch your club’s rooster soar.

•  Tony Molino’s business approach
•  Randy Golden’s natural way

Tony Molino’s business approach

Tony Molino, a dual member of the Torrance and Lawndale Kiwanis clubs in California, approaches club marketing like it’s his business.

“I always have a Kiwanis brochure and membership application in my briefcase. If someone asks me what the ‘K’ on my lapel pin stands for, boom, I hit them with a brochure and application for membership. To me it’s like a business card. In fact, it’s better. People will do business with people they trust. Kiwanians are trustworthy.”

Brochures that are personalized for your club, Tony says, also help if a member doesn’t like to speak publicly. Instead, they simply can pass out brochures to prospective members without having to explain a lot of details.

Look for opportunities to invite others to your meetings.

“I received a call from a woman trying to sell me malpractice insurance,” Tony says. “I told her I could meet her at the Kiwanis meeting at noon the next day. She joined Kiwanis and will be our club president next year.”

Tony’s quick tips:

•  Special Guest Days work if you follow the plan.

•  Get a club membership to the chamber of commerce, and go to events, hand out Kiwanis brochures, and invite other business owners to your meeting. You’ll get new members and more business than going to the chamber events and trying to sell your business services.

•  Invite people five times. “In sales, no one has said no until they have said it five times. I was asked three times to go to a Kiwanis lunch in 1981. I went the third time, and it was one of the greatest business decisions I’ve made in my life.”

•  Don’t be greedy. “As long as people are active in Kiwanis, it really doesn’t matter what club they join. If someone can’t make your Kiwanis meeting, try and get them in another club close to their home or work.”

•  Always tell prospects about our sponsored youth. “Many people know about the Key Club. In the California-Nevada-Hawaii District, we have 18,000 Kiwanians and 44,000 sponsored youth. We need more business leaders to mentor these future leaders.”

•  Ask the local newspaper, radio, cable TV, and TV to cover Kiwanis events, especially ones involving sponsored youth.

•  Ask people if their spouse would like to join Kiwanis—even if the person you approach is a member of Rotary or Lions.

Randy Golden’s natural way

Randy Golden, who is a dual member of the Kiwanis clubs of Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach Surf City Breakfast club in California doesn’t set out to recruit. He says it just happens naturally.

“I don’t think anything I’m doing is all that special,” says Randy who has brought more than 25 individuals into Kiwanis. “I’m in sales, and everything I do is about advancing relationships.”

Randy takes the same approach to Kiwanis recruiting, and he is always on the lookout for new members.

“People are so busy they just don’t think about recruiting except during occasional membership drives and the like,” he says. “It needs to be an ongoing effort. If you wait until you need them, it’s too late. People are going to move or their life situations are going to change—you are going to lose members from time to time; so, it’s good to have fresh blood flowing into clubs to sustain them.”

He also advises that the best way to sell Kiwanis is to let prospective members experience Kiwanis firsthand. “It’s best to invite people to a service project or social activity rather than to a meeting for their first taste of Kiwanis,” he says. “People attend meetings all the time at work. Showing them what Kiwanis is all about makes a better first impression and increases dramatically the likelihood they will join us. But, even if they don’t join, you have gained a supporter by showing them what we are all about, so they will be more likely to support you on the next fundraiser. This is something I like to call ‘friends of Kiwanis.’”