ABA Division for Bar Services: Bar Leader Magazine

This page uses JavaScript. To take advantage of this feature, please download Internet Explorer or Navigator 4.x.
Bar Leader Home|Subscriptions|Current Issue|Older Issues

Bar executives, consultants offer tips for
selecting member benefit offers from vendors
By Anna Marie Kukec

Janice Ambruso, executive director of the Hartford County Bar Association in Connecticut, sifts through vendor offers for telephone service, office supplies and even automobile tires. For Ambruso, reviewing the multitude of promotions and pitches from vendors is frustrating and time consuming.
"I sometimes feel bombarded," admits Ambruso, who may receive two or more offers a week, which may add up to 15 or so by the time the bar's Membership Committee meets to review them. While no formal bar policy exists for selecting vendor offers, Ambruso and the committee have decided on about 10 benefits for the bar's 2,400 members, including insurance, car rental, cellular phone and credit card offers.
The Missouri Bar also finds the process difficult. "It would be very helpful to have a way to sift through all of them. It is difficult to tell without investing a lot of time (even) if the offer is a good deal or not,"says Linda Oligschlaeger of Jefferson City, membership services director for the unified bar.
So how can bar leaders evaluate a vendor's product to determine whether it is worthwhile for members and a potential source of non-dues revenue? Several bar executives and consultants offer tips and insight into their own experiences that may help Ambruso, Oligschlaeger and other bar leaders.
Tips, experience
Selecting the right product or service for members has become an intricate process, in part, because companies are more sophisticated in their pitches and marketing efforts. Without a formal policy or survey for guidance, bar leaders may rely on shoot-from-the-hip instincts, their committee's previous experiences or word-of-mouth recommendations from other bar officials.
"If you rely on unsolicited proposals, then you're letting someone else set the playing field," says Karen Mathis of Denver, immediate past chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Membership. Bar officials should take the reigns on behalf of members and assess the association's goals, a vital first step before selecting vendors and their products, Mathis says.
For four years, Mathis chaired the committee that selects products and services for ABA members based on the association's "Policy and Procedures Handbook," adopted more than 15 years ago and updated in November 1996.
Mathis suggests that bar leaders:

Survey membership every year to determine needs and interests;
Send requests for proposals with specific questions to targeted companies that are industry leaders and that service the geographic location;
Analyze the proposal, product information and customer service procedures, then weigh it as a source for non-dues revenue;
Research the company's history, including fiscal responsibility and customer service record;
Recommend it to the Board of Governors for approval, then;
Negotiate for the best contract.
The ABA offers 13 member benefits that are geared toward a national membership, says Paula Beste Cleave of Chicago, staff director of the ABA Member Benefits Department.
"We avoid the vanilla programs, or what we refer to as programs that are offered to every organization out there. We're looking to tailor the benefit to the membership and offer something unique," Cleave says.
The process is also more difficult because companies are developing what is known as "relationship marketing," where the product or service is connected to an event or another program. For example, when a vendor sponsors a bar association's reception, it may also offer a special deal for a limited time on its product to the attendees of the reception.
"These types of companies are almost forcing bar associations to develop some type of guideline on making benefit decisions," Cleave adds.
Part of strategic plan
Selecting vendors and benefits should be part of an overall association strategic plan, advises Robin Gordon of Washington, D.C., a certified public accountant and senior manager of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, which works on strategic issues and vendor decisions with nearly 100 associations, including the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, The Endocrine Society, the American Occupational Therapy Association and the American College of Cardiology.
Gordon suggests that an association first determine its vision and mission, and combine those with its opportunities and strengths. A good partnership can develop when the vendor fits in with the association's culture.
"In short, only look for offers which fit the overall direction and goals of the association," Gordon adds. Tom Loughlin, director of member services for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in New York City, believes selecting a vendor should be based on value and service to the member, not necessarily on income to the association.
"Members may see a benefit as pure income to the association and it sets a negative tone. I believe that if the value is there, the income will follow. In one case, we went as far as to offer a service with no revenue in order to meet a strategic fit," Loughlin says.
Often non-dues revenue is not the reason for offering the benefit. Instead, the association may just be interested in providing something that will help retain members. Again, in this case, the value of surveying members cannot be stressed enough.
Association-vendor agreements can be a crucial turning point to providing a member benefit, according to Arleigh Greenblat of Washington, D.C., a former marketing manager for 20 years with the National Education Association and president for 12 years of his own firm, Northstar Consulting Inc.
"I find that a contract can be broadly based and doesn't always spell out the marketing responsibility of both parties, and even the evaluation responsibilities later," Greenblat explains.
Without negotiating a more specific contract, disillusionment can be a common side effect for association leaders, he notes.
"Perhaps (the association negotiators) didn't make the right contacts or weren't provided with the right marketing materials. You have to determine what is the plan here. What are the goals? A lot of times, that's not referenced in the contract and that can cause disillusionment," Greenblat adds.
What bars offer
According to the 1995 Bar Activities Inventory, compiled by the American Bar Association Division for Bar Services, some bar association member benefits include:

professional liability insurance (47 state, 38 local bars);
medical insurance (45 state, 64 local bars);
car rental (41 state, 26 local bars);
credit cards (38 state, 32 local bars);
overnight delivery (31 state, 11 local bars);
office supply discounts (21 state, 41 local bars);
cellular phones (19 state, 45 local bars;
computer hardware/software discounts (3 state and 14 local bars).
Like the Hartford County bar, the Lancaster County Bar Association in Lancaster, Pa., does not have a formal policy regarding vendors and member benefits.
"I usually put (the vendor) off unless there is a request from a member that we review whatever the service or commodity is. If it seems to be of real value to the membership, and there is a potential benefit to the association, I will bring it to the board for approval," says Evelyn Sullivan, executive director of the 655-member bar.
The Allegheny County Bar Association also does not have a formal policy and selects its products and services through various bar committees. Questions considered are: Is the price competitive? Are there similar or better products and services available in the market that are cheaper and provide better service? And, are the services available to lawyers whether or not they are bar members? says Deputy Executive Director David Blaner, who evaluates new proposals.
The bar offers numerous services through outside vendors, and most of them generate non-dues income. For example, annual income from vendor offers include about $10,000 for a cellular phone service, about $50,000 from a legal secretary and paralegal placement service, and about $76,000 from video equipment rental and video teleconferencing services. Also, selling Internet access to members through the bar's contract with an Internet Service Provider brings an additional $16,000 annually.
One of the few services which provides no income, but is offered as a courtesy, is emergency day care for children of members.
The Columbus Bar Association does have a policy, and its five-page Policy Statement Concerning Endorsements was adopted in January 1993. One of the factors used to determine whether to go with a vendor is the amount of staff labor necessary to promote or maintain the product or service, says Executive Director Alex Lagusch, of the 4,700-member bar in Ohio.
"What it boils down to is can (we) do it on our own, or does it requires a lot of work? For example, we have a secretarial service that is very active and the members like it. But it is labor intensive," Lagusch says. Whether a vendor deal is accepted also depends on how many members it will attract.
"It's rare to have a product or service that really captures a large-scale interest. If a product only attracts 200 people, that's not a lot. So we look at it carefully and how many will be involved. If it's only for a marginal amount of members, we'll take a pass on it," Lagusch adds.
The Oakland Bar-Adam Pratt Foundation in Michigan accepts donations from vendors, such as funds for a law library, software for office computers or other in-kind donations for an event. Some vendors have offered these deals in exchange for a promotion on the home page of the Oakland County Bar Association and foundation (www.ocba.org), for a spot in the newsletters, or a poster bearing the vendor's name that is displayed at bar or foundation function, says foundation Executive Director Mary Barden.
"Many times we'll do the soliciting if we think the company or sponsor wants to appear before our particular audience," she says.
Experiences of state bars
The 20,200-member Washington State Bar Association deliberately shies away from endorsing products and vendor deals, says Executive Director Dennis Harwick of Seattle.
"The Board of Governors revisits this tension between a member service' and the difficulty of endorsing one product or service over another. Should the member-owned vendors get priority? Should in-state vendors get priority? Is it really a form of payola?" Harwick says.
But other state bars provide vendor offers. About six years ago, the Oregon State Bar's Board of Governors limited the member benefits to a credit card and insurance products, including medical, dental, life and disability. For other requests, the 13,100-member bar offers the vendor the opportunity to purchase its mailing list or to place an ad in the bar journal, according to Jack Pessia of Lake Oswego, the bar's human resources manager and administrator of the member benefits program. Mailing list sales can generate up to $40,000 a year, he adds.
Since the mandatory West Virginia State Bar does not have a formal policy, its Board of Governors takes a conservative approach when approving contracts with outside vendors, explains Executive Director Tom Tinder of Charleston.
Besides offering liability and health care insurance, a credit card is provided to 4,000 bar members. Overall, the bar realizes about $15,000 annually from different outside vendors, who may also participate as sponsors at the bar's annual meeting, pay a fee for an exhibit, or advertise in bar publications.
The Pennsylvania Bar Association's membership survey last spring indicated that many members wanted products related to new technology, such as forms or books on disk and other software options. Coincidentally, most vendor pitches have come from software companies and Internet providers, says Elizabeth Bertrand of Harrisburg, director of Membership and Project Development.
The 27,100-member bar currently offers nearly a dozen products, including a credit card, car rental, office supplies and Lexis. Although Bertrand declined to provide actual dollar income, she says these services provide about 43 percent of the bar's operating budget. The offers are evaluated by the Membership Benefits and Services Committee, which meets about four times a year, with additional meetings via conference calls. It reviews product proposals that fit into the bar's profile and needs, following guidelines that were established about 10 years ago.
Investing time and energy in the process is useful, but Bertrand finds that dealing with company representatives can be frustrating. "Some salesmen can get a little pushy. But you just learn to deal with that," she adds.
The New York State Bar Association's Membership Committee reviews vendor proposals. Instead of a formal policy, the committee relies on a guideline for selecting vendors that match the association's mission. The bar's 56,000 members can choose among credit card, car rentals, insurance, telephone discounts and overnight package delivery.
In 1996, the bar had income of $15.9 million, with nearly 8 percent coming from these programs and endorsements. About $1.1 million came from the insurance program, says Director of Membership Patricia Woods of Albany.