Executives at the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance, an association of vehicle consignors and auctioneers, faced a disengaged membership. Event attendance and volunteerism were down, and an evolving industry transitioning to new and younger leaders began to question the value of membership. IARA enlisted Brand Federation to help the association re-energize its role with current members and add value to membership in ways that boosted retention and recruitment.
Brand Federation deployed its proprietary Value Gap Analysis, a quantitative and qualitative research study that evaluates five value drivers shared by every membership organization.
Surveys and interviews explored IARA’s value proposition and performance on each driver. Collected data rated members’ experience with the IARA and the perceptions among leaders and members of the value it delivers in each of the five areas. Additionally, the VGA asked members to rank the importance of each driver in an ideal association relationship and how they perceived the same value drivers at IARA competitors. The VGA produced a clear, actionable roadmap for IARA leadership in less than a month. It revealed where the association needs to maintain delivering value, where it’s not providing the value members expect, and how members perceive the value of IARA membership compared to membership in rival organizations.
The VGA-generated roadmap is foundational to IARA’s strategic planning. It shows the association where to leverage strengths, shore-up weaknesses, and deploy resources to deliver value in new ways to meet member expectations. The research-backed study has advanced an essential reevaluation of everything IARA does to provide value to its members and is informing strategic decisions about rekindling member engagement and boosting recruitment and retention.
"Brand Federation’s Value Gap Analysis process revealed the areas where we can maximize value for our members and it’s helping us create a new strategy to revitalize and grow the IARA."