Click here to see a brief video message from Scott Peterson describing our new communications efforts.
While
watching the Packer game the other night I saw a commercial for
Dominoes Pizza that was unlike any commercial I had ever seen.
Dominoes, which pioneered the pizza delivery market we see today, has
been continually losing market share to competitors with better
products. The leaders of that company appeared on the commercial
highlighting all the bad things their customers said about the quality
of Dominoes Pizza. Things like: " The crust tasted like cardboard” and
"the sauce is like ketchup”. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I
don’t think I’ve ever heard of a company buying national advertising in
order to criticize their own product. The leaders of Dominoes Pizza
then went on to demonstrate how they are changing their product to make
it better and invited viewers to give their pizza another try. I
appreciated their honesty.
Since I arrived three years ago,
the number one concern I hear from members is about communication.
Talking about communication is a little like talking about education.
There is always more that can be done and you never arrive at a final
destination, but strive for continual improvement in the right
direction.
I want to let you know that I haven’t been happy
with our ability to communicate from my first week on the job when I
wanted to send an e-mail to the entire membership and was informed we
had no such capability. Since then we have been building that
capability both at a technical and a staff level.
Technically,
we needed a new web platform with integrated data and messaging systems
and a capacity for e-commerce. We built a system that will truly help
our association grow and communicate in the long term. We’ve been using
that system to create online registration for conferences and
membership, to access the new online CE program, and to receive member
feedback.
With that component progressing, it is now time to
turn our attention to improving our communications products. As we
begin the new year, I want to announce a fresh approach to the way WFDA
will communicate with all of you.
We will continue to publish
the Spotlight Magazine each quarter and Spotlight Express twice each
month. In addition, we will be posting new articles, such as this one,
on the front page of the website each week relating to Capitol updates,
industry and trade news, member and vendor profiles and association
news such as events, conferences and other training. Due to the nature
of the technology these articles and other information will be
available first on the website and e-mail followed by fax, so make sure
to log in at wfda.org and give us your preferred e-mail address.
(Communication works both ways.) We hope to raise our communication
quotient and look forward to hearing from you as you see improvements
throughout the year.
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