Most Worshipful Grand Master, Brethren, Ladies and Guests Good Afternoon.

The title of this afternoon’s talk is “Freemasonry For Sale Part 2, Customer Retention and Building Evangelists”

Earlier in the year I expressed the concept that each and everyone within the Masonic Family is part of one great “Sales Force” for the Fraternity. This concept still holds true and after some further reflection upon this theory we now need to look at the production aspect of our Fraternity.  Because after all you can sell a product but if you cant deliver on the backend it does not matter how good your sales force is.

Upon attending the Rocky Mountain Masonic Conference this summer in Boomtown, Nevada in the midst of discussion the idea thrown around was that “Freemasonry” itself was not broken but the presentation to the membership was lacking.  This lack of “presentation” or the production aspect if you will bleeds out to so many of our other difficulties.  I would argue at this time “we” don’t really have a hard time in bringing in new members but we do have a hard time maintaining them.  Our re-subscription rate is in the negative because unfortunately “we” have something to offer but sometimes we don’t know how to deliver on the promise first presented to the candidates in the initial sales presentation.

If we promise Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth and a new member is brought into a lodge of bickering and tired redundancy and sub par degree work how do we expect to maintain that member’s subscription or dues. How then do we expect to raise that member’s subscription rate to cover ever-increasing expenditures if what he bought and what he got were not what he thought?

Now I am speaking in generalities and these items are thankfully not characteristic in these lodges we meet with today however each and every one of us statewide has been just a little bit guilty at some time or another of some of these things I bring up.

The positive from this negative is that “we” are aware of the situation and that “we” are doing something about it.  That is the real beauty of being members of a small jurisdiction because change can happen much more rapidly.

This was evident in the ideas, concepts, and all around positive thoughts shared this summer at the Utah Masonic Leadership Academy.  We all can work together.  You can see the changes as you travel about this jurisdiction.  We are lucky that our members want to nurture the sale and follow the order through to completion.  Most of us when purchasing and completing a sale in everyday life probably did not make a recommendation of this product to a friend just because their salesman was a great guy or gal.  We make the referral because we were taken care of in the whole process from start to finish.  The entire transaction was pleasing and we’d probably use these services again or buy the product again and pay more if necessary because the cost was worth it.

Our lodges or “fulfillment centers of Freemasonry” are elevating themselves and delivering on that promise to their new members of….

A top-notch Masonic education.

Professionally delivered ritual.

And a sense of purpose backed by a plan.

These quality experiences enrich the life of the new Mason so that he wants to participate and he wants to include his family in our “Masonic Family”.  His experience is one that he wants to share, one that he wants to tell everyone he knows and once that conversion is done there my friends is the evangelist for Freemasonry. This is what we need, someone singing the praises of their membership within the Masonic Family.  Advertising alone is great but Customer referrals will build our business.

Preston “Marty” Martineau is my friend.  Some of the first conversations I ever had about Freemasonry with a Mason when I was a non-Mason were with Marty some twelve years ago.  I remember he talked about his Grandfather’s membership and his own.  I am pretty sure this was the first time I had ever seen a Scottish Rite cap or a Shriner’s Fez that I believe belonged to his Grandfather.  Now Marty’s been a Freemason for twenty years and for a while he didn’t hang out with “us” because “we” did not deliver on our product.  However that’s in the past and now he is Worshipful Master of his lodge and in fact we have Marty to thank for some of the fine work he has done on the Midvale Masonic Lodge Hall.  And if anybody knows Marty with some bubble gum and a light bulb he could probably build you a nuclear reactor in time.

Freemasonry is not broke but maybe we were so caught up in our own product over the years and selling it to make the balance sheet look good we forgot to invest in our own membership.  Numbers were great, as we know, and brought in revenue, but we have learned the continued income comes from a quality membership experience.

Those members who come back each and every year and renew their subscription or pay their dues do so because they believe Freemasonry is something to invest in.  And because of this product loyalty the Fraternity will carry on.

Our seasoned membership such as Bill Baker, Art Austin and Jim Wadley have passed a rich history of tradition along to the newer membership.  The newbie’s should not discount this effort and the veterans should not discount their zeal.

Together we can deliver the quality product of Freemasonry to the Membership. Together we can deliver the quality experience to the Masonic Family. Together we can cultivate a culture of ownership.

And from now on we will expect excellence in our production and disallow mediocrity in our Fraternity.

Confidence through preparation goes a long way for our customer experience and our potential referrals.

Now get out there and let them know what we have in “Freemasonry” and what we have in this “Fraternity”.

Thanks for listening and enjoy the rest of your afternoon.