Outreach & Recruitment

 

Drive participation with user-friendly signup process

Engaging and recruiting participants for your effort is a core element of success. More participants lead to more results. Be strategic and consider the sign up process from a new participant’s point of view to make the process user friendly.

 

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Elements of Success

Simple Enrollment
Make sure your sign up process is simple. A short simple agreement which states the support provided by the program and the commitments of the participant.  Provide extra relationship management and support during the process to manage any questions or issues that may arise.  The ABBC partners involved in outreach and recruiting stay informed on the participant progress and communicate program updates and information.New Participant Package
Provide new participants with a package that helps them fully understand their commitments. The package can include participant pre-requisite checklists, report cards, and expectations around plan development to get to the program goal. Also provide marketing templates they can use for communications. It is best for the package to include a calendar featuring new participant orientation, upcoming education and networking events, a contact list, and where to locate resources such as service providers supporting the program and participant success stories.Early Adopter Incentive
Use your early adopter incentive as a motivation for a quick start and immediate engagement. No-cost building assessments were offered as an early adopter incentive to get participants on board. Their stories were then prepared as case studies communicating their reasons for joining the program and the energy and water efficiency projects and estimated savings as a result of the assessments. These case studies served as marketing and outreach resources for recruiting more buildings and to educate participants on project types and results.Non-Disclosure Agreement for individual building participant data
Have a non-disclosure agreement that clearly outlines what data will be collected from participants’ buildings, how it will be analyzed, and to whom the data will be shared. The program should provide security that there will be no release or use of a participating building’s data outside of the agreed upon reporting for the program without specific additional permission.

Create Message Options

Develop a suite of recruitment messages so BC partners can tailor the recruiting efforts to target different types of participants (e.g., colleges/universities, light-commercial buildings, Class A office space, or communities of faith) and what is important to them. Sample message themes include civic pride, community recognition, access to a peer network as a resource for support, and a competitive “keeping up with the Jones” focus.

Consider implementation during recruitment
Get a commitment from participants to implement a project to reach savings goals rather than just a commitment to save.

  • Prepare a new participant welcome kit, in addition to the new participant package, that includes a calendar featuring new participant orientation, upcoming education and networking events, a contact list and other materials to help them get excited about the program.
  • Incorporate training for data management and monitoring for new participants as an early step in their participation.
  • Give new participants plenty of attention in the form of providing collateral for display in their buildings and highlighting them at Steering Committee meetings and in newsletters when it makes sense.