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A 6 Year NAIFA Membership Success Story – Part 1

Simon Reilly

NAIFA Member
Every conversation has the potential to become an extraordinary success story. Sometimes it takes more than one conversation and a few years to create success.

This conversation started back in 2010 when I spoke at the 2010 MDRT in Vancouver. I met fellow MDRT speaker Matt Anderson who mentioned that NAIFA Iowa was looking for speakers for their first NAIFA Iowa Sales Caravan. As an aside, Matt mentioned that John F. Nichols would also be speaking alongside of Matt and that John could be President of NAIFA one day. Matt introduced me to Michele Grassley Clarke the Executive Director of NAIFA Iowa.

I had no idea at the time of meeting Michele Grassley Clarke and speaking at the NAIFA Iowa Sales Caravan of what it would turn into. Matt, John, Michele, NAIFA Iowa and I had a life changing experience making a difference in Des Moines, Iowa City, Sioux City and Waterloo. Click Here to read the 2010 NAIFA Iowa Sales Caravan – Clear Your Roadblocks Speaking Testimonials. During the 2010 NAIFA Iowa Sales Caravan I became a Member of NAIFA Iowa. This lead me to learn a lot about adding value, advocacy and fellowship meeting with a lot of extraordinary friends along through speaking at NAIFA National, State and Local Chapter Events. Understanding the needs of NAIFA National, State, Local Chapters and NAIFA Members has challenged me to create and present the following speaking presentations over the past 6 years;

Another part of the conversation goes back to May 11th, 2012 when I had the honor of being invited to the NAIFA Nebraska President’s Breakfast while I was presenting at the 2012 NAIFA Nebraska State Conference. One of the key topics at the breakfast was how to increase NAIFA Membership.

What I learned at the breakfast was very insightful from NAIFA National Thought Leading Past Presidents that included Bob Nelson and Terry Headley. I wrote a NAIFA Membership White Paper about what I learned, and from time to time, passed the White Paper on to NAIFA Centers Of Influence. I have been refining the NAIFA Membership White Paper over the years. I had no idea at the time of attending the NAIFA Nebraska President’s Breakfast and writing the NAIFA Membership White Paper of what it would turn into.

I believe that speaking at NAIFA created the opportunity to speak at the 2015 MDRT in New Orleans. Soon after I spoke at the 2015 MDRT in New Orleans, I approached GAMA about speaking at their 2016 LAMP Conference in Las Vegas. GAMA asked me how my Inspirational Tipping Point approach would address leadership at a management level so I wrote and submitted an article entitled; How Can I Address Leadership At A Management Level? I had no idea at the time of writing the article of what it would turn into.

Click Here to read the How Can I Address Leadership At A Management Level? article that I published as a blog. I also sent the article to all of the speaking conference decision makers in my database.

Soon after I got a call from David W. Field, Executive Vice President of NAIFA Ohio who was impressed by my article and asked me to facilitate a Strategic Planning Session.

“Thank you so much, Simon, for coming to Columbus and for your “ON TARGET” presentation to our local association leadership! You vividly demonstrated that the same elements that assure a successful sales career will also help them recruit new members into their association! Despite no breaks during your two hour presentation, no one left the room and the standing ovation said it all!

Thanks again for sharing your time and talents!”

David W. Field, CAE
Executive Vice President
NAIFA-Ohio

Of course I said yes.

The Strategic Planning Session included a GoToMeeting Needs Analysis Session with the NAIFA Ohio Board to develop an Outcomes / Overview Statement. Click Here to read Make A Bigger Difference In 2016 – NAIFA Ohio Leadership Conference February 24, 2016.

Looking at the Outcomes / Overview Statement, you will notice the following;

  • What gets in the way of the vision, passion, leadership and commitment? It is the absence of understanding that 90% of success is about Why we do or don’t do what we need to do in order to create sustainable success. 10% of success is about How and What to do.
  • If we do not get the Why right, the How and the What will be unsustainable.

Having said this, when I looked at the Outcomes that NAIFA Ohio wanted to achieve, and that Membership was a significant part of the Outcomes, and given that 90% of success is about Why, and if we do not get the Why right ( the passion ), the How and the What ( membership enrollment ) will be unsustainable. It became clear to me that we not only had to do a Strategic Planning Session but a Membership Workshop as well.

This brought me back to the May 11th, 2012 NAIFA Nebraska President’s Breakfast and the NAIFA Membership White Paper that I wrote, combining what I learned into a Strategic Planning Session.

A 6 Year NAIFA Membership Success Story – Part 2 – Publishing July 18, 2016.