About the Association
High Performance Insulation Professionals (HPIP) is the association dedicated to providing a universal certification to insulation contractors and those seeking a career in the insulation industry. HPIP’s mission is to better the insulation industry.
The Opportunity
Since transitioning from a 501(c)6 trade association to a 501(c)3 purely educational association in 2017, HPIP has seen an inconsistent and declining trend in certification renewal. Our goal for 2021 was to see an increase in the number of contractors and industry professionals seeking our certification versus the declining renewal rate that we had seen trending over the past few years since the change in charitable status.
In 2013, HPIP did a full organizational rebrand. Previously, HPIP operated as Blown-in Blanket Contractors Association (BIBCA), only serving, and providing certification for one sector of the insulation industry. BIBCA had been operating as the main certifying body for blown-in blanket insulation systems since 1989. The rebrand was incited by a need for change and the goals that the executive board deemed necessary for not only the association but the insulation industry as a whole. The goal of HPIP was altered to serve and certify all sectors of the insulation industry, and no longer work solely with blown-in blanket contractors. With the change came a lack of brand recognition and familiarity that BIBCA thrived from in its previous market. As HPIP began to serve a larger market, the workload to keep up with new goals and initiatives increased, but staffing remained the same. The result was that there was less frequent and personalized contact/connection than previous contractors were accustomed to. In addition, this also meant less bandwidth to pursue new members, and HPIP began relying mostly on year-to-year renewal without adding any new contractors to their roster.
Nonprofit Resources worked with HPIP to analyze different solutions to this problem. We recognized that the solutions were to increase the marketing budget to bump up traffic from new contractors and designate staff to solely handle certification efforts.
Our Approach
HPIP had implemented a few different external marketing strategies to assist in boosting recognition from new contractors that hadn’t pursued certification before, as well as general industry-wide awareness of the association. This approach did not provide immediate results, so we decided to conduct an internal, hands-on approach. HPIP also decided to designate one staff member to work on specific certification goals.
Emily Bremmon, Account Executive at Nonprofit Resources/Operations Manager at HPIP, worked on this project and took these steps to increase the number of contractors and industry professionals seeking HPIP certification:
- Established certification goals
- Determined which staff member could allocate a set number of hours each week toward our certification goals
- Developed a list of contractors we wanted to reach out to about certification
- Utilized 20+ year contractor database and industry network to create the list
- Created a checklist of how we would contact and develop/maintain relationships with contractors
- Tracked how often contact was made, took notes on the general perception of certification offering, and determined why a previous member lapsed certification.
- Persistent personal follow up
- In past years, HPIP relied on e-blasts and paper mailings. This year, a routine of contact was established.
- E-blast > mailing > e-blast > phone call > personal email > phone call
The Results
- 28% increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2021
- 13% average increase in certification numbers from the first to the second quarter of each year
- HPIP surpassed the total number of certifications for 2019 and 2020
Assuming that trends remain similar, HPIP will achieve its goal of the number of contractors certified for the entire year by the end of the third quarter. The association’s goal for 2021 is to double the certification number of 2020.
Conclusion
HPIP’s success with certification renewal and retainment can be replicated by Nonprofit Resources with other clients looking to improve their membership outreach process by:
- Identifying where and why members are falling through the cracks
- Establishing quantitative membership goal
- Developing a list of members to contact current, lapsed, and potential
- Allocating the number of weekly hours to designated staff to engage with member prospects
- Determining forms of necessary contact
- Creating a contact checklist
- Noting feedback and perception from members for the next renewal period