Renewal Recovery Plan

Sort the outstanding list into two piles

1Friction: they intend to renew and something is in the way.
2Value: they are not sure it is worth it.
3If you cannot tell which pile someone is in, they are in the value pile.
4Do not send another reminder until every name is sorted.

Clear the friction: aim for one week

5Verify the billing contact on every outstanding renewal. Check whether that person still works there.
6Confirm the invoice actually arrived, rather than assuming it was ignored.
7Test your own renewal flow on a phone. Time it. If it takes more than two minutes, fix that first.
8Check whether reminders went out on a channel that reaches everyone, or only by email.
9Publish payment plan, quarterly billing, and tier-change options where members can see them without asking.
10Handle any outstanding paperwork requests (W-9, insurance certificate, purchase order) same day.

Work the value pile by phone

11Call. Do not email. This pile does not respond to email by definition.
12Open by saying you noticed they had not renewed and wanted to understand why before chasing them.
13Ask what they joined for, and whether they got it.
14Ask what would have to be true for the chamber to be worth it next year.
15Do not pitch benefits. Listen and write down what they say.
16Offer a smaller tier if the answer is budget, and mean it.

Record what you learn

17Write down every reason given, verbatim where you can.
18Group them: price, relevance, time, a bad experience, a change at their company.
19Note which reasons you can act on and which you cannot.
20Share the summary with your board. This is the most useful membership data you will collect all year.

Run the report that predicts next year

21Of the members who did not renew, count how many attended nothing in the preceding twelve months.
22Compare that against your renewing members. The gap is your real churn driver.
23Set a threshold for “dormant” and flag members at month six, not month twelve.
24Put the dormant count on the same monthly report as cash and membership numbers.

Change these before next renewal season

25Verify all billing contacts annually, ahead of season rather than during it.
26Move renewal notices onto a channel that reaches everyone who opted in.
27Automate reminders on a set schedule so nobody has to remember to send them.
28Call the ten highest-value dormant members before renewal notices go out, not after.
29Book the first review of dormant numbers for six months from now, and put it in the calendar today.

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