[Businessmtg] Greeter Process and interactions with new members

[Anne O.]

Good Morning!  Lots of activity and questions overnight.. I will try to
touch on all points and some additional ones.

 

I am not sure why folks think the current process is less personal than the
former.  I was a greeter in 2014 and was part of the transition to the new
process.  The old process wasn't less personal, it was onerous and I am not
sure any more effective in connecting a greeter with a newcomer.  The old
process required multiple emails and tracking of those emails by the greeter
before anyone was subscribed, and sometimes took a couple of weeks to
complete a single request.

 

I also want to say that greeters provide a lot of information during the pre
and post subscription interaction, that includes how to share and that they
are available to answer questions.  No matter what we do to improve that
(and there is always room for improvement!) - we have a population of
newcomers and members who don't read or just can't digest the volume of
information that is available and given to them.  

 

Questions I am trying to answer here.

.         Personal touches

.         A person to go to with questions.

.         Greeters that are swamped

 

Joining ASP-Process:  There are 3 greeters who share the workload, we
adjusted the assignments this year, I don't think they are swamped, please
explain what this means.

.         The new member finds and reads our public website in search of
help.  They go through the questionnaire and submit their 3rd Tradition
qualification and request to join.

.         The greeter assigned to that request, reads the request and
confirms that there is a problem of alcoholism in a family member or friend.
If they can't confirm, the request follows another path.

.         The greeter sends a personalized message,  letting the new member
know that their subscription is in progress and that it could take up to a
day or so for the new member to start receiving emails.  The new member is
given the link to the member site so that they can read the member
instructions before the emails begin to come in to their inbox.

.         The greeter also sends a request to the server, that request sits
there until I login, review the member requests and then approve the
subscriptions that are pending.  

.         As soon as I approve the request, the new member immediately
receives a  system generated welcome letter from the list administrator that
is filled with a lot of good information. (ASP shares also start at that
same point in time)

o   Depending on when the new member logs in again, the LA welcome along
with member shares greets them.  This can be a lot all at once.

.         With each subscription I approve, I confirm with the Greeter that
the subscription has been completed.

.         The greeter receives subscription confirmation and then
welcomes/introduces the new member to the group, which almost always happens
later that day or the next.

 

So, now to the timeline of events.  These steps are sequenced, but the
amount of time that passes between each step is variable.

.         We have variable time zones across the greeter team, we log in at
all times of the day or not, and we are not on speed dial J.

.         We all have personal lives that include full time jobs and family
commitments that limit our availability.

.         We don't know how often the prospective member checks their email,
or what time zone they are in.

.         All of this to say, that the end result and flow happens in
elapsed time.  Particularly once the subscription is approved, there could
be a large amount of email for the new member to sift through.

 

The new member has multiple resources to turn to when they are in the
process of being subscribed and after.

.         The initial greeting from the Greeter, includes their name and
email address.  

.         The welcome from the LA is signed by Jerry and includes his email
address, and it reaches him if the member uses an email reply with
questions.

.         The new member can also go to the website to get information.

.         I guess I don't understand why it is perceived a problem when a
new member reaches out to another ASP member with questions.. It happens in
F2F meetings all the time. 

 

And finally, I want to reiterate that the 6 month threshold change that we
are discussing, in my opinion in no way dilutes the goal or quality of a new
members welcome.  From 2012 on, although not in line with the website terms,
we have been using 6 months as our minimum, again, I don't know how that
happened, but I followed suit.  Many people I talk to since becoming the
chair in 2018,  volunteer for the greeter position because they want to give
back.  Because their memories of joining ASP are still fresh in their minds.
I have members reaching out to volunteer that have 7, 8 and 9 months under
their belts but can't become a greeter until they have been active for a
year.   I think we are selling ourselves short and until we figure out how
to make service more attractive and give newer members an opportunity to
serve.  I think we need to widen the net responsibly and reduce the
requirement to 6 months.

 

Please let me know if I missed answering any of the questions that have been
posed.

 

Anne