You Spoke, We Heard

Since becoming president of AMC in March, Leah Olson has undertaken to better understand AMC’s members. In June and July, AMC employed Nanos Research to conduct a membership survey to identify what members value about their AMC membership. The results provide both the AMC staff and board of directors a baseline and insight as to what members are thinking, also enable us to assess what, if any, changes are required moving forward. Your input is much appreciated — thank you.

In addition to the survey results, Leah has visited over 40 regular and associate members’ facilities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The survey results, as well as your feedback and commentary, is helping guide the development of AMC’s strategic plan, which will be rolled out at our 45th annual convention being held at the Fairmont Winnipeg from December 2 to 4.

SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES RAISED IN THE MEMBERSHIP SURVEY:

Below is a summary of what you told us in the survey:

Paid AMC members gave the association an average score of 5.96 out of 10, with networking opportunities being top driver of value:

•    Reasons for Membership: The two reasons for AMC membership cited most often are that AMC promotes networking and relationships with other manufacturers (25%), and that it helps better understand and support customers (20.3%).

•    Satisfaction: The overall level of satisfaction with the AMC is mostly neutral, with more than half of respondents giving a rating of 4 to 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, and about a quarter giving a rating of 8 to 10. In the associate category, 29% said their satisfaction levels were high, compared to 22% of regular members who would say the same thing.

•    Key Strengths and Weaknesses: The AMC strengths most cited by respondents include providing networking opportunities (28%), followed by that it represents the industry, and third that AMC provides a voice for manufacturers (24%). Regarding AMC’s weaknesses, nearly one-fifth of respondents (19%) stated that there is a lack of services provided to members, while 17% stated that there is a lack of equal presence in Canada, and 15% said that the AMC lacks influence and effectiveness.

•    Importance vs. Value: The highest rated AMC service was networking opportunities with other members; with four in five respondents (81%) saying it had high importance. This service also received the highest value rating, with 68% of respondents saying it had high value. More than half of respondents ranked the following services as high importance: government advocacy on issues of importance (64%, with only 33% of respondents considering it high value), access to industry-related information, data and technical advice (54%, with 47% of respondents considering it high value) and networking opportunities with politicians, government officials and industry leaders (51%, with only 35% of respondents considering it high value).

•    AMC Events: 40% of respondents said that they regularly attend AMC events, while 30% attend occasionally and 21% said that they rarely attend events. In terms of what they would change about the events held by AMC, 20% of respondents said that they would incorporate more speakers, networking opportunities and group discussions to increase the value of events. Ten per cent of respondents said that they would like more regional events to be held.

•    Communications with AMC: 60% of respondents said that they felt they receive just the right amount of communication from AMC, while 32% feel they don’t receive enough communication. Only 2% of respondents felt that they receive too much communication from AMC. As well, a large majority of respondents (77%) said that they have either favourable or somewhat favourable views of the communications they receive from the association. In terms of their preferred way to receive AMC communications, 47% of respondents named electronic publications and newsletters as their first-ranked choice, while 30% listed emails from the president and other staff as their second-ranked. Forty-one percent of regular paid members said that emails from the president and staff was their second ranked choice for communication methods from AMC. Thirty-nine percent of regular paid members said that they feel they don’t receive enough communication from AMC.

•    AMC Publications: The majority of respondents has either a favourable or somewhat favourable impressions of the following AMC publications: Implement Success biannual magazine (83%), Connection (74%) and the Membership Directory (83%).

•    Recommending AMC: 81% of respondents either agreed or somewhat agreed that they would recommend membership in AMC to a business associate, partner or supplier. Only four percent of respondents said that they somewhat disagreed or disagreed with the statement.

•    Advice for AMC: When asked if they had any advice for AMC, 20% said that AMC should have clearly defined objectives, while 17% said that they should focus on assisting members.

Again, thank you for your insight and commentary on what you value about your AMC membership and what you want to help your business. Over the coming months, the AMC board of directors and staff will be working together to refine AMC’s service offerings in 2016.

If you have questions about the membership survey and how it is helping inform the development of AMC’s strategic plan, please email Leah at leah@a-m-c.ca.

Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada