President’s Article November 2013

What does it take for the Iowa BMW CCA to be #1?

Recently the National Board of Directors of the BMW CCA, in an effort to understand its members better and to provide a complete car club experience, determined the time was appropriate to survey the 75,000 members of the BMW CCA. The survey was designed to determine what current things members liked about their local chapters and what things they found frustrating.

In May, a survey was emailed to all 75,000 members of the BMW CCA to solicit opinions from local chapter members across the country and their satisfaction with their local BMW CCA club.

There were several categories of questions in which each member rated their local club including on-line presence, satisfaction with activities provided, and satisfaction with the local Board of Directors. When the results of the survey were tabulated at the National office and sent out to local chapter officials, our club was given the #1 ranking in the North Central Region, which includes 14 local BMW CCA chapters.

When asked what sets the Iowa Chapter apart from other chapters in our region, Regional Vice-President Mike Lingenfelter responded with, “the diversity of local chapter events and your distinction of having the second-highest member satisfaction among all 66 chapters in the country.” Lingenfelter went on to say that “being in the top quartile of chapters nationwide in May’s membership satisfaction survey, having a complete online presence by early summer and documenting a chapter strategic plan.”

Mike did not mention that our club has a very high member retention rate on the national level, usually finishing in the top five and being the number one club a couple of years ago.

In an effort to provide our members with a diverse and interesting program of events throughout the year, we have an annual planning meeting in November each year to give members a voice in which events they enjoy and which ones should be eliminated. This year’s planning meeting will be held on November 17 in the Des Moines area. Please plan to attend and help plan the calendar of events for 2014 to help us continue to be the top-rated BMW CCA club in the region.