How Alcohol (or the lack thereof) is Helping One Fraternity Grow Fast

by Josh Orendi
PDTLogo_PMS539_TagWhat if an entire national fraternity chose to operate 100% alcohol free?  I can imagine the heated reactions of undergrads and alumni.  Seriously.  Try to picture it – a nationwide vote to abolish alcohol from every chapter house across the country.  Next, imagine if that organization had the fortitude to stick with their alcohol free decision for over a decade.  Who would want to join?  Would current members stay?  Is alcohol-free housing a death sentence or a bold, sustainable reinvention of fraternity? Thanks to Phi Delta Theta , we have the answer.

I scheduled time to talk with Associate Executive Vice President Sean Wagner and Director of Expansion Demarcko Butler to ask them about the impact of bold decisions in recent years at Phi Delt and to see if they plan to shake things up again anytime soon.  What I learned is there’s more than a story of alcohol-free housing.  This is a fraternity with a history of doing things differently, leading by example, and YES they are preparing to go big again….

Phired Up: Let’s start with the numbers.  How did alcohol-free housing impact recruitment?
Phi Delt: Here are some benchmark numbers…

1997:  Alcohol free decision was made.
2000:  Alcohol free policy fully adopted.
2000 – 2012:  23% annual increase in new members and 16% increase per year in initiates
2012:  We’re up 14% from last year and reached 4000 new members this year for the first time in over 20 years.

Perhaps the most impressive number of all is that our average colony/chapter size is 64 members.  That’s significant since the national average hovers around the low to mid 40’s.

Phired Up: Are you experiencing positive growth trends with your expansion efforts?
Phi Delt: Yes.  We have installed 60 chapters since 2000.  In the last year we’ve installed 8 new groups at an average size of 41 new members.

Phired Up: What implications did that historic alcohol-free decision have on the organization other than recruitment?
Phi Delt: Ed Whipple, who is currently a fellow for NASPA and formerly was the VP of Student Affairs at BGSU and a former President of our General Council, did some significant research for us both at our 5-year anniversary in 2005 and an update to mark the 10th anniversary in 2010.  Without getting into all of the details, beyond recruitment, some of the most impressive findings included an increased GPA as now 25% of our chapters are tops on their campus in the classroom and an increase in alumni involvement as we now have 55% more alumni involved with our chapters than we did in 1997 when the policy was introduced.

Phired Up: The alumni involvement piece is really interesting.  Tell me more about that.
Phi Delt: We heard from alumni in the past that they weren’t getting involved because our houses weren’t a place they felt comfortable spending their time as a professional.  Now they’re giving both their time and treasure.  Alumni giving is at an all-time high.  Since 1997 when the policy was introduced and today, our Foundation has experienced its best years including last year which was our 2nd highest in total contributions.  Also, while we don’t track local giving, Pennington and Company has helped our local house corporations raise $7.5 million between 2005 and today.

In addition to our houses being nicer, they are also safer; we averaged 12.3 alcohol claims prior to 2000 and today we average less than three a year.  Liability insurance costs have come down substantially offering a much more affordable experience for our members.  Today the average insurance rate for fraternities hovers around $160 per member; our rate is almost half that at $78 when you factor in both initiated and new members.

Phired Up: If numbers are up and Phi Delt is experiencing all these additional benefits, why aren’t more fraternities following your example on alcohol?
Phi Delt: That’s a question you’d have to ask them, but it has obviously worked for us and we’re very proud of the results.    In the meantime, we’re very happy to have created a bit of a niche.  All Greek letter organizations were roughly founded on similar principles but by taking alcohol directly out of our value proposition from a living environment standpoint, we’re happy to be offering an opportunity that our EVP Bob Biggs famously calls a “learning-living laboratory.”

Phired Up: Is alcohol-free housing the biggest reason Phi Delt has grown so consistently?
Phi Delt: More than anything I believe that by removing alcohol from our facilities we have been able to focus on things that make us a better organization.  While there is still a great deal of risk management education that we do and incidents do come up, our chapters, volunteers, and staff no longer regularly focus on incidents involving alcohol we have all been able to broaden our focus.

From a chapter standpoint, we hear from our members that they have gotten outside of their houses for social activity and have become more involved on their campus which has helped build relationships and bigger Phikeia (that’s what we call our new members) classes.  From a staff standpoint, our collective hand in the increased numbers is due to the programming that we’ve been able to do because we haven’t been constantly “putting out fires.” This includes creating new recruitment training, online education, a new branding campaign, alumni loyalty program, a large virtual footprint in social media, the Iron Phi program, and much more.

Phired Up: Tell me more about Iron Phi.  A lot of readers may not be familiar with that program.
Phi Delt: The Iron Phi program is homegrown, born out of the MBA program and brain of long-time staff member Steve Good.  Steve’s great idea was to harness the tremendous enthusiasm and pride that we have for Lou Gehrig as arguably our most famous alumnus and a partnership with The ALS Association, and channel that into a program that challenges our members to take on an athletic challenge and raise money for the fight against ALS and the Phi Delta Theta Foundation.  It’s working!  We’ve raised approximately $310k since February 2010 while giving Phis a chance to do some good and work towards a personal goal.

[Sean] I wouldn’t call myself a runner, but I participated with a number of staff members in a relay team during Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Marathon in 2010 and raised $1000 while doing it. Demarkco is still trying to earn his Iron Phi Stripes…..

Phired Up: When I talk to the technology vendors servicing national fraternities, most point to Phi Delt as being an early leader from website development and social media adoption to webinars and online education.  What’s the story?
Phi Delt: In technology our recipe for success has been to experiment and to follow the trends.   We thank the folks at the Group Interactive Networks (GIN) for helping us cut our teeth on our chapter website templates in 2007. We learned through that while our undergraduate members were using technology every day in everything that they do, they didn’t necessarily know how to use it in their fraternity experience.   From there we set out to do our best to serve as a model example from a General Fraternity standpoint.  This included going for it with Facebook and everything else that has come along since, including Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and more.  If our members are using it to connect to their world, we need to at least attempt to see if it makes sense to as tool to connect them to Phi Delt.  By doing this we’re sharing best practices with chapters so they know better how to use the web for connecting with potential new members and their constituents.

Online education was a similar thing, our advisers were using online education for professional training and we were still sending them paper manuals.  We needed to catch-up.  Now we have a Chapter Advisory Board Certification program for 8 different positions. Since we launched it in March of 2011 we’ve had 498 advisers certified.

Phired Up: I keep seeing blue Phi Delt marketing materials with “Become the Greatest Version of Yourself” on campuses, social media, t-shirts.  Tell me the full story behind the new branding campaign.
Phi Delt: Our governing board, the General Council, provided the tremendous leadership in 2010 to introduce a strategic plan in 2010 called Phi Delt 2020 that has six comprehensive initiatives, but we knew quickly in order to talk about what we wanted to do, we needed to get our messaging down.  We feel like we always had a great story to tell, but didn’t necessarily do a good job at telling it.

To find our voice we wanted to find some folks outside of the industry, so we hired Pocket Hercules out of Minneapolis.  Their principles Jack Supple and Jason Smith had worked on a little brand called Harley Davidson before starting what they call “The Pocket.”  After quite a bit of internal and environmental research, they came up with “Become the Greatest Version of Yourself” as our tagline and the “Sword and Shield” as our primary external logo.  The tagline was rooted in the research and feedback that our prospective, current, and alumni members provided along with sorority women that spoke to Phi Delt building better men.  This was understood whether they knew it personally or had experienced through interacting with our members. We liked the line because it wasn’t boasting or being over the top with alcohol-free housing, it was aspirational and described the opportunity you’re getting when you sign a Phi Delt bid card.  This isn’t something that is for everyone, but an experience that top tier students on campus seek out to help them develop an individual.

Once the key assets were determined we set out to build a campaign that included an overhaul to our web presence, recruitment materials, and how we would communicate about ourselves in all ways.  To ensure that we had the brand in the hands of our chapter members as quickly as possible, we worked with a company called Advanced Online to build the PhiDeltStore to provide branded recruitment items and apparel.   We are still in the process of assessing the roll-out, but anecdotally the feedback couldn’t be better from our members and constituents.   The next wave in branding for us will be to use the brand in such a way that that we are generating demand and creating better overall awareness of the organization outside of our core audience.

Phired Up: Back to the alcohol-free and recruitment conversation … Demarcko, your job is literally to recruit hundreds of men into new colonies of the organization every year.  How do you tell a guy that he can’t have a beer in his room if he wants to become a Phi Delt?
Phi Delt: When an expansion project starts, our process is to recruit the highest caliber men in the areas of academics, involvement, service, athletics, etc.  Those individuals are either already on board with the policy of alcohol-free housing or they see it as an added bonus toward them continuing to make an impact at their particular institution.

Phired Up: Most national fraternities are proud to recruit 25 – 35 new members into a colony.  Is the same true for Phi Delt given the added restriction on alcohol?
Phi Delt: Our minimum standard for recruitment is at least 40 men.  The expansion team looks for the “never joiners” and of course the “maybe joiners”.  We use Dynamic Recruitment with a focus on the first cylinder (referrals) – sororities, coaches, faculty, etc.  Our expansion team has literally interviewed hundreds of college men.   We quickly realized that the best people are no longer looking for the fraternity to be a drinking club.  The students who are attracted to Phi Delta Theta want to “Become the Greatest Version of Themselves!”  They want to defy the stereotypes that their campus has already in Greek Life.  We are looking for “fraternity men” NOT “frat stars.”

Phired Up: It’s clear that Phi Delt isn’t afraid to be different, make bold choices, and stick with them for the long haul.  What do we have to look forward to from Phi Delt in the next few years?
Phi Delt: Our mantra around here is that the Phi Delt 2020 plan is our “north star.”  We have gotten laser focused.  If a new proposal doesn’t fit into one of our strategic initiatives, we aren’t doing it!  You can expect Phi Delt to further emphasize chapter growth and retention, a standardized new member program that leverages new technologies, enhanced branding efforts, and programming in the networking and mentoring space.  We’re doing all of this while ramping up our fundraising efforts with a goal of $20 million by 2020.  Alcohol-free housing helped us get where we are today and Phi Delt 2020 is the plan shaping the course for our future.

Phired Up: Demarcko, wanna go grab a beer with me?
Phi Delt: Sure, but not in a Phi Delt chapter house.

Article Written By:  Josh Orendi, CEO, Phired Up Productions (www.PhiredUp.com)
Interviewing:  Sean Wagner & Demarcko Butler of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity (www.PhiDeltaTheta.org)
Published May 23, 2012

Impressive vs. Service

by Matt Mattson

not-impressed Do you try to impress people or serve people?

Does your organization attract members, volunteers, donors and fans by… trying to impress people or trying to serve people?

There are two ways to promote yourself, recruit people to your organizations, or position yourself socially.  1) You can try to impress people. 2) You can try to serve people.

Let’s break this down.  Imagine two organizations that both need more members.

The ABC Club just launched a major re-branding initiative complete with a snazzy new online presence, cool new signs, a whole poster and T-shirt campaign around it’s new theme, "ABC Club: Unbeatable, Unsinkable, Unmatched."  They have a booth set up on a street near you and they’re handing out pretty cool water bottles with their logos emblazoned brightly across the front. They’re all wearing brightly colored polo shirts with their new catchphrase printed on it. They hired 6 professional promoters (models) to work the booth, shake hands, and to repeat their catchphrase as often as possible.  The passersby are stopping, taking a water water bottle (in exchange for their contact information), hearing the catchphrase, and smiling politely. ABC Club is impressive. Very impressive.

The LMNOP Group just started a major initiative of their own.  They have a booth set up down the street near you too, but their booth is not nearly as impressive or shiny.  They have 6 regular looking people dressed neatly but not exceptionally.  Everytime someone walks past their booth volunteers are doing two things – 1) finding some way to make the passerby’s day (high fives, jokes, smiles, a welcoming handshake, an interesting question), and 2) asking the passerby about their needs related to their group’s cause.  The passersby are generally stopping, talking for a while, exchanging contact information, and leaving with a smile.  The LMNOP Group doesn’t have any giveaways, they aren’t wearing matching bright colored clothes, they don’t have a catchphrase (they have a list of powerful questions), and their signage is professional, clean, and simple, but not really exceptional. The reason people are engaging with them is because of LMNOP’s focus on the passersby’s needs. They’re listening and caring.  They’re serving. They want to help.

There are two ways to do business.  Two ways to do sales.  Two ways to recruit members. Two ways to make friends.  You can impress or you can serve.  Both have advantages.

I choose to serve as often as I can. Maybe that’s just because I’m not that impressive :-)   I tend to think it is a better way to approach the world. But some mix of the two is probably the right answer.  Which would you rather do?

Do you try to impress people or serve people?

The System Holds The Answer

by Matt Mattson

dr-full-color-copy I sometimes find myself stuck.  Do you ever feel that way?  You look at your organization, you look at your role in the organization, and just feel stuck.  What do you do next?  How do you push forward?  How do you improve?  How do you lead?

Then I remember, "Oh yeah, dummy, the SYSTEM holds the answer."  It’s weird, but true.  Every time I wonder what I should do next to push the organization/group/company forward, I remember that between Social Excellence and Dynamic Recruitment , the answer is there. The system works if I choose to work the system.

See, we’re all a part of membership organizations, and membership organizations are made of… (wait for it)… MEMBERS.  Therefore the quality of your organization (and everything it does) is determined by the quality of its members.  Want to get better?  Want to advance your cause?  Want to make a difference?  Want to truly lead?  –  Start with the core ingredients of your group — people and purpose.  Bring in more of the right people, who will focus on the group’s purpose, to make a larger higher quality impact.

For me, when I get stuck, I go back to doing the Dynamic Recruitment system while living Social Excellence — it lays out my answer for me.  If I do the Dynamic Recruitment system while living Social Excellence, I’m doing my job, I’m leading, I’m doing results-producing work, I’m making a difference.

For example… something I’m really proud of is that we have built our company to be very successful by doing the Dynamic Recruitment system and trying our best to live a Socially Excellent life — that’s been our whole business plan.  Cool, right?

Here is a snapshot at some of the core principles of Dynamic Recruitment, if you’re not familiar…

People Join People. All organizational members can point to the one person who is responsible for bringing them into the organization.  Relationships, interpersonal comfort, and shared personal connections are the determining factors that can influence a person to invest their time, resources, energy, reputation, and money into the organization.  Slogans, T-shirts, banners, advertising, and events have very little impact when it comes to convincing the best of the best people to join an organization.  People join people.  Organizational recruitment is about relationships.

Quantity Drives Quality. This simple statement reflects the core of Phired Up’s recruitment philosophy.  In other words, because you can’t recruit who you don’t know, the larger an organization’s social network, the larger its potential.  The larger an organization’s network, the more people it has a chance to recruit.  The larger an organization’s network, the more people it also has a chance to select from – thus increasing the probability for higher quality members.  Everything starts with an organization having specific, practical, detailed guidance on how to grow its network of “friends of the group.”  Phired Up teaches specific, practical, proven (in some instances scripted) techniques to grow an organization’s network through authentic relationship building.

Interpersonal Skills Development. Handshakes, powerful conversations, listening skills, remembering names, first impressions, body language, approaching new people and groups, eye contact, getting contact information, powerful questions, authenticity, vulnerability, and confidence.  Phired Up’s recruitment system is about personal connections and today’s young adults (especially) need practical, experiential, detailed guidance on all of these “skills.”  Dynamic Recruitment depends on members’ abilities to adopt a sense of interpersonal excellence within their social interactions. To learn more about Phired Up’s Social Excellence message, click here .

Product Knowledge. When a prospective member wants to learn more about the organization, every member should be prepared with not only the features and benefits of membership, but also powerful personal stories and insightful questions to help potential members emotionally connect to the organization. In Dynamic Recruitment, “knowing your product” is about having the ability to help others realize how the group could dramatically change their life for the better.

Behaviors of the Best. Phired Up teaches specific behaviors of high performing networkers, salespeople, statesmen, and recruiters.  These are every day patterns of behavior that provide access to a larger pool of people to interact with than most organizational members have.  Some of the core messages of the “Behaviors of the Best” include: You have to give to get (how to get contact information and how to get access to others by providing something of value to them). Ask the rest to find the best (how to engage everyone around you to identify high caliber prospective members). Follow-up or fail and Eat a bunch of lunch (how to build relationships through small activities not big events).  Make ‘em prove it (using a Values-Based Selection Process). Give the gift (re-framing recruitment to be about sharing the gift of membership with deserving others instead of trying to “get people to join”).

Audience Understanding. Often members struggle with a lack of perspective.  No matter the organization, often members only think of a small pool of people as potential members, when the actual pool is always many times larger.  Many fraternity/sorority members in particular believe their recruitment potential is limited to the people who participate in “rush” or "formal recruitment."  Phired Up’s curriculum helps expand the context of organizational leaders to understand the actual recruitment potential for their organization.  Having a greater understanding of how big the organization’s prospective audience is, where they are, and what they’re looking for results in “ah-ha” moments for most participants.

Names List. With a new understanding of their true audience, and with a firm grounding in the principles of: You can’t recruit who you don’t know. People don’t join organizations, people join people. And Quantity Drives Quality. It then becomes obvious that for an organization to reach its full potential, it cannot depend only on the people that its members currently have a relationship with – it must build a larger network. To manage that network and to keep track of its members’ progress as they bring their acquaintances through the recruitment process, an organization that practices Dynamic Recruitment uses a Names List.  A Names List is a dynamic, living, continually updated database that measures the amount of and the quality of relationships with potential members that are being built by the chapter.  This is not just a list of people the group is wishing would join the chapter – this is a list of the chapter’s entire network because Quantity Drives Quality.

Values-Based Selection. As an organization increases its network through positive, proactive, social interactions, it has the opportunity to be more selective.  Once the opportunity for increased selectivity is achieved, the organization must then select members not based on whether they’re a “good guy,” or "a sweet girl," but on measurable, objective standards that match up to the core values of the organization.  Each organization that practices Dynamic Recruitment builds a written set of membership selection criteria to ensure only the highest quality people are invited to join.  This is a key to true values-based recruitment.

Horses vs. Mules. The old 80/20 principle holds true in nearly every organization we’ve ever worked with.  For most groups, about 80% of the results are produced by about 20% of the members.  That small handful of “workhorses” can choose to try to motivate their unmotivated members (a.k.a. “mules”) to participate in recruitment, or they could just gather the horses and get to work. After all, horses recruit horses, and mules recruit mules.  When faced with a lack of motivation or apathetic members with regard to recruitment, don’t ask “How do I motivate my members to recruit?”  Instead ask, “How do I recruit with my motivated members?”

Some of Our Favorite Tweets

by Matt Mattson

Are you on Twitter?  Even if you are, it can be hard to keep up with all the coolest tweets and tweeps.  We thought we’d share some particularly awesome (in our humble opinion) tweets we’ve put out over the last few months.  You’ll find tweets about #SocialExcellence and #DynamicRecruitment . You’ll also find tweets that are directed to our Phired Up Fraternal , Phired Up College , and Phired Up World audiences. Please share, stay connected to our hashtags , and make sure to follow us @PhiredUp .

Take a moment to RE-TWEET your favorites! Enjoy and we’ll tweet you later!

#betheperson who can help others find their spark. Light the Phire of the people u meet. #socialexcellence

#betheperson who wonders aloud. #socialexcellence

#betheperson who seeks everyone’s deeper story. #socialexcellence

#betheperson who asks, “What is your real passion?  How can I help with it?” #socialexcellence

#betheperson who goes to the meetings. Does extra work. Brings others to the group. #socialexcellence

#betheperson who helps others change the world. #socialexcellence

#betheperson who raises the level of discussion and focuses on making things better. #socialexcellence

#betheperson who gets that others have legitimate points of view despite the difference from yours. #socialexcellence

Honesty does not require meanness. Candor and truth are better received through love and generosity. #socialexcellence

Don’t manipulate others into working for your cause. Connect with them. Help them achieve their purpose. #socialexcellence

#betheperson who doesn’t complain, whine, or bemoan 2 others. Discuss, solve, and work with others instead #socialexcellence

Coffee and lunch are the greatest recruitment strategies in the world! #dynamicrecruitment

#betheperson who has the courage to intervene when things aren’t right #everydayhero

If you have the COURAGE to connect w/ppl, you have the POWER to change the world #socialexcellence

A movement is beginning. Handshakes can change the world. #socialexcellence #betheperson @phiredup

#socialexcellence starts with the person right next to you. #betheperson who chooses curiosity, generosity, authenticity, vulnerability.

Ppl+Purpose=Organization. Organizations change the world. Gather ppl around ur purpose. #socialexcellence @phiredup

“Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world” -M. Mead #socialexcellence

Handshakes>Conversations>Relationships>Collaboration>Organization>ChangeTheWorld #socialexcellence

Choose perpetual generosity, curiosity, positivity and openness to limitless possibility #socialexcellence

Intentionally connect with others 2day. Engage in deep, meaningful conversations. #socialexcellence

Believe that everyone you meet is remarkable, heroic, and magnificent. #socialexcellence

Authentic kindness breeds trust. Groups, movements, society are held together by trust. Be kind. #socialexcellence

Participate in society. Start with any stranger. #socialexcellence #betheperson

#betheperson who makes today more fun for someone. Surprise them with joyfulness #socialexcellence

Be interested and interesting. #betheperson who asks fun questions. #socialexcellence

“The world would be better if…” movements, rebellions, and revolutions are birthed from that sentence. Speak it. #socialexcellence

All leadership is social. Lead through relationships and human connections. Caring inspires followers. #socialexcellence

What is the best version of you? #socialexcellence

Can you be more curious today? #socialexcellence #betheperson

Can you be more generous today? #socialexcellence #betheperson

Can you be more authentic today? #socialexcellence #betheperson

Can you be more vulnerable today? #socialexcellence #betheperson

Can you be more socially bold today? #socialexcellence #betheperson

“I love my computer bcuz all my friends live in it.” not #socialexcellence

Awkward isn’t bad. Just own it with confidence. Authenticity will reward you. #socialexcellence #soundslikeafortunecookie

Build relationships. Inspire your relationships with passion for your purpose. Grow your organization. #dynamicrecruitment #socialexcellence

Shouting loudest won’t win members, donors or fans. Caring most will. #dynamicrecruitment #socialexcellence

I don’t care about your organization until you care about me. #dynamicrecruitment #socialexcellence

Every individual is an organization waiting to happen. #socialexcellence

Recruitment doesn’t start until you know them and can contact them. Meet more people, give ur org a bigger chance. #dynamicrecruitment

Static recruitment waits and hopes. #dynamicrecruitment pursues and inspires.

You don’t have a chance to recruit that person until you’ve shaken their hand. Start there. #socialexcellence #dynamicrecruitment

High quality people are attracted to high quality things. #dynamicrecruitment

What tweeps do you most want to shake hands with? #socialexcellence

#betheperson who inspires others with their willingness to seem a little weird in pursuit of deeper connections #socialexcellence

Don’t just seek members. Inspire participants, donors, and raving fans. #dynamicrecruitment

Choosing from 500 is better than choosing from 50. Meet more people. Quantity drives quality. #dynamicrecruitment

Quality organizations are only built by quality members. #dynamicrecruitment

Ask 10x more questions today than usual. Listen intently. #socialexcellence

Everyone has experienced the greatest joys and the lowest sorrows of life. U have too. Connect authentically. #socialexcellence

When u are 100% generous or curious there is no mathematical room left for fear. #socialexcellence focuses on others.