The allure of summer is within reach, but before you hit the pool, lay the groundwork for a successful summer of growth. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or brand new to the recruitment game, having a solid plan in place can make all the difference when fall rolls around. Let’s high dive into some strategies to ensure you make the most of summertime and emerge stronger than ever.
Reflection: What Works vs. What Doesn’t
Before setting up your strategies, it’s crucial to reflect on past experiences. Take a moment to evaluate what has worked well for you in the past and what hasn’t. Learning from previous successes and failures can provide valuable insights for moving forward.
If your campus is leveraging ChapterBuilder, harness the power of data by conducting a thorough review of your ChapterBuilder analytics. Identify trends, pinpoint areas for improvement, and leverage data-driven insights to refine your recruitment tactics.
If you’re preparing for primary recruitment, and leveraging CampusDirector, utilize the reports from each round to discover the withdrawn patterns. What can you do differently this year to increase retention round to round?
PHIRE TIP! Navigate to your “Analytics” tab in ChapterBuilder. Next, click on “Referral Source”. Based on the forms you created, which form types yielded the highest lead count? Was it your general social media interest form? Maybe it was an event-specific form. With this information, decide what forms to delete, and what forms to advertise more during the summer.
Goal Setting: Know What You’re Working Toward
Set clear and achievable goals for the summer months. Consider goals like building connections with 20 potential members, generating 50 new leads, or using 2 new communication tactics. Having defined objectives will keep you focused and motivated throughout the season.
Visibility
Ensure that potential new members can easily find and engage with your organization. Update websites, bios, and social media profiles to reflect current information and working links. Actively interact with other school and organization accounts to expand your reach.
Communication
Stay connected with current and prospective members through summer outreach initiatives. Schedule regular email sends and social media posts to keep your audience engaged and informed.
Tools like Hootsuite allow you to create content now to be posted later this summer automatically. This means you don’t have to worry about posting every week!
Set Up Pipelines
Effective pipelines can actively gather the contact information of prospective students for you. Spend your summer day soaking up the sun, and return to a sea of PNMs waiting to connect with you. Now you have a place to start, a task at hand, and people to interact with because you put in the work setting up those pipelines earlier.
Here are some of our favorite pipelines:
Create and share ChapterBuilder forms
Engage with your alumni network for referrals
Connect with local high school juniors and seniors to plug fraternity and sorority early on
Ask members to refer a classmate, cast member, sports teammate, or coworker
Interaction
Take advantage of new student events and communication channels to connect with incoming first years. Consider forming street teams or using hometown groups to interact with prospective members throughout the summer.
You can’t recruit who you don’t know. Interacting with PNMs now opens doors for continuing those connections when the school year begins.
Remember! Don’t limit yourself to interacting with first-year students. Transfer students, and upperclassmen on your campus are still looking for a place to call home.
Skills Development
Use the summer months to sharpen your skills and prepare for the recruitment season ahead. Equip your team with access to resources like Phired Up’s Partner Exclusive Library. Consider assigning training by asking members to review a specific recorded webinar or resource.
Don’t forget! If you are planning a training session when school starts, prep your content now to save yourself from last-minute chaos later.
Write out a detailed plan that outlines your strategies, goals, and timelines for the summer. Be sure to communicate this plan with your team and hold yourself accountable by scheduling regular check-ins to track progress.
While summer may seem like a time to relax, it’s also an opportune moment to strategize and lay the groundwork for future success. By implementing these strategies and staying focused on your goals, you’ll be able to make the most of the summertime and set yourself up for a successful recruitment season.
Have some peace of mind while you’re chillin’ poolside, knowing you made the most of your summer!
Written by Jen Akright & Zafyre Sexton, Customer Success Managers
To Graduating Seniors,
REALITY CHECK: You graduate college in just a few VERY short weeks. You may be walking around your college town emotionally reminiscing about the tree you first heard Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” Album under. Maybe you are taking the long way home, and maybe you are spending more time in your favorite college town coffee shop.
One thing is for certain: You are definitely thinking about when the next time you’ll see your fraternity brothers or sorority sisters after May will be. Too often, we allow the Greek IFC/CPH experience to be four years instead of a lifetime (like it is meant to be).
Below are four ways to stay connected to your organization as an Alumni
Volunteer More than just Monetary Resources.
Financial Resources are great!! When I was an active member of my chapter, I always wished we had more money. In hindsight AND a more mature vision, I wish we had more volunteers, more wisdom and knowledge to rely on, and more energy coming from our alumni base. Most importantly, I wish we had more recruitment assistance from alumni.
While it may seem like you’re done growing your organization after graduation, you can still be a resource for growth well past your graduation date. One of the best ways to support your organization as an alumni is to help it grow! It is the gift that keeps on giving, so this recruitment cycle, I challenge you to provide your organization with names of potential new members (family, friends, colleagues, connections, little brothers or sisters, etc.)!
During my undergraduate days serving as the VP of Growth for my chapter, we would call on one alumnus to come speak with potential new members. Oftentimes, these alumni talked about their days within the chapter and how the chapter prepared them for life after college. Year in and year out, the attitude of the chapter would shift. They would talk about their failures and successes, the relationships they built, and the things they wish they would have done as undergraduates. The energy was infectious, and the advice was invaluable.
As an alumnus, I challenge you to go back to your local chapter and share your knowledge. I promise they will be very grateful. You will leave an indelible mark on the incoming members and the shoes they will strive to fill—YOURS!
Join Alumni Chapters.
Joining an alumni chapter can be a great way, if not the best way, to stay involved with your fraternity or sorority. Alumni Chapters often host events and support the undergraduates in many unique ways.
An Alumni Chapter’s role is to support the chapter and continue the fraternity experience well after graduation. AGAIN, this experience is “For Life, Not Just Four Years.” When it comes to Alumni Chapters, you can even hold positions on a council to truly strengthen your bond and experience. These roles can be critical in connecting the current members to alumni members. Much of the chapter’s energy, attitude, and morale can be directly connected to alumni relations. A few things you can do as an Alumni Chapter are below:
1.Connect with Undergraduates at a professional level to expand your network and help them find internships and jobs
2.Plan Alumni Weekends back in your college town or in major cities
3.Provide financial support to the chapter via scholarships, donations, and or physical gifts
An Alumni Chapter’s support in the above areas helps connect the undergraduate chapter to future opportunities while also establishing strong foundations to help them grow as well.
Scholarships for active members can help with retention initiatives while scholarships for PNMs help you build pipelines and generate leads to reach out to come recruitment season.
You can learn more about Alumni Chapters by visiting your organization’s website or contacting your local chapter.
Maintain Personal Relationships.
RELATIONSHIPS TAKE EFFORT. Maintaining personal relationships can be the best way to stay connected to your organization for years to come. Many people are recruited on the idea that the connections you make as an undergraduate will stand the test of time. This idea is true, but it still takes effort!
A common practice I utilize to stay connected to people that distance may be in the way of is to schedule time to call them. On my way to or from my office, I pick a friend or someone I have not connected with in a while to call and check-in. I understand that work or just life, in general, can get in the way of long-distance relationships, but it’s up to us to maintain the bonds we built during our undergraduate days. Connecting during time in the car, on a walk, or waiting during a situation is a super easy way to stay connected without having to go so far out of your way to maintain a relationship.
Attend National and Regional Conventions.
If there is one thing I say needs to be on your Alumni Bucket List, it would be to attend a national or regional conference. A National Conference can be the most fun weekend of your life, networking or catching up with old friends! These weekends can be super valuable from a personal and professional standpoint.
Many times regional and national conferences are in fun locations that you can make a trip out of. Gather a group of brothers and sisters and travel to whatever location your organization is meeting. Make it a challenge to connect with alumni and share Greek experiences with one another. Maybe even try to get involved with a National HQ board to continue your experience. The experience of a national or regional conference will make you feel more connected to your organization than ever.
Conclusion: To complete your undergraduate days and become an alumni of your organization is a MASSIVE honor. With new members filtering into your organization every year, your wisdom, financial support, and energy can be such a boost to whatever your organization.
Being an alumni is a different level of involvement, but the four steps mentioned above can give you a deep admiration and love for your organization well past your four years. To be an involved alumni takes effort so THANK YOU for wanting to be an engaged alumni!
Written by Carter Whaley, Growth Consultant
by Becca Lahr
Breaking news: Recruitment has been picked up for another season in 2024! Filming begins in January and we are waiting on an updated date for the premiere of Panhellenic’s viral RushTok!
Imagine if recruitment existed like seasons of a show, where we had to wait for renewal dates, for the cast to get chosen and then wait months (or years!) since the previous season premiered to watch the next one. (I am talking about you, Euphoria!)
What if recruitment was ingrained into the very essence of our lives instead? Into our daily habits and the way that we carry ourselves both on and off campus.
When we think about growing our organizations, we have to think about growth every single day. Recruitment is not just a season, but it is a lifestyle. That means we don’t need to wait for a renewal; we don’t need to wait for our cast announcement or press tour; we can begin growing NOW!
Now that we are viewing recruitment as a lifestyle, let’s break it down into smaller pieces to create better habits that turn into lifestyle changes for our growth efforts. The three pieces that we are going to be focusing on are Chapter, Council, and Community.
Chapter
Recruitment as a lifestyle means that we are working towards growth every day, regardless of whether or not we are handing out a bid every day. Here are four habits for 2024 that your chapter can develop to build a recruitment lifestyle in your chapter:
Utilize growth technology daily. Whether that is adding a name to your names list, changing a lead’s status in ChapterBuilder, or sharing your chapter’s recruitment form with a new PNM, the chapter uses some kind of growth technology daily to help track and encourage progress!
Practice Social Excellence. At least once a day, practice being curious, generous, vulnerable, or authentic. Ask better questions to those around you, hold a door open on campus for someone after you, do something that scares you… or just be YOU!
Regularly talk about growth as a chapter. What does growth look like to your chapter? Create goals and ways to track those goals as a chapter. Maybe that goal is how many PNMs you want to talk to in a week, or maybe that goal is how many new members you want to add by the end of the semester/year. Once you create those goals, find ways to measure them as a chapter and talk about them frequently.
Practice re-recruitment. Not only does a recruitment lifestyle focus on gaining NEW members, but it also focuses on retaining the members we already have. Plan sisterhood/brotherhood activities, get members involved in leadership, or create a retention committee. The chapter should practice constantly re-recruiting our members to ensure we are growing and sustaining the members we have already asked to join us!
Council
Often, we think about council growth in the same seasonal mindset or maybe your council is not engaged with your chapter’s growth at all – but they should be!! See #3 – community growth for WHY councils should also care about chapter growth!. The council will focus on encouraging growth through one recruitment period. Our councils need to be supporting our chapters throughout the entire year when it comes to growth, so here are four habits to build amongst your council to foster a recruitment lifestyle in 2024:
1.Consistent chapter check-ins/support. As council leaders, we should consistently check in with chapters to ensure they are supported in their growth efforts year-round.
Panhellenic: What support do they need from the council for Formal Recruitment efforts, Informal Recruitment efforts, Marketing, etc?
CBFOs: What marketing efforts or information sessions are you hosting or creating so that the larger community knows your chapters are present and are choices in the fraternity and sorority selection process?
IFC: How are you helping your chapters grow year-round? Are you sharing PNM’s interest? Do you have an IFC registration form? Have you asked your chapters how you can help them 1:1?
All: Create a regularly scheduled meeting year-round to support your council’s growth efforts.
2. Council-wide names driving. Gather your council together for a group effort when it comes to names driving. Create a council-wide form that will send names to all chapters in the council year-round to help support growth instead of relying on individual chapters to drive their own individual names.
3. Council events. How often does your council get together to have fun? How often do you host a council-wide sisterhood/brotherhood event? Do you hold council-wide philanthropy events where the campus community can see you all gathered together? Moments where PNMs can interact with members from every chapter in your council? Build these into your council growth strategy to support your whole council!
4. Build council systems. It is not enough to plan events, check in with chapters, or drive names as a council. We have to build systems and create sustainable, repeatable, and measurable strategies to ensure growth from year to year.
Community
Not only is growth a chapter or council focus, but we should want our community as a whole to grow! To offer the really amazing thing that is fraternity and sorority to more people on your campus. Here are four habits to prioritize as a community in 2024 to build a recruitment lifestyle:
Create community connection opportunities. How often does your community truly gather all councils, all chapters, and all members in moments of connection? The more we know each other, the better we can support growth for ALL of the community.
Community recruitment events. During summer orientations, let’s set up an FSL table! Throughout the year, let’s plan opportunities for members of campus to meet the community in one central space so that they can meet various members of the community. Recruitment doesn’t have to be limited to our councils or chapters but can be shared throughout the community!
Community marketing efforts. Do you follow every chapter on campus on Instagram or TikTok? Do you post pictures showing off the friendships you gain by being a member of the FSL community? Do you repost each other’s content to ensure maximum reach on campus? Marketing does not have to be a solo effort; it should be a community-driven strategy!
Prioritize community leadership development. You should meet as leaders of your chapter, council, and communities regularly throughout the year. Plan an all-community leadership retreat, host community round tables where you can talk through current strategies or challenges, or even find moments to build connections to ensure your community is as strong as possible!
BONUS: Connection!
Prioritize connection in everything that you do as a chapter, as a council, and as a community. Students on campus crave connection; they crave finding a group of people they can relate to and find belonging to. Find moments every day, every week, every month to prioritize connection in your growth strategy!
By building these habits, you can take your campus from simply renewing a recruitment season into creating and living a recruitment lifestyle where growth and connection are prioritized in the everyday moments and things we do as chapters, as councils, and as communities.
For more information visit: phiredup.com
by Becca Lahr
Growth.
Often a synonym for other words like recruitment, intake, COB.
Growth.
A word that is often associated with the way that we recruit members. The way we add more people into our organization and grow our numbers. In other words, growth is associated with the idea that People Join People.
But, People Leave People too.
Growth is also retention. We cannot grow our organizations if we cannot retain the members we ask to join us. Acknowledging that retention is a part of a healthy and successful growth strategy is the first step to ensuring that our people stay.
Now, it’s easy to talk about retention but harder to create and implement a system that successfully retains our members.
We already have systems in place that help us grow our organizations through recruitment. Systems that prioritize planning, building/managing relationships, and dedicated leadership overseeing the process.
What if we took some of these systems and made them work for our retention?
What if we created a whole team of people to focus on retention in the chapter?
What if we created a Retention Committee?
Who can we build our Retention Committee with?
We can utilize officers and members of the chapter who are already focused on member engagement. Recruitment chairs, Membership officers, Sisterhood/Brotherhood/Siblinghood chairs, New Member education officers… the possibilities are endless! Many of these leaders begin interacting with members even before they become members of the chapter, and can be helpful in actively prioritizing retention in the chapter.
Think about some of your best relationship builders in the chapter. The members who built connections with their fellow chapter members on day 1. Members who are curious, authentic, generous, and vulnerable. The most Socially Excellent members in your chapter. We need connectors on our retention team. We need people who will be able to continue fostering and building relationships with all members, new and old.
Depending on your chapter size, the committee can be 2 members, 5 members, 10 members, or even more! Build your committee to meet the specific needs of your chapter.
What does the Retention Committee focus on?
The committee will focus on building a chapter environment that prioritizes retention. The 3 primary reasons people choose to leave their organizations are lack of connection, misaligned expectations, and discord/drama. The committee members will constantly evaluate the chapter and its members, discussing who’s connected and who we see become disconnected throughout the year.
The committee could focus on proactive initiatives when it comes to retention in the chapter. One example is creating a retention survey asking questions about how connected members feel to the chapter, what they enjoy about their chapter experience, what they feel could be improved, etc. A way to measure the member’s chapter experience.
The committee could focus on managing retention in real-time. Utilizing the chapter roster to create a red, yellow, green light system to drive engagement. Members assigned the red light are currently disengaged with the chapter, haven’t been attending events, and are not participating in the overall chapter experience. Members with the yellow light status are on their way to becoming disengaged; they are beginning to show signs of a lack of connected or misaligned expectations when it comes to the chapter experience. Members with the green light status are engaged and actively participating in the chapter experience.
What does management look like in the Retention Committee?
The retention committee would meet on a regular basis. Whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, the retention committee meets consistently to ensure members are engaged throughout their membership experience.
Creating an agenda or collaborative space for the retention committee to communicate what they see in the chapter, what they are focusing on, and what needs to be focused on in the future.
A dedicated retention plan. A plan that sets retention goals, both quantitative and qualitative, creates action items to be completed and allows for a repeatable, measurable system to be made. Without a plan, it is easy to get lost or overwhelmed while managing retention. A plan can help the entire committee ensure they are on the same page and establish expectations for their experience.
We put so much effort into recruiting new members and asking them to join us that I don’t want to go to waste once they join. By creating a retention committee, we can put as much dedicated effort into retaining our members as we put into recruiting them.
Remember, we can focus as much as we want on People Join People, but we also have to focus on People Staying With People in order to GROW!
Want to know more about how to build a recruitment strategy that works? Check out these resources below:
by Regan Pompeo
In the early Spring of 2020, I thought I was HIM… I was President of my Chapter. I had successfully secured on-campus housing for the first time in our history. We had the second biggest new member class – on campus – second only to an expansion. We were well on track to have the most successful social year since I joined. I was riding high! Little did I know, I was missing the point.
Early the following Spring, I was sitting at Beta Upsilon Chi’s President’s Circle when I realized how far off the mark I was. Our National President, Brian Lee, said that in everything we do, we need to “Love your brothers more than your agenda”. At that moment, I realized what I was doing. I was forgetting to prioritize the men who gifted me with leadership in the chapter, a debt I will never be able to repay. I had tunnel vision pursuing goals and dreams for the chapter. I knew that this pursuit currently came with the cost of hurting relationships.
I wasn’t leading my chapter; I was dictating it.
The “Achieve the goal at any cost” mentality just isn’t it. No matter how important we think our goals are or how right we feel, it is not worth damaging relationships.
Well, I think this is actually twice as important when we are talking about recruitment. It means twice as much because we are talking about prioritizing relationships with two different groups of people, your members, and your potential members.
For your members, make sure you are leading from the trenches. Lead side by side with them through the recruitment process. Don’t let the numeric goal turn your recruitment process from a system of meeting lifelong friends into a dull member factory. A factory where members simply clock in and out without a care in the world.
When we lead side by side we are continuing to build connections, and further our relationships – which ultimately impacts the retention and engagement of our members. Relationships take work and if we focus solely on our agenda, that pulls away from the connections we’ve built with members who can make a lasting impact on our chapter and our future members.
And, if we love our agenda more than the individual potential new members in front of us, we could miss out on even more. If we see the PNMs in front of us as numbers, they WILL see right through that. Knowing they are just a number, just a notch towards a goal, something that will help meet someone else’s agenda won’t entice them to join – and most certainly will not help you attract the right PNMs. In fact, it will drastically lower your chances of securing and retaining the right PNMs for your chapter and into the lifelong siblinghood that you provide.
And, if that PNM does join because other members remembered to focus on the idea that people join people, then you – as the chapter leader with an agenda – will still miss out on the opportunity to make an impact on that individual. You will personally lose out on building relationships and connections with people who are the future of your organization.
For me, I am thankful I learned that lesson early on in my tenure as President. I was able to prioritize relationships over my Agenda more consistently. Although there were times that I failed in this, here are some guiding principles that would always bring me back:
Presence is one of your greatest tools. Being present, showing up for the people you are leading is one of the best things you can do. It helps keep you focused on relationships and helps establish your credibility as a leader. Relationships strengthen connections which impacts the retention of our members.
Leadership is an honor, not a right. Don’t forget who elected you into your role. Be thankful for their faith in you and repay them with love. When you lead with love, you will attract PNMs who value this as well. PNMs who see leadership and brotherhood as an honor and something to be thankful for, not demanding of.
Relationships will far outlast your accomplishments. We are in the lifelong brotherhood business, not the coolest Fraternity/Sorority Business. Over time, fraternity and sorority accolades will fade, and eventually, no one will care if you hit your goals as President or Recruitment Vice President. Don’t sell out for a few minutes of glory. Invest in those around you, be selective in those you invite in, and find the right members who value what you value. The numbers at the end of the day won’t get you there, it will be the relationships you’ve forged. And you will see the riches of those relationships far beyond graduation – through careers and networking, alumni engagement opportunities, and more.
When leading your chapter and meeting dozens, or possibly hundreds, of potential new members, make sure you love them first and foremost. Love will forge trust, connection, and relationships. Then once those relationships are secured, worry about your goals and agenda, TOGETHER, as a chapter. Together, you will get further than if you served alone.
by Elena Pastore
We know that people join people – meaning, it’s the people in the organizations that give them life! It’s the people that give our Greek-letter organizations meaning – not the letters themselves! I’m sure that prior to joining your organization, the letters meant nothing to you. It’s the people you met that mean something – and it’s the people that made you want to join.
Just like people compelled you to join, people will compel you to stay (or compel you to leave). So… how do we get people to stay? How do we retain the people that we worked so hard to recruit?
First we need to understand WHY people choose to leave our organizations. If you’ve been following Phired Up, you know that our research shows there are 3 main reasons why people leave:
Misaligned expectations
Lack of connection
Discord (aka Drama)
So, now that we know why people leave… what can we do to make them stay?
Align expectations
We can align expectations by actually delivering what we promise, OR by changing our promise to match what the reality of membership is really like. Oftentimes, the recruitment/intake process is different from what life is really like in our organizations. It can become easy for PNMs/new members to create a perception of what the expectation of membership might be as opposed to what it actually is. This is because we, as existing members, create a false sense of reality. This ties into the idea of a “no frills” recruitment, an experience in which we focus more on relationships and people than the decor, aesthetics, and the superficial presentation of things. Sometimes, it’s hard for organizations to pinpoint which exact expectations are misaligned.
Ask your new members what they did expect that didn’t happen and what they didn’t expect that did happen. This will give you a glimpse into what you can change.
Build connection
Sometimes it can be difficult to build connection when your expectations of reality don’t line up. In any large group, smaller friend groups will inevitably form. As social animals, we naturally gravitate towards people who are similar to us that we share things in common with. We can easily build connection with them and therefore form long lasting connections with them. Every organization should foster an environment where it’s easy for members to mingle, find their “people” within their chapter, and build a deep connection and friendship in order to feel a strong sense of belonging.
Ask your members what the greatest opportunities to build these strong connections are, and ask what other ideas they have to create more opportunities to connect with members they don’t typically interact with.
Eliminate drama / create supportive environments
Drama is one of those things that is almost bound to happen. It’s somewhat out of your control… although creating a system to mitigate drama is certainly in your control! Discord can occur as a result of the two items above. When expectations are misaligned and no one is connected, trust and morale are likely to decrease, which would create a greater recipe for drama, disagreement, and dispute. Drama can also occur from rumors and other myths that are going around. Are there certain events, topics of discussion, or other things that people are buzzing about? We can eliminate drama by closing the communication loop and being transparent about what’s going on. Building connection and aligning expectations alone can also help mitigate these challenges. Strengthening chapter culture (aka “brotherhood” or sisterhood”) will create stronger bonds and therefore will discourage members from starting drama and rumors.
Ask your members where they think most of the drama stems from, and aim to tackle that to create a drama-free environment.
When we address the reasons people leave, we are much more apt to retain the members we recruited. We must remember that once members are initiated, they are not “in” for good. There is always a chance they might leave. And while some of these things are not within our control, we must do the best we can to align expectations, build connection, and create environments free of drama in order to retain the largest number of members we can.
by Becca Lahr
Let’s put our research hats on and be curious together for a second.
Try thinking back on the last couple of years. Think about the former members of your chapter who have decided to leave. What do you think they would say if they were asked WHY they left?
Finances? Time Commitment? Grades Slipping?
You might be surprised to find out that those are not the top 3 reasons that our members leave their organizations. The top 3 reasons that our members leave are:
Why is it that members of our organizations are feeling this? It’s because once we convince potential members to become members of our process, our systems stop.
You might have meticulous and well thought out growth systems that include relationship building and relationship management with our potential members. You might put all of your effort into telling potential members: “We are your people! Join us!” But when it comes down to their membership experience, we tell them that their experience is what THEY make of it.
Here’s the thing: growth does not come without retention. We cannot expect to continue growing our organizations if our systems end when they join the chapter. What if instead of leaving our members responsible for their own membership experience, we begin to systemize retention in the same way that we systemize growth in our recruitment processes?
If you are still on board, which I hope you are, your next question is probably… “How do we begin to systemize retention in our chapter?”
Let’s utilize the strategies we already have in place for our growth systems:
Plan, plan, plan!
Don’t wait until the last minute to plan for retention! Start early each term and build an engaging retention plan that prioritizes connection and includes all of the things we promise potential members! Variety is your best friend! Plan engaging sisterhood, brotherhood, siblinghood events, academic focused study sessions, and even groups assigned to each executive board officer so that members have a direct line to leadership and feel heard.
Build and Manage Relationships
When we finally move our potential members through D-C-B-A to an A+, we don’t stop building relationships! Reframe how your chapter can utilize DCBA for chapter members to ensure they are building and maintaining relationships in the chapter. Is a chapter member a D (just a name on your roster)? Or as they move from new member to lifetime member, are we continuing to move them from D -> C -> B -> A and helping them build deep meaningful connections in the chapter?
Dedicated Leadership
Although chapter retention is a group effort, having a dedicated officer in the chapter who oversees member retention and engagement will help with the establishment of a system. When we designate an officer (VP of Membership, Sisterhood/Brotherhood/Siblinghood Chair, creating a new position, etc.) to monitor retention in the chapter, we are better able to develop and implement a repeatable and optimized system for retention in the chapter that can be passed on for years to come.
One of my biggest life mottos is “work smarter, not harder” and if we can apply this to membership retention in our chapters, we are more likely to be successful.
By developing a system to manage retention, we are better able to help our members build connections, align their expectations and avoid discord or drama so we are able to keep every member of our chapter.
Because, at the end of the day, we cannot have growth without retention. As you all continue finding your people, I want you to be able to keep them as well.
Additional Resources:
Contact: Branden Stewart
Phired Up is thrilled to announce that three talented individuals will join their full-time staff team this November. Regan Pompeo, Zafyre Sexton, and Luke Lenfestey will all begin new roles with Phired Up to help shape the future of fraternity and sorority growth and retention. Regan will serve as an Organizational Growth Consultant, working to train and coach fraternity and sorority members on the Phired Up growth system. Zafyre will serve as an Account Executive, helping campuses and councils develop their partnership with products that will help propel their community forward. Finally, Luke will serve as Customer Success Manager (ChapterBuilder), ensuring a positive and results-producing user experience for our partner organizations and users.
“We had an incredible amount of talented individuals who were interested in joining the Phired Up team this Fall, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what Regan, Zafyre, and Luke bring to level up our team in the coming months,” said Branden Stewart, Phired Up’s COO. “Each of these new team members brings charisma, thoughtfulness, and talent to their roles, and I know that our partners will greatly benefit from their combined expertise and passion.”
Regan Pompeo is a graduate of Auburn University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Counseling. He most recently served as a counselor and leader at Camp Ridgecrest for Boys. As a member of Beta Upsilon Chi at Auburn, Regan was instrumental in leading his chapter’s growth and social efforts, helping them to ultimately double their chapter size and obtain a fraternity house. Regan is currently the chairman of the Auburn BYX Alumni Board.
“Regan is the fraternity man colleges need today. A role model to his peers, a mentor to young men, a man who believes in your potential, and pushes you to greatness,” said Jayson Davis, Phired Up’s Growth & Training Manager. “He found his community, and took responsibility to continue searching for like minded men so they could make a larger impact together. His drive continues beyond his undergraduate years and we are looking forward to seeing that passion and eagerness on the Phired Up team.”
In his free time, Regan enjoys backpacking, playing guitar, and spending time with his fiance, Emily, who he will be getting married to next month. His goal is to be the top listener of Caamp on Spotify Wrapped at the conclusion of 2022.
“Nothing gets me more excited than talking about Greek life. I was the beneficiary of great men coming alongside me to mentor me and pour into me during my time in BYX at Auburn,” said Regan. “Now I am so excited to join the Phired Up team and give back to the system that gave me so much.”
Regan’s first day at Phired Up was November 7th in his role as an Organizational Growth Consultant. You can welcome Regan by sending him an email at Regan@PhiredUp.com.
Zafyre Sexton joins the Phired Up team after serving as a consultant for Alpha Chi Omega National Fraternity Inc. for the past year and a half. Prior to joining the Alpha Chi team, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting with a minor in Women’s Leadership from Brenau University in Gainesville, GA.
“Zafyre’s passion for advancing the sorority and fraternity experience is contagious. More community leaders than ever are reaching out to our team and asking important, system-oriented growth questions. I’m excited for these phriends to be cared for by Zafyre as she helps navigate their challenges in a way that supports the growth of all chapters across all councils!” said RJ Taylor, Phired Up’s CEO.
Zafyre loves going to the theater to see plays and musicals. She also enjoys long walks and hiking trails.
“I am so excited to join the Phired Up team and continue to advocate for changing the narrative of the fraternity and sorority experience in a collaborative, challenging and fun environment!” said Zafyre.
Zafyre will start with Phired Up as an Account Executive on November 21st. You can welcome Zafyre by sending her an email at Zafyre@PhiredUp.com.
Luke Lenfestey begins his role at Phired Up following his time at Pi Kappa Phi where he served in several roles, including as a Growth Coordinator, Director of Recruitment, and most recently as the Director of Member Education. Prior to his time at Pi Kapp, he earned his bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in Single Subject Education from Sonoma State University before going on to earn his master’s degree in College Student Personnel from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. While in his graduate program, Luke served as a Graduate Assistant in the office of Sorority & Fraternity Life.
“Luke is bringing first-hand experience utilizing strategic practices to launch, utilize, maximize, and create sustainable practices for ChapterBuilder technology. I am excited to see him advance and scale that mentality for all of our ChapterBuilder users and partners!” said Ashley Schulte, Phired Up’s Product Manager.
In Luke’s free time, he enjoys going for walks, listening to music, and going to get coffee. He’s also a restaurant connoisseur and enjoys trying new restaurants!
“I think it’s an exciting time to join PhiredUp & TechniPhi! I’m excited to grow as a professional and to connect with others over the growth of their organizations,” said Luke.
Luke’s first day with Phired Up as the Customer Success Manager for ChapterBuilder was on November 7th. You can welcome Luke by sending him an email at Luke@PhiredUp.com.
To view future open opportunities at Phired Up, please visit our careers page at www.phiredup.com/careers.
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About Phired Up: We are on a mission to create the future of fraternity and sorority life by transforming the way people join. We provide Education, Technology, and Strategy Solutions to help fraternities and sororities with marketing, recruitment, pre-intake, and retention. We believe the best way to create healthier, safer, and more inclusive fraternities and sororities is to transform the joining process. Phired Up serves all councils, chapters, and umbrella organizations. We are committed to serving 100% of fraternities and sororities. Our technology and education work together to help headquarters, campuses, councils, and chapters implement a holistic growth system that drives results.
Watch our videos on YouTube, follow us on Instagram at @phired.up, and visit our website.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tenea McGhee
As Phired Up and TechniPhi remain steadfast in creating the future of fraternity and sorority life by transforming the way people join, we are excited about the many opportunities that exist to support 100% of our industry. Developing from our recent partnership with the National Multicultural Greek Council (NMGC), we are proud to share that Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. (DXP) has become the first long-term NMGC organization partner.
By living out their motto, “What is possible has been done, what is impossible must be done,” DXP leaders have positioned their organization to be strategic about the ways they provide dynamic growth education and technology support to their members.
DXP National President Nikita DeBarros shared, “For decades, Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. has looked to Phired Up for the latest and greatest on how to recruit new members in a meaningful way. It is with great pride that we now, after all the unexpected change we have experienced over the last two years, partner with them to ensure that our sisterhood continues to expand, thrive, and break barriers across the country! This partnership will undoubtedly enhance our members’ personal and professional development and has already given us more to look forward to in 2022 and beyond.”
DXP’s partnership includes dynamic growth education, skills training, chapter cohort coaching sessions, strategy consultations, ChapterBuilder growth technology, and certifications for all collegiate chapters.
“It brings me great joy to partner with the phenomenal women of Delta Xi Phi,” shared Tenea McGhee, Cultural Based Fraternal Organization Director of Growth. “Their passion and commitment to doing the impossible are infectious. Providing inclusive and evolving growth system support to our partners is at the heart of what Phired Up and TechniPhi aim to do. We couldn’t be more excited to walk in partnership with DXP as they dare to do something different”.
DXP Director of Public Relations, Aliah Taylor, M.Ed., echoed DXP’s excitement and shared, “Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. is delighted to enter a partnership with Phired Up as we believe in extending the community and experience of sisterhood. With the last few years bringing forth new challenges, DXP views the strategies and educational tools provided by Phired Up as a path to continue the growth of and for our sisters. We look forward to building up our sisterhood as we strengthen both our connections and impacts together in this collaboration.”
For more information about how your organization can become an official Phired Up and TechniPhi partner, you can email Tenea McGhee at Tenea@PhiredUp.com.
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About Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority, Inc.:
Delta Xi Phi (ΔΞΦ) is a national multicultural sorority founded at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by fifteen women on April 20, 1994. These women recognized a need for an organization that appreciated the different cultures present on their college campus. The sorority welcomes women from all ethnic, cultural, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. Defined by diversity, Delta Xi Phi is not only multicultural in membership but also in programming since its inception. Multicultural awareness, as well as community service, the empowerment of women in higher education, friendship, and sisterhood are important aspects of Delta Xi Phi. Delta Xi Phi is one of the founding members of the National Multicultural Greek Council (NMGC).
About Phired Up & TechniPhi:
We are on a mission to create the future of fraternity and sorority life by transforming the way people join. We provide Education, Technology, and Strategy Solutions to help fraternities and sororities with marketing, recruitment, pre-intake, and retention. We believe the best way to create healthier, safer, and more inclusive fraternities and sororities is to transform the joining process. Phired Up serves all councils, chapters, and umbrella organizations. We are committed to serving 100% of fraternities and sororities. Our technology and education work together to help headquarters, campuses, councils, and chapters implement a holistic growth system that drives results.
Watch our videos on YouTube, follow us on Instagram at @phired.up, and visit our website.
Contact: Branden@PhiredUp.com Carmel, Ind. — Phired Up and TechniPhi are excited to share two recent additions to the team! Becca Lahr and Jonah Mudse both will join the Content & Training team this fall, helping to share growth and retention tools with Phired Up partners across the country.
“I’m thrilled to welcome both Becca and Jonah to our team because they each bring such positive, thoughtful, and relatable experiences to our partners,” said Branden Stewart, Phired Up’s COO. “I can’t wait for students and professionals alike to learn from Becca and Jonah as they begin their work to make an impact on enhancing the joining process for chapters and campuses from coast-to-coast.”
Becca Lahr will serve Phired Up’s clients as a Growth Consultant. After graduating from Califorinia State University, Fullerton with a degree in Child and Adolescent Development in 2021, Becca joined Alpha Chi Omega’s staff as a traveling consultant. During her time as a chapter consultant, Becca traveled to 5 states and worked with over 15 chapters by coaching them on topics such as recruitment, retention and diversity, equity and inclusion. Becca also brings some Disney magic to the team, having served Disneyland park guests at The Haunted Mansion and Winnie the Pooh rides prior to joining the Phired Up team.
“I am thrilled to welcome Becca to our team,” said Colleen Blevins, Senior Director of Content & Training for Phired Up. “Her previous professional experience using our systems will allow her to step into our Growth Consultant role and hit the ground running. Becca brings a wonderful perspective having already served a variety of campus communities and her own national organization. This experience will allow Becca to connect with so many of our partners in an authentic way. When you connect with Becca you believe her, you trust her, and you are engaged by her. I can’t wait for our partners to work with her!”
Becca remains involved with Alpha Chi Omega as a volunteer advisor for their chapter at Chapman University. She continues to love Disney, sharing that there is nothing better than showing up to Disneyland, eating a churro or pickle, and watching people walk by smiling and excited to experience the place she loves so much. Becca is also an avid hiker, and has a goal to visit every national park (even the ones in Alaska).
“I am excited to join the team because I have been and continue to be passionate about bringing the fraternal experience to everyone,” said Becca. “I think that bring in a fraternal organization can provide so many resources and paths for future growth that not everyone gets to benefit from. I want to make sure that this experience is accessible to every single individual that seeks to join. Being a part of this team allows me to continue fighting for this and providing tools to chapters to make their experiences more accessible and more equitable for all.”
Becca can be reached via email at Becca@PhiredUp.com.
Jonah Mudse joins the team in a part-time role as a Growth Consultant, having recently graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in May with his Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology and Web Science. Jonah joined his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, while at RPI and has served on the Lambda Chi Alpha Board of Directors from 2020 – 2021. Jonah began his full-time role as an Associate Product Manager at IBM in August 2022.
“We are so excited to welcome Jonah to our team!” said Blevins. “Jonah is a Phired Up certified recruiter and lives our core philosophies daily. He is genuine and authentic, dynamic and engaging. His lived experience using our Phired Up dynamic recruitment philosophies will allow him to personally connect what we teach with exactly how to do it. I have full confidence that any chapter, community, and organization that Jonah works with will be encouraged and confident in their abilities to attract, select and secure new members better than anyone else!”
When he’s not working, Jonah loves to golf and grill (low ‘n slow barbeque!). He also is an avid traveler, having completed a Semester at Sea and checked off 18 countries so far.
“There’s never been a more exciting time to be a part of the fraternity and sorority world,” said Jonah. “Phired Up is showing up in a big way, I couldn’t just sit back and watch them have all the Phun!”
Jonah can be reached via email at Jonah@PhiredUp.com.