Getting Past ‘No:’ Procurement is the Future of Our Profession

By L. Richard Walton

I hate selling things, but I find myself doing it all the time: to clients, to the government, to juries. As a tax controversy/white-collar criminal defense attorney, it is my job to sell the innocence of my client—and they don’t always make the job easy! But I do it—and then I wonder why I find it so hard to speak with fellow CPAs about joining CalCPA.

Why should I? It should be easy to call a friend and say good things about our association. The worst a fellow CPA can say is “no.”

Membership procurement is at the heart of our strength as an association and chapter—and our survival as a profession. And so some months ago, I challenged your chapter’s board to each bring in at least one new CalCPA member this year. In my first President’s Message, I also promised prizes and recognition to each member who adds to our chapter’s membership.

This month I am proud to recognize the first fruits of that effort, and a true master at getting past “no.” Lauren Be has brought in three new members to CalCPA and our chapter. It is through such efforts that CalCPA prospers, our chapter continues to grow and our future as a profession is secured.

In recognition of her outstanding efforts, I will present Lauren with a fine bottle of Stagg’s Leap Wine Cellars wine and two tickets to a USC football game at our next board meeting.

And I would like to add each of you to a drawing for more prizes in the months to come. As you succeed in signing up new members, please send me an e-mail so I can enter you into the drawing and publicly recognize your efforts on behalf of CalCPA.

Procurement efforts extend not only to new members, but also to members who have not renewed. If you know anyone in these categories, make a quick phone call, encourage them to enroll, renew or pay—and send me an e-mail when they do. Your efforts will be recognized—and the prizes ain’t half bad.

Getting past “no” is worth a try. As the old commercial says: “Try it, you’ll like it!”

This entry was posted on Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 3:13 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.