Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: membership management software

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> "Here is what I consider an ideal solution, which would minimize (maybe 
> eliminate) the need for human intervention along the way.

When your ideal solution is no human intervention, I would rethink. Would you 
be attracted to housing that doesn’t exist but says just fill out this form and 
we’ll keep you in our files? 

If you heard of a small group of people who want to build 25+ housing units to 
become a community, how would your interest be most encouraged. 

Response #1: "Send an email to Elizabeth or call her. She can answer your 
questions and talk to you about our project and your interests.” 

Response #2: “Please visit our website for details about us and our project, 
and visit our Meet-up page to sign up for our next meeting."

Response #3: “Fill out this form and we will get back to you as soon as we can. 
Please fill out all information so we can set up a contact record for you and 
determine whether our project might fit your needs.” And then you ask about how 
many people are in their household, price range, geographic limitations, etc.

In my experience if you have received publicity in a forum where you receive so 
many responses that you can’t deal with them, they are probably not good 
prospects. Even establishing an email list for them is a waste of time — unless 
you are just doing marketing for cohousing in a general way. 

When the first personal computers appeared, suddenly everyone could do 
miraculous things. But the things the computer could do became more important 
than what needed to be done. Just because a computer can process 3,000 contacts 
faster and with fewer errors than any 10 people, doesn’t mean that ability is 
of any value to you. 

If you tell a bank that you have a contact file of 3,000 people who are 
interested, the bank will ask for their signed contracts.

It’s hard to stay focused when you are starting from ground zero. There are a 
lot of stars in the sky.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines, Washington DC
Sustainable Cohousing
http://sustainablecohousing.org