The Art of Comparison Shopping - Simplified

Say you’re thinking about buying a car. Maybe the car you have is working for now, but it’s on its last legs and can’t be counted on to get you where you need to be, so it’s time to look into making a change.

You go online or to a dealership to see what’s available, and wow – It’s almost overwhelming, right? There are hundreds of makes, models, and features available, so you start to research and narrow down the choices.

Maybe you think you can’t afford a certain car, but after visiting with the dealership, you discover that it actually saves you money in the long run because it is more fuel efficient and needs maintenance less frequently.

It can be confusing and you’ve got to determine what is the right car with the best value to meet your needs.

The same principle can be applied to shopping for Member Management System (MMS). You’ve got to find the right MMS for your organization and the best way to do that is to compare what’s available.

There are hundreds of membership management system vendors to choose from and it’s important to understand what’s available, the costs involved, and the deliverables.

We’ve designed a Buyer’s Workbook to help Chambers make an “apples to apples” comparison of membership management systems so they can make an informed purchasing decision.

It includes a list of questions to ask prospective providers, provided as handy worksheets.

Some of the checklists include questions about:

• Vendor reputation (Did you know that some providers take ownership of your data and you may have to pay to get it back?)
• Setup and integration
• Costs (and whether there are mandatory contracts)
• Features/functionality
• Ease of use
• Access to data (Can you access your data from anywhere or only when you’re at the office?)
• Training/support (Do you have to pay for support?)

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Download the free Buyer’s Workbook for a complete checklist that will allow you to compare what each vendor offers.