[munimula]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

i'm on record from early on...let EVERYONE and EVERYTHING in to the current club....

2air...2shay.

i have also stated in this forum that the club needs to hire an outside consulting firm to help shed light on it's operations the effect they have on growing membership. there is nary a business man in the bunch at the IBT. I'm sure CRM is a foreign acronym to most in the upper ranks.

i've felt this way since the name change debacle. it really came to light though at this past mid-winter IBT meeting. I listened in to most of it. I heard all of the mundane calls to order and motions being presented. it sounded like the meeting was just dragging along.

then there was a break and larry huttle spoke - kind of his state of the company annual speech. he was incredibly upbeat. talking about global domination, new models, sales through the roof, special projects, TV placement, etc. in a word exciting. one would think that a club associated with this brand would be thriving in the same manner.

not. once larry was done speaking there was a call to order and back to the business at hand - in the most droll and boring manner you could imagine. the contrast between what the WBCCI - an Airstream club, and what the corporation is up to was night and day. stating the obvious, the club is not keeping up with the company in terms of the sizzle factor.

Whose fault is it? Where does the problem lie? Should the company have more of a hand in the clubs business? maybe. but then some may scream that they are meddling. The WBCCI is the quintessential old boys club. Until the IBT allows outside input from marketing and customer experience professionals the membership will continue to decline.

for me that is no big deal because i get everything i need and want from the club already - friendships and rallies. if it continues on the same course it's on now, it will still be here in 15 or 20 years when i'll be ready to retire and caravan.

will the WBCCI survive to the next generation? who even knows what the heck we'll be driving by then. personally, i'm bullish on the WBCCI being here for my kids if they are so inclined.

--dave