ACCA had unwieldy local, state relationships, making national marketing campaign difficult; some groups added little value

Stalknecht

Many associations with local chapters wrestle with their structure, which can pose governance challenges. One group chose a dramatic remedy.

Air Conditioning Contractors of America simplified its organization this summer by cutting ties to local and many state chapters.

"We started to run into contractors saying they saw no value in their local chapters," said Paul Stalknecht, longtime CEO of $4 million-revenue, Arlington, Va.-based ACCA. "They said ‘Why are you forcing me to pay hundreds of dollars to join a local chapter? I'm not going to join ACCA if I have to join a local chapter."

Previously, ACCA members were required to belong to their local and state chapters as well as the national group—in those areas where there were local and state chapters, Stalknecht said. ACCA collected all dues and returned the appropriate local portion.

There were 150 possible dues levels, preventing national marketing campaigns.
"We couldn't say, ‘Join now,'" Stalknecht said. "It was, ‘Tell us how many employees you have, what zip code you're in, and we'll get back to you.'

"That's not conducive to sales. People want to buy now," he said.

Now ACCA has a free hand for a national marketing pitch—it represents many of the larger contracting firms, but there are thousands of contractors who still aren't members, many of them small shops.

Cold facts
The move was not without controversy since the chapters were taken by surprise, though Stalknecht was able to trade on his stature in the industry by virtue of his 15-year tenure. (His board just gave him a contract to stay through 2021.)

"There were a lot of hard feelings simply because we just announced it at our annual conference," he said. "It is not something where we brought the chapters into the decision-making process. There was no other way to do this. We wanted to take out the emotions so the board could vote on the facts."

The board studied the issue for two years, Stalknecht said.

Other problems had cropped up that damaged ACCA's brand, he said. Though most chapters were responsible, there were some bad actors—those that did little, were poorly managed, or neared bankruptcy despite the stream of dues from ACCA. The national connection enabled some chapters to merely exist. One missed an important state legislative development that dismayed members, Stalknecht said. (The national organization is only responsible for national lobbying, he said.)

"The board realized we had no control over our brand name," he said. "As the dust settles, we'll probably take a little bit of a step back in membership, but it gives us the opportunity to market aggressively and we expect to have membership growth."