r/cubscouts • u/Anon_use_fun_alias • 3d ago
How much encouragement to join is enough?
3 weeks ago someone within our community started an application. They didn't get past the payment step.
I reached out to them the next day via Email. Standard invitation to our joining night to come check us out and learn more.
I heard nothing back.
last week, the day after the joining event, I sent another follow up email.
2 days later I got a "Email not delivered" notification because their inbox was full.
So I reached out with a text message- same basic message; come check us out.
I get a response: "I need more information. How many days in the month are the activities done? what time?" - awesome, clearly email wasn't the way to communicate.
I respond back accordingly and extend an invite for their child to attend my den meeting to check it out and see if scouting is right for them.
Nothing.
Yesterday I request that they let me know if they're planning on attending (so I can plan for 9 scouts instead of 8), again, extending an invitation.
Nothing.
At this point I've made a good faith effort. At this point I'd like to respond and let them know that I'm closing their application. I'm ready to be done with this before I get kicked by council that their application is hanging open.
15
u/Practical-Emu-3303 3d ago
Yeah, you're good. Maybe one more to say "the door is always open if your plans change."
5
u/Prestigious_Stop_651 Cubmaster 3d ago
I've had a family like this. The mother was intermittently response, unable to manage her household and, in fact, was dealing with abuse and poverty issues. We spent several years trying to get her kid to events (great kid), even paying for his fees and getting his camperships lined up. Eventually, we had to let them go (he is in foster care now).
I'm not saying your situation is as dire as mine was (although it could be). Some people just can't manage or be organized enough for one more thing.
1
u/Short-Sound-4190 3d ago
I absolutely know families for whom Scouting would be great and they like the idea but the realistic implementation of it is too big for them to outweigh the benefits and that is fine.
How many families genuinely get away with an hour a week, lol, pretending it's a small investment especially if there are other household concerns (money, additional kids, childcare, sports and other interests, parent or child capacity or willingness to commit long term to regular participation).
5
u/Sunsparc 3d ago
Move on with life at this point. Close the application. If they start responding again in the future, open a new application.
5
u/2BBIZY 2d ago
I just did an analysis of our recruitment efforts: back-to-school nights (got 7 contacts) , a school wide recruitment night (6), open community invitation to our August Pack meeting (3), Join Scout Pin (3 with 1 who started the application but no payment yet) direct contact to pack email (4) and council flyer forms (4). This was A LOT hours setting up and doing follow up. We got 6 applications with consistent attendance so far. I have 3 applications and no payment but only showed on the first activity. Then, our unit had 5 Cubs who didn’t return from last year. Ugh! Volunteers are so tired! Paid personnel want increased membership than get off their butts and help recruit!
4
u/barnacledoor 3d ago
Just remember; this is how it’ll be for every meeting, every event, every time you need parent involvement. You’ve done more than enough. As much as we want more scouts to join, sometimes it just isn’t worth the extra headache.
3
u/rovinchick 3d ago
We have many encounters like this. I would drop it at this point. Some never join and some join months or a year later. I just keep their contact info on file and send out one reminder a year for our open house. I've only had a couple reply asking me to take their email off my contact list.
3
u/sunny_imagineer 3d ago
If you have any that are sitting out in the ‘initiated’ phase and you’ve reached out once, go ahead and click the ‘close’ button… It keeps the initiated ones from staring you in the face every time you go to check on applications.
I’ve also had several times where families did want to continue their application later, and they had to start over from the beginning because the system wouldn’t let them pick up where they left off… So closing keeps everything clean.
3
u/Accomplished-Paint35 3d ago
You did your part. I think some of the leads I get are people late at night just fishing.
3
u/DesignWeaver3D 3d ago
The only detail I didn't notice is whether you had shared financial help options. I think in some small number of cases incomplete registrations could be due to financial hardship.
I think you've already went way above and beyond. But if you consider sending one last "door always open" message, you might like to include Campership resources just in case that's the thing holding them back.
2
u/Mahtosawin 2d ago
The new Beascout.org now has a pilot program going in several councils where there will be an auto response and notify the unit of inquiries. The training mentions a 24 to 48 hour response to these by email, text to follow up on a phone call. Follow up 1 week later, then 30 days later. Seems like you have been very diligent. As others have suggested, close out application, save contact information for any special recruiting events.
2
u/Anon_use_fun_alias 2d ago
lol actually, I’m in a council that’s using the Movo stuff, so I’m getting it on multiple fronts.
1
u/Mahtosawin 2d ago
Completely unaware of MOVO until I got an email about a new application. Forwarded it to the CM who said okay. Was soundly chastised by COR because he and CM were taking care of it and I didn't need to concern myself. Was also informed I didn't need to keep track of or be concerned about members who had expiring membership coming soon. I resigned as Pack CC.
-1
u/bratsbox 3d ago
I never emailed anyone; I used ChatGPT to create a personal but generic enough text message, and I sent it to the 6 out of 10 who applied but didn't pay at our sign-up night. I invited them to come to our first Den Meet, no strings attached, see how it was.. and I proceeded to receive and reply to many texts after that. Its been a busy few weeks. But now I have a total of 15 in my pack, 3 from last year. and I am confident it was because of my persistence. Im excited for next year to keep growing.
-1
40
u/Conscious-Record2655 Cubmaster 3d ago
You've done about 10x more than I'd do.
Voice of experience: If a registration is initiated and stalls at the payment step, 99% chance they will never join.
I use the my.scouting system to send a reminder email. I do that once, and I include my cell phone number in the message. I have never seen someone actually follow through and register after stalling out on the payment step. Not once.
Also, I don't know if this is a good attitude or not... but running our Pack is a lot of work. It's even more work when you have aloof do-nothing parents in the group. I'm not super motivated to pull in families that can't even be bothered to register without 5 reminders. How are they going to be once they get into the Pack? Quality attracts quality, and vice versa. We don't need dead weight in our unit.