An investor in one of my companies once told me, "fail to segment your market at your own peril." We would learn a lot if we understood why we lost the various segments of lost Masons.
There's certainly a segment we won't get back; either they or we made the wrong choice. It would be very valuable to know why the wrong choice was made …
An investor in one of my companies once told me, "fail to segment your market at your own peril." We would learn a lot if we understood why we lost the various segments of lost Masons.
There's certainly a segment we won't get back; either they or we made the wrong choice. It would be very valuable to know why the wrong choice was made but I find it exceedingly rare to get a response from this group.
Another segment is Brothers who want to be Masons but the chemistry in the Lodge didn't work for them. If they were to simply say that the chemistry didn't work we'd be able to help them affiliate with a different Lodge or introduce them to a concordant body that will help the lost Brother continue his Masonic journey in a different venue.
Relocation is much more prevalent than it was twenty or thirty years ago, and the pandemic has only turbocharged that trend. The easy answer for the segment lost through relocation is to extend the ability to hold virtual communications, but that's probably not a complete solution. Even if we optimize the virtual Masonic experience (we haven't) that won't counter the increasing Zoom burnout that many are reporting. And while a Lodge might lose a Brother due to relocation must that also mean that Masonry loses him too? Is relocation enough of a household disruption that reconnecting with a Lodge in his new home is simply not a priority for the mobile Brother, or was the experience in his Mother Lodge not satisfying so relocation is a convenient excuse to simply step away?
The most troubling segment is the Brothers who walk away because "there's no there there" in their Lodge. In addition to failing them the Lodge is also failing the Brothers who continue to show up. This segment is the one for which we have the best odds of getting back, or simply keeping in the first place.
An investor in one of my companies once told me, "fail to segment your market at your own peril." We would learn a lot if we understood why we lost the various segments of lost Masons.
There's certainly a segment we won't get back; either they or we made the wrong choice. It would be very valuable to know why the wrong choice was made but I find it exceedingly rare to get a response from this group.
Another segment is Brothers who want to be Masons but the chemistry in the Lodge didn't work for them. If they were to simply say that the chemistry didn't work we'd be able to help them affiliate with a different Lodge or introduce them to a concordant body that will help the lost Brother continue his Masonic journey in a different venue.
Relocation is much more prevalent than it was twenty or thirty years ago, and the pandemic has only turbocharged that trend. The easy answer for the segment lost through relocation is to extend the ability to hold virtual communications, but that's probably not a complete solution. Even if we optimize the virtual Masonic experience (we haven't) that won't counter the increasing Zoom burnout that many are reporting. And while a Lodge might lose a Brother due to relocation must that also mean that Masonry loses him too? Is relocation enough of a household disruption that reconnecting with a Lodge in his new home is simply not a priority for the mobile Brother, or was the experience in his Mother Lodge not satisfying so relocation is a convenient excuse to simply step away?
The most troubling segment is the Brothers who walk away because "there's no there there" in their Lodge. In addition to failing them the Lodge is also failing the Brothers who continue to show up. This segment is the one for which we have the best odds of getting back, or simply keeping in the first place.