Sigel and Gale interviewed 20,000 Rotarians to come up with some answers that you can use to help your club grow. They found that the majority of people JOIN and STAY in Rotary for two primary reasons. They join to have a positive impact locally, and to forge friendships. They stay for the same reasons. Other factors are networking, personal and professional recognition, training opportunities, and to have a positive impact globally. Local factors make up over 90% of the reasons folks join our great organization. 
Here is the "bottom line of what our members value in Rotary:
- Friendship
- Local Impact
- Vocational Respect (value me and my work)
- Leaders to work with
When we think of Rotary as a business, we often think of our customers as the beneficiaries of our service. It follows that our "product" would be the service we provide to our communities. In light of the knowledge provided by Sigel and Gale we need to change the way we look at this if we are to have a resurgence as an organization. Our customers are our members (and prospective members). Our product is friendship, opportunities to have local impact, giving vocational respect, and working together as leaders.
Once we know and understand this, it is simply a matter of making sure our customers (and prospective customers) get what they want out of membership in our clubs. If we weave our product into our approach to Attraction, Engagement, and thus Retention our clubs will grow and prosper like never before. As a result, Rotary will become even more relevant in making the world a better place, one community at a time.
That's All!
