Tips for a Successful COB

Guest Blogger Shelley Beaumont, National Recruitment Committee Member

Many of you have already completed a successful recruitment and you are enjoying your wonderful new members. That is definitely reason for celebration, but a good recruiter’s work is never done! Now is the perfect time to evaluate your membership and plan for your chapter’s future. Once your chapter’s recruitment leadership team has answered the following questions, the planning can begin.

• Is your chapter at campus total currently?
• How many people will your chapter lose at the end of the current term/semester?
• How many women will your chapter need to COB (continuous open bid) in order to reach or remain at campus total next term/semester?

Now that you know where you stand, you need to get organized. How will you keep track of the Potential New Members (PNMs) that you and your chapter members meet? Will you use the tracking chart provided on DZ Metro or will you create your own system. The most important thing is to have a system so that your team can keep track of all of your PNMs so that no one gets lost in the shuffle. Keeping an accurate list with contact information and notes about each woman will help your team be more effective.

The next step is to think of what kind of events will be most effective for the number of women that you need to recruit. If your chapter only needs three women, then you would not need to plan a big chapter wide theme party in order to achieve your goal. If your chapter needs to COB 15 women, then you may want to host a big kick off event to develop interest in recruitment. Some of the most effective COB happens through normal sisterly activities. If several of your sisters eat lunch on campus, then invite PNMs to join you. Maybe there is a coffee shop on campus that would provide an excellent place to meet in a small group setting for coffee. Assess the needs of your chapter and decide how many events you should plan for in order to meet your goals.

The most important thing to remember is that every member matters. If you are not at total, you are missing out on new members who will bring their time, talents and treasures to your chapter. Work hard, plan ahead, and do your best to keep your chapter at or above total every term.