ChapterBuilder

WHAT IS CHAPTERBUILDER?

The main reason people join our Fraternity is the relationships they have with our members. ChapterBuilder has made managing relationships year-round a priority. Recruitment has become more efficient and effective through better organization of names, streamlining communication, and collaboration among chapter members.

No more spreadsheets.

WHY SHOULD MY CHAPTER USE CHAPTERBUILDER?

Since its implementation, chapters that successfully utilized the software have seen their initiation classes grow by five percent. ChapterBuilder allows you to reach more potential new members, ensure communication is consistent and effective, and ensure the entire chapter is involved in the recruitment process.

This software is FREE to all PIKE chapters, so take advantage of this opportunity and take your recruitment program to the next level.

GETTING STARTED:

To get started building your chapter’s account, reach out to your previous recruitment chairman or president to gain access. If they are unsure how to add you to the account check the tab below Building Your Team. Otherwise, you can contact the Director of Membership Growth at rushpike@pikes.org and request access to your chapter’s account.

You can sign up for a FREE ChapterBuilder webinar with TechniPhi by clicking the orange ‘Help’ icon on the right-hand side and selecting ‘Schedule a Training’. All webinars are available Mondays at 1:00 pm Central Time. Additionally, I encourage you to keep reading to learn about the most used features and how to ensure your chapter is using the software to its fullest potential. These are only a few of the many ways to use ChapterBuilder effectively, so take advantage of this opportunity.

SETTING UP YOUR ACCOUNT:

Hopefully you had an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the software. The first page you will be taken to when logging into the account is the activity feed.

The activity feed is the account’s home page. All messages sent, edits, or updates made to the account will appear on the feed for chapter members to see. This allows the recruitment chairman and his team to easily view the chapter’s most recent activity.

To fully take advantage of the software we want to not only organize our list of potential new members, but we want to be able to contact them as well. To do that we will need to set up our ChapterBuilder phone number. Each chapter has the option to set up a phone number that is linked to their chapter’s account. This allows chapters to send text messages, and even make phone calls straight from the software.

To set up your phone number, find the nine-box diagram in the top right of the screen and select the ‘gear’ icon.

This will take you to your personal settings. Only the chapter’s team administrators have the accessibility to set up the phone number, so ensure you are the team administrator before you do these steps. To learn more about chapter member’s accessibility see the ‘Building your Team’ tab below.

Once you are in your personal settings, scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see ‘setup number’.

ChapterBuilder allows chapters to select their desired area code and it will give them a list of available phone numbers.

Pick the desired number and start messaging! Learn more about the software’s messaging function in the tab ‘Commonly used features’ below.

UPLOAD YOUR PNM’S (BUILD YOUR LIST):

The next step in setting up your account is uploading your potential new member list. No more spreadsheets. ChapterBuilder is user friendly, customizable, and offers an interactive way to manage your list of potential new members.

To add a potential new member, click ‘New’ on the top of your screen next to the plus symbol icon.

Click ‘New PNM’ and add their information into the respective fields.

This will add one potential new member and create their individual profile. Additionally, if you already have an active list of potential new members you can add them all at once with ease.

To add members in bulk, follow the same steps as before, but this time select the ‘Bulk Uploader’ option under ‘New’.

You have two options from here, you can type all the information into the spreadsheet, or you can make it even easier by selecting ‘Try our new easy-to-use uploader’.

Upload your spreadsheet and match the columns with the correct fields. Once completed the software will automatically merge any duplicates and create individual profiles for everyone!

Your list is uploaded, and you are ready to get recruiting. Before we get into the features, we are going to need to build our team.

BUILDING YOUR TEAM

One of ChapterBuilder’s greatest functions is the ability to encourage collaboration from the entire chapter rather than just the recruitment committee. ChapterBuilder ensures all members are actively involved in the recruitment process, and the chapter is constantly improving. Members typically want to have their voice heard regarding what events the chapter has, and surely who the chapter is recruiting. No more projector screens and timely slide shows. ChapterBuilder equips chapter members with the tools they need to ensure no potential new member slips through our fingertips.

To add your chapter members, revisit the nine-box diagram in the top right corner and click on the ‘gear’ icon. Find the ‘teams’ tab in the chapter settings and invite your members via email to the account.

You should notice there are different levels of accessibility for members as well. The four levels are Team Member, Team Leader, Team Administrator, and Team Coach. The team member is designed for general chapter members. Team leader is for the recruitment committee members, and the team administrator is reserved for the recruitment chairman, and president if necessary. The final level is team coach, but we will cover that more later. The levels do not affect efficiency or effectiveness, only accessibility.

COMMONLY USED FEATURES:

Our list is created, and our team is ready to get started. Let’s look at some of the most used features.

GRADING SCALE:

After uploading your list of names, you may have noticed everyone has a letter next to their name. One of the most utilized features in the software is the grading scale. The grading scale allows chapters to manage a potential new member’s progress throughout the recruitment process. The grading scale primarily focuses on D through A+, with D meaning he ‘needs to be contacted’ and A+ being the potential recruit has signed his bid. Utilizing the grading scale allows chapters to contact recruits in a timely manner, identify men they are interested in, and finally, offer a bid to those that have climbed their way up the scale. Let’s look at each letter grade and their purpose.

D (Needs to be contacted) – Each potential recruit’s starting point is D. This lets the recruitment team know they have yet to engage with the recruit and should look to send him a text or give him a call soon.

C (Expressed Interest) – This could mean the potential recruit verbally expressed interest to one of your members, or he attended a recruitment event or interview. Either way, this tells our chapters they have successfully engaged the potential recruit and should continue to pursue him.

B (Mutual Interest) – After the recruit has expressed interest, it is up to our chapters to identify whether this individual is a PIKE. Does he portray and live out the values of a True PIKE? If so, this is the correct letter grade for him.

A (Holding Bid/Needs Bid) – If an individual portrays the values of a True PIKE, our chapters will want to capitalize on the opportunity early. Once a member is moved to an A, that tells our chapters they need to schedule a time to extend the bid or the recruit has already been given a bid and the chapter is awaiting his decision. Regardless, our chapters should not let an individual stay at this grade for long.

A+ (Signed Bid) – The greatest letter of all. This tells chapters the recruit has climbed his way up the scale and is now the newest member of Pi Kappa Alpha. Once an individual is moved to this grade, they will be sent an email invitation to join the chapter’s account. This allows chapters to take advantage of their new members and have them participate in the recruitment process as well.

Additional letter grades are E (Wait list), F (not compatible), and G (missing critical info). These grades allow chapters to keep their lists organized and never let a recruit slip through the cracks.

PERSONALIZED MESSAGES:

Most people do not want to be sent a text or receive a call that starts with “Hey man!” or “Hey, bud!”. These are not personal at all. With the entire chapter involved in the recruitment process chapters can ensure each recruit is met with a personalized message. Whether it is an individual text, or an update being sent to 100 potential new members, thanks to ChapterBuilder we can text 100 men with a personalized text message. All of this can be done in less than two minutes.

To send a text message individually, visit the desired recruit’s profile by selecting their name from the list. Under their profile picture you will see an option that says, ‘SMS’. Click on it and type out a message similarly to how you would through your phone.

To send a mass text message or email to several potential new members, chapters will first need to select the potential recruits they want to send the message to from the list. Recruits can easily be selected by holding down the ‘shift’ key and selecting the first desired individual on the list and the last.

Once they are selected, click on “New” at the top of the page and select ‘New SMS’. A text box will appear, and chapters can type the message they want to send. However, this still does not make it personal. Chapters will want to click on ‘Insert PNM name’ and ChapterBuilder will automatically insert each recruit’s first name into the message. The days of “Hey, bud!” are over. It is time to get personal.

NOTE SYSTEM/INFORMATION

You may have been wondering how ChapterBuilder encourages collaboration among chapter members. The notes and information features are the perfect solution. There may have been times where you have seen a recruit on your list and realized you knew nothing about him. Maybe you did not get a chance to speak with him, or you did and happened to forget what you talked about. It is also very likely another member had a conversation with him, and you want to know that members’ thoughts.

This is where we utilize the potential new members’ individual profiles. Each potential new member is given an individual profile where chapter members can leave notes and comments on their wall. The comments may include chapter members’ feelings or thoughts about the recruit, or their latest conversation. To leave a comment on a potential new member’s profile click on the desired individual’s name from the list. This will take you to their individual profile and you should see a text box under ‘Write Note’.

Members can write their comments or thoughts on a potential new member and it will be posted directly to the individual’s profile. You will also notice the several tags below the text box. To have the note posted to the wall, members will need to select the correct tag that describes the note being left.

Additionally, each potential new member has a section on the right side of their profile where their information can be added. Information can range from their involvement in high school and athletics, hometown, GPA, and even favorite celebrity.

Having this information and a contact log of past conversations will ensure chapter members are having meaningful conversations with potential new members by asking questions and discussing topics related to the potential new member’s interests. Also, the chapter will be equipped with the information needed to make the best decision when it comes time to extend the bid.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

IMPORTANCE OF A COACH

If you remember earlier when we built our team, we left out a very important member, the coach. Like any team, it is important to have someone hold us accountable. The same goes for ChapterBuilder and our recruitment team. The chapter’s chapter advisor and/or recruitment advisor can be added to the account to act as a coach. The role of a coach is to ensure the chapter is using the software to its fullest potential to maximize its benefits. A coach can view the chapter’s account, add potential new members, and leave notes on individuals’ profiles, but cannot make any changes or edits to the account. All the chapter needs to do is add the respective advisor to the account as a “coach” just how we added the chapter members earlier. Once they accept the invitation, they will be ready to start coaching.

REFERRAL FORMS

Another great feature on the software is the referral forms. These are a great tool to use during tabling events, at recruitment events, or when soliciting names of potential new members from sororities and other on-campus organizations. The referral forms allow individuals to fill out different fields of information that will automatically create their individual profile upon completion.

To create a referral form, revisit the nine-box diagram on the top of the screen, but this time select ‘Leads Generator’.

Scroll down and select ‘create form’. A box will appear that allows chapters to give the form a title (i.e. PIKE | Recruitment Cookout, Alpha Phi Referral Form, etc.) and select the desired fields they want included in the form. To select the fields to be included simply check the box next to the desired field and create the form. If there are additional fields the chapter wishes to add, they can select from a master list that can be found by selecting ‘Add fields by clicking here’.

Once the form is completed you can select ‘View Form’ and the form will be displayed on your screen for individuals to complete. After they complete the form and press submit their profile will automatically be created and added to the chapter’s list. Additionally, chapters can utilize the link to the form and post it to their social media pages and/or send via email to campus organizations for further access.

MAIN CONTACT

To further engage chapter members in the process the chapter can assign potential new members to specific chapter members. The ‘main contact’ feature ensures all potential new members are being contacted by distributing the responsibility to chapter members rather than the recruitment chairman alone. To assign a potential new member to a chapter member you can either 1) change their main contact when they are originally added to the list or 2) visit their profile and select ‘quick edit’ under their contact information. A form will appear with their contact information and the last option is the main contact. Simply click the drop down and select the chapter member to be their main contact.

INSIGHTS TAB

At the top of the page, chapters will see an ‘Insights’ tab. This page is designated to display the chapter’s activity over the course of the previous 7, 30, 90, and even 365 days. Chapters can now review their activity for themselves and assess their individual chapter members’ activity as well.

The insights tab gives a brief overview of the chapter’s activity, shows an activity graph that will display activity over the course of the designated time period, referral metrics, and call metrics. Additionally, the status report portrays how many individuals are in each level of the grading scale. This will give the chapter an easy-to-read assessment on their activity and where their efforts can best improve.

Learn more about sending a quality first message in ChapterBuilder.