A recent discussion on the ASAE Executive listserv asked about a "bus" book - information the association will need in the event the CEO is hit by a bus, or otherwise no longer available.

Cecelia Sepp posted her suggestions, as did others. My bus book was actually the Transition Manual I prepared for my successor when leaving a CEO position I had held for 15 years.

Next time, I'll start the book long before I leave.

P.S. Click "contact" above to let me know if you'd like a copy of the Table of Contents of that manual.

You don't need industry knowledge to be a successful CEO. But you do need to understand how your members run their businesses. They are likely to think the association should be run the same way.

Here are some tips for understanding entrepreneurs:

1. Governance is non-existent. The Board of Directors usually consists of the legal minimum (in Illinois, that's three people). The business owner is both President and Secretary. The owner's spouse is often the Treasurer, and an adult child is frequently the third director. If there is no adult child, that spot may be filled by another family member, a personal friend, or the owner's personal attorney.

2. The "Board meeting" will take place once a year, possibly at the owner's dining room table. It will last long enough for Board members to sign documents stating that a meeting took place and that an agreement was reached about how to distribute profits. The owner will make all the decisions and everybody else will ratify them (or be told that they ratified them) without discussion - especially the owner's family.

3. Depending on the size and type of business, there may be no office. The owner will run the business from home, a home office, and/or a cell phone. A spouse may assist with things the owner doesn't have time for or prefers not to do: answering calls, taking orders, bookkeeping, record-keeping, invoicing, etc.

4. Overhead is the enemy. The owner will resist spending time or money on anything not directly related to sales. That includes computer equipment, file storage, clerical support, rent, etc.

5. Personnel practices will be extremely informal. If staff is required, it may consist of friends or family members - people who will obediently follow the owner's directives. There is not likely to be any compensation policy, nor written contracts. Salaries, raises, and other personnel actions will be made "on the fly" by the owner. There will be agreements with sales people, although they'll probably be verbal.

6. While the owner may be willing to invest in a sales force (because it will generate income), resources for other needs will be scarce. If a web site is needed, for example, it may be created by the owner's child (for free) or one of the child's friends (for a modest fee). Other than an attorney and accountant, professional outsourcing will be a last resort.

7. Secrecy will govern most business operations. Budget size, number of orders, customer base, inventory, staff size, relationship of employees, salaries - none of that is anybody's business. Employees will be expected to keep that information secret.

8. Owners are hands-on managers. They don't delegate anything important to anybody else, especially in small businesses.

9. Even as an entrepreneur's business grows, management is likely to be viewed, at best, as a luxury, and at worst, as an impediment to doing business. The owner will want to be able to make quick decisions (without consulting with anybody), "turn on a dime," and avoid bureaucracy (that includes Boards, committees, and reviewing bodies).

10. If an office, store, warehouse, or other facility is required, the owner will try to avoid compliance with regulations governing employees, building conditions, storage, and anything else that is mandated by government. The owner will consider regs unnecessary oversight and an infringement upon private rights.

11. When successful entrepreneurs are bought out by big corporations, they are often appalled at the expenses incurred by these companies. Entrepreneurs are frugal - they believe that's how they became successful.

Association offices are often located in places that may have made sense at one time but no longer do.

HQ may be in the hometown of the founder - and tradition has called for it to remain there. Or, it might be where the CEO lives - and the next CEO will want it to move somewhere else. The office may be located in the hometown of the person who, long ago, was the association's attorney. It might even be in a place that was deemed, at one time, to have provided lenient incorporation procedures.

There are more appropriate reasons for selecting the location of an association office. Here are some criteria:

1. Who needs access to the office? Usually, it's the staff. In the case of a local association, it may also be members, volunteers, clients, or the general public. If the office is already staffed, moving to a new location may require all employees to be replaced, so staying put might be the best option.

2. Does the office need to be near specific facilities? Some associations want close proximity to government offices, convention centers, airports, or other associations. Local organizations may need to be near public transportation or highway exits.

3. What will it cost? Small towns are usually less expensive than big cities. But they often lack important transportation connections, provide access to smaller labor markets, and offer more limited choices of office and consumer goods.

4. Is there a symbolic reason to be located (or not located) in a particular place? A big city office may boost prestige or enhance the association's appearance of viability. A central location may satisfy members who fear the association will pander to a specific region. A small town may be more suitable to the group's image.

The National Storytelling Network, for example, is headquartered in Jonesborough TN, a very small town two hours from Knoxville TN. Its Appalacian setting reinforces its relationship to the roots of American storytelling culture.

Depending on the size of the organization and the nature of its activities, a physical office may not even be necessary. Staff can reside in different cities and communicate electronically (there will still need to be a physical location to receive mail and from which to register the corporation).

Whatever choice an association selects, it should meet the needs of the association, and enable the group to better serve its members.

I don't do business with people who lie to me or misrepresent themselves.

Sales people from telecommunications companies often fall into this category. They may call with an offer of lower fees for telephone and internet service, but they won't identify the company they work for.

They'll say, "It's about your AT&T service." When I ask, Do you work for AT&T?" they'll simply reply that it's about my AT&T service. I have to pry out of them that they actually work for a different company.

Another sales person offered to help me with my "records management system." After listening to his pitch, I said, "so, you're a print shop?" He paused and answered, "well...yes." I told him I have more print vendors than I would ever need.

To get rid of print sales people, I often ask for a quote on a marketing piece. One company actually matched the price I had paid for that item. I gave it a different print job and it has offered competitive pricing on subsequent orders.

If you are a sales person for any kind of product, just be honest and give me your best price. Don't lie, don't tell me the story of your life (I don't care), don't offer me gifts, and only promise what you can deliver.

If I receive a high quality product at a reasonable price, supported by excellent service, I'll do business with you.

Unplugging electronic appliances can save phantom energy, since devices aren't really "off" when turned off. Employees in large offices may be able to do that with some degree of ease. But that may not be practical in many homes and small offices.

Workstations in large offices usually face away from walls. Electric sockets and device attachments are generally accessible and some even plug into the floor. Computers, monitors, printers, faxes, cell phone chargers, and other equipment often connect to one surge protector, which can be easily switched off by the employee at the end of the day, and back on again the next morning.

Homes and small offices present greater difficulties.

In those settings, workstations (designed to face away from walls) are often flush against walls, and sockets and device attachments may be out of reach (computer repair people complain about that all the time).

Surge protectors are frequently dropped out of sight, between a desk and a wall, and can only be reached by crawling under the desk and groping blindly behind a dust-infested barricade. Wall sockets may be hidden forever behind heavy furniture, fortified desks, or rows of file cabinets.

Unplugged cables swiftly fall behind desks and are extremely difficult to retrieve.

Homes present even more problems, as electronic devices are not all in one place. An occupant has to roam through many rooms, unplugging numerous devices in the evening and plugging them all in again each morning.

Many wires and cables - especially those connected to media devices - are beyond reach, behind wall units and other pieces of furniture that will not be moved until equipment requires service or needs to be replaced.

So, stopping phantom energy may be a positive action. But doing so is not always practical (so don't worry so much about it).

When a volunteer wanted to learn how to do data entry for the association, he first had to learn how a computer worked (he was retired and had never used a computer). His only experience with databases had been with a master file composed of index cards.

We showed him how to open and read a file in the database, how to make changes to a file, how to add a file, and how to delete a file (he was directed to never delete a file).

He said there appeared to be much more work involved on the front end of these tasks than there was in managing an index card file. He wondered if it was really necessary.

We told him the front-end work was definitely necessary so that the database could perform countless tasks that would have been impossible with index cards. Taking short cuts at the beginning would limit the effectiveness of these tasks and just create more work later.

Wes Trochlil observed association personnel taking shortcuts on the front end of databasing tasks, apparently unconcerned about how that would affect projects at a later stage.

"Maybe sometimes it's better to do more work now, so you can do less work later," he rightly stated.

Local associations usually don't make a lot of long distance calls. Most of their members are locally based and association long distance bills are generally small.

That may be changing.

When people relocate, they usually keep their old cell phone numbers. So, associations may incur long distance charges when returning calls to members or prospects who live or work in the same town as the organization office.

Some association execs routinely call people across the country or even in other nations. To them, that may simply be the cost of doing business.

For local associations, though, it's out of the ordinary. Some groups may even require staff to keep records of long distance telephone calls and faxes.

Local associations may be surprised by the increase in their telephone costs. They should remember to include those increases in their budgets.

A former subscriber e-mailed the subscription department of a magazine to complain about the nasty letter she had received.

The subscription department responded that it was not the appropriate place to complain. It directed the subscriber to call a toll-free number, which then kept her on hold for too long a time.

Why didn't the subscription department merely forward the e-mail to the appropriate place instead of forcing the subscriber to make an additional call - which nobody answered?

Members, customers, and subscribers should not be avoided or stonewalled when voicing their opinions. Complaints should be received and responded to in a timely fashion, even if the problem cannot be resolved to the complainant's satisfaction.

Complaints present opportunities to identify and remedy problems. Ignoring them - and alienating supporters - will just make the problems worse.

Wes Trochlil is amazed that people will spend big bucks for new products but refuse to pay small amounts to ensure they select the proper product and use it appropriately.

I think it's because they feel the product has value but the consultant's advice doesn't. And they're trying to save money.

Just wait until the product doesn't work the way it was expected to work.

Members (and customers) should not have to tell their story twice.

The person who hears a caller's story should relay the basic facts to the person to whom the call or problem is being routed.

That saves the caller the time and angst of having to say everything a second time, it gives the person who is handling the problem time to start thinking of a response, and it enables that person to take the initiative, impress the caller with knowledge of the problem, and offer a solution before the caller complains again.

We don't like being forced to repeat our concerns multiple times when calling customer service.

Our members don't like it, either, when calling us.

P.S. Here are some more customer service tips.