No more cold calls. Download and submit a request form to the National Membership Department and get your customized hot list.

Hot lists help DAV members

When recruiting for a membership-based organization, it takes determination, resilience and passion for the mission in order to meet your goals.

As DAV continues to evolve along with the technology available to assist in recruiting efforts, National Membership Director Doug Wells believes that one specific tool has been underutilized: hot lists.

“We have seen chapters have a great deal of success using our created hot lists,” said Wells. “In recent years, we have attempted to put as many arrows in the quiver of our recruiters as we can, and this is yet another valuable tool.”

Created to assist recruiters, hot lists consist of individuals who have not been solicited often and are the most viable candidates for membership in any particular ZIP code. Only department and chapter officers may submit the completed request form in order to obtain their corresponding hot list.

“Reach out to these veterans,” said Wells. “Don’t be afraid to call and ask them how they are doing. Ask them if they’re getting to and from their VA medical appointments. Ask them if they need any help with VA claims. Make sure they know DAV is here for them.

“We have seen chapters who do this and use hot lists be very successful,” Wells continued. “The prospective members start to understand and realize the value DAV brings to the table.”

Lisa Gregory
Lisa Gregory

Lisa Gregory, an Army veteran and member of DAV Chapter 7 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has seen success using hot lists through a targeted approach.

“Cold-calling makes me feel like a salesperson, so we have used hot lists,” said Gregory. “Our chapter is pretty big, so our hot list is about 30 pages long, so we break it down and spread the information out amongst ourselves to contact them.”

The size of a DAV chapter can influence how often they want to request a hot list, but Gregory recommends it, especially for the smaller DAV chapters in more remote areas.

“We have gotten a hot list about every other year due to its size, but if I was with a more rural chapter, I would probably request a list every year.”

Gregory said she urges her fellow DAV members to use the information to contact their local veterans and see if DAV can be of any help to them.

“We approach it as a way to let the veteran know what DAV can do for them on the local level,” said Gregory. “We get them in the door. We help them out. Then they come back because they want to help others.”

 

Learn More

Department and chapter officers can download the hot list request form from the members-only section of dav.org and email the completed form to [email protected]. Once in the members only section the request form can be found by selecting Quick Links and then Elected Officer Resources. If you are unable to access the members-only section, please call 1-888-236-8313 or email your selected ZIP codes to [email protected].