How the NFRC Harnessed a Data Strategy to Fuel Innovation and Enhance Member Value
At Membership Excellence 2024, Hart Square’s Managing Director, Alan Perestrello was joined by James Talman, Group CEO, National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC), to share how the NFRC created a data strategy that fuelled innovation and better-informed decision making.
The session also featured a Q&A segment, where Alan and James addressed key questions from membership professionals in the audience. As we had so many great questions and ran out of time to answer during the session, we have complied them below.
Additionally, you can download the session deck here.
Questions and Answers
Q. We know we need to more, but we don’t have data represented at board level. What things could we do to get that support?
James: You can identify a champion within the organisation – someone with the right skillset and expertise in this area. Look for individuals who are active or have expressed confidence in those areas.
If not, build a supportive cohort or member working group to help advocate for your perspective. This group can amplify your position and make a compelling case to the board.
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Q. How did you go about categorising audiences into the 18 roofing types? Did you ask people to categorise themselves?
James: Yes, we did. In the past, we took the opposite approach and assigned categories to members ourselves. However, this method proved costly, as every member undergoes an audit. For instance, if someone fell into all 18 categories, they would require 18 separate audits, which significantly drove up costs.
Now, we’ve shifted to a much more prescriptive approach. Members are required to sign up for at least one category, and they control their own data input. This is a complete reversal of our previous process. Initially, we were concerned that this change might lead to issues, but it has turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made. It benefits members by giving them greater autonomy and also enhances the directory by effectively showcasing their expertise.
Q. How do you handle departmental sign silos? We collect a lot of data via surveys by the different departments (events, education publications etc) however it is a challenge consolidating it.
James: For me it’s a management structure. As a small organisation, we address this by centralising the process through one individual. While the knowledge and expertise remain within the relevant departments, all communication flows through this central channel. So, we send one survey to membership and there might be sections on publications, events etc and everyone inputs into that to one source of truth. [image_with_animation image_url=”4222″ image_size=”medium” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”center” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”] [image_with_animation image_url=”4223″ image_size=”medium” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”center” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”]
Q. How do you rationalise your multiple sources of the truth?
Alan: Ideally, you shouldn’t have multiple sources of truth—just multiple sources of data. Your recent project is a good example of how data can be consolidated effectively. It’s about finding the right balance. You need the technical expertise to consolidate the data, but you also need the client’s input to provide context and confirm whether that data is accurate.
James: One key lesson I took from that process is the importance of integrating all relevant information into a single source of truth before it’s brought into the CRM. While the interpretation might make sense in my head, relying on individual departments to determine what constitutes the “real” source of truth can lead to inconsistencies.
Q. Have you encountered resistance to transparency? Teams holding on to their data silos for example? How did you overcome this?
James: The key to overcoming resistance is explaining the why. In our case, we haven’t faced much resistance as transparency is a part of our organisational ethos.
Alan: In larger organisations, resistance is more common. Elevating data to a board-level priority can help—it sends a clear message that sharing data is essential for the organisation’s success. Demonstrating the value and benefits of data sharing is also important. For instance, large organisations could start small, with just two departments collaborating and sharing data, then gradually expand to include more teams.
Q. How many staff do you have? Specifically, to call 1500 members!!
James: We have 8 people including myself. We divided the members into around 200 each to break it up.
Q. How are you visualising your data?
James: That’s our next step and it’s relatively new.
Alan: James has a very exciting project that he is brewing up that is going to be really interesting for demonstrating not only how to use the data, but ensuring the members are really getting innovative tools to help them do their day jobs.
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