A lapsed firm is still on your website
A homeowner, a buyer or a procurement officer uses the 'find a member' search on your website because they trust your members. They pick a firm, hire it, and something goes wrong. When they complain, you discover the firm let its membership lapse last year. It is still in the directory because the directory is a page on the website, updated by the marketing officer when the membership team remembers to tell them.
The other half of the problem is quieter. A new member joins and asks when they will appear in the directory. The answer is 'soon', which means whenever the next batch of website updates happens. Existing members email with new phone numbers, new services, a new logo, and those changes wait too. Some members have long stopped asking and their entries describe services they no longer offer.
Why the directory and the member records disagree
The directory was built as website content, not as a view of member data. So every change has to be made twice, by two different people, and the second change depends on the first person remembering to ask.
- Membership status lives in the CRM; the directory lives in the website CMS, with no link.
- Lapses are processed by finance or membership, and the web team is not told.
- Profile changes arrive by email to whoever the member knows.
- Categories, regions and services in the directory do not match those in the member record.
- Nobody checks entries periodically, so stale ones stay.
What an inaccurate directory costs
Your reputation first. The directory tells the public that listed firms are members in good standing. A lapsed or expelled firm in the list says otherwise, and it can make a complaint about that firm feel like a complaint about you.
Then members. A directory listing is a membership benefit, sometimes a large part of why smaller firms join. New members waiting weeks to appear, or existing members stuck with a wrong phone number, feel they are not getting what they pay for. And the web team spends time on edits that should not need them.
A directory fed from the member record
We connect the directory to the member record so that status and profile changes flow through without anyone copying them.
- Directory eligibility is a rule on the member record: current membership in a listed tier, and for scheme members, current accreditation. When either lapses, the listing is hidden automatically at the point your rules say.
- Each member firm has a profile, with the fields you choose: description, services, regions covered, contact details, logo and accreditations shown as badges from the scheme record, not typed in.
- Members edit their own profile through a member login. Changes to sensitive fields, such as services or the description, go to your team for approval; a phone number change can go live directly if you allow it.
- The website directory reads from the member data through an API, so WordPress or whatever CMS you use shows current information without manual edits.
- Search uses the same categories and regions as the member record, so filters match your membership structure.
- Members get a prompt once a year to review and confirm their entry, and entries not confirmed are flagged to your team.
| Change | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Member lapses | Stays listed until someone notices | Hidden when your rule applies |
| New member joins | Waits for a web update | Listed once the profile is approved |
| Member changes phone number | Emails someone, waits | Updates it in their login |
| Member adds a service | Emails someone, waits | Submits it for approval |
| Accreditation granted | Typed onto the entry by hand | Badge appears from the scheme record |
A week of directory admin, afterwards
The web team no longer edits member entries. The membership team approves a few profile changes a week from a queue. Lapses and new joins show up in the directory on their own. When someone complains about a firm, the directory already reflects that firm's current status, and your team can see the history of its listing.
Members like it too, because their entry is theirs to keep up to date, and a listing becomes something they look after rather than something they forget about.
Does your directory show these signs?
- Lapsed or former members appear in your public directory.
- New members wait for the next website update to be listed.
- Profile changes arrive by email to various staff.
- Accreditation badges are added to entries by hand.
- Directory categories do not match those in your CRM.