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Blog: Use Benchmarking Surveys to Help Your Members See How They Measure Up

Use Benchmarking Surveys to Help Your Members See How They Measure Up

Partnering with Vault Consulting on your next benchmarking study provides your members with actionable intelligence to objectively assess how they’re performing compared to industry peers, meaningful metrics to guide strategic business decisions, and comparative measures of success that can be tracked from year to year. With benchmarking studies, your members can access industry data at a regional, national, or international scale on topics such as:

  • Compensation and Salaries
  • Employee Benefit Packages
  • Operational Processes
  • Financial Metrics


What Kind of Benchmarking Research does Vault Conduct?

Financial & Operational Metrics

Benchmarking reports focused on financial and operating costs help associations and member executives:

  • Interpret financial ratios such as liquidity, asset turnover, financial leverage, and profitability
  • Measure an organization’s operating efficiencies
  • Determine a blueprint for the most profitable organizations in their sector
  • Provide critical insight as to how they stack up against industry peers

Compensation & Benefits

A comprehensive study can give your members a significant advantage in hiring and retaining top/talented employees. Your member companies are in a perpetual staffing struggle and whether times are good or bad, employees are always looking for greener pastures. Additionally, companies that can identify new trends in benefits and implement them into their compensation structure will stand to improve their image to prospective employees and recruits, while simultaneously gaining loyalty points from their current employee base.

What is the Process and Partnership Like with Vault on Benchmarking Study Initiatives?

Best practices in conducting a benchmarking study with Vault include the following steps:

  1. Have a Kick-off meeting to introduce Vault and discuss the project goals
  2. Work with staff and select members to identify what insight they want to gain from the results
  3. Design the survey questionnaire or modify the current questionnaire to improve data capture while keeping consistency for trending purposes
  4. Determine the best timing for reaching members
  5. Pre-test the survey on staff and members
  6. Define the report content with the user in mind
  7. Perform extensive internal reviews at each step in the survey process

Association Trends
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How Often Should We Conduct Benchmarking Studies?

The frequency of surveying is largely dependent on the type of benchmarking study and industry; however, Vault recommends biennially as a healthy standard. Still, there are some industries where conducting an annual survey is practical.

Have More Questions?

Contact Karen Taylor at ktaylor@vaultconsulting.com to learn more about your benchmarking options with Vault Consulting.

Karen Taylor, CDMP, CDMS-S
Karen Taylor, CDMP, CDMS-S
Karen’s passion for the nonprofit community spans nearly twenty years. As a mediator for the Vault brand, Karen maintains a cohesive personality for Vault as a driven, collaborative, and innovative organization, across all marketing channels.  ...
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