Subject: Shareholder Retention

From: "Deborah J. Kane" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 96 10:28:07 EDT

I  wanted to  respond  to  Sarah's message  with  regard to  shareholder
retention.... It  just so happens I  am doing a master's  thesis on that
very topic. I'm a graduate student at the University of Georgia, working
with  five  different  CSA farmers  here  in  the  SE  on the  issue  of
shareholder retention.  While Southern CSAs  are not nearly as  large as
some (the five farms I am working  with range from 15 - 75 members),they
are still experiencing the same high turnover rates as most.

We have hypothesized  that high turnover rates may have  something to do
with  unrealistic  expectations  held  by  new  members.  To  test  this
hypothesis I  called all  the new  members from each  of the  five farms
participating in the study in the  Spring, well before they had received
any vegetables. I asked them all (approximately 85 people) the same five
questions. Basically I wanted to  know what their expectations were with
regard  to  the  agriculture  component  of CSA,  and  also  what  their
expectations were with  regard to the 'community' component  of CSA. The
last question  had to do with  share price. The question  went something
like "Given  the expectations  you have just  expressed, would  you have
been willing  to pay "share  price + 10%?,  +20%?, +30%?, etc."  until I
reached the upper limit  of what they would have been  willing to pay. I
will call  all of  these 85  people back at  the end  of the  season and
remind them what  they said in the  Spring. Then we'll be  able to judge
whether or not their expectations were realized... and whether they were
realistic to begin  with. The share price question will  also be reasked
and I imagine the results will be quite interesting.

Anyway, that was a wordy way of  saying I do think, Sarah, phone surveys
will work. All of  the new members I spoke with were  more than happy to
spend at least  five minutes on the phone with  a total stranger. Surely
you'll be known to some of your members. I have preliminary results from
the Spring  phone calls  if anyone  is interested.  Of course  the final
results won't  be available until  after I've  made the 'end  of season'
follow-up  calls.  Hopefully we'll  shed  some  light  on the  issue  of
shareholder retention.

Deborah Kane