When Kevin Mayeux, CAE, became CEO of the 126-year-old National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors in July 2015, he hit the ground running.

On his to-do list: Trim the fat out of NAIFA's budget and control costs. Just as important was increasing revenue.

Before Mayeux arrived, the organization launched a pilot program that offered agents and advisors the opportunity to try out NAIFA membership for one to three years, in hopes that they would later join as full dues-paying members.

The nice part is that hopefully not only will we give members the tools to succeed, but we'll also boost our bottom line.—Kevin Mayeux, CAE, National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors

Since the launch, 6,000 people have signed on to participate. "Even better, we've converted a good percentage of them to paying members," he says.

But as happy as he was with the results, he knew that this new stream of dues revenue wasn't enough. So, a month or two into his tenure, he turned his attention to nondues revenue and focused on two major projects.

First, NAIFA is working with Association Laboratory to analyze in depth the training needs of insurance and financial advisors, compare NAIFA's offerings with those of competitors in the field, and then do a gap analysis.

"So if there are needs that are not being met or not being met thoroughly, and if NAIFA can provide the additional skills training, then the analysis will identify opportunities for us to add to professional development offerings and boost revenue," he says.

In next few months, NAIFA will be studying the results and rolling out new training tools and resources. "The nice part is that hopefully not only will we give members the tools to succeed, but we'll also boost our bottom line—a win for all involved," he says.

A larger part of Mayeux's strategy was to reposition NAIFA's corporate outreach team, which used to reside in its membership department, to focus more on business development and strategic partnerships. In tandem with this change, he hired a new vice president for business development and strategic partnerships as well as other staffers.

"This team has been reaching out to companies to make sure they clearly understand the value proposition of NAIFA and ascertain their needs, which will then help our team to marry NAIFA's existing products and services with those needs and develop additional revenue-enhancing offerings that are in high demand among companies," he says.

This new structure has paid off. Mayeux says the department has covered the costs of bringing in new staff members and brought in six-figure revenue on top of that, thanks to the team securing new partners or upping sponsorship levels of existing partners.

"We've had such a successful six months, I wouldn't be surprised to see our nondues revenue double in the next six," he says. "How many associations can say that?"

[This article was originally published in the Associations Now print edition, titled "Revenue Builders."]