Customer Spotlight: Tesla Owners Club of Alberta

Passionate about the future of driving, this group of Tesla aficionados came together to build a community.

Join It covers a wide array of membership-driven organizations. There seems to be an endless variety of like-minded groups that successfully bring people together, from global charities to local book clubs and professional networks to gamers.  

Car clubs are no different. Vehicles have a unique ability to bond their owners. These groups are made up of local individuals and families that have grown fond of a specific make or model. 

Here at Join It, we admire the unifying passion that drives these car clubs… so we thought it fitting to spotlight one :)

Who: Pablo Galvez,  President of Tesla Owners Club of Alberta (TOCA)

• Website: www.teslaownersalberta.com
• Founded: 2016
• Members: 95 (and growing!) 
• Mission: To enhance the Tesla ownership experience

First off, a bit of background. Tesla Inc does a nice job fostering a global community among its vehicle owners. These Tesla authorized clubs are a great way of extending the owners’ experience. Tesla approves the use of branding and provides certain other benefits like on-site visits to the Tesla factory.

Pablo picked up the mantle of President of his local TOC about a year ago. In his search for a bit of balance in his life, he found the Alberta-based interest group, enjoying the camaraderie that came along with meeting other passionate Tesla owners. His local Tesla club brought balance to his life. 

His first project as president was to minimize the administrative burden of managing the club -- sound familiar? He inherited complicated spreadsheets and manual processes, but like many Join It customers, he had to somehow fit this Tesla hobby in with a full-time job and family life.

 In short order, Pablo and the Board Members whipped TOCA into shape. They took their organization from being just a shared online community forum to building out a website and blog, hosting regular events, and implementing a formal membership program -- with a bit of assistance from Join It on this last part!

Pablo is a good example of how you can incorporate extracurricular activities into an already busy life with a bit of automation and management expertise. So, we asked him a few questions!

How do you best add value to your members? Events? Networking? Information content?

TOCA provides its members access to regular events like an annual BBQ, member meet-ups, and organized drives. However, the primary value comes from bringing together people with a shared passion for the electric vehicle company.

What are some of the difficulties of managing a group like yours?

Collecting fees was tricky at first - the renewal process was a nightmare!

As mentioned earlier, Pablo quickly recognized the value in automating the collection of membership dues and sending expiration/renewal notifications. In particular, headaches came from keeping track of upcoming renewals. He foresaw issues as people came up to their first renewal date -- Pablo dreaded the impending accounting nightmare.

At first, the administrative burden was too much. He recognized that he “needed a more comprehensive solution” as they worked through the initial growing pains.

After onboarding TOCA to Join It, Pablo knows more about his members -- total count, paid/unpaid members, upcoming expirations, etc.

Pablo offered up some tactical advice to other club administrators:

• Host events: BBQs, meetups, and driving events work well for TOCA
• Always get help: When he was voted in, Pablo immediately added a board of 8 people. As the group grew, it became easier to spread the load; people naturally tended toward a natural fit. Correspondingly, Pablo’s job moved to coordination and overseeing as he delegated responsibilities.
• Keep communication active: communicate with members at least once a month
• Keep people involved: get people together (in person when possible!) to chat. People with a common interest like hanging out!

Pablo has done an excellent job building a community from scratch. Keep up the good work! 

If you have any questions about how TOCA has successfully managed its growth, feel free to reach out to us here at Join It or to Pablo directly through TOCA’s website.