Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question is from Tim McHugh - William Blair & Company
Timothy McHugh - William Blair & Company
Yes, on the last call you gave kind of an update on how the quarter progressed. I think you said towards the end of the quarter was the best kind of new sales activity you had seen given that the sales force reorganization. Can you give a similar type update for how Q3 and perhaps even here October played out for you guys?
Rich Lindahl
Sure, thanks, Tim. We're obviously not going to comment on October. It's never been our practice to make end quarter commentary, but I will say as it relates to the third quarter, we did make slow but steady progress across the quarter and I would say that our results were probably a little bit better than we had expected.
There were a couple things at play here. One was the economy improved somewhat or maybe said differently was less volatile than it had been previously. And as Tom has talked about, our teams continued to gain traction as we went through the quarter, so I would say we saw - I would characterize it as more steady improvement month to month rather than a big shift off as we got to the end of the quarter.
Timothy McHugh - William Blair & Company
And you mentioned that renewal rates aren't back to pre-recession levels yet, but underlying the commentary that new sales have been improving sequentially, at least over the last two quarters. Is that inclusive of what you might be seeing in terms of renewal rates from companies?
Tom Monahan
Tim, there are three different things that happened at the customer interface. One is we add a new to the membership customer. We have that great asset of 5,000 customers and as you know, getting a new customer in the front door creates two great outcomes. It adds revenue in the next 12 months but it also sets up a platform for future cross sells.
The second thing we do is then we cross sell and third we start to renew the memberships we create. I think it's safe to say that none of the three is actually performing at the level we'd seen in historical patterns. Renewal rates are tracking back to pre-recession levels but not all the way there.
And on balance, it's a little harder to get people to do something completely new than it is to build a business case for something they've used for the last 12 months. All three are moving in the right direction but nothing is yet firing at pre-recession levels.
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