What's The Chamber's Role in the Community?

Have you had this discussion with your board lately?

It's a great place to start the next time you conduct that strategic planning session.

I'm not here to tell you what that role is, your members should decide.

There are studies out there that could help you decide or give you some direction on what areas to focus on.

In a recent study by the Western Association of Chamber Executives (WACE) they identified the following four areas based on their 2012 study of 15 western states.

• Advocacy
• Economic Development
• Networking
• Community

I am a firm believer that you can't be all things to all people.  So don't try and do it, you're just setting yourself up for failure.  Just from life's experiences you know you can't make all people happy all the time.

In fact I wrote about it HERE before.

Focus on what your members want from their chamber and be the best at it!

Killing Sacred Cows - Just do it!

How many of you are still doing the same programs, year after year, and you don't know why or you've been told we've always done them?

Are they well attended?

Are you making money?

If not, let's kick those programs to the curb. For a blog post talking about program based budgeting go HERE.

Are you loading all costs towards your program? In other words are you counting the:

• Staff costs;
• Marketing costs (printing, postage); and
• Food and beverage costs or meeting space fees in your final calculation?

...or are you just comparing the receipts at the door (registration fees) vs. food and beverage and room rental at the venue?

Do the full arithmetic and if it's not making money -- kick it to the curb!

Remember, we can't be running chambers that lose money.

We need to run our chambers like a business and run it in the black. Identify your core programs and make them better.

For a blog post on the Hedgehog Theory go HERE.

The theory suggests you should focus on:

• What you have passion for;
• What you do best or can be the best in; and
• Where you make money.

Where those three meet are the programs you should be doing.

Now that's a recipe for success!

Communications: Set Your Chamber Apart

After being in the non-profit business for more than 20 years, if there's one thing that sets one chamber or association above the other is the way they are communicating their story.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of having a great communications team on your staff.

A consistent message on the activities of your chamber is critical to position you as the leader in the community.

You've all heard the phrase: "if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a noise?"

Well, the same is true for your chamber.  If you're not promoting what you're doing on behalf of your members they will not, nor will the community, have any idea the role your chamber is playing in the success of the community.

Remember, if it's true, it's not bragging!

Focus on what your chamber stands for (advocacy, economic development, community) and communicate that to your members and non-members alike through all of your communication vehicles.

Or as Tony Rubleski would say, use the COPE method – “create once publish everywhere!”

If that's not enough, how about Bill Graham's comment at a recent educational session I attended:

"Communication is not an activity, it's a result." It's about "what I leave in your head."

Everyone wants to be associated with a winner!  There are 7,000 chambers out there.  Don't you want to stand above the rest?

Communicate.  Communicate.  Communicate.

Communicate the winning programs of your chamber and how you're serving your members better than anyone else.

Something to think/talk about!

Are You Charging Extra for Certain Membership Features

This is an interesting statement. Remember, if you've met one chamber, you've met one chamber.

But for discussion purposes, how many chambers are in the ribbon cutting business?

Every chamber executive I talk to that has a robust ribbon cutting program talk about how their members love it.

Well, that's a great opportunity to charge a premium for that feature. That's a special member feature that they should pay a premium for.  It's not a member benefit.  The benefit is awareness of the business to the community from the press received at the event.

Let's take a minute to have a discussion on the difference between a member feature and a member benefit.  And by the way, I've been guilty of using the two words interchangeably.

But, let's be clear, the difference can be illustrated in the following examples:

Member Feature vs Member Benefit

• 4 tires, two doors on a car vs transportation to the airport
• Educational program vs knowledge to comply with a new regulation
• Ribbon cutting ceremony vs public awareness and new business
• Tissue vs germ free

Talk about the benefits of joining your organization not the features you provide.

Specialize in something!

Innovate or Die

There has been much said about this subject.  I've been in the room when chamber executives talk about how the sky is falling.

Let me be the first to tell you a little secret, the sky is not falling!

We have more opportunities today then we've ever had with the advances of technology and how that has only made our jobs easier, not harder.  We can communicate faster and cheaper with our members than ever before.

At the end of the day, we're in the relationship business.

Innovate really means deliver what your members want and that can and will change from time to time.  Are you doing an annual needs assessment survey?  If not you should.

More on that can be found HERE.

If you're like me, I've been around long enough to know that some new shiny item is really nothing more than what we did in the past under a different name.

Yes, technology has changed the way we do business.  But having said that, don't we all want to have personal relationships with the people we do business with?

I know I do!

Think about your day-to-day life.  We all like to do business with people we know/trust and that’s always been the Chamber industry's strong suit.  We are in the business of connecting people.

Again, don't buy into the "sky is falling" commentary from some in our industry.

Get out there and make a difference for your members!

The 4 Moments of Truth

I was recently reading What's The Future of Business? by Brian Solis who also wrote The End of Business as Usual.

He talks about many things but I wanted to highlight his thoughts on The Ultimate Moment of Truth.

The following four definitions are pulled directly from his book on page 75:

First Moment of Truth (FMOT) - It's what people search and find after encountering the stimulus that directs their next steps.

Second Moment of Truth (SMOT) - It's what people think when they see your product and it's the impressions they form when they read the words describing your product.

Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) - It's what people feel, think, see, hear, touch, smell, and (sometimes) taste as they experience your product over time.  It's also how your company supports them in their efforts throughout the relationship.

Ultimate Moment of Truth (UMOT) - It's that shared moment at every step of the experience that becomes the next person's Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).

Earlier in the book he references A.G. Lafley, in 2005, Proctor & Gamble's CEO, spoke about the FMOT and SMOT.  A.G. states that the FMOT is a 3-7 second period of time when the customer see's your product on the store shelf and decides whether or not to make a purchase.

He further states that the SMOT is when the customer takes that product home and uses it and what that experience feels like.

What's interesting is the fact that now we have technology and Brian talks about the role technology has had on the ZMOT.   Now we have our first view of a product on our mobile device or laptop/desktop not in the store.  So by the time you get to the store your mind is pretty much already made up.

You know, it's funny!

I remember reading the Experiential Economy by B. Joseph Pine, II & James H. Gilmore back in 1999 and they talked about the experience and how people will share that information and come back to your product if they had a great experience.

And this was all before social media hit the scene.

In another twist, what was Malcolm Gladwell talking about in his book Blink back in 2005?  The basic premise of his book states that within two seconds people make decisions/assumptions or the term he uses, "rapid cognition."

That's fascinating!

What I find interesting in the many years I've spent reading the latest from the academic world or business guru's is that we are in the right business, the relationship business!

And make no mistake about it, chambers have always been in the relationship business.  For a previous post on that subject go HERE.

I'll end with a quote from Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, "your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room."

That's really the crux of it, in today's world, they're saying it on social media, which by the way, is just another way of saying you're not in the room, but you can respond after the fact.

After all is said and done, all we're talking about here is relationships. And Chamber's have always been in the relationship business.

The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Service vs. Issue Based Chamber: Which Are You?

As you know, there are over 7,000 local, regional and state chambers of commerce in this country, and in many cases recruiting/engaging the same small businesses.

At the end of the day, "you've got to ask yourself a question" (pardon the line from Dirty Harry - but I couldn't resist).

What does your chamber want to be known for?  Are we relevant?  These are questions your board and members need to ask and decide for a plan of action. 

From my experience there are basically two types of chambers, those that deliver services and those that are advocacy based.

Are you in the services business for your members?  Things that include:

• Education programs (i.e., monthly luncheon, annual meeting)
• Leadership Program (yearly program)
• Networking (ribbon cuttings and after hour events)
• Etc.

Or are you in the advocacy business?  Things that include:

• Lobbying at the local, state or federal level
• Making candidate endorsements
• Distributing money through your Political Action Committee (PAC)
• Etc.

Your chamber needs to decide what you want to be and focus on that discipline.  And by the way, it's ok to do both at the same time if you have the resources.

From my standpoint, you should be in the advocacy business.  That way you will always be relevant as long as you play to win at the different levels of government on behalf of your members.

Services?  There are so many opportunities today to network and get programming through a host of organizations (other chambers, for profit companies, your members).  In addition, social media and a Google search on the Internet can help get your members what they want or need.  But that's not the same as you fighting on their behalf.  You have the access and the brand of the chamber.

That's why I believe it's imperative that you stand for something and that something should be the issues that affect your small business members at all levels of government (including the city council when appropriate).

Your members will support and thank you for your leadership in that space!