The Fastest Way to Lose a Member

Bad customer service!

Let there be no mistake about the business we're in, and that's the relationship business.

Have you heard the phrase, "take care of your members and they'll take care of you?"

It's so true!

As human beings, we all want to belong to something.  Make your chamber that home for the business community and your business members.

And customer service is where it starts.  Do you have a live voice answer the phone?  In my experience this is critical.  We used to have a rule at my old employer that you would answer the phone on the first ring.

That's the beginning of good customer service.

When calling a main line of a chamber, I don't want to go directly into voice mail without speaking to a person first, or worse, be sent around the organization through what I call the "type the last three digits of the last name" syndrome.

Remember, as stated earlier, we're in the relationship business and that means having real conversations, with real people, in real time.

And what a great opportunity for your staff to say "thank you for being a member."  It just might improve your retention rate along the way.

Just a thought!

3 Ways to Say Thank You to Your Staff

Yes, there are many articles written on the subject and from my standpoint one size does not fit all.

Your staff are unique and will respond differently to praise.

The first order of business is to find out what motivates each of your staff members.  You might just be surprised at the answers you get.

The key to finding out what each team member values, ask them!

I will mention three ways I say thank you since that's the title of this blog.

Empowerment - one of the easiest ways to say thank you is to let them know that you trust them.  Don't micro manage your staff.  Tell them what you want, give them a timeline, and let them deliver.

Recognition - everyone likes to be recognized.  When a staff member does something great, share it with other staff and with your volunteers. Give them the credit.  Make sure it's something worth recognizing.

Thank you - and it's also just saying the words thank you!  It's as simple as that.

What three things are you doing to thank your staff?

For a great blog post titled Top 10 Easy, No or Low Cost Ways to Tell Employees “Thank You” go HERE.

Why Snail Mail Isn't Dead

If you haven't had a chance to read the most recent Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report by Marketing General, Inc. you should.  You can find it HERE.

One key finding, and there are many, is that snail mail is not dead.

While we live in a real-time, social world, sometimes direct mail is just the right formula to get in touch with your members and non-members alike.

I talked about membership recruitment vehicles in a previous post HERE. The point I'd like to get across again is that there is not one silver bullet.

You must test all:

• Direct Mail
• Member-get-a-member campaign
• Email
• Social media
• Etc.

Notice that direct mail is at the top of the list.  It scored the best in the study. It might not be your number one recruitment tool, but don't discount direct mail.

For a blog post on direct mail from the folks at Marketing General, Inc. go HERE.

For the most recent Marketing General, Inc. Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report go HERE.

Good luck!

Empowerment: Turn Your Employees Loose

There have been many articles written about hiring people who are smarter than you.

And by the way, I subscribe to that theory.

So why would you not want to turn your employees loose?

Yes, it's important to set some ground rules, give them a framework from which to work from and turn them loose!

You'll be fascinated by what your employees can do.

I do have one rule -- no surprises, please!

While I don't need to know the details of every aspect of their progress, give me periodic updates so when my manager asks "do you know what John and Mary are doing?" you can respond absolutely and I support it 100%.

In addition, celebrate your team’s victories and learn from any failures and move on.  I love this quote by Henry Ford:

"One who fears limits his activities.  Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again."

Don't limit your staff.  Celebrate and acknowledge their successful work. Give them the credit and watch their backs.

The possibilities for your chamber are endless!

For a previous blog post titled 4Tips For Onboarding New Staff go HERE.

Advocacy vs Information

As chambers, advocacy is the business we should be focused on for our members.

Based on a recent study titled Winning Strategies for Chamber Core Competencies Tool Kit 3.0 by the Western Association of Chamber Executives (W.A.C.E.), the following five areas were identified as core competencies for chambers of commerce:

• Creating a strong local economy
• Promoting the community
• Providing networking opportunities to build business relationships
• Representing the interests of business with government
• Political action

Before you say it, I know, "if you've met one chamber, you've met one chamber." I believe that statement to be true to a point!

But as the title suggests, you should at least be in the advocacy business:

• Lobbying
• Endorsements
• PAC's

Or, at least in the informational business on key legislative issues that will affect your small business members.

• White Papers
• Scorecards of legislators votes
• Hold open forums

I hope you choose the proactive model and start advocating for your members and help them grow their business by looking after their interests before your legislative bodies (local, state, federal).

At the very least, if you choose informational you're at least informing your members of the issues and they can take appropriate action to act or protect their interests.

Depending on your chamber, pick one and embrace it!

For previous blog posts on advocacy go HERE and HERE.

Are You Still Running Programs That Lose Money?

If you are, stop!

Those are resources you could be spending on programs that make money, and could potentially make more money.

For a previous blog post on How To Stay Ahead of the Competition go HERE.

While it can be tough to drop programs that have a sentimental value, it's time to move on to bigger and better things.

Technology has made us change the way we communicate with our members.

Have you done a complete review of your program of work since this new technology has hit your chamber?

There's nothing wrong with an annual review of your program of work.

You may even consciously decide to keep a program that is losing money. But, you've made that decision for a reason and it's defensible if anyone asks why the chamber continues to do it.

Never forget to run your chamber like a business. Because if you don't, you run the risk of being out of business.

Your members should expect nothing less from you and their chamber!

For a previous blog post on program based budgeting go HERE.

Technology vs Shoe Leather

I think we can all agree that the technology revolution throughout the past five years has really changed the way we do business.

Especially now with social media and all that it affords us in communicating to the masses.

All these new technologies allow us to communicate in a timely, and for the most part, efficient way.

The big question, for me, is are we better off with the relationships we have with our members now or before we had social media?

Hence, the title of this blog post.

I would suggest the days of walking around and meeting our members on their turf made or left a bigger impression on them as members of our chamber then any communication we could make through social media.

While technology is great, let's not be afraid to wear out a little shoe leather and re-engage our members on their turf, not ours.

At the same time you might get some candid feedback that they're not willing to share through electronic communications, but happy to share in a face-to-face meeting.

There's no substitute for face-to-face meetings.

Just a thought!