Strategic Planning

The strategic planning process has evolved over the years.

I’d like to focus on the process in today’s post.  We can no longer create plans that are three, five or ten years in scope.

With today’s technology and the needs of our members changing so fast, our plans should be one, two and three year plans with the option to tweak as needed throughout the year.

Strategy is the key word in the strategic planning process.  The following statements have been attributed to strategy.  Do any sound familiar?

• Plan of attack
• Position yourself for success
• Clear vision
• Simple consistent long-term goals
• Live in the present, build towards the future
• Shape the playing field
• Understand your organization and its needs
• Creating incentives

What’s the scope of your strategic plan?  Do they include elements of the above attributes?

If you’ve not gone through a strategic planning process recently now’s a good time to start!

For more information on strategic thinking and planning from the folks at Tecker International go HERE.

How to Stay Ahead of the Competition

With over 7,000 local, regional and state chambers of commerce in this country, you need to look no farther than the next community for your competition.

That’s right!

The next town, county, region, are all fighting (marketing) for the same small businesses to become members of their organization!

Now that we can agree that competition is all around us.  What are you doing to stand out amongst the crowded field?

I’m reminded of the Hedgehog theory put forth in Jim Collin’s book, Good to Great.  The three items I took from the Hedgehog theory are:

• What do you have passion for?
• What are you the best at or can you be the best at?
• Where do you make money?

This is just another way of focusing on your brand.  What do you want to be known for?

• Advocacy
• Education
• Economic Development
• Networking
• Ribbon Cutting
• Other

Remember, you can’t be all things to all people.

Focus on the important stuff identified by your board – and then execute that program of work.

What's Your Competitive Edge?

What sets your chamber apart from the rest?

Why should a business join your chamber vs. the one in the next town?

Every chamber needs to answer that question not only for its existing members but for its potential members.

We are all fighting for the same membership dollars from these businesses.

That’s why it’s important to stand above the crowd.  As stated in the title of this post, what’s your competitive edge?

• Have you identified your competitive edge?
• Why are your members joining?
• Advocacy?  Networking?  Community involvement?
• Something else?

People want to be affiliated with success or a winner. Is your chamber successful? Are you communicating your successes in the community?

You know the old saying. “It’s not bragging if it’s true.”

For a previous blog post on telling your story go HERE.

How Are You Engaging Your Members in Social Media?

As we all know, social media is here to stay.

Are you engaging members and prospective members to raise your retention and recruitment efforts?

Social media is really the new “Wild West.”

Anybody can create an audience around your issues or community.  Don't let that happen. You need to fill that space.

I’ve made the assumption that you have already captured that space. Are you measuring your program of work in that space?

That’s the question!

How are you measuring success?  Number of visitors, number of responses to your content, the depth of the discussion, or, is it the amount of money generated for your organization?

Only you can decide what criteria you want to use to measure success.

I only want you to measure your efforts in the social media space.

Metrics are a good thing, use whatever tools are out on the web that gives you a sense of your actions.

Good luck!

For a free guide on to how to engage your members through social media from memberclicks go HERE.

The 30 Second Elevator Speech

Ok, you just ran into a potential member on the street corner waiting for the “walk” light.

Do you have a 30 second chamber membership pitch?

It doesn’t need to be elaborate; it just needs to be tight, succinct.

Explain the value of chamber membership: advocacy, networking, building a stronger community.

• What businessperson doesn’t want their chamber advocating for their business?
  
  
• What businessperson doesn’t want to network for new business?
  
  
• And, what businessperson doesn’t want a strong growing community?

Keep it simple, keep it tight!

Give them your business card that reiterates your 30-second speech with your contact information on the opposite side.

In addition, here’s a nice place to use that QR code you’ve recently implemented.

Recruit that new member in 30 seconds!

Standing Committee vs. Task Force

What’s the difference?

In simple terms one is permanent and one is temporary.  One is difficult to disband the other already has a term limit.

Hence, the main reason to create a task force. Standing Committee (permanent) – think finance committee, government affairs committee, annual meeting committee, etc. Task Force (temporary) – think special event, purchasing a building, etc.

While we all know that keeping members engaged helps retention, I definitely subscribe to the philosophy that less standing committee’s is the way to go.

I also subscribe to the idea that the task forces should be chaired by a board member.  This creates continuity for the program of work they are doing.

The task force should involve all interested parties from the membership, not just the senior members of the chamber.

Use the task force process to involve the younger/newer members of your organization.

They are your future after all aren’t they?

What's the Size of Your Board?

There have been many articles on the size of boards and their functionality.

More board members = less flexibility, less functional.  Less board members = more flexibility, more functionality.

If you’re thinking about this for your organization, the first step would be to agree on a set number – 5, 9, or 11 board members.

That’s a good starting point!

No more than 12.  These board members need to be committed to the organization and need to be leaders in the community or industry.

Do you have a list of criteria to become a board member?

In my opinion, smaller boards allow for deeper discussions on the important issues facing your organization and the opportunity to make real change.

If you choose to create a smaller board, a real focus must be made for getting the right people to participate.

The use of task forces can be utilized to create the necessary documents and background materials used for the discussion at the board level.

How many of your current board members fully participate in the process today – is it 5, 9, or 11?

Thoughts!

For additional resources on boards and the size of boards by The Bridgespan Group go HERE.