What Makes a Great Chamber Executive?

Much has been written on this subject matter over time.

For me, I'd like to focus on the following four areas I believe make a great chamber executive:

1. Leader;
2. Visionary; 
3. Communicator; and
4. Flexibility.

Leader - a leader in our field understands that the Board sets policy for the organization and the CEO's job is to implement that policy with his or her staff.

Visionary - a visionary is a person who is able to see how the organization will implement the policy set forth by the Board to maximize the resources available within the organization to benefit the members.

Communicator - if you can't communicate what you and your staff are doing on behalf of the members, you will always be playing catch-up. Keep your communications clear and consistent.  Tell your organizations story to your members and the community.

Flexibility - in your program of work not everything will go perfectly, if it did you wouldn't be challenged and you would become bored. Flexibility will allow you to meet your goals, even though it may be different then originally planned. 

I did a blog post earlier titled "Owners, Managers, Customers."  It's important that you understand this concept.

It's been stated many times before why most executives get fired?  They get on a different page than their Board, a Board member, or there is a financial issue.

Don't let that happen to you!

The Guy

I was watching TV the other day and a phrase that hit home was, “did you call the guy?”

Are you that guy?

Chamber CEO’s, whether male or female, should position themselves as the guy.

What do I mean by that?

As membership organizations, we talk about how our staff should be thought of as an extension of your members’ staff.  We’re here to solve problems and deliver value to our members.

Communication and information – are two key things, amongst many, that your members want for their dues point.

They want the latest information on their industry sectors and any new regulations they may have to adhere too.


They want that competitive edge to succeed in business and your chamber is positioned well to deliver that information and give them that competitive edge.

No matter how you currently communicate with your members, you and your organization always want to be thought of as problem-solvers, or as the title of this blog suggests, you want to be known as The Guy.

Be The Guy!

Why You Should Set Recruitment, Retention and Revenue Goals Each Month

If you don't set recruitment, retention and revenue goals on a monthly basis you really can't measure your success or lack of success with any accuracy.

Membership is a numbers game, right?

You must track your progress on a regular basis.  What frequency are you tracking your efforts?

Obviously, it depends on the resources at your disposal to create these reports to track your success.

For me, I track on a daily basis (money), weekly basis (number of new members) and monthly basis (retention), the three pressure points in membership.

The key for these reports is to try and get them produced automatically. If you don't have to crunch the numbers it makes it a lot easier.  Today's technology allows for setting up these reports fairly easily.

Most chambers I work with use an anniversary due date for their membership renewals.  If you're in this category, it's imperative that you set up these daily, weekly and monthly reports.

And by the way, armed with these reports, will allow you to accurately budget your membership revenue from year to year.

That's an added bonus when it comes to budget time!

For the latest Membership Marketing Benchmarking Reports from Marketing General Incorporated go HERE.

Are You Clearly Explaining Your Value? Learn to Tell Your Story Better

First, you must have a story to tell.  We all do.

Now let's focus on what your story is!  In other words what does your chamber stand for?  Once you can answer that question, then it's time to build your story around it.

Once you've built your story - tell it!  Tell it everywhere and often.

The key.  State your story and don't change it.  One of our Institute faculty members, Tony Rubleski, used to say "use the COPE theory," create once publish everywhere.

That's something to think about.

If you have a consistent message your audience (your members, your community and your legislators) will know what your chamber stands for.

I hope your story is about advocating for your membership at the local, state and federal levels of government and building a stronger community.

Never forget we're here to serve our members.

Here's a great resource on tips written by Jasmine Henry on storytelling found on Writtent.  That blog post can be found HERE.

3 Ways You Can Engage With Your Board & Membership Each Month

What are you doing to engage your Board and general membership with the activities of your chamber?

The following are three easy ways to keep your Board aware of what you and your staff are working on and any accomplishments that you may have made:

1. President's letter;
2. Conference call; and
3. YouTube chat.

President's Letter - what a great way to stay connected with your Board and for that matter your membership.  Are you sending a weekly or monthly "President's Letter?"  It's a great tool to keep everyone informed and up-to-date on the issues of the day.  Great tool to keep your Board and membership informed when your state legislature is in session.

Conference Call - this tool will allow you to have a give and take with your Board members if they happen to have any detailed questions for you based on what the Chamber is working on.

YouTube Channel - many Chamber's have set-up a YouTube channel to communicate with their Boards and general membership.  This venue allows you go show media or have a give and take session with a policy expert on an issues that your Chamber may be facing.

These are just three simple communication tools you could utilize to keep your Board and membership informed.

While there are many more options, I'd find no more than three that work for you and your Chamber and get started today.

3 Tips To Increase Member Engagement

There's a lot of discussion on the blogosphere on member engagement and how that affects your retention rate.

In fact, I wrote a previous blog post (HERE) that goes into detail with that very subject.

In this post, I want to talk about engaging your members in your program of work.

As you may know, I personally believe chambers should mainly be in the business of advocacy and helping your members run a better business.

Use these 3 simple tips 1) Ask; 2) Follow-up; and 3) Give credit.

Ask - the first step in getting your members engaged is to ask them.  It's important that you have a specific task for them with clear expectations on what it is you want them to do.

Follow-up - now that you've asked them to do a specific task on behalf of the chamber it's important to give them feedback on how they are doing. Communication is key for both parties to be winners.

Give credit - make sure you give credit where credit is due.  Publish in your communication vehicles what your members (by name) are doing on behalf of the organization and thank them.

If you keep to these 3 simple tips you will get more buy-in from your membership at large and the more buy-in you get the higher retention rate you'll get at the end of the year.

That's a win/win for all involved.

If You're Creating a Start-up: Find Your Three Words

On a recent plane ride I read an article (title of this blog post) by Elaine Wherry, co-founder, Meebo, acquired by Google in 2012, and published in the June 12^th, 2014 Edition of the Wall Street Journal.

The article is about how a start-up should act and stay focused.

She goes on to say that if you can get your founders to agree on three words that describe your company, your marketing staff will love you forever.

Everyone in our industry is talking about reinventing your chamber for the future.  What better way to start that process by taking the advice of Elaine Wherry and put it to work for your organization, community or industry sector.

What are your three words for your chamber?  Can you get your Board to agree on those three words?

She gave the two following examples and stated that these three words should allow you to answer "1) who you are; 2) what you do; and 3) how you do it."

• Facebook - "fast, bold, open"
• Google - "data, big, visionary"

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Institute for Organization Management program uses, "Learn, Grow, Connect."  We've been using those three words in our marketing materials for 10 plus years.

It's also the theme I use in my graduation remarks.

Learn - you just completed 96 ours of non-profit management, if you've not already done so, I challenge each of you to obtain your professional certification, CCE for the Chamber exec and the CAE for the association exec.  Institute has prepared you well.

Grow - go back to your communities and your industry sectors and raise the bar from what you've learned at Institute from your peers and the faculty.

Connect - stay connected to your classmates, and stay connected to Institute.  Consider coming back as a class advisor, faculty member of a Board of Regent.

As chamber leaders it's important to remember that you are professionals - you work in the profession of nonprofit management.

I'm sure you've heard the bricklayer story (it's not mine, but tells a story worth repeating):

A community leader happens upon a construction site and she asks each bricklayer the same question - may I ask what you are doing?

• The first says I'm laying a brick;
• The second says I'm building a wall; and
• The third states I'm creating a cathedral.

Again, as professionals, build those cathedrals in your communities and industry sectors and start by identifying your three words with your board!