Joe Abraham

Not Your Typical Bean Counter…

// March 31st, 2010 // View Comments // Next Gen Accounting, The Next Generation...

When I say the word “accountant”, what is the picture that comes to mind?

The picture that used to pop in my mind was a nerdy-looking person, highly intellectual, someone who loves to say “NO”. I pictured a wiry frame and an extremely limited sense of humor. I pictured someone who wouldn’t have to stretch too far to become a lawyer or IRS agent tomorrow.

That used to be the picture in my mind until recently when I began to meet a new breed of accountants (and let me just say, I’m pretty fired up about meeting them).

They don’t travel in packs (yet). Most of them don’t even know each other.

But they have a lot in common.

I’ve had the fortune to meet some of them quite by accident through the blogosphere and everyday business travels.

They represent the next generation of accounting firms because they have a vision for their firms (and the clients they serve) that fit right in line with something I have been preaching for a while now.

Here’s the gist of my soapbox on the next generation of accounting firms – Firms must develop the expertise to do more than the vanilla book keeping, tax planning and payroll services.

Why?

Because nobody (and I mean NOBODY) is closer to a small business’ real needs than the accountant. The accountant has a level of access and visibility into the small business that is quite unique.

Personally, I feel that visibility into the heart of a company’s needs comes with a great responsibility.

How can one KNOW that a small business is doing a rotten job of marketing itself and not do something about it?

How can one KNOW that the CEO of a small company is struggling with employee morale and productivity and watch them flounder around?

How can one KNOW that the company is poised for growth but lacking a strategic plan to make that growth a reality – and not step in to help?

“But that’s not my job”, says the old-school CPA. “I refer those clients to a business consultant in my chamber of commerce”. (This is typically where I would chew the old-school CPA for referring those clients to some random chamber of commerce buddy – but I digress…)

Handing those clients off to some random “consultant” is the equivalent of Tony Stewart carefully tuning a race car and then sending it out to the local grease monkey for an alignment job.

Why would you risk a lower quality service being performed on your client’s race car when you could keep the service in-house and ensure a safer, seamless deployment?

My vision for the next generation accounting firm is one of savvy financial advisors with cross-modality expertise. These firms will offer the mundane accounting services but also have the ability (and expertise) to sit down with a client and map out a new strategic plan, go-to-market strategy or business development initiative.

And I’m not alone.

I mentioned earlier that I was excited to meet this new breed of accountants recently. They share the same vision. More importantly, they are doing something about it. They are beginning to investigate ways to bring business development expertise into their firms. I’m beginning discussions with some of them on how we can joint venture together to bring that expertise in-house.

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about it because the end product will help the small business owner thrive in this rapidly changing and challenging market. I am convinced that the next generation accounting firms will help clients succeed in business (rather than just keeping them in the good graces of the IRS).

Three cheers for the trailblazers in the accounting industry. If you’re one of them, let’s connect and work together toward that common goal.

The most popular BOSI Profile Is…

// February 15th, 2010 // View Comments // Next Gen. Entrepreneurship

Having seen a small army of entrepreneurs go through the BOSI Profiling System, I am becoming keenly aware that the #1 BOSI profile coming out of the system is the SO or OS. Its no surprise really, because specialists and opportunists make up over 75% of all entrepreneurs.

What? You don’t know your BOSI Profile? Then what are you waiting for skippy? Click here to find out.

Here are some important tips for those of you who fall into the SO/OS category.

1) Question everything: At any given point, the S or O in you will be in dominant form. You can tell which one is dominant by how you are operating for the day. The Specialist in you will get stuck working IN the business doing everything from shuffling paper to serving clients. The Opportunist in you will be staring out the window, day-dreaming about the big deal you are going to land very soon that will change your income forever. This also applies to daily decisions in the business. The S will want to slow the process down and analyze things to death. The O will want to jump on the first offer no matter how horrible it is.

So the best thing to do is question each decision you are about to make and say “Is this the O or S in me?” Sometimes just asking that question before you make (or put off) a decision will result in a positive breakthrough.

2) Don’t build strategy in-house: The best thing you can do for your company is to have someone else design your marketing and business development systems/strategy for you. The S in you tends to use the same marketing plan every other competitor is using and the O in you tends to over estimate the possibilities. So have someone else build your plan for/with you. Then let the S in you kick into high gear and execute the plan.

If you are going to use mastermind team members to help you with this process, make sure you are working with entrepreneurs with a strong B profile. They will have the strategic and experiential tools in their toolbox to help you. If you are hiring an expert/consultant, make sure they have a track record of having started, built and sold companies in multiple industries. Too many marketing consultants and strategists are S profile entrepreneurs. Hiring them is the equivalent of hiring a beagle to guard your house. You’re better of with the pit bull.

3) Employ drones and outsource expertise: The S in you will want to have employees. Fine, go ahead. But only employ the administrative types. People who can answer phones, file stuff, do customer service and book keeping. When it comes to the more creative gigs like selling, marketing, designing and writing, consider outsourcing those activities to firms that specialize in those areas. Your company will be the better for it and you will spend less time managing people you are not built to manage.

I hope these tips help. Are you an OS/SO with a question for me or looking to share your tips with peers? Use the comment box below to do so.

Going Tribal in Small Business. Why and How

// January 7th, 2010 // View Comments // Small business

You’ve probably heard the whole concept of building tribes by Seth Godin.

It is a concept that is sweeping across business (with real results) very fast. It is here to stay.

But how do you go about implementing this strategy in your small business?

Here are some simple steps.

1) Join some tribes first: It is disingenuous to say the least if you want people to follow you when you are not following someone else. So find 4 or 5 thought leaders and follow them yourself.

Yes, you the CEO, must be a follower too!

Here are a handful of people I follow…
– Social Media: Shama Kabani (@shama)
– Sales Strategy – Tom Hopkins (@TomHopkinsSales)
– Legal – Dana Shultz (@danashultz)
– Conservative Politics – Glen Beck (@GlenBeck)

So pick the categories that are most important to you and find someone to follow.

Note: I am not following 15 social media gurus. That is a waste of time and the recipe for tons of confusion. I am trusting Shama as an expert to stay on top of her game and keep me updated on everything going on in her space. I’d recommend you do the same with each of your experts.

2) Get your team involved: The key to small business success is personal growth across the entire employee base. It is no longer good enough for just managers and executives to grow. To be competitive in this insane market, your entire team must be dedicated to learning and improvement.

So institute a policy of “going tribal” across the organization….and make it fun!

Let employees pick areas they are most excited about. I don’t care if it is underwater basket-weaving. Everyone needs to find 4-5 things they are passionate about. They need to find thought leaders in that space and follow them.

Part of making things fun could include allowing people to present their latest learnings in a rotation at team or staff meetings. It lets your staff build their presentation/speaking muscle. It helps their peers learn something new and it builds team dynamics.

3) Study the patterns of the thought leaders you and your company are following: Hey why reinvent the wheel? Keep things simple. Duplicate success.

Ask yourself what the thought leaders are talking about. How often are they doing it? Are they pitching their service or feeding you content? Who else is following them? Is there a pattern you can learn from the best?

As you start to pick up the trends of the thought leaders you follow, sit down with your team and do this next step.

4) Build your tribe platform: Here’s the question you and the team need to answer…

If you were going to build a tribe, what area would it be in?

Another way to ask the question is this. What is your (or your company’s) area of expertise and is there something about it that people want to engage on?

If you are a restaurant owner, what do your customers want to know about food? Ask them, they’ll tell you. Maybe they’ll want quick fix recipes and maybe they’ll want interesting new ingredient combinations to try at home. I don’t know. But if you ask em, they’ll tell you.

Here’s what they DON’T want. They DON’T want you twittering out special offers and discount coupons 5 times a day. That is not thought leadership, that is selling.

If you are a financial planner, what area of the huge “finance” world can you build a content niche around? I know your hands may be tied with regulations from your broker/dealer, but ask your clients what area of finance they most want to learn about. Then feed them that information.

If you are a real estate agent, stop posting your latest listings and sales on facebook and twitter. Start giving your followers real-life information, trends and latest developments in the market WITHOUT the sales pitch.

Listen, if you become a thought leader, people will contact you when they are ready for your product or service. You don’t have to keep reminding them every 60 minutes that this is a “buyers market” and that you are “ready to work for them” them with “great service”. STOP THAT!

NOTE: If you need to, do some google keyword searches to find out what people are searching about in your market. That will help confirm or modify the direction you have chosen.

5) Deploy: Set up your basic social media infrastructure (Blog-facebook page-twitter account-youtube channel) and start posting the content you know people want. Be patient. It will take a while for people to start to find and follow you. However, if you stay consistent, you will build a following.

Those followers will tell others and continue to build a bigger following. You can throw some gasoline on the fire by promoting your platform locally through advertising, on other blogs, or by engaging in the conversation taking place in various online groups and communities.

Phew! that’s a lot of stuff for a blog post so I’ll stop now. There’s plenty more where this came from so if you want me to dig deeper, just let me know where. Use the comment box below to do that.

But get out there and do something!

Your fan

Reinventing Your Chamber In Real Life

// October 23rd, 2009 // View Comments // Next Gen. Chamber of Commerce

A few months ago, I wrote a couple of posts about Reinventing the Chamber of Commerce.
Article 1 – What Happened to the Original Social Network?
Article 2 – Reinventing the Original Social Network

But I wanted to go a few steps further than just talking about it. I wanted to actually do something about it.

So let me introduce you to my guinea pig Casey Steinbacher. Casey is President and CEO of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, a 900+ member chamber with 10 employees and a $1.5 million budget. Casey is also the incoming chair for the 2010 year for the American Chamber of Commerce. (She’s a real go-getter, that’s for sure!).

Casey and I connected after she read the first 2 articles on Chamber Reinvention. Interestingly enough, she was neck deep into transforming the strategic plan for her chamber already.

So a few phone conversations later, I caught a ride with my favorite airline and headed for Durham, NC to see if we could turn my “rhetoric” into some tangible results.

So far, we’ve spent an intensive day doing business development strategy. I simply took Casey and her team through a series of exercises that we take startups and small businesses through. We covered everything from brand positioning to customer loyalty.

The most important exercise we went through (as it turns out) was one that helps a business identify it’s target audience. It’s part of the brand positioning exercise.

You’ll hear Casey talk about it in the short video below. It was hard work for Casey and her team to get through the exercise.

Why?

Because Chambers (more so than most small businesses), are completely and totally confused about who their real “customer” is. The pressure to keep membership dues flowing has forced them to coral so many different people with so many different agendas that it will make your head spin.

Kudos to Chamber Presidents who have dealt with this mind-numbing pressure for so long. But it is NOT a sustainable business model. Casey knew that intuitively, but this exercise helped her confirm it.

Over the next two months, I’ll continue to work with her to prepare them for an exciting 2010 launch. Enjoy Casey’s feedback.

Call me crazy, but I’m waiving any fees for this project so that we can do our part in helping chambers succeed. If you are a qualifying Chamber President, and want to experience the same service, I’ll do the same with/for you during 2009. You just have to be willing to be a guinea pig

Those who wait till 2010 when I speak at the American Chamber of Commerce event, can dip into their pockets to access the program (and rightfully so!).

If you’d like the full version of the interview (about 23 minutes), contact me and I’ll get you the mp3 version to download.

Thrive In The New Digital Eco-System

// October 20th, 2009 // View Comments // Small business

I was reading through a business plan the other day. It was sent to us from a budding entrepreneur in the UK. He was looking for some tips and guidance on the market opportunity and “fund-ability” of his plan. In the business plan, he referred to the online marketplace as “The Digital Eco-System”.

The online marketplace…an eco-system? I asked myself.

I thought about that term a bit more…and then it dawned on me.

This cat is absolutely right.

The new realm of marketing is less about what I have to say about myself and my business and has much more to do with what OTHERS have to say about me and my business. (Please let that soak in if that’s the first time you’ve been introduced to this concept).

Think about it…

It used to be that I could write long-copy sales letters, buy in-your-face yellow page ads, promise great service, make structure and function claims about my product/service, create attractive ads and so on.

It didn’t really matter if the product/service was effective or not. If you were a savvy marketer and networker, you’d make money.

But today, the game has changed. I can’t think of the last thing I bought where I didn’t first check with google, yahoo, facebook and a few hundred past customers (reviews).

How about you?

So there IS a digital eco-system that I must rely on in order to attract, convert and retain customers. Consumers like you and me are bypassing the traditional advertising and relying on the bigger eco-system of feedback to help us decide who wins and who doesn’t.

WHAT IS THE NEW DIGITAL ECO-SYSTEM?

The New Digital Eco-System is the rapidly expanding online environment made up of search engines, social media, peer advocacy and customer reviews. It is a living, breathing entity in and of itself and it grows more sophisticated and detailed every day. It is an environment in which businesses will either thrive, stagnate or meet their ultimate demise.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SMALL BUSINESS?

Well, as recently as a couple of years ago, you could be a small business owner and do just fine without actively participating in this Digital Eco-System. You could simply say “We’re not playing that game. That’s a game for techies and young people.”

All you had to do was pay a graphic designer to build a brochure-type website with the typical “who we are, what we do, how to reach us” model. And Voila! You were done.

Then you simply added your website URL to your business cards, yellow page ads, coupon mailers and other advertising. Amazingly enough, the phone rang.

COOL, that worked!

But an alarming trend has begun over the past 18 months or so and it is yet to reach it’s full crescendo.

The phone isn’t ringing as much as it used to. The advertising still costs just as much. You’re still attending all the same networking events. You’re executing your 2008-09 marketing plan to a “T”.

But the marketing plan is not working as well as it used to.

WELCOME TO THE NEW DIGITAL ECO-SYSTEM WHERE YOU MUST ENGAGE AND ACTIVELY WORK THE SYSTEM TO THRIVE IN IT.

As a small business owner you must understand that the rules of marketing have changed…forever.

SO HOW IS YOUR SMALL BUSINESS DOING WITH THE TRANSITION?

This is a wake up call to small business to do what needs to be done to thrive in this new digital eco-system.

Here are the 7 keys I have found that transform small businesses from the “old school” marketing ways to the Next Generation edition.

1. Dominate online search in your category (yes it is possible – get started now).

2. Maximize social media – Use an expert. (Don’t think that setting up a twitter account and facebook page gets the job done).

3. Leverage peer advocacy – Stop expecting those incestuous business card swap events to build your business. Those programs worked in the 80’s. They don’t any more. A healthy eco-system is made up of organisms that live symbiotically together. That means more than just handing someone a stack of your business cards and expecting the phone to ring. It means “advocating” on others behalf and having your fans “advocating” for you.

4. Reposition your brand – If you are a financial planner who thinks their target audience is *anyone with 100k to invest*, you are going to lose (big time) in this new world. Define your target audience better than that and market to that niche group. Ask yourself this question “Who is the person AND situation for which my product/service is ALWAYS the BEST choice?” That is your target audience. Dump the rest. You’ll get a much better ROI and get rich in the process.

5. Optimize or rebuild your business development engine – Take an intense look at how you are going to find prospects and convert them to customers, clients and evangelists using the new tools of the digital eco-system.

6. Build a communication matrix – Identify all the groups of people you communicate with (prospects, customers, loyal clients, vendors etc) and design a communication strategy for each group individually. Stop sending the same “newsletter” to everyone in your database. That again, is 1980’s marketing. It doesn’t work anymore. It just makes the post office rich(er). Segment your marketplace, identify their needs and communicate to them the way they want to be communicated with.

7. Get tribal and accountable…company-wide – If you are not following at least 5 experts in 5 different fields of interest, you’re gonna lose in the digital eco-system. If every one of your employees (yes, even those on the factory floor) are not following experts in their field, your company will lose in the digital eco-system. Gone are the days of attending a seminar or trade show here and there. Business is moving at such a rapid pace, that unless you are plugged into experts who keep you on the leading edge of what is going on, you’ll get left behind. Find some tribes to join and then get your entire staff to join tribes of their own. Create accountability around it. Let a different staff member present their latest learnings at each staff meeting. It’s mission critical to your long term success.

The digital eco-system is kinda like the amazonian eco-system. There are organisms of every shape and size working hard to thrive. Some work symbiotically together, others work alone. Some are parasitic – they take more than they give. Some are predators, others become prey.

Where will your business fit in the digital eco-system?
Also, if you’re reading this article and can think of other tips for small businesses to take advantage of this changing marketplace. Make sure to let me know.

Tell some friends about this post by tweeting about it!!

The Buffet Line is Open…

// May 28th, 2009 // View Comments // Small business

Mmmm! Golden Corral.

Do you have a GC in your town? If not, you probably have something close to it.

I’m talking about the type of place where you walk in and grab a tray. Then you pile on as many plates as will fit on that tray, pay a grumpy cashier a few bucks and then head toward islands and islands full of food.

Think of the last buffet restaurant you visited.

It’s been a while for me, but the memory is still quite vivid. I can still smell the pungent odor of the deep fat fryers in the back cooking up everything from popcorn shrimp and chicken fingers to mystery dishes I don’t even know how to pronounce.

Golden Coral is an interesting buffet restaurant because you can walk in, pay your 7 bucks or so and then dive into a whole host of food types. From Mexican to Italian and Chinese to All American.

Oh by the way, don’t forget the enormous salad bar.

And just so you don’t leave disappointed, there’s the dessert bar (which shouldn’t even be called a bar. It should have it’s own zip code).

So think of the last buffet restaurant you visited.

Do you recall being just a bit overwhelmed about what you were going to fit on your miniscule plate during the “first course”?

Do you remember saying to yourself, “I’ll try a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.” “If I don’t like item #1, I’ll just go back and try item #6.”

45 minutes later, you had tried everything they had to offer. If you’re like me, you probably leaned back toward the end of the meal and rubbed your midsection in delight.

An hour after the belly rubbing though, do you recall how you felt?

A bit lethargic, somewhat groggy and ready for a long nap. That’s my guess because that’s typically how I feel after an experience like that.

Hey, think about this for a minute…

Could that be exactly what is happening in small business today? I happen to know this is the exact reason why most entrepreneurs are frustrated with their business’ growth.

They’ve been eating at the buffet. The buffet of business strategy.

It goes a little something like this. You attend your local chamber meeting and hear the local social media expert (essentially a web designer) tell you how to build a social network. You get excited and start working on that. (Okay, let’s call that the chinese food on your plate).

Meanwhile a friend in your networking group tells you how coupon mailers are working out really well for them. Italian food.

Then, you attend an industry trade show where they talk about the best yellow pages ads to implement in your business. That’s the All American food part.

So you combine the web designer’s strategy with the coupon mailer idea and toss in the yellow pages strategy. Not to mention a few other things you pick up along the way.

Do you see where i am going with this?

If you keep doing that, your business will feel the same way you and I did after the over-the-top buffet meal. Your business will feel slow, lethargic and sleepy.

A few months and years later, you’ll find the business really has no focused direction. It struggles to stay ahead of the competition and typically finds itself reacting to what competitors are doing rather than proactively marketing itself. Left unchecked, this “eating at the buffet” will hurt your business, diminish it’s market value and be a constant source of headaches for you, the entrepreneur.

So what can you do if you find yourself having over-eaten at the buffet of business strategy?

It’s simple.

Step 1: Take an intensive look at your current business development strategy and find the conflicting strategies in your business development systems. You can request a complimentary copy of our Marketing CAT SCAN. It will help you do just that. This process is not for the faint of heart. You’ll spend several hours over the course of an entire week going through this strategic process yourself. If you’re not willing to take this time to work ON your business, then stop now and go back to what you were doing.

Step 2: Once you’ve identified the conflicting strategies in your current plan, pull them out from the roots. The CAT SCAN will show you how.

Step 3: Replace the conflicting strategies with fresh and healthy ideas that are consistent with the rest of your business plan and entrepreneurial type.

If you need help along the way, there are lots of free and paid resources I can point you to. But no point talking about those until you do step 1 first.

I hope you follow these simple steps. Your business will be the better for it.

Reinventing the Original Social Network

// May 24th, 2009 // View Comments // Next Gen. Chamber of Commerce

This post is in response to some questions and comments I got from the post I made on April 28th. If you haven’t read that post already, do that first by clicking here.

Ok, so we agree that Chambers of Commerce need to reinvent themselves to survive this changing marketplace.

But if you’re a Chamber leader, how do you go about re-inventing and re-energizing your Chamber…specifically?

Here’s an idea…

They say the proof is in the pudding right? So where’s your pudding?

We all know the #1 reason an entrepreneur joins a Chamber is so their business can grow.

Are your members businesses growing? If so, let’s highlight them. If not, let’s help them grow! (I know, I know. I’m not a rocket scientist).

Let’s show current and prospective members that business growth is part-and-parcel of chamber membership.

In other words, let’s show them some proof.

Here’s a step-by-step plan on how to go about putting the proof in the pudding:

1. Take 20 committed entrepreneurs who are serious about their business growth. Invite them to participate in a 90-day business accelerator program. (Bonus Tip: Depending on how you structure the program, you can probably generate an extra infusion of non-dues revenue from the participants).

2. During the 90 days, track everything! From starting revenues to ending revenues and everything in between. Have each participant submit weekly detailed information on the impact the program is having on their growth. (Bonus Tip: set up a social media network around the 20 participants and let the rest of chamber membership “listen in” as the results pour in).

3. At the completion of the 90 days, have a marketing campaign ready to launch that highlights the stories and successes of these 20 entrepreneurs. Include PR, local radio, blog articles, grass roots efforts and promotions. Follow it up with an exciting membership drive.

4. As prospects hear about the transformation of these 20 companies, offer them a no-fee, no-obligation opportunity to sit down with one of the 20 campaign participants for a meet and greet. These 20 company owners will end up doing all the “selling” for you.

5. Have some creative “packages” available for prospects that allow them to test drive your chamber membership with little to no risk to them.

That’s it! Just deploying this one strategy could set your chamber on the fast-track to growth and set you head-and-shoulders over the competition.

More importantly, it will legitimize the organization and the value you promise your customer, the entrepreneur.

These 5 steps are “out-of-the-box”.

It takes a focused and determined team to execute.

However, if it results in a 200-500% increase in new membership while having a significant impact on retention of existing members, wouldn’t it be worth the time and effort?

Of course it would.

There are only 3 reasons you would not roll out a strategy like this.

1. You think it’s a silly idea that would never work.
2. You don’t feel that things are going just fine the way there are in your chamber.
3. You don’t have the bandwidth and expertise to pull off the actual program (not to mention ensure that these 20 businesses actually grow).

If you’re in category 1 or 2, you can stop reading now. Go back to whatever else it was you were doing.

If you are in category 3, then don’t let that be a hinderance or excuse any more. Post your concerns and questions below. My team and I will roll up our sleeves and help you deploy this from soup-to-nuts. (And don’t worry, it doesn’t have to cost you a dime to have our help).

Got questions or comments? Ask or comment away!

What Happened To The Original Social Network?

// April 28th, 2009 // View Comments // Next Gen. Chamber of Commerce

Survey respondent #1: “Oh yeah, I’m a chamber member. But I don’t think I’m going to renew my membership this year.”

Survey respondent #2: “I am a member of my chamber, and the networking has been good. But I can’t say it has grown my business in any tangible way.”

A survey of small business owners shows that 72% of them say that they are not getting any measurable commercial benefit from being involved in their chamber of commerce.

It used to be that you couldn’t survive in business without being part of a chamber. It used to be an entrepreneur’s safe haven and lifeline.

It used to be that I could join a chamber, and it would impact my business. I would have access to proven education that I could implement in my business. I could meet other business owners and be encouraged through the ups and downs of business. I would have such a positive experience both personally and financially, that I would have no choice but to tell every business owner I know about the chamber.

After all, I was a satisfied customer of the chamber. More than that, based on the positive impact it was having on my business, I was a fanatical customer of the chamber.

Question: Are there any fanatical customers left in your chamber of commerce?

I’ve attended a few trade shows in the past few years. From the wellness industry to the Gospel Coalition and everything in between. It is interesting to see the glaring difference between the well-planned successful events and the not-so-successful ones. The unfortunate exhibitors at the latter, end up doing more business with other exhibitors than they do with the attendees.

“I spent $1,500 on a booth and made more money selling my products to the other exhibitors than I did to the attendees.” says the disappointed exhibitor.

“I paid my $175 membership fee and ended up with a couple of new clients from my chamber membership. Now I keep renewing just out of obligation so I don’t lose those two clients.” Says the burnt-out chamber member.

Hmmm…

So essentially what the “customers” in both cases are saying is that their expectations are not being met.

As with any national organization, there are exceptions of course. Around 5% of Chambers do have fanatical members who are getting tremendous value from their memberships.

Most chambers however, are simply feeding and entertaining their members each month. At best, the members are involved in an incestuous “you pitch me your offer and I’ll pitch you mine” cycle. The members are picking up the scraps of business they throw each other. Meanwhile, these chambers are watching the hole at the bottom of their membership bucket get bigger and bigger.

The original social network that was supposed to stimulate commerce and empower entrepreneurs has been reduced to a monthly tea party.

On the other side of the fence, the chamber’s original social networking business model has been taken by young punks with high society MBA’s and duplicated into fabulously successful online networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. They are the next generation of social networking and they are here to stay. Permanently!

My fear is that if Chambers don’t wake up and make some dramatic changes to how they operate, they will be reduced to a heap of ashes. That’s not just my opinion, the facts as they relate to chamber memberships can speak for themselves.

So what now? The world is changing. There is a whole new definition of social networking. How can the first social network re-invent itself and thrive in this environment rather than be reduced to a museum artifact?

It all begins with this question…

Do you even care? In other words, do you sense the urgency to change? Or do you feel that you are much better off staying the course?

If you do care about the future of your chamber and the success of it’s members, then here are some tips on how to get started toward what I call the “Next Generation of Chambers of Commerce.”

1. Revisit the original vision: Why did the Chamber start? What was it’s goal? What was your vision for the chamber when you came on board? Go back to the movie that was playing in your mind the night you decided to step into a leadership role at the chamber. What did you chamber look like in the movie? How many members did it have? What was the energy level in the room? How many success stories were being shared?

2. Evaluate the current reality: Take a snapshot of your last chamber board meeting and your last chamber event? What was discussed in each meeting? What was the energy and excitement level in the room? Were there any success stories being shared? Is the focus on growth or preventing attrition?

3. Plot the chart: On a piece of paper, plot your vision as a series of points. Then plot your reality. Are your vision and reality coinciding yet? Is there a point in the future, based on your current activities, where your vision and reality will definitely coincide? Are the two plotted lines going to intersect, or are they running parallel to each other? Worse yet, are they heading in different directions?

4. Make a leadership decision: The choice to stay the same is often cheered on by mediocre minds. If you have a weak board, they will not want any change. They will buck even the thought of doing things differently. If so, my recommendation to you is to fire them. If your board gets just as excited about change and improvement, then you’ve got the right team. Sit down as a group and chart a course for a better future. Don’t do it in a vacuum. Ask for help. Chart a course that allows your vision and your reality to coincide as quickly as possible. Start that re-engineering process today. Even if it requires some pruning and pain.

Here are some questions to ask during the re-engineering process:

Question 1: How can I impact the revenue and profits of my members?
HINT: Think past the same old incestuous mixer events. Think BIGGER. Results begin with better education. How can you provide a more robust educational platform to your members?

Question 2: How can we eliminate confusion of the educational message? If we hire a different speaker each month, how do we keep speaker #1’s message from conflicting from speaker #4? Think BIGGER. What if we had a 12 month curriculum that was pre-built and guaranteed not to conflict within itself?

Question 3: How can I improve the personal lives of my members?
HINT: Get past hiring the local motivational speaker who wants to sell his books to your people. Think BIGGER. Personal growth comes from accountability not just hearing. How can you build and facilitate mastermind groups to ensure true change in the members?

Question 4: If we do start to impact the revenues and profits of our members while also impacting their personal lives, we will have a bunch of fanatical customers in our chamber. How can we take these successful men and women and now impact the local community for the better?
HINT: Get past the annual charity “feeder and auction”. Think BIGGER. Empowered entrepreneurs are the same group that has brought this great country out of the last 6 recessions. They can do much more for the community than an annual bake sale.

The chewing gum called “The Chamber of Commerce” is losing it’s flavor.

I don’t believe it is because the good folks running these chambers don’t care.

I do believe it is because the good folks running these chambers don’t know HOW to turn the off-course battleship around.

There is help available…

But only if you are willing to do thing differently than before…