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…
