How can the Chamber of Commerce or a business association get businesses to join? What makes a business want to join an association like that? The old way of doing things won’t cut it in today’s business world. Photo by Becky McCray.
Businesspeople want to know why they ought to pay dues to a business association. The association wants to know why businesses that don’t pay should reap any benefits.
When an association helps produce events, advertises, puts up signs, produces brochures or maps, all the businesses profit from the betterment of the town whether they are members or not. So businesses might think, why bother paying?
Should associations go so far as to kick non-paying businesses off their brochure or out of the business listings? No. Who benefits from excluding them? Will pushing business owners away make them more likely or less likely to join? Why add more conflict or strife to your community? Most small towns have enough strife.
Instead, do the things that make being a member so incredibly attractive that no one can resist. Printed brochures and a town-wide website just don’t cut it any more. You’re going to have to do the things that businesses truly value right now.
What benefit can a business association offer to members that is worth joining up for?
- Bringing together businesses and locals in new ways, like TweetFolk Tours
- Providing a group presence on social networks, one that multiplies the reach of the businesses, like online champions
- Providing training and support that isn’t available from another source in town
- Bringing in outside resources to address the key problems faced by businesses in your town
- Conducting useful research that no single business could do on their own
- Bringing back useful information from regional events and networks
- Convening the conversations and addressing the issues that no one else is willing to address
Reader Cecil Carter said he appreciates two things from a local business association, “(1) best practices information and (2) since most of us operate alone with no staff…it’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off of instead of just a mirror.”
These are the kinds of things that are available only to members and are of such incredible value that many businesses will be glad to join so they can have access to them.
Reader Jason Camis said, “I tell our members that membership is a two-pronged approach. The first is tangible, as in what can we do for their business directly. It might not happen every day or every month, but it will happen. It could be a qualified referral, some new leads, a discount on some program or service (ex. constant contact or bulk mailing), marketing support, one-on-one training, etc. The list goes on. The second prong is the overall good. Most business associations, chambers, etc. exist to create a favorable business climate in each community. This is done in many ways, often behind the scenes, from advocating to city officials to monitoring political activity to promoting the community to new residents. Both prongs are important and will at times trump the other. The key is asking businesses the question (or some variation) – ‘When thinking about your business, What keeps you up at night?’ – odds are the association works to alleviate in some way 99% of the problems that exist, we just don’t communicate it well. And that’s the key!”
No matter what you do or how great you are, you will still have businesses who ride on the benefits of the association. Don’t push them away. Draw them in by providing more valuable services and by better communicating the value you provide.
- Provide more valuable services.
- Better communicate the value you provide.
Those of you who are in the business of being an association or belong to a great one will have a lot more ideas on this. I’d really like to hear them. Leave them in the comments below, or if you are reading this in your email, just hit reply.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- About the Author
- Latest by this Author
Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
This is a sore subject for me! You have to have a GOOD Chamber to get people to want to join. Our CofC does not offer a fraction of the great ideas you have listed. I have asked about what benefits it provides the members and the only thing that was presented was that they include them on the Chamber website. I asked why there were no seminars/speakers/literature, etc. on how to increase business, how to keep your customers coming back and absolutely no camaraderie, whatsoever. All I got in return was a not so nice smile and a nod. Our Historic town and businesses keep their doors closed on Saturdays! It’s maddening! Being a newer member of our community, I have learned that they aren’t too keen on any “new” ideas. It’s a shame because where I came from, I saw the benefits of the efforts of that Chamber.
Amber, I understand. I’m hoping that this conversation will help people to make their local chambers and associations better at serving their needs. This is critical because today, business people can form their own replacement groups and associations easier than ever before. A chamber or association that doesn’t meet the needs of today will find itself really struggling to keep members.
Thanks Becky! We may start our own business group as I have gotten good feedback from the few business owners that I’ve talked to. One person that I think would benefit as a speaker would be a business tax preparer. They are a wealth of information and could give tips on finding areas of credits and savings. Just a thought!
Reader Joan Stoltzfus sent this comment:
“I wanted to respond to Amber’s point. I work for my local chamber of commerce, and I have to say, that all the efforts put forth by the chamber consists of a lot of hard work and volunteering their personal time to grow our uptown. I would suggest finding out when your chamber has local meetings and try to get one. See what matters to them. Maybe they are lacking the support, or lack volunteers. Building a community and town sometimes requires a lot of time. A Chamber also must be willing to work with other local officials, and vice a versa. Our small town has some really committed individuals, but that didn’t happen overnight. Also, some leaders in a chamber can get a bit burned out. Maybe they just need some fresh ideas (I hope that is the case), but just attending one meeting, you may see what they need or are lacking and lending a hand can make a difference.”
My colleague Deb Brown replied:
“I’m a former chamber director and am well aware of the hard work you all do. We had board meetings, but really not open to the public. We did have some retail meetings too – but mostly retailers attended. We never really had meetings open to the public, except the annual dinner. What kind of open meetings does your chamber have? I’d love to hear how those work.”
I would add that almost every chamber person I’ve encountered has been working hard on behalf of their community. If there was a way to calculate the total number of hours put in by everyone involved in a chamber of commerce, the combined effort would be staggering!
But not all of that hard work is put in on the things that really matter to the businesses or community today. A lot of chamber business is old organizational baggage and doing work that doesn’t make a big difference in the current world.
If you’re working on a chamber, especially one that is struggling to get or retain members, spend time stopping things. Be ruthless in finding things you can quit doing. That’s where you’ll find the time and capacity to start a few well-chosen new ideas that make you relevant to modern and even future business.
I know you work hard. My hope is for you to focus on doing the right work.