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Chambers of commerce haven’t changed much in the past 30 years but businesses and

technology sure have and it’s time that our chambers evolve. Chambers used to be a vital

part of any small business strategy. Chambers became stagnant while technology made it

cheaper and easier for small businesses to find online most of what chambers were

offering.

Certainly there are some chambers that are evolving, but are they doing it fast enough for

them to survive. Chambers will have to find a new business model if they want to reverse

the trend of declining membership, revenues and member satisfaction. One such model is

to serve a niche market; small businesses.

Small businesses have unique needs in that their resources are limited by their size. They

can’t start out with a staff of marketing experts and skilled sales teams. They need a

support network to have any chance to thrive. They need a dedicated small business

chamber of commerce.

You may be wondering why not just focus on big companies; they’re the big employers.

But how many of those big companies started out big and how many started out in

someone’s garage.

Here are some garage based startups and their current employment totals:

Apple 72,000

Google 53,500

Mattel 28,000

HP 332,000

Amazon 51,300

Harley Davidson 6,000

Disney 166,000

Dell Computer(dorm) 106,700

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What community wouldn’t love to have any of these companies located in their backyard

and who knows, the next name on this list might exist right now in our community, just

looking for some support to help it grow.

With small businesses being so vital to communities, this new chamber model would focus

on these six areas where the biggest impact can be made:

1. Helping small businesses make more money

2. Helping small businesses spend less money

3. Helping small businesses make important connections

4. Helping small businesses learn how to better run their company

5. Helping small businesses have a voice with local and state governments

6. Helping small businesses create the next generation of small business owners

I would love to say that these are all my original ideas, but they are not. I have taken my

inspiration from the Tucson Chamber of Commerce and the Council of Smaller Enterprises

serving the Cleveland Ohio region. These two organizations show that there is more than

one way to accomplish this, both as part of a chamber and as a standalone entity.

Let’s get started on how a chamber can meet a small businesses needs…

Make More Money

Probably the #1 item on every small business owners To Do list is to find more customers.

Talk to most chambers today and their solution to getting new business is to network at

chamber events.

You know what I am talking about; greeters, luncheons, after hours events etc. Three

problems with that: 1) It is always the same people at every event; 2) it’s generally filled

with people looking only for their next client and not looking to be someone else’s next

client and 3) You have to show up to get any value.

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Time is a small business owners most precious commodity. A survey by the Western

Association of Chamber Executives (WACE)showed that 68% of respondents had not joined

a chamber because they didn’t have the time to participate. (h/t Kyle Sexton’s book

ReMembership) The new chamber model has to provide value to the members WITHOUT

requiring them to addend events. The resources must be online and available 24/7.

What could a small business chamber do instead…create a leads group like LeTip. I had

heard about LeTip for years and always knew that they were expensive ($940/year vs.

$240 for my chamber membership) but I had no idea how successful they were until I

discovered one of my local chapters published their financial results for each member on

their website. I quickly checked out some businesses like mine and discovered that they

were getting $12-15,000 per year in closed leads. The local chapter has about 75 members

and just under $1.8M in paid referrals last year. That’s just under $24,000 per member. Not

too shabby.

What a great way for a small business chamber to really create some member value. Its

win-win for a chamber because it would cost little to execute and you could make the

groups member led, so no precious staff time would be needed. I know, with social media

and a well thought out website, you could even run these virtually and require NO in real

life meetings (for those who don’t have the time).

Spend Less Money

Most small businesses focus on growing revenue all the time. When that no longer is

working, or a business gets hit with an economic downturn, finding ways to spend less

becomes ever so important. Member discounts on products and services have long been a

staple of trade groups and the like.

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The National Association for the Self Employed (NASE) is a perfect example. Focused on

micro businesses (10 or fewer employees) they offer many discounted services to their

members. That is where I got my health insurance, something I have had for 15 years.

It would be real easy for a chamber to create their own discount program, and they might

even generate some non-dues revenue in the process. Here are some examples:

Payroll& Taxes Paychex

Human Resources Paychex

Employee Benefits Paychex

Shipping UPS

Office Supplies Office Depot(commission to chamber)

Cable/TV/Phone Comcast(commission to chamber)

Health Insurance Many

There are obviously many more possibilities. Who knows, you might find some of your

members able to offer similar services as well.

Make Important Connections

Connections are one of the ways small businesses can compete with the big boys. Any

connection that can help you grow your business is a good connection. There are three

main areas to focus on: mentors, friends and resources.

Mentors are so valuable to an owner with limited experience. It would consist of a

group of 8-10 business owners of non-competing businesses that function much

like a Board of Directors would. They would help fill in the blanks that the owner

has. Help them set goals and hold them accountable to them. Help them with

strategy and problem solving. Provide the proverbial shoulder to cry on when

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needed. A chamber could go either way here with in-person or online, although in-

person might work better.

Making friends with other business owners is critical since they may be the only

people in your life that truly understand just what you are going through. Here is a

great place for after hour events to come into play. Don’t make it a “networking”

event, but an event for people to hang out and “shoot the breeze.” A chamber could

also create an online forum for its members to hang out virtually as well. Think

facebook for chamber members.

What is the one thing a chamber has in abundance? Resources. What are those

resources? The membership. You have lawyers, insurance agents, Realtors, graphic

designers, health coaches, trainers, web developers, etc. All experts in their field (or

working on becoming one). When a chamber checks in with each member during

the year (you do that don’t you?) you ask the owner a simple question: “What part of

your business is keeping you awake at night?” Typical answers might include “I

need a new website”, “I need to hire my first employee and don’t know what’s

involved” or “I need an introduction to…” The chambers response is simple…”Let me

see what I can do to help you with that.” You have just turned your chamber into a

concierge service and created immense value for your members. YOU SOLVE THEIR

PROBLEMS! (h/t to Joe Abraham for this idea. The chamber concierge model is his

and I borrowed it darn near word for word. More details here.)

Learn How to Better Run Their Company

When I started my first business, I spent nearly every free minute I had for the first 5-6

years reading every book and magazine on business I could find. I read about bookkeeping

and taxes, marketing and business strategy, customer service and anything else I could

find. I took some classes at my local SBDC as well. 17 years later, I still spend most of my

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reading time on business books or watching online webinars. There is still so much to

learn.

What a perfect opportunity for a chamber to fill an enormous void. Business Education.

They could make it as simple as adding #StartUpLab to their facebook page or license any

of the numerous business tool kits that are out there. This is a real simple way to give

your members a library of videos, ebooks and whitepapers covering just about everything

they could possibly need.

Better yet, take advantage of that vast supply of knowledge you have right at your

fingertips; your membership. Have them make videos, write blog post or whitepapers

about the topics they know. It wouldn’t take long to create a diverse library of 100-150

articles that any member could access off your website anytime that it is convenient for

them.

This is also a 2 for 1 on membership value for your chamber. The chamber gets value for

educating their members and value for the educators who get to show their expertise with

potential new clients. It’s a win win.

Advocacy

This is for many, the most important reason why they join a chamber. At a local and state

level, it is incredibly hard for a chamber of commerce to represent its entire membership

since its membership is so diverse. A single chamber can represent the spectrum from

solopreneur to Fortune 100 company. What’s in the best interests of the Fortune 100

company may not be in the best interests of the smallest companies. What happens if the

big companies want the chamber to take a position that will HURT the small members?

Does the chamber say no to the big guys and risk losing the large membership dues they

pay. Or do they stick with the companies that pay the bill at the expense of what could be

the majority of their membership?

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This is the dilemma faced by the leadership of most every chamber in the country. How do

they advocate for ALL members. Is it even possible? I say NO. That’s why small businesses

need a dedicated advocate for their interests.

Create the Next Generation

A small business chamber could create a business plan competition for students; launch a

StartupWeekend type of event to help aspiring entrepreneurs or something as simple as

allowing students to join the chamber for a nominal fee and share their enthusiasm for

business while learning from those that have gone where they are headed. What better

way to find new customers for our businesses than to create them from scratch.

There you have it, my vision of the perfect small business chamber of commerce. The only

remaining issue would be how to implement it. Obviously, it makes sense to be associated

with an existing chamber of commerce since they have the experience and resources. You

could even create a regional small business chamber that is affiliated with numerous

chambers working in partnership. Structured correctly, and with the proper use of

technology, it might be pretty easy to get going. There certainly are enough small

businesses around that need the services.

About the Author

Michael Pingree is a marketing professional with 18+ of experience in print and digital

marketing. He is currently combining his passion for social media with his love of

chambers of commerce and membership organizations. He can be reached at

www.pinsondigital.com or @michaelpingree