Why is it important to be a member or volunteer for the chamber of commerce?

by Randy McCallum, Volunteer director and board secretary, Trail & District Chamber of Commerce

Last night I spent 6 hours researching why people join chambers of commerce and why they bother to spend their valuable time volunteering to make their communities a better place to live. I did a search on Google News for the term: 'why join a local chamber of commerce'  and hundreds of articles came up that were posted to news sites in the past few weeks.

It's if chambers have woken up to tried and true methods of promoting value of the chamber of commerce to the community to gather and rally new recruits and members into the flock in these tough economic times. After reading 30 excellent news articles, I did an archive news search using Google News. I sifted through 20 plus old newspaper archives, and found one dated January 30, 1924, Nevada Daily Mail. Next thing I knew, it was 4:30 a.m.

The old newspaper article "Be a Lifter Not a Knocker" is a classic, and sums the why of chamber involvement in succinct verses.

Narration of the old newspaper article contained in screencast video. "Be a Lifter Not a Knocker."

The person who wrote this news article to promote membership in the Nevada Chamber of Commerce back in 1924 was on a mission. The Nevada citizens who read it must have been abuzz with the importance of being a doer, to volunteer, to get involved, and not be labeled a complainer. To join the chamber and help build on the community, for the betterment of all citizens. The article definitely had a way about it to make people take notice! That's for sure.

The good people who staff and volunteer for our local chamber of commerce have a daily, weekly, monthly challenge to produce results. They do more for our communities yhan most can imagine, and do it with less resources, and for little pay. And they rarely get the recognition they deserve. The staff isn't working at the chamber because it offers the best wage that's would help them build any long term savings account. They do so because they are passionate about helping people.

Chambers don't come with deep pockets. They have limited funding, and I can say that the staff of our local chamber does an amazing job to make a lot of things happen, with so much to do, and they all do it on a combined wage and operating budget of what would be the yearly salary of an executive in small town law office.

When it comes to encouraging people to join the chamber and volunteer, there is no greater challenge for the staff of the local chamber and our volunteers who make up the board.

So why do people volunteer and cooperate with others on the local of chamber of commerce board? Why do they bother helping each other so much? What motivates them to give their time to help other businesses? Why are they showing up at all to attend monthly board meetings? They care about our communities! It's a simple as that.

Great communities are built by people, and the forces that drive that growth in the Trail & District area have been around for over 100 years. They are the enthusiasm, great word of mouth, the efforts who choose to embrace the natural human tendency. The ones who believe that it is better to beat the odds that they’ll have hand in creating something meaningful. Rather than fall into the abyss of negativity and downfall.

Some call it karma, altruism — whatever you prefer to label it, people love to help others and especially strangers. Although we all feel it at one time or another, we’re continually surprised to see the quality in volunteers who help others.

A few other reasons your chamber of commerce helps make communities work:

(from various sources found on the web)

• People are naturally good. The vast majority of people in our local communities are inherently good. They don't live here to sit idle and let everyone else do it, they get involved. They don't tear things down, nor do they cause disruptions or knock down other's efforts. A handful are knockers, that's just life in any community — but empowering the good people in your community who volunteer makes it easy to drown these knockers who constantly knock — and block them out where they belong. To hate themselves.
• People like to be connected. Human beings are very social creatures. It's in most every human's DNA to be driven to build connections, to join groups, volunteer a given or hard earned talent, to offer up time, and to expand the human reach and build networks of “people like us.”
• It helps people share their interests. Communities created around specific topics and the chamber help us find others who share our interests.
• It's a sales and lead channel. Out of sight is out of mind. People like to share stories., ideas and information, and being a member or a volunteer director of the chamber is a great way to get the ball rolling. Like the lady Clarol commercial. About 30 to 60 minutes of their time to attend a social function or attend a monthly board meeting  — it can be worth a lead you never would have found through traditional means. It can be what you small business needs to kickstart sales and marketing - especially in these tougher ecomomic times.
  
• It's a credibility builder and door opener. People like to teach, train, and learn from others. You could say at your next meeting — "I watched yet another mindless show on TV last night." The person who volunteers usually just smiles as they tell someone about their experience of helping others succeed, by offering up some time, knowledge and understanding.
• It's a CRM tool. That's an acronym for Continuous Relationship Management. People might only meet someone once in a meeting or at a function, or event. But if they make a connection, and another person subscribes to maintaining the relationship — whether it be a business contact, or just being on someone's mind, people maintain that continuousrelationship with others. When that person you met has a need, they might contact, because it will be on top of their mind.

• It's an open invitation to invaluable networking opportunities. The chamber allows members to meet and talk with other businesses owners. To share ideas, stories, methods, contacts. Not to mention the discounts that the chamber provides and the assistance the staff and volunteers provide to businesses locally and across the world in dealing with hard issues with government bodies.

But the real value of joining a chamber of commerce, especially for smaller businesses, is the positive perceptions customers have towards members of the chamber. Research and surveys such as the one conducted by The Schapiro Group found some great results in favour of being a member of a local chamber. Here are some key points to consider if you are undecided about joining, or renewing your membership:

• The results from the survey showed being active in the local chamber of commerce is a great business strategy. It’s an effective way to convey to consumers that good business practises are being used. 

• Consumers believe chamber member businesses are involved in the community; they care about their customers and run reputable companies. When consumers think more favourably of a local business because it is a member of its local chamber of commerce, it’s because they infer the business is trustworthy, connected to the community, listens to its customers, is successful and a leader in the business community.

Consumers believe chamber member businesses are involved in the community; they care about their customers and run reputable companies. When consumers think more favourably of a company because it is a member of its local chamber of commerce, it’s because they infer the company is trustworthy, connected to the community, listens to its customers, is successful and a leader in the business community.

To join the chamber or to learn more about what it can do for your business, visit thechamber of commerce office in Trail at 1190 Bay Avenue, 2nd floor above the TD Bank. Or call the chamber office at 250-368-3144.

GuestBook Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Your Name

Where From? Comment Title:

Sign GuestBook or Add your Comment

Sign GuestBook or Comment