Appetizing Opportunity
Chamber organizations are often organized by city. Others claim a goal of uniting people of similar interests or ethnic groups. Regardless of the mission statement, membership soars during recessions. While large companies trim advertising budgets and layoff workers, smaller shops have an opportunity to establish their brands with increased visibility amongst less high-power competition.
What better way to promote is there than joining a group of several hundred like-minded business professionals? To the optimistically wide-eyed business owner enduring the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, joining a group that offers hope of new business contacts while providing legitimate write-offs can spur irrational membership with little scrutiny. Lest he becomes just one more piranha in an overpopulated lake, careful auditing is necessary before a business owner hands over membership dues.
Chamber meetings run the gambit from braggadocios conversations over stale breakfast buffets garnished with a handful of business cards to mega-million dollar deals amongst gourmet hors-d'oeuvres and fine wine at an evening mixer. With your rational mind answer: Which scenario is most common? Members should have more to show for several hundred or thousand dollars spent annually than some finger food and a box full of three-and-a-half-inch cardboard rectangles. LA's Largest Mixer provides an opportunity to scrutinize nearly 20 Los Angeles area chambers. What will you look for?
Chamber Menu
Joining a chamber just because everyone else shares the same ethnicity is shallow. Joining only because it shares the same city in its title as one's company is naïve. The quality of the chamber's business promoting venues and resources available to members should be considered. Is the chamber website a frequently updated source of valuable information? Does it have a professional appearance? Do gatherings have the intent of expanding member businesses or are they a showcase for politicians to gather constituents? Are the mixers held in the back room of 2-dollar coffee shop or in the lounge of ritzy hotel? Is the only one profiting from chamber meetings the event organizer?
It is true that most chambers need to budget expenses for monthly gatherings. A good balance between conservation and extravagance should be met. High-class mixers attract like entrepreneurs. This brings up the next most important factor - the membership roster. Look beyond the list of companies on the chamber website. The larger corporations are members in name only. More pertinent is who attends the chamber mixers? Are those who show up in a position to close deals or form alliances? In short, what is the demographic of the audience actually accessible at chamber events?
Mix and Stir
A bolt manufacturer is liklely mismatched with a chamber whose attendees are mostly financial analysts or insurance brokers. The best way to determine which chamber fits best into an overall marketing strategy is to visit websites and audit a few mixers on fact-finding missions. List how many activities on the calendar of events you are likely to actually attend. Are they conveniently timed and located. Are they designed to provide useful information or just corral attendees? Don't just show up at chamber events with slot-machine eyeballs ready to trade dollars with everyone carrying a business card. Armed with a 20-second personal statement of benefit, mingle to ask tough questions:
- "Where are mixers generally held?"
- "How many regularly attend?"
- "What is the key benefit enjoyed since membership?"
- "Has membership proved to be a good investment for your company?"
- "Have you formed any useful alliances?"
- "Do you see how our companies can partner for mutual growth?"
The last few questions are key. Rather than viewing other members as customers, they should be valuable growth partners. A chamber mixer is not just a place to show off new business cards or brag about past accomplishments. A few genuinely good contacts are better than bucket full of business cards from people who quickly forget who received them. The people worthy of extended conversation should genuinely feel and look forward to mutual benefit from further discussion. Quickly follow up such conversations with a non-pressure lunch at a chamber member restaurant to share ideas.