Offline Warriors: Tell us about your experience with your local Chamber of Commerce

by chrisnegro

Posted: 15 years ago 12 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Warriors

Thought it would be beneficial for everyone to hear your experiences with the local Chamber of Commerce (COC) group (or any other networking group where business owners conglomerate). To get this started, I'll share my experiences thus far.

I joined my local COC for $310 and then a Leads Group for an additional $120 for the year . My first COC social was really interesting about months ago and currently has been interesting for sure. First, let me tell you about the social.

The Social

It in the tight nit confines of this local bank, I can tell from the start there were many established and long time business relationships in the room. Being the new guy, I could have gotten intimidated but I refused to be swayed by that nonsense. After asking many questions to some local business owners (and giving some free marketing advice away), I eventually drew a crowd of people. One of them a Quizno's Sub Sandwich Owner who I eventually got a $1500 Sponsorship from and a $200 consulting fee for 2 hours of my time (not a bad gig).

The Leads Group

The leads group has been interesting. So far (i.e. 2 meetings) has been setting the foundation, getting the officers (e.g. President, Treasurer ect..) in place and setting the expectation of giving and receiving leads. In this group, I've already made great contacts and people saying they can't wait to use my services. So money can be made by referrals and also by the business owners within the group! It appears that once every 2 months we give our 10 minute presentation of what we do and our services.

Chamber of Commerce Presentation

This is probably going to be the most powerful benefit of joing the COC. The head of the speaker team for the COC is in charge of putting speakers together so the COC can learn about various topics (throughout the year) to help their business grow. The leader asked me ONE QUESTION: Can you give a presentation about how to put a good marketing plan together?

Have I done one before YES. I have I done a presentation on one NO. Can I put one together --- you betcha ! So needless to say, I will be speaking in front of 200 members in a breakfast in mid April. From this presentation...I will be branded as the guru...and will expect to get many consulting and services projects from this.

Anyway....Warriors...please chime in and tell us your stories and experiences so we can all learn from you and one another !

Sincerely yours,

Chris Negro

#chamber #commerce #experience #local #offline #warriors

Justin Kim

Banned 15 years ago

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chrisnegro

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Justin Kim

Since im only 15 i have been to local groups around here. There arent very many but im in some of them. Mostly filled with 20-30 year old guys they were really swell but methods were not being shared openly. Most of the time they were commenting on how young i was.

We had a speaker like yours had and he talked for 3 hours straight on basically our "website empire". Since it was a free thing i have nothing to complain about, plus i also made some valuable contacts. Anyways hope that helps your thread

Thats awesome Justin. I sense , since your only 15, your well on your way to be a successful marketer. I would even vouch even to say your more the visionary type as many people your age are not thinking about building a business --- let alone their marketing expertise as a professional -- so kudos to you. Seriously...I really do think you have a bright future Justin. Let us know how we can help you start your career !

Warmest regards,

Chris Negro

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AndrewCavanagh

15 years ago

When I first joined a business networking group many, many years ago and I had no track record to draw on I helped a couple of the members...one at a very low rate and another free (I chose that one based on her contacts).

I also gave out as much helpful advice as I could to everyone I came into contact with.

After about a month I had a whole pile of people saying very nice things about me and the woman I'd helped free was happy to promote me and my service to her large list of business owners.

So if you're going to be a member and you don't have much of a track record my first recommendation would be go in with the attitude that you're going to help everyone as much as you can and see where things lead.

The ideal way to appear in a business networking meeting is as the speaker for the evening.

If you live in a large city and you've already worked with a few small business clients you should seriously consider putting your focus on just getting speaking gigs with these groups.

Internet marketing is a very hot topic with small business owners.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

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Shaun OReilly

15 years ago

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

So if you're going to be a member and you don't have much of a track record my first recommendation would be go in with the attitude that you're going to help everyone as much as you can and see where things lead.

So true.

Go to the meetings with the intention of developing
relationships and delivering as much value as possible
to the members.

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

The ideal way to appear in a business networking meeting is as the speaker for the evening.

If you live in a large city and you've already worked with a few small business clients you should seriously consider putting your focus on just getting speaking gigs with these groups.

Agreed - with a caveat...

Make sure that your public speaking skills are up to par
before thrusting yourself up in front of a group of business
owners.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you need to be Tony Robbins
or anything - but you at least need to be able to deliver
an interesting and solid talk of use to the attendees.

If you're not skilled at giving talks, then go out and develop
that skillset so that you can deliver a competent and
persuasive presentation that'll get you clients.

Practise small and then build up your confidence and skill
to tackle a larger group such as the CoC.

If you go in too early/unprepared you may blow your
opportunity in front of a large audience of local business
owners in one shot.

Seek speaking gigs - yes but make sure you've can deliver
an effective presentation.

Dedicated to your success,

* Shaun O'Reilly

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JohnMcCabe 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly

Agreed - with a caveat...

Make sure that your public speaking skills are up to par
before thrusting yourself up in front of a group of business
owners.

Agree 100%, Shaun.

And I can't give a higher recommendation for Toastmasters International for both polishing your skills and boosting your confidence.

While I've always enjoyed getting up in front of a group and speaking, when my engineering job suddenly ended, my confidence took a major hit. In a 30 minute meeting late on Friday afternoon, I went from being paid in the top 25% in my small town to unemployed - and the ink was still wet on my new mortgage.

I joined the local TM club, gave my Icebreaker a week later and took off from their. I even served one term as Area Governor and was popular as an emcee for various events.

One of the most valuable parts of a TM meeting if you are doing business presentations with a Q & A period is called "Table Topics". The Topicmaster comes up with a topic, and each member stands up and gives a short (~2 minutes) impromptu talk on the topic.

For the pittance it costs to join, it's a terrific investment.

Edit: I forgot to mention that many of the members will be active in the local business community, so you'll be able to form relationships with important contacts in a non-sales environment.
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Jagged 15 years ago

I haven't done the chamber of commerce thing yet but I have done many local small business networking groups here in Tucson. I joined meetup.com (free to join and are in most locations in the USA). They have groups on just about any topic. I joined 3 small business networking goups and 1 one webdesign/seo group to hone my webdesign and seo skills.
My first experience was quite receptive. At the beginning of the meeting everyone took turns with a 5 - 15 minute introduction of themselves and their business....I took lots of notes! When it was my turn to speak...I stood and said:
"Hello everyone, I am Ken Perry of TucsonMerchant.com, a local Tucson marketing consultant who works with local small business owners, informing them of ways to integrate proven online marketing techniques into their small business marketing plans".
I took a brief scan of the attendees and saw that I had full attention. I touched biefly upon "bulletpoint" issues such as the in-effectiveness of most local business websites, if they had one at all.....utilizing the internet to capture leads, growing their customer database and stressed the "powers of the internet" and how it's the most cost efficient method of advertising available.
I had made up a small package to hand out with a brief bio....an outline of services I offered....some basic "local search analytics" showing numbers of searches for certain business types via the internet with comparisons to other available media, and how it was able to geo-target their advertsing dollar. I passed around to each my intro package and business card. When I was through, I thanked everyone, sat down....and was immediately barraged with questions (I was the only one to get this reception when completing)....seems most there were interested in what I had to say and wanted to know more....I spoke to just about everyone there one-to-one after...stating politely that this is not the place to go into much detail, why don't we set up an appointment so we can discuss your individual marketing concerns and business needs.
From my first meeting, I was able to get 8 accounts, (out of 42 that attended) varying from setting up permission based email campaigns to webdesign of some degree.....that was only my first meeting!!

Group settings, such as meetup.com definately work best for me!

Best of luck,
Ken
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chrisnegro

15 years ago

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

I also gave out as much helpful advice as I could to everyone I came into contact with.

After about a month I had a whole pile of people saying very nice things about me and the woman I'd helped free was happy to promote me and my service to her large list of business owners.

So if you're going to be a member and you don't have much of a track record my first recommendation would be go in with the attitude that you're going to help everyone as much as you can and see where things lead.

The ideal way to appear in a business networking meeting is as the speaker for the evening.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

So...so very true. Many thanks again Andrew for your continued contribution and insights into the offline niche.

Warriors

If you haven't invested in Andrew's Offline Gold books, you seriously might want to check them out. I've read 2 of them and couldn't believe the nuggets that were in there. In fact...I'm looking forward to get the rest of his series when time permits where I can read them.

Success and prosperity to you,

Chris Negro

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Shaun OReilly 15 years ago

When I first started in business back in 2000, I used to
go to various local business meetings to get clients.

Some organizations are better than others and the
Chamber of Commerce is a sound organization.

However, by far the best networking organization I ever
joined was BNI - Business Network International.

Here are a few of the reasons why BNI is far superior
way of getting referral business than the Chamber of
Commerce:

1. Exclusive Membership

Within any BNI Chapter, they have a rule that allows
only ONE person from each type of business to attend
the weekly meetings.

So, if you're the 'web guy' you can effectively lock out
any other web guy/gal in your area from promoting their
services to the members.

If someone in the BNI group has a need for web services
or wants to pass on a referral for web services - they
usually go to you (provided you're doing a great job).

Contrast this to the local Chamber of Commerce or other
similar organizations who usually have a non-exclusive
membership.

So, you can go along to a Chamber meeting and find that
you're not the only web person in the room. Your competitors
are at the meeting too - ready to pitch for the business too.

2. Member Activity is Monitored

Within BNI, the activity of the members is highly monitored
so they know which members are performing and which aren't.

For example, they monitor who attends the meetings and
how many referrals are passed each week by the members.

Members who don't contribute to the group - get kicked out.

This monitoring ensures that only members who give to the
group are able to receive from the group too.

What gets measured, gets improved.

Because members are expected to exchange referrals and
get measured on it - more referrals are passed.

Again, contrast this to a Chamber of Commerce meeting
where all members need to do is to pay their annual fee
and then go to the meetings without having their activity
monitored.

You can find a lot of people who go to Chamber events and
they're only interested in taking, taking, taking and not
helping out their fellow members.

3. Weekly Meetings with Strict Attendance

With BNI, members are expected to attend at least 90%
of the weekly meetings that are held.

This produces a great continuity of the membership as the
same faces are present each week.

This also makes it much easier to develop strong RELATIONSHIPS
with fellow members - and at the end of the day it's the
quality of relationships that are built than encourage people
to buy from you or refer you to others.

This is in stark contrast to Chamber of Commerce meetings
where usually lots of people attend but they are not
required to attend the meetings.

Sometimes they go and sometimes they don't.

Also, Chamber meetings tend to happen on a monthly rather
than weekly basis so it's harder to build relationships with
members over the course of a year.

With the Chamber you may get 12 exposures each year.

With BNI you get 51 exposures a year.

More exposure with regular members = more business.

That's my perspective on the Chamber of Commerce and
other networking groups.

I'm not saying that the Chamber of Commerce is a bad thing
or that you shouldn't join it - far from it. Just that if you
want to get the biggest bang for your buck and leverage
your time, effort and money too - consider joining an exclusive
referral group such as BNI.

Dedicated to your success

* Shaun O'Reilly
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www.OneLead.com 15 years ago

Personally I was going to try toastmasters today. Yes its a public speaking class, but its filled with business owners and politicians. : ) So its dirt cheap, you gain skills, and who knows maybe get a sale.
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chrisnegro 15 years ago

Public speaking is definately the #1 model to funnel LARGE AMOUNTS OF BUSINESS. The other #1B is the WASH RINSE REPEAT MODEL Shawn teaches. In fact, we have a plan in place to go back to CORPORATE once we perfect the business model for a given franchise.

Best,

Chris Negro
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markwinder

15 years ago

Wow - its GREAT to hear these success stories.

I've had (let's be kind here...) "mixed" results at offline networking meetings. One of the main problems I've experienced is the classic notion of a room-full of sales people, all trying to sell to each other... only nobody's buying, cause they've got their "sales hat" on...

That said, I did try a MeetUp one time, and even though it didn't amount to business for me, it was a good networking opportunity, and I feel it would have grown had I kept at it.

And I think that's the key - keep at it. Become a regular member, and (just like everything else), sew before you reap. And I also think that one needs to search a few different options before you settle on a group that will work for you and your business.

Overall - I love the idea, I just have yet to have it gain the amount of success that I've seen from you guys up here.

Any hints as to how I can approach this better? :-)

- Mark.

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Shaun OReilly

15 years ago

Originally Posted by markwinder

Overall - I love the idea, I just have yet to have it gain the amount of success that I've seen from you guys up here.

Any hints as to how I can approach this better? :-)

- Mark.

My recommendation would be to go to the meetings with
the intention of making just a few contacts each time.

So rather than going around the room and trying to meet
everyone - just focus on a few people at a time.

Get to know the business owners as people first and as
business owners second.

Ask the meeting organizer who the players are in the room
and then ask to be introduced to them.

A key strategy is to follow-up with people after the meeting.

In fact, I'd recommend asking to meet some of the people
OUTSIDE of the main meeting at another time and place.

You can then use the one-on-one meetings to find out more
about them and their business and show them how you can
help them too.

Dedicated to your success,

* Shaun O'Reilly

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chrisnegro

15 years ago

Originally Posted by markwinder

Overall - I love the idea, I just have yet to have it gain the amount of success that I've seen from you guys up here.

Any hints as to how I can approach this better? :-)

- Mark.

I've learned to SHUT OFF my hunter instincts as a meat eating carnivore personality (ha -- funny but true) and just enjoy getting to know the business owners. In fact, a good philosophy to your local COC would be to adopt a "farmers mindset".

Farming takes a while to product the crop. First you have to till the land and make it ready to plant the seed, next you have plant the seed, then you have to water that seed and make sure it gets proper sunlight, then you have to water it some more and then before you know it (at some point down the line) there are crops that you can pick.....and make money on in the open market.

Sadly, in the past, I've been very unsuccessful with the hunter/killer instinct approach that I blame my Italian Background on

So just relax, enjoy the businesses owners...and just realize that you are planting seeds (and watering as you go) that will eventually lead to a large harvest.

Hope this helps you !

Chris Negro

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