Six thousand four hundred
fifty new members, and one million, five hundred thousand dollar$
in
2004 sets a new high mark for YCC to
surpass in 2005! Wheeew!
With you as our partners, how can we fail?!
Every
year we add more and more new members and dollars for the Chambers we partner
with. Since 1991 we have helped Chambers across the country add over 53,000
members and over $11 million to their bank accounts!
When Lorraine Deitchman
started Your
Chamber Connection, success was marked in hundreds of members
and thousands of dollars. When Jimmy Cusano was
brought into the company first as an employee and later as a partner, success
was marked in thousands of members and hundreds of thousands in dollars. Now
between
I like to think my
efforts in publishing this newsletter had a part in this success, but really it
is what happens when
There are some out there
that will try to discourage you from calling YCC. They say “they are all
rah-rah with no substance!“ Well, if you look at our
numbers, there must be some substance. Then ask yourself just one question.
Would you rather have a volunteer who is excited about his experience with a
Chamber Membership Event or one who regrets having been bullied to sell
something to a stranger at an ordinary membership drive?
I guess I will just keep
on letting you know about YCC people and the successful Events we
partner.
FYI: YCC will be partners
with
RETENTION
DEPT: By Jimmy Cusano,
Vice President of Your Chamber Connection. A question to all Chamber staff and their
board of directors; If you as an organization had an "opportunity" to
bring 75 - 150 business people together to be educated or re-educated on the
benefits of their Chamber of Commerce, tell that story to businesses within
their network, and add over 100+ new members as a side note, isn’t that
retention?
Maybe not retention in a traditional way but yet it’s still retention.
Sometimes just retaining your current members interest
in your Chamber is hard enough. A YCC Event rejuvenates them to do what you do and they accomplish something
together on top of it: adding new members. Everyone knows that money is a big
issue in the Chamber business. After a YCC Event, the Chamber is not only ahead in membership but also
financially. Often, a year later the members have an enthusiasm about them that
was created by the volunteers and the Chamber of Commerce is still ahead of
where it was before the event.
Bottom line, today’s Membership Events are very
valuable in more than just new members. Talk to some Chambers who truly
understand the whole picture of membership development and retention in today’s
world. It’s not always how many you bring in and keep in. It goes much farther
than that. Feel free to call me anytime for more details. Thank you!
MAGNIFY YOUR SUCCESS DEPT: Look at the big picture here.
You want to increase membership; you want to retain
membership; and you want to do both with ultimate cost effectiveness and
efficiency.
But the chances are you’ve been squished in the past
by high-promise poseurs who’ve taken your money, served a high-priced
“continental breakfast,” and then shriveled into the horizon, right?
We don’t do that to you.
We’re Your
Chamber Connection,
and our job is to enlarge every opportunity your organization might have to
build membership, keep current members active and excited, and continuously
broaden the impact of your promotional investments.
So take a closer look at Your Chamber Connection. Measure us against anyone else.
Do an inch-by-inch comparison. See how our foot is greater than their yard.
Then let us show you how we can expand your chances for
success...before someone else shrinks your budget even more.
INTERNET DEPT: I want to thank all of you
who have taken the time and trouble to send me your chain letters over the past
two years. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure,
blessed, and wealthy.
Because of your concern I no longer...
Drink Cola because it
can remove toilet stains.
…Drink anything out of a
can because I could get sick from the unhealthy things that can be part of the
process without the manufacturer knowing about it.
...Use plastic wrap in
the microwave because it causes cancer.
...Check the coin return
on pay phones because I could get pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.
...Use cancer causing
deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.
...Go to shopping malls
because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.
...Receive packages from
major postal alternative carriers since they are actually Al Qaida in disguise.
...Answer the phone
because someone will ask me to dial a stupid number for which I will get the
phone bill from hell with calls to third world countries.
...Eat at chicken fast
food restaurants because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks
with no eyes or feathers.
...Date the opposite sex
because they will take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full
of ice.
...Have any sneakers --
but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from that company
that only employs third world children.
...Buy expensive cookies
from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.
...Worry about my soul
because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me.
...Have any savings
because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the
1,387,258th time).
...And I no longer have
any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that
Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail
program.
Yes, I want to thank all
of you sooooooo much for looking out for me! I
will now return the favor.
If you don't send this
e-mail to at least 1200 people in the next 60 seconds, a large bird with
diarrhea will defecate on your car at
MOTIVATION DEPT: How do you treat your
volunteers? By
“I was interviewed by a student at the local college
who was required to interview 3 successful businesswomen on what contributed to
their success and why they chose the field that they are in. These questions
caused me to think a lot deeper into what Jimmy and I do and why.
My parents were the ultimate volunteer example. This
was a wonderful legacy they gave me, to give of myself, and this is how I first
got involved with Chambers.
I helped out working an old fashioned membership
drive. It was not a positive experience. I loved the concept….. hated the process! I thought that if I could figure out how
to change the process, this could be my dream job.
I had four
goals when starting my company: 1. Provide huge benefits to the business
community; 2. Provide a positive volunteer experience; 3. Have the opportunity
to travel; 4. Provide a win/win for all involved.
In order to build the company the right way, I had to
discover what the Chamber volunteers really want. After a lot of trial and
error and innumerable sit down sessions among Jimmy, various Chamber executives,
and myself, we decided what the five most important items were to keep
volunteer involvement alive and well.
They were: 1. They need to know the amount of their
time involvement; 2. They need to understand the job they would be asked to do;
3. They needed to have fun and not consider their involvement a chore; 4. They
had to remember their involvement with a sense of achievement; 5. They had to
get the results of their achievement in a timely fashion.
Once we had that figured out, our company really blossomed
into one of the most respected membership consultant companies in the country.
What’s the moral of my experiences? If you treat your
volunteers with respect, don’t keep them in the dark, and make sure they have a
good time, your Chamber and your volunteers will have
a long lasting, positive relationship together.
REMINDER DEPT: Our
October issue was sent out First Class Mail instead of the usual bulk mail.
Even though this method is much more expensive (about $500 more this time), we
do this to check addresses about once every 12 to 18 months. Getting our
newsletter to you at the right address is more important than the cost of the
mailing. But if the name of the recipient has changed, first class mail won’t
tell us anything. Someone in your Chamber needs to let us know any personnel or
address changes. Please email (macy@chamber-connect.com) or fax us
(817/492-0785) any changes we might need to make sure the right person at the
correct address gets our newsletters. And
if you have some ideas on how we can improve our newsletters, let us know that
also.
Thanks!
MARKETING DEPT: Are
your Membership Sales people marketing the Chamber correctly? One of the
reasons our Membership Events have a better than average Retention Factor is we
emphasis selling the Chamber honestly. We don’t instruct the volunteers to say,
“Join the Chamber and you will get more business!” No one can guarantee that.
But we do say, “Join the Chamber for the opportunity to increase your
business.” “Chamber members know the value of the Chamber and tend to give
their business to other Chamber members.”
We want the volunteers
to sell the Chamber based on four major divisions, and we suggest your
Marketing Department do the same.
The divisions are:
Networking – The Chamber has many networking opportunities for all members.
Community – The Chamber
instills a loyalty for the community and enhances the growth of the community.
Economic Development –
The Chamber works to advance the economic health of the business community.
Advertising – The
Chamber is consistently and constantly making people and businesses aware of
the opportunities with the Chamber’s business community.
Within each of these
divisions, there are other areas of importance for the prospect to join the
Chamber. Whether it’s education or political clout,
there are many good reasons to join the Chamber. Just make sure your people
aren’t selling make-believe advantages. Review their “pitch” annually and clean
up their “act” or your rate of retention will be shameful
UNFORGIVABLE PUNS DEPT: Outside a small Macedonian village, close
to the border between
She is the last caretaker of a site of
significant historic developments. The convent once served as a base for the
army of Attila the Hun. In more ancient times, a Greek temple to Eros, the god
of love, occupied the hilltop site. The Huns are believed to have first
collected and then destroyed a large gathering of Greek legal writs at the
site. It is believed that Attila wanted to study the Greek legal system and had
the writs and other documents brought to the temple. When the Greek Church took
over the site in the 15th Century and the convent was built, church leaders
ordered the pagan statue of Eros destroyed, so another ancient Greek treasure
was lost. Today, there is only the lone sister, watching over the old Hun base.
And that's how it ends: No Huns, no
writs, no Eros, and nun left on base.