YGM Total Resource Campaigns

Tips for Chambers Moving to Remote Work Flows

March 19 2020 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, YGM 0 comments

As more chambers close their offices and move to remote work flows, it will take some time to adjust to the newness of telecommuting. We are here to help with some tips to get everyone started on how to make the best of this new situation.

Communicate!

We’re assuming you’ve let your member businesses and community know that you will not be present in the offices but will be working remotely. Be sure to make this information readily available on your website and chamber social media platforms. Give contact information as well. While it may feel a little odd to be working from your sofa, you will, indeed, be working. You want people to be able to reach you about chamber business.

One of the most important things to remember, both in terms of interactions with your fellow chamber staff members and with member business representatives, is that tone and inflection are much more difficult to infer via text or email than in person. Don’t take something as rude or angry from someone who would rarely be that way with you in person. Often teasing comments don’t translate well to the written medium. This is a trying situation for everyone. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Assume they mean well and that all comments were taken out of context or were meant with the best of intentions. If you are uncertain, ask for clarification.

Remember the Law of 7 Views… You will need to overcommunicate – during this time, your members are going to be hyperfocused on their own businesses, and they may not see all of your posts. You will need to provide access to the information often enough that they might be privy to it.

Work at Home Like You Work at Work (Mostly)

One of the best ways to keep things moving relatively smoothly in a home office environment (even if that home office is your dining room table) is to keep to a few key tips.

If you typically reported to work at 8 a.m., plan to begin your workday at or close to 8 a.m. at home as well. Keep your normal schedule.

Even though we are being urged not to leave home and it’s tempting to stay in pajamas or comfy workout wear, get dressed. Even if it’s just casual wear. You will likely be on video calls at some point in the day, and you don’t want to be on camera in your college band tee shirt, even if it is your favorite.

Set timers. Take breaks. There are fewer places to go at home, so you’ll be moving less (unless you are also home with your children who are not in school… but that’s a different topic). Set timers for every hour, and get up and move. Do jumping jacks. Take a quick walk (unless you live in an urban setting and that’s not possible). Do a few yoga poses. Do something to get moving.

Plan those snacks. You thought there were lots of snacks in a chamber office! Snacking just got way easier at home. Don’t be tempted every time you walk by the fridge. If you need an extra coffee or some fruit mid-morning, go for it. But don’t leapfrog into 12 cups a day just because you now have the coffee pot at home with you.

Video Call Best Practices

We’ve all seen funny videos of videoconference fails. Here’s how to avoid being one.

First, prepare. Do you have children or pets in your home with you? Is there a room you could go into for the video chat that has a door you could close so you can take your call while a caregiver watches your child? If so, plan to use that room.

Next, practice. Turn on the camera on your computer and do a few tests. Where in your chosen room has the best lighting? How can you best adjust the camera to show your background? Look closely at the background… is there anything you would prefer someone not see? Some video conferencing platforms allow you to select a generic background, and the platform will drop that in behind you rather than having your location background appear.

Play with that until you are comfortable. Turn on the audio & do an audio test. Again, the platforms will all allow you to do these tests prior to an actual call so you can ready when the first call happens. Try it with your staff before you have video calls with member businesses.

During your calls…

Be dressed appropriately
Don’t have music or tv playing in the background (it can be distracting to others, and, again, this is work)
Have all of your material ready when the call begins so you don’t have to leave to get items to take notes or to present your information
Keep your mic on Mute until/unless you are ready to speak
The ‘chat’ box is only for work-related/call-related topics. Never use it to talk with a friend. Typically, everyone can see the chat box.
Make sure your desktop is free from anything you wouldn’t want everyone to see. If you need to share your screen, everyone will be able to see anything on your desktop, including folders and their names.

Communicate

Communication is going to be the key that makes remote flows successful. Set aside a few minutes at the start and close of each workday to review and respond to emails. Make sure you are on top of those communications as they will prove to be important to the success of your interactions during the day.

With some basic common sense efforts, your team can make the most of this time of remote work flows. You may discover that it turns into a time of innovation.

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Help your Chambers deal with information overload

March 18 2020 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, Uncategorized, YGM 0 comments

Part of what we do at YGM is monitor various things (we’re nicer than the hall monitors of your childhood, but we’ve still got our eyes on the pulse of what’s happening).

We monitor your chamber social media accounts. We monitor your event advertising to view your sponsorship benefits. We monitor your balance of “event inviting” versus “business informational sharing.”

What I can tell you from my recent monitoring in the midst of COVID-19 is that everyone is overwhelmed. I also know all of you are deeply concerned about providing your member businesses with information that could be beneficial to them. Social media is a great informational sharing tool, but we all need to make sure we use the platforms appropriately.

It’s great, for example, to share which restaurants are doing curb-side pickup or delivery. It’s also important to share which nonprofit organizations are providing meals for school children. However, just “sharing” each of these individual posts can be overwhelming to your members, your businesses, your citizens, your community. It may also prove frustrating when someone wants to go back to find a particular bit of information but it is lost in the trove of other information which has been shared.

The chamber is a convener, a place for information sharing. Take the time to position your organization in the right way – in a way that best helps your community.

You are likely thinking it will take extra time to write your own posts or listing pages rather than simply sharing the information. And you are right. It may. But the time you spend will be valued by your members.

Create a place – a post that you pin to the top of your Facebook page, a webpage, or a unique page on your chamber page – for all information that is localized to your community. It doesn’t matter where… just have one central clearinghouse page and make that page easily accessible.

Sharing information from the CDC, ACCE, US Chamber, etc., are good ideas, but it is especially valuable to share local information. The real trick, though, is to sift through the information and pull out only what is really valuable to your local community. Your member businesses are struggling at the moment to adapt to this ever-changing landscape. They don’t have time to read all of the posts if you simply click ‘share’ on all of the great information you come across.

You need to digest and distill the information for them. Make it locally relevant. You want to promote and encourage engagement with your local member businesses. Local information is vital.

In order to accomplish this, divide and conquer. Use your Chamber staff and their respective divisions:

have events division work on options for virtual meetings for chamber networking as well as virtual options for businesses to interact with their clients
have your governmental affairs/economic development division work on breaking down the information for small business loan relief … also suggest working with a local banker to discuss how to qualify for these loans
have your membership division work on benefit options for small businesses in this uncertain time

With just a little planning and effort, you can be of tremendous assistance to your member businesses.

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TRC as a Strategic Plan

March 01 2020 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, YGM 0 comments

“We have a strategic plan. It’s called ‘doing things.’” – Herb Kelleher

No offense to Mr. Kelleher, known to many in the business world as an American icon, most businesses (and chambers alike) need a more structured plan than simply ‘doing things.’

As we move forward, chambers are going to want more initiative-based programming rather than primarily event-based programming. From our perspective at YGM, a Total Resource Campaign is a tool to implement and affect your strategic plan wrapped in a sponsorship drive.

In talking with chamber professionals around the country, we hear them say over and again how they just keep doing the same things every year but are frustrated with how to break the cycle.

Taking the time to do the difficult strategic planning, looking at your chamber with fresh eyes is the best way to break that cycle. Be clear about who your chamber represents and what your mission is. How can you walk that line between staying true to your mission and making enough money to carry out your programming?

Are there events in your book of business that you hold simply because ‘it’s always been done that way?’ Look at those. How well are they attended? What types of businesses are represented? Is it possible you could discontinue those events and replace them with an initiative that might reach a broader audience?

Taking a critical eye to the way you do things and to the events you have is a necessary element to successful strategic planning. And successful strategic planning will lead into successful total resource campaigns.

The two together can put your chamber in a place where you can dream for and set into motion new and innovative initiatives that will benefit your chamber members and your community at large.

“Vision without execution is just hallucination.” Henry Ford

Commit to setting aside dedicated time for you and your staff to work on your upcoming strategic plan. Execute your vision for your chamber and your community.

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The Best Engagement Plans Start Close to Home

February 07 2020 admin Blog 0 comments Tags: Engagement, TRC

If you have been involved in a Total Resource Campaign with YGM, then you know that we talk a lot about engagement.

Everyone in the chamber world (the business world in general) knows that we all work with and engage with a wide arrange of people and constituent groups. And while the benefits of this are great, the challenges can also sometimes be great.

I think about the following quote a lot when I think about how we interact with those constituent groups.

“It all came down to employee engagement. It all came down to recognition. It all came down to leadership, which led to every sailor feeling ownership and accountability for the results. You can ask a team to accomplish a mission but you can’t order excellence.” –Mike Abrashoff, Commander USS Benfold (retired)

Real engagement is necessary to be successful whether we are in a chamber or in a small business or in a megacorp. And in all of those places, that real engagement begins at home, with our own employees, our own team members.

At YGM, we like to think of ourselves as being on the same team because a team works together. We succeed together, and we pick one another up when we fail together. Much like Commander Abrashoff suggested, all of the sailors have a sense of ownership in the process and thus, give their very best.

We recently hired Michele Trice as YGM’s first Director of Engagement. She will be working directly with clients to assist them in engaging their volunteers, members, and communities in new and innovative ways.

I have known Michele personally and professionally for more than 20 years. Some of you may know her from YGM as she has worked with us some for years. She has a background in communications, both in corporate and non-profit environments.

As each of us think about our own environments, whether chamber or business, this quote speaks to what we need to focus on first.

“Engaged employees are in the game for the sake of the game; they believe in the cause of the organization.” – Paul Marciano, PhD

Michele has believed in YGM for years, and we are all going to benefit from her talents. Take a moment today to spend some time thinking about those in your organization who are really engaged. Do they believe in the mission of your cause? Are they fully engaged? Do you recognize them for that engagement?

As a leader, do you encourage them to have a sense of ownership in your organization? Are you a team?

If not, how do you change that? It’s an old adage, but it’s true – teamwork makes the dream work.

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Spooky suggestions for your Chamber this Halloween

October 17 2019 admin Blog, Chambers 0 comments

It’s finally Fall, y’all. It’s the time of pumpkin spice everything and jackets and Halloween decorations. It’s also the perfect time to start planning how to make the scary (or not-so-scary) holiday work for you and your Chamber.

We have two ideas to share with you, one which focuses on your volunteers and one which focuses on your community. Use either – or both – and share your stories with us on our Facebook page. We love to see how you are making things work in your chambers.

Halloween Volunteer Appreciation

This is an easy one. Whether you are in the midst of a TRC right now or not, it’s important to let your volunteers know you appreciate them. If you have a bakery in town that is a Chamber member, order Halloween (or Fall) themed cookies from them and ask that the cookies be individually wrapped.

Have stickers made with fun sayings such as “Our community is Boo-tiful because of you.” Have your staff deliver the treats to your volunteers on Halloween. When possible, have your staff take selfies with your volunteers at their places of employment and post those on your social media, tagging both the business and volunteer.

Community Fair

If your chamber building is large enough, consider hosting a Community Fair on Halloween evening to provide a safe, secure place for children in your area to trick or treat. Offer member businesses the opportunity to set up booths and give away candy and/or promotional items.

See if there is a business in town that would donate a larger item to raffle. Have a popcorn or cotton candy machine and have fun with it. Pull out all the stops with your decorations – go spooky or fun. Give prizes for the best costumes.

Play!

Whatever you do, don’t forget to have fun. Tap into that childlike enthusiasm for the holiday and make it special for everyone. And be sure to share with us what you decide to do. We want to hear your stories and see your photos.

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60 (actually 45) sponsorship ideas for your Chamber

July 26 2019 admin Blog, Chambers, Sponsor development, TRC, Uncategorized, YGM 0 comments

We hope all of you who attended the ACCE annual convention were at the 60 Sponsorship Ideas in 60 Minutes session we sponsored. I know it’s likely been a whirlwind since you returned home, so we’ve gathered together a list of the ideas that were presented at the session. As always, take the ones of these that best fit your chamber and tweak them to make them your own. We’d love to hear how you integrate these ideas.

Pints & Porters – This was held at a local brewery and was geared toward small businesses.
Digital Billboards – Purchase a board and create a co-op for small businesses to share.
Sponsorship Book – Combine all sponsorship opportunities into a bound book.
Podcast – Feature a live podcast at your CEO Summit. If you have a regular podcasts, offer those as sponsorable opportunities.
Lip-sync video – Write a song about your Chamber/community & have sponsors pay to appear in and sponsor 6-8 seconds of the video.
Office Collaborative Workspace – Many of you may already sell sponsorships of your boardrooms or office spaces, but offer your larger spaces as collaborative workspaces for longer periods (think 3-5 years). The business that purchases the sponsorship also receives complementary rentals of the room.
Collaborations with local restaurants – Have local restaurants host your New Member Orientations each month.
Create a retail shopping card – Encourage the community to shop local.
Holiday Open House – Invite your local caterers and small business owners to supply the holiday open house. It is a great way to show off their skills.
Mayor Calls – Work with the mayor, city manager, and Chamber representatives to visit community business leaders each week to discuss concerns and needs of small businesses.
Create new levels – Consider your existing events such as a golf tournament and review the sponsorship levels. Are there ways to change them or update them?
Roast and Toast – As the outgoing Board chair prepares to leave, plan a roast for him or her.
Sponsorship Book Ad – Sell ads for your annual sponsorship book.
Highlight Small Businesses – Create a sponsorship level (for all events) just for businesses with 10 employees or less.
Raffle Tickets – Sell raffle tickets for businesses to have the opportunity to be the spotlight sponsor of a community night at a local sporting event.
Flash Drives – Instead of making paper new member packets, put all of the necessary documents on a flash drive and sell branding rights for the flash drives.
Windshield Bus Patrol – Highlight your community to residents.
Surprise Patrol – Purchase small treats and deliver them to local businesses. Video the deliveries and post them on social media.
Back to School Buzz – If there is a business that expresses that they are having difficulty, ask how you can help. For example: a craft brewery was having trouble getting the community to visit them more often, so the chamber sponsored a school supply drive. It brought people to the brewery and benefited those in need.
5K – Be sure to share the charity which receives the proceeds on social media.
Non-profit Business After Hours – Once a quarter, focus your After Hours on local non-profits. Let them tell about the work they do in the community.
Sponsorship Bundles – Offer a discount to those businesses which purchase several sponsorships.
Chamber Casual Friday – Local businesses have the option of purchasing a Friday during the year for $100 and providing branded tee shirts for the chamber staff to wear on that day. It allows for chamber staff to have a casual day & for businesses to have additional exposure.
Fancy “Potty” Sponsor – Take photos of your chamber staff and leadership according to your annual meeting theme and post them in the bathrooms. Don’t post the same photos in each bathroom. Have all of the photos sponsored.
Federal Opportunity Zone Education event – Tap into what is important in your area and help explain it to those in your community.
Community Table – Bring your community together to share a meal and ideas.
Restaurant Week – Highlight the restaurants in your area.
YP Awards Video Program – Consider how the videos could market by the awards and the businesses.
Christmas Parade – If your chamber has the capabilities, consider streaming the parade or having it broadcast.
Banner Display – Create a logo banner and display it prominently in the chamber window.
Report Card – Repackage your reports and distribute with a sponsor logo
Digital Signboards – Co-brand with the chamber and a sponsor business
Embrace the Unexpected – Ask member businesses for bids and quotes. You might be surprised when one offers to sponsor the job.
Networking – Offer networking opportunities and panel discussions for non-profits which might not have those opportunities as often as more traditional businesses.
When Pigs Fly – Purchase small, plastic squeaker pigs that can be used in driving competitions for golf tournaments.
Women’s Conference – Remember to tell your potential sponsors and vendors that women have tremendous purchasing power.
Thank You – If you send Thank You mentions to people after events, offer sponsorship of the cards/notes.
Pulse on Policy – Focus on advocacy sponsorship.
Social Media Sponsorship – Sell the sponsorship of social media during each event. Consider unique hashtags.
Business Expo – Consider having tailgate sponsors at each end of the expo.
Themed Annual Meetings
Valet Sponsor – Sponsor the valet stations at your events
Coat Check Sponsors at signature events
Parking Sponsor – In addition, consider branded air fresheners from the sponsors.
Valet Sponsor for Business Expo – Assist vendors in bringing in and removing their booth materials.

I hope you are able to glean some helpful options from these ideas.

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What’s Your Perception?

June 30 2019 admin TRC, Uncategorized, YGM 0 comments

Perception.

So much of the way each of our lives are arranged is based upon perception – our perception of the world around us, our perception of ourselves, the perception of the people around us.

Perception, though, is not always reality. That’s why you rarely see the ‘real life’ of anyone through the photos on Facebook and Instagram. Take a moment… how often do you see a photo of someone not looking his or her best?

Recently, I was in a hotel and took the photo above depicting a beautiful, tranquil view of a stunning sunset. The actual photo is below – see all the bird poop out there? Did I utilize the balcony? No. But I easily could have edited this photo to make it seem like the photo I described above.

When my social media contacts saw the photos, they would have seen what I wanted them to see. Their perception of the photo would have created a new reality of the scene.

Your business members are no different from my social media contacts. They have perceptions of your Chamber and the value your Chamber provides to their businesses.

When you think of your sponsorships, think of the perceived value of them, not the actual value. Think of it another way… consider the perception of your sponsorship, not the actual cost of the sponsorship.

For a majority of your sponsorships, the perceived value of your top-level sponsorships should be much higher in the value of deliverable benefits.

In contrast, the sponsorship for the table decorations at the annual meeting will likely not sell for what it costs you to purchase the centerpieces. The perceived value on this particular sponsorship is simply much lower than others.

Does that mean you don’t offer that as a sponsorship? Of course not! You’re just going to price it with the sponsor in mind. The flowers might cost you $2,500. Your sponsorship will probably only be priced at $500… perception is at play here.

Chambers often over-give benefits to validate the cost of a sponsorship when what they need to do is properly evaluate the perceived value. You’ll go bankrupt trying to “make the sponsorship worth the cost.” Instead, do an honest evaluation of what the perception of the sponsorship really is and base both the level and the price on that.

Perceived value is the tactic businesses use to price their goods, products, and services. Supply and demand are influenced by perceived value. Starting pricing your Chamber’s goods with perceived value in mind.

When you begin pricing sponsorships with perceived value in mind, you’ll begin to serve your Chamber better.

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Earth Day Community Opportunities

April 04 2019 admin Uncategorized 0 comments

We are always thinking about ways that our clients can make a difference for their members and their communities. We love it when we have ideas that allow chambers to do both at once.

Earth Day on April 22 allows chambers so many opportunities to think creatively about ways to bring members and communities together for the betterment of the planet. It’s really a win-win for everyone.

One of the easiest ways for chambers to get involved with Earth Day is to sponsor a Shred Day. So many businesses – especially small businesses – only have access to small, personal-type shredders. If your chamber office doesn’t already have or lease a large, industrial shredder, rent one for the day or the week and advertise the event.

Have all of your members bring in their shredding and allow them to have it done for free. Take photos and promote your member businesses on your social media platforms with Earth Day hashtags.

This is also a good opportunity to work with local ‘big box’ businesses in town. Consider partnering with a shredding company by having them bring their industrial shredder to your location for use during your shred day. Or work with a business such as Best Buy to hold an e-recycle day to recycle used electronics such as fax machines or older electronics local businesses no longer use in their daily activities.

Buy either seeds or small sapplings (depending on the size of your chamber and your budget). Invite your member businesses to send a representative to your offices to pick up either packs of seeds or a small tree/plant and take it back to their office area and plant it. Reforestation can take many forms, and adding plants on Earth Day is a wonderful way to start. Encourage them to take photos of their staff doing the planting and watering and to post those on their social media and to take your chamber with your chosen Earth Day hashtags.

Clean-up Days are great ways to get people together and having fun while also accomplishing a lot for a community. Select areas of your community that need a bit of refreshing and ask member businesses to allow employees to volunteer a few hours on Earth Day to clean up those areas. Have chamber reps drop by those areas with snacks and drinks for volunteers. As always… photos and hashtags!

With all of these ideas, as you share photos on social media, include statistics about Earth Day and why caring for our environment matters. Be sure to tag your member businesses and the individuals in your posts. They and their friends will see and share the posts, thus increasing your visibility.

With just a little planning, you can take Earth Day and make it special for your members and your community. And help the earth in the process!

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Support Your Local Teachers

May 04 2018 admin Blog, Chambers 0 comments

One of my greatest joys in working with YGM clients is the sheer joy and “aha” moments from chamber executives when I’m able to share new, innovative programs and events with them. The brainstorming sessions of sponsorship inventory are some of my most enjoyable moments with Chambers.

Some new sponsorship opportunities are discovered in the Chamber’s current program of work. Looking at the same inventory in a different way allows Chambers to increase sponsorships on events they’ve been conducting for years. But, some chambers want more. They desire to know what’s working for other communities and how they can see a similar program or initiative enacted in their community.

A couple of years ago, Senior Vice President of ACCE Chris Mead asked me to share national sponsorship trends at the annual conference. One of the trends was that education programs, initiatives, and events was on the rise. The same is true today.

As we prepare for Teacher Appreciation Week (May 7-11) next week, I am sharing three innovative programs YGM has found across the nation. We’ll review them in order of the least amount of planning and preparation to the most.

Teacher Appreciation Cookies

Who doesn’t love a little something sweet in the middle of the day? Grimes (IA) Chamber of Commerce has been delivering cookies and coffee to each of their local schools for a number of years.

But, these are not just ordinary cookies; they are decorated with the logo of sponsoring businesses. Due to sponsorship levels created in their 2017 inaugural TRC, Grimes Chamber was able to increase revenue by several thousand dollars.

Educator Appreciation Expo

While attending a breakout session during the Carolinas Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives conference in 2017, I learned of this spectacular option to reinvigorate a Chamber’s Business Expo.

A Chamber had restructured their annual business-to-business expo into an expo specifically designed to market to educators. Held during the educators’ orientation week prior to the first day of school, local chamber members who provide an educator discount and/or services which would appeal to educators gather to market to educators.

The Chamber has partnered with the school district and superintendent to make sure this event is part of the orientation agenda, thus solidifying the attendance of most district educators. Chamber members are providing extremely positive feedback regarding the target market they are able to reach now as compared to the generic business expo.

After initial research, we found that a number of other chambers across the nation have created the same model.

Educator Externship Program

Springfield (MO) Chamber of Commerce shared this program with me as we were developing their inaugural TRC a couple of years ago. Each summer, teachers are offered a PAID externship program. The Teacher Externship Program aims to connect business and education allowing teachers to better prepares their students for ever-changing workforce needs.

Teachers spend a week learning about the business world and workplace outside of the classroom by attending an orientation day and industry field trip, spending three days in a local business, and then coming back together for a day of strategic planning.

Teacher participants report an enhanced learning of skill sets and common business practices while being able to impart first-hand knowledge of the corporate world to their students. These newly acquired lessons are received favorably as most educators are typically in the education field all their life.

Hopefully, any or all of these programs have gotten your creative juices following. As with any sponsorship question, feel free to reach out to us if you would like more information on any of these programs or contact information of the Chambers implementing them.

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Give Motivated Volunteers a Chance

April 12 2018 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, Volunteers 0 comments Tags: total resource campaign, TRC, volunteers

Do your Vice Chairs or Team Captains ever ask what type of people make the best volunteers?

As expected, we have tips of all sorts, but sometimes the best tip is to remind your Vice Chairs and Team Captains that anyone with a wide range of business contacts can succeed in a Total Resource Campaign. Never discount someone’s motives or professional drive.

One of my favorite volunteer stories comes from a top performer who surprised everyone with her success. She was not recruited by anyone to be on a team, in fact. She volunteered. She requested that her boss, the TRC Chair, assign her to a team.

As we were doing our wrap up sessions, we asked this volunteer why she wanted to be a part of the TRC. With no hesitation she said, “I was pissed.”

After the group stopped laughing, I asked her to explain.

“I was pissed because no one asked me to join a team. I am the executive assistant to the CEO of one of the largest companies in town, but no one saw me as capable,” she explained. “And I wanted the opportunity to prove them wrong.”

Prove them wrong is exactly what she did. Each week, she was one of the top three performers in the TRC.

She took the knowledge she had gained of the business community through her job and systematically paired businesses with sponsorships that would work well for them. She was highlighting how the sponsorships were going to benefit both the Chamber and the business and, in the process, she was strengthening her own personal business contacts.

At the first few Rally Sessions, you could hear people asking about her and how she was doing so well. By the third or fourth, everyone knew she was one of the ones to emulate.

She proved to her boss and to the others who passed her by initially that she was more than capable. She showed that Vice Chairs and Team Captains need to be relentless in their search of people who have a vast business contact base… that employees can make the TRC work for them… that they can be a success in the TRC with the right mindset.

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