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Improve Your TRC Communications

July 01 2020 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, YGM 0 comments Tags: communications, sponsorships, total resource campaign, TRC

Are you planning your fall Total Resource Campaign (TRC) now? One of the first things on your timeline is most assuredly to promote it to your members and community.

In the YGM TRC world, you know that all communications and promotions should be centered around your members. If the focus is put on how involvement in the TRC through sponsorships benefits the members and their businesses, that communication will be more successful than if it is focused on how the TRC helps the chamber.

Now, we know TRCs help chambers. They give you a deep dive into strategic planning. They give you funds for your budget for an entire year. They bring in new volunteers and new members.

But Total Resource Campaigns – if done well – are also really beneficial to your members because they allow them avenues of contact with their target audiences that they might not have otherwise had. Let your pre-TRC marketing reflect that.

How do you do that?

Don’t simply announce in your newsletter/e-news that your TRC starts on whatever date. That’s boring and not informative.
Tell the story of your TRC by telling the story of your members. And let them tell their own stories, either in print or video.
Ask successful volunteers for the names of businesses they worked with that saw significant growth as a result of their sponsorships. Ask that volunteer to do a 60 second video interview with the business owner about how the sponsorship helped them reach their target market.
Include information in your communications pieces regarding the different sectors that were reached in your last TRC and how your sponsorships helped your member businesses reach those sectors.

Above all, you cannot overemphasize in your communications leading up to the campaign that the TRC is about finding ways to best assist member businesses in furthering their unique missions. Find new and different ways to say that. Even if you grow tired of saying it, your members won’t grow tired of hearing it. Because for them, the chamber should always be about how you can be of service to them.

Do your communications pieces communicate the right messages? If not, now is the right time to discover that and make any changes necessary.

If you need any help with a communications review, let us know. We are here to help you.

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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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Who is the Best TRC Chair for your Campaign?

March 21 2018 admin Uncategorized, Volunteers, YGM 0 comments Tags: chair, total resource campaign, TRC, volunteers

If you have ever conducted a Total Resource Campaign, you know that in many ways, they become synonymous with their chairs. When I begin to discuss a TRC with a Chamber and to strategize for it, thinking of who would be an ideal chair is one of the first things we bring into focus.

As with most things in a TRC, there is no cookie cutter answer to the question,

“Who would be a good Chair?”

You have to consider various factors. And you have to consider them every single year. A TRC is ever-changing, and if you want it to be ever-successful, you have to change with it. Let’s look at some of the factors you should consider when selecting the individual to lead your campaign and to serve as the public face of the endeavor.

This person should be high-profile in the community. You want people in your community talking about the TRC. Having a CEO or influential business leader whom people know and respect will stir conversations and get that chatter about the TRC going. It will also lend instant credibility to the Campaign simply because of the character of the chair.

This person should have enough contacts in the community to be able to easily select a team of vice chairs or team captains. Your chair will need to have a broad reach of contacts within the community so that he or she can select additional campaign leaders from a variety of business communities. The greater the reach the campaign has, the more successful it will be. Be sure to encourage new chairs each year. Going to the same people each year will yield the same results each year. Growth is always the goal.

Ideally, your chair will come from a business which will be able to field a volunteer team in the TRC. A potential chair who cannot bring a full team of volunteers suggests to me that this individual does not have enough personal business contacts of his or her own to successfully lead a TRC. Consider the sphere of influence.

Is this your first TRC or your third? If you are on your third or fourth annual campaign, you may notice a stagnation in your volunteers and in your success if you aren’t shaking things up. If all of your volunteers stay the same from year to year, and if you simply move a Vice Chair to Chair each year, you aren’t injecting the Campaign with new blood. Thus, no new businesses will be reached, and no growth will be achieved.

A Chamber I have worked with for years came to me as they were beginning their 4th year campaign. The staff leadership approached me with the idea of asking the CEO of a construction company, someone who had never been involved in the campaign.

I pointed out that this individual had been involved as he and his company had purchased multiple sponsorships in many of their prior TRCs and had been quite supportive of their endeavors. He also had the potential to open doors to both volunteers and sponsors in a variety of new businesses that this chamber had not tapped previously.

As I listed the array of potential businesses that might become sponsors, members, and volunteers because of the involvement of this one individual – who did meet the above criteria – the staff quickly became excited about their own idea.

Look beyond the pool of volunteers and executives you work with already. Don’t be afraid to shake things up. Without new voices, there cannot be new growth.

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Get Creative with your Team Motivation

December 20 2017 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, Volunteers, YGM 0 comments Tags: total resource campaign, TRC, volunteers

We talk a lot about how important it is to motivate our volunteers, both during the Total Resource Campaign and following the campaign. But it can be challenging to find ways to motivate those volunteers. Finding creative ways can be even more challenging.

Even if it sounds cheesy – or worse, lazy – take the opportunity to use obvious things and holidays around you. People love cheesy, and it makes for great entertainment and motivation.

At a recent Rally Session at the Ozark Chamber, the keynote speaker was Harold Phillips of Ozark Bank. He presented the following poem to the group. (Many thanks to Mr. Phillips for allowing us to use his creation.)

An Adaptation of the Night Before Christmas

By Clement C. Moore

Twas the month before Christmas and all through the town
You could hear the teams stirring both uphill and down
The goals had been set and summed up with great care
The Total Resource Campaign finally was there

The teams had been chosen with captains as heads
With visions and strategies their teams they led
Some days they wore kerchiefs and sometimes a cap
They talked TRC and they’re closing the gap

For out on the street you can hear all the clatter
The Chamber is working for those things that matter
They found business sponsors for trade goods or cash
They all hit the streets and it spread like a flash

Their message was fresh as the new fallen snow
Did their work for the Chamber they’re still on the go
And what are they selling? You ask without fear
They’re selling the future for those who live here

They were cheered by their leader in high heels and britches
You all know her name yes she’s Andrea Sitzes
More rapid than eagles these coursers they came
If you’ll give me a second, I’ll tell you each name

There is an Angel and Griffin, Jadonna and Abbye
Tenye and Lisa, Amanda and Cathi
Heather, Joy, Jenna, Mike, Lisa, and Jane,
Melanie, Cindy, Michaela, and Shane,
Marrhya and Joshua, Stacy and John
Sometimes it seems lists of names just go on

To the top of the list to the top of the Wall!
You’re doing great work said Campaign Chair Jane Paul

And then in a twinkling I heard their successes
The way that they work – well it really impresses
So out to each business those coursers they flew
With sponsorships, spotlights and vendor booths too

Their eyes how they twinkled their voices how merry
The work that they’re doing is great! Oh yes very!
They’re wrapping the Resource Campaign in a week
And just let me say their performance is sleek!

If that jolly old elf who each year in December
Were standing here now he would say please remember
With a wink of his eye and a “Twist” of his head
He would tell you that you have not one thing to dread

For the teams sprang to action and took to their work
They are getting so close to the goal! Go berserk!
Then laying his finger aside of his nose
Watch the total he’d say and see how high it goes

Then he’d spring to his sleigh to his team give a whistle
And away they would fly like the down of a thistle
You would hear him exclaim as he drove out of sight
Total Resource Campaigns a success! Now Good Night!

Be creative with your volunteers. Motivate them. Appreciate them.

Merry Christmas from YGM.

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There’s A Sponsorship for Everyone

November 06 2016 admin Sponsor development, TRC 0 comments Tags: sponsorship development, total resource campaign, TRC

I said recently that sponsorships have a lot in common with Psychology 101 and Maslow’s Hierarchy. Because that is true, it is also true that not all sponsorships are equal.

Provide Equal Opportunities

While all sponsorships are not of the same value, you do want all of your possible sponsors to be able to find a sponsorship that appeals to them. Provide tiers or levels in your sponsorship options. Some businesses seek the top level in anything they are a part of while other are just glad to participate at a smaller level.

Provide Event Specific Options

Make sure to consider event specific items, as well. Nationally, we are seeing a trend that the third-tier sponsors are willing to spend the same amount of money as other sponsors. However, they want individual aspects of the event that they can label. Do you have a photo booth sponsor, a potty sponsor, a valet sponsor?

Present Your Ideas

When making your pitch to the sponsor, make sure your plan includes a catalog of all your sponsor levels, pricing and benefits. To increase the probability of sale, including pictures from the last year’s event, marketing materials and audience reach are always a plus.

Make purchasing the sponsorships easy for your sponsors. Customize options for them. If you provide them with a packet of everything you do, you will still be waiting on them to return your call when you go prepare next year’s packet.

Sponsorship Tracking

In preparing your marketing plan, a vital piece of the plan must be sponsorship tracking. And that piece needs to be in place even before you start selling. If you don’t know what you have, you don’t know what you have left to sell.

Additional things to consider:

How are you going to implement what you promised to your sponsors?
Are they getting their benefits?

Always keep in mind to under-commit and over-deliver on benefits. Don’t let all of your secrets out of the bag in the sponsorship catalog. Everyone likes a little surprise, and sponsors are no different.

These are important aspects to ensure your sponsorship renewals will return in subsequent years.

Success is for the courageous. Chambers that currently are not implementing any organized sponsorship plan need to find the one that will work the best for all of their stakeholders – their staff, their members and their organization as a whole.

For the chambers that are conducting a sponsorship plan, take an inventory of it. Is it working for you? Is it time for an overhaul?

If you find that you need assistance, we would love to help. Contact me at ebey@nullygmtrc.com.

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It’s All About Those Teams

October 21 2016 admin Chambers, Sponsor development, TRC 0 comments Tags: sponsorship development, total resource campaign, TRC

I’ve been talking a lot lately about building a sponsorship campaign and the initial blocks in that process. One of the most important is an organized team. In all actuality, a Chamber really needs two organized teams.

The First Team

Your first team should be obvious – those who will sell the sponsorships. Think through your sales team.

Will your sales be done in-house by one staff member?
Are you going to include an entire department?
What about directing it to a Chamber committee – say the Ambassadors?
Are you going to look to the entire membership to recruit an army of volunteers?

Regardless of what your sales team is going to look like, they need to be organized from the beginning. You need to have the idea in mind of who will sell, so that the next steps will be executed more effectively and in a more timely manner.

The Second Team

The second team is your staff. You need to make certain that they are all on board with the process and understand the plan. They all will have a part in the campaign, regardless of whether or not they are on the sales team.

If you are mobilizing volunteers, each staff member can motivate different volunteers. If the plan is to be executed by one staff member, the staff as a whole needs to understand the streamlining process.

Sponsors

The next step is to secure those much-needed sponsors. Typically, chambers have the same 25-100 members (the number depends on the chamber size) that routinely are asked for sponsorship assistance time and time again.

Why do we not ask beyond our regular list?

Why do we overcharge our friends and give the rest away?

It’s all about looking into why sponsors sponsor. Just as our business members target their specific customers, chambers need to target their specific sponsors. If an event is targeted to reach the masses, consider a business that is looking to do the same.

Have a member who has been in business 5-7 years and finally reached a sense of establishment in the business community? Target them with a sponsorship that would provide prestige and exclusivity.

Remember Psychology 101 and Maslow’s Hierarchy… it applies to Chamber sponsorships, too!

If you need some help with either developing your teams or developing your sponsor list, we would be happy to discuss a Total Resource Campaign with you. You can reach us at ebey@nullygmtrc.com.

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Taking the Uncertainty out of Sponsorship

October 15 2016 admin Sponsor development, TRC, YGM 0 comments Tags: chamber, sponsorship development, total resource campaign, TRC, YGM

If your chamber is thinking about a sponsorship plan, there isn’t one perfect plan, just like there isn’t one perfect chamber. Your leadership needs to evaluate various types of plans and determine what will work best for your chamber.

There are four types of sponsorship plans:

Per event
Annual bundled program
Sponsorships through tiered memberships
Total resource campaigns.

Once your chamber identifies what type of plan it has or would like to execute, it needs to determine the goals of the plan.

Are you looking strictly for financial revenue?
Do you want to initiate organizational pride?
Are you looking for an increase in awareness for your organization throughout the community?

Next, your chamber will need to determine what inventory will be included in the plan. Items we are seeing trending nationally include:

Workforce Development/Education programming and events
Women’s initiatives
Medical events & First Responder recognition programs

Educational seminars during the lunch hour (aka “Boxed Lunch & Learn” series with attendance cost of $10-25) are being replaced with substantial professional development programs – at least half a day – with at least $100 admission. Chamber leadership programs are being reinvented to include professional development components as business leaders are saying “city field trips” aren’t enough any more.

Selling the Inventory

Once your inventory is established, you have to make certain you can articulate your programs. If you can’t explain it in a very short narrative, you probably won’t be able to sell it because your sponsor won’t be able to sell it to their customer base either.

You also need to be sure you can answer what the program is really worth. Beyond the budget, is the topic relevant and unique, and is the audience popular to the sponsorship.

Think through the real value of each sponsorship, of how a business could market it, of how a business could benefit from it.

If you need help working through the details of sponsorships, contact YGM at ebey@nullygmtrc.com. We will be happy to discuss it with you.

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