I went to a Chamber of commerce meeting today; it was very informative, but costs $400 to join. With the economy and all, I want to be wise with my money...

1) Do you find that joining the chamber helps you get commercial leads? or...

2) would you get more / better leads cold-calling rather than joining a network group (such as the chamber of commerce)?

Thanks! I appreciate your opinions in this b4 I throw down $400....

Joe

ps this is no small chamber - 4,000 businesses strong if that has any impact...

if you go to every meeting and every event they put on it worth it in the long run. a chamber of 4000 members means you will see 40-60 of the same people a couple time during the year. most often you will see 10-20 every so often.. not enough to forge a relationship with them. A local BNI group is a better way to meet people if you can hang with the EVERY week meeting..

or another method is to do like PETER SELTZER (on the ICS board) did and put together a local group on your own. do a search on him and read, read, read the stuff he wrote..

most times a chamber is good in smaller city were you can see other members around town like the gas station, food store etc..

Advertise in the local weekly paper as well.. people see your face and will recognize you.

Joe- I recently quit our Chamber the meetings were not consistant some in the am, some at lunch some at dinner hour. I was looking for another netwroking group similiar to BNI without the fees yet only one business catagory per group.
After posting on Craigs List and doing searchs I found a great group no fees very professional.
Look into Meet Up it has several branches of networking groups as well as potential to create your own. Any questions e-mail me.

if you work Either BNI the Chamber or both it works like anything else it is what you put into it not just being there.
Here is a little something we wrote on Networking

The importance of networking and finding your (golden goose) a golden goose is a person or company who will refer you over and over and over again with out necessarily ever using your service, and the have the ability to do this will man companies and individuals, the will also be happy to take out to lunch to meet others who have same ability.

Where do you meet these people? They are every where many times looking for you, they just do not know you an ma not even realize the are looking for you. That is your job.

One of the best places to meet them is at networking events, I prefer small to midsized events to give me time to hone in on who I want to talk to. Business building events and seminars that are not industry specific, this give you a spectrum to pick from.

Every business is different along with personalities and morals, you need to find those who fit into your business model. One word or caution never believe anyone who says oh this profession will not be a good source or this person is not a good source, it could be a personality conflict or a trust factor.

We recently attended two such events again,upon meeting a few of the same people at both events and decided to have a meeting after the event last visited. After we get things nailed down and rolling my company should realize a six figure return with in a year to year and a half.
This a good investment for shaking some hands handing out info, being nice to people and having a clear vision for the future of my company.

If you do not have a clear vision for the future of your company that needs to be done before you start meeting some of the heavier hitters, they want to work is people who have clear direction.

You will get referrals from the ave carpet retailer or real estate broker, but if you want golden gooses you need to have a plan.


An other thing many of us forget is press, getting our names mentioned in the local papers.

At a local networking table top event, we gave away certificates to a catering company, and we won some advertising on a local paper. BTW we do business with them, said news paper is going to do a small article on us. Naturally it will have our contact info and web address in it.

There are other ways to get into local papers
FREE, we are working on getting on the radio weekly in a similar fashion.


PS. If I can do it anyone can since all that was done on my part was listen to people who are where I want to go.

Our Chamber here in Erie, PA was terrible, I ask if I could get a list of members so I can network.
They said NO.
You are on your own.

What is the sense of joining a group, paying a fee, and not knowing who else belongs.

Ron