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Have you struggled to get new business through your Chamber of Commerce membership? I bet you attend all of those networking events only to find that everyone seems to be selling but no one buying.  You hand out cards but you get few call backs right? If this sounds like you then you are making one of the most common mistakes in getting new business through the chamber.  Don’t feel bad most members make this mistake. In fact, I used to be one of the biggest offenders.  Let me share a little secret with you that changed the results I now get from the chamber and has me excited to attend once frustrating networking meetings.

The secret that no one told you…are you ready?

Immediately stop thinking of your chamber as place to make a sale.  No, your chamber is one of the best opportunities to find people excited about delivering valuable referrals at no cost to you.  Arguably there is no larger gathering of motivated people in your area who sell to your target audience. Using the chamber to build a team of alliance partners rather than pitching individual members will immediately and phenomenally change your prospecting results. Below is the criteria you should use to select a suitable lead sharing alliance partner.

1. Partners should sell to your target audience
2. Partners should not sell a competing product or service
3. Partners should sell a product or service that compliments yours
4. Partners should be hard wired (motivated) to give and receive leads
5. Partners should be referable; worthy of your lead hand offs

Your assignment…yeah, there is a little work.

Before the day is out I want you to make a list of 5 industries that compliment your own. If you are a painter then one likely compliment would be a realtor. From here I want you to target 5 chamber events to attend over the next 4 weeks.  Set as a goal to come away with 2-3 contacts who fit the alliance partner requirements above.  Finally I want you to set up a meeting with each of your partners to outline how your lead sharing alliance will work (educate your partner on who your best customer is, share prospect “need indicators” for your partner to watch for, detail referral incentives, share business cards or other sales materials, etc.). Trust me with a focused effort on a strategy like this you will have more customers than you know what to do with and your chamber could go from being a time wasting money pit to your primary source for new business.  Commit to my one month formula and come back to share your results.

—————–

John Easton is a recovering corporate executive turned entrepreneur. Through his company, Eastonsweb Multimedia, John creates video, web and multimedia tools to help businesses turn “Browsers” into “Buyers” .  Get a Free Profit Boost by downloading the special report, The Definitive Guide to Explosive Website Performance (Click Here).

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It is a known fact among marketers that very few people, if anyone will buy from you at your first meeting.  To get prospects to commit you must send regular messages to reinforce your value and position your company as the one to purchase from. My rule is 8:16, eight communications within a 16 month period before a prospect will do business with you. It stands to reason that getting prospects onto your opt-in mailing list is critical. Doing so eases your prospect’s commitment anxiety (less fear associated with a newsletter than plunking down cash) and for you it gets them into your sales communication funnel.

A clever way to use your mobile phone to grow your opt-in list is to add a mobile-friendly version of your mailing list registration form to your website.  Now when you meet people at networking events, speaking engagements or while shopping at the mall you can use your phone to access your mobile page and easily allow your friend to join your list and willingly become part of your sales (or referral) chain.  In addition to feeding your list, I bet you get a few “wows” as well and you are certain to be remembered. When you use this tactic be sure to bookmark the mobile registration page for quick access.

What is your best approach to growing your mailing list (comment below)?

—————–

John Easton is a recovering corporate executive turned entrepreneur. Through his company, Eastonsweb Multimedia, John creates video, web and multimedia tools to help businesses turn “Browsers” into “Buyers” .  Get a Free Profit Boost by downloading the special report, The Definitive Guide to Explosive Website Performance (Click Here).

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It’s a fact that referral word of mouth is one of the most effective means to driving new business to your company but do you know how to get qualified referral leads through your Chamber or any other source for that matter? If your answer to this question is that you do good work and “HOPE” that those you serve pass your name along, then please read on.

Why not throw a connector party? Yeah I call my referral partners, “connectors”. Connectors are people who are hard wired to deliver referrals and I go one step further in my naming by adding to the title; “partners” because guess what, I return the favor so we are in this thing together.

What is a referral party you ask? Well it occurs when you bring several of your best connectors together over food and drink for the sole purpose of meeting others like themselves to ignite relationship building magic. They will talk, laugh and spontaneously begin the lead development process. Because you are the catalyst for starting this chain reaction, your connectors will love you for it and let me tell you the currency connectors dole out as thanks is guess what, more leads.

Lets get this party started right…

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We All Want More Website Traffic.

You have worked hard filling your website with just the right mix of content and tools to pull in new and repeat visitors, haven’t you?  You deserve more traffic, don’t you? Well, your local Chamer of Commerce is a good place to tap some of that Goole search traffic.

How Google Works.

Google ranks your site’s pages in part based on the number of links pointing to your site and the rank Google assigns those referring sites. In the search engine world such links are referred to as backlinks. Your local Chamber of Commerce is one way to secure an important backlink.

If you are a chamber member be sure to add your site’s address as a hyperlink in their member directory.  Because your Chamber probably does a good bit of work optimizing it’s site for search engines, it almost certainly has a strong page rank which increases the value of the backlink to your site.

Other chamber backlink opportunities include,

1. Online advertisements (make sure to include text links)
2. Sponsorship listings
3. Board member listings

Lets Get Started.

As I always say, your chamber works to the extent that you work it. Thanks for the visit and let us know how this strategy works for you.

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Building relationships within ethnic chambers like your local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce can pay big dividends.  These organizations are filled with savvy business leaders that you can build reciprocating relationships with; exchanging valuable referrals and serving as connectors to diverse communities in the process.

It is quite possible that your local Chamber of Commerce has a bridge program that grants you limited or full access to your local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce or other ethnic chamber.  Our local chamber (the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce) offers such a program, so it is well worth your time to investigate.

In doing business with people in cultures not your own, I suggest listening to your associates, learning the delicacies of the business culture and befriending someone who might serve as a guide for you through the maze.  Resist the urge to be a “know it all” and to start selling.  No matter where you find yourself, networking is about relationships, not selling things.

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JibJab stormed onto the political scene in 2004, with an unmistakable look, feel, and sense of style to their animated videos.

They poked fun at anyone. And everyone. Kerry… Bush… Wal-Mart….. everyone got a piece. Same in 2008. Obama, Cheney, Clinton and McCain weren’t immune.

After a brief hiatus, JibJab returned into our homes at Christmastime, with Elf Yourself, sponsored by Office Max. These hilarious, customizable elves stormed across the web like wildfire. Teens and grandmas alike, pasted on heads, and shared the healthy portion of Elf with the family.

Now, JibJab has broadened to other holidays, like Valentine’s Day. But they’re also doing birthdays, and everything in-between.

While creating professional-looking video from home (affordably) is still just most of our fingertips… JibJab lets us dream. Paste on a head, and you’re a living, breathing cartoon.

BlueMountain, 123greetings.com, BirthdayAlarm.com, and industry giant Hallmark.com had better step their game up. We know the #1 secret to word of mouth, is to make ME popular.

JibJab is doing this in aces.

The king of customizable viral videos is coming to eat your lunch.

Do you think Hallmark might make a move to purchase JibJab?

Where do you think these kind of customizable videos are going to enable businesses to connect their brands with consumers? See Kodak’s half-hearted attempt at this

And where do you think YOU could use videos like this to connect - assuming you could afford to make them?

Follow me on Twitter…

Free Prize Inside:

2004’s “This land is your land”. Bush vs Kerry. The video that started it all.

2008’s “It’s Time for some campaignin’. McCain, Clinton, Obama.

JibJab 2008 Year In Review.

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Who would think these two would make a good couple; Twitter, super popular low touch online community and your local Chamber of Commerce, old school community where face to face interaction is the rule.  Well let me tell you the two neighborhoods are not as far apart as you might think. 

The next time you meet and greet at a Chamber event instead of passing out business cards like some over cafinated postal worker, ask the people you meet for their Twitter id and propose a reciprocal Twitter exchange. For those who don’t know, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, which allows users to send and read other users’ updates or tweets and registering as someone’s “follower” is the prerequisite to receiving their tweets.

For each person engaged in this way you immediately gain the reach of their extended Twitter network and them yours. Here’s how the story might unfold. You approach someone who seems friendly enough.  After exchanging business cards, elevator pitches and of course Twitter id’s your friend retrieves his Blackbery from its holster and starts typing a note that reads, “At Charlotte Chamber event meeting with the most interesting person (that’s you).  You folks should consider following him”.  In minutes your Blackberry buzzes and you see that you have 30 new people following your Twitter updates. 

At your average Chamber event there are only 15 to 30 minutes reserved for networking; just enough time to connect with 2 or 3 people at best but a single connection with a fellow Chamber Twitterer exponentially increases your level of exposure. If the person you speak to is not a Twitterer, consider your talk a great opportunity to introduce a groovy (did I just say that?) new business building tool. One quick tip here; be sure to add your Twitter id to your business card and other marketing collateral materials.

See, the Chamber can be cool too… 

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Sure you can attend the many networking and business events at your local Chamber but why not facilitate.  Being an MC at a Chamber event is a great way to introduce your company to prospective buyers and build a loyal following that can lead to a ton of new business down the road.

When you simply attend Charlotte Chamber events, your ability to meet new people is limited.  Let’s do the math.  If the event lasts 60 minutes, 30 minutes are dedicated to the main program; 15 or so minutes go to meal particulars which leaves just 15 minutes to meet and greet.  If my math is off sue me but the bottom line is you can only speak to a couple of people in the time allotted for networking.

Contrast this scenario with your role as MC where all eyes and ears are on you as you tell the group about your business just prior to introducing the day’s speaker.  If your presence is needed long term, as in the case of a panel discussion; your bond with the attendees will strengthen with each intelligent question you pose. Now if the Chamber webcasts a video of the event then your exposure increases exponentially.

As I am so fond of saying, “the Charlotte Chamber works if you work it.” Have you ever MC’d a chamber event?

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Since everyone at Customer Flypaper is talking email newsletters of late, I thought I might as well jump in.  Speaking opportunities along with well connected members make the Charlotte Chamber or any Chamber for that matter a great place to win new subscribers for your email newsletter.  Below are several opportunities that can, if approached correctly, lead to a subscriber flood.

1. Networking Events: If you attend networking events, why not make the most efficient use of your time by inviting those you meet to subscribe to your newsletter? Offer a free gift to sweeten the pot (free e-book, whitepaper or teleseminar mp3).
2. Speaking Engagements:  Should you participate in panel discussions, forums and other Chamber speaking engagements, tactfully solicit subscribers for your newsletter.  One way to do this is to organize a drawing where the participants register for your newsletter by submitting a business card for a chance to win a gift (audio book, Starbucks gift card, etc.).
3. Board participation:  At first look you might wonder why waste your time serving on a Chamber board but this is were the Chamber’s power elite congregate and by having a few of these influencers on your list you can reach hundreds.  Once a member agrees to join your subscriber ranks, ask your fellow associate to forward each issue of your newsletter to others in their contact sphere.

No matter the Chamber event you choose to attend or the project teams you work with, the bottom line is to always ask your acquaintances to subscribe to your newsletter.  Just one more way to beat the Chamber business card exchange blues.

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What should I do next?

Now that we have that pesky value-proposition stuff out of the way, here are a few tips for you to consider when submitting your event.

1. Link out:  Add links within your event description to customized landing page containing detailed event information
2. Add a video or other media to your landing page to give prospects a sense for what they might get by attending
3. Turnaround time:  Time your event post properly, as the Chamber staff will take about 2 days or so to process your request and post your video
4. Add the event link to your marketing materials (website, newsletter, blog, twitter, etc) to stimulate interest

John Easton, my blog partner prepared the video above so that you can kick the proverbial tires.  Have a look and good fishing.

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