To be honest, there are tens to hundreds of reasons to join the Chamber and each business has its own personal ones that are important. This blog post focuses on 3 reasons; one is the top reason, based on our member’s feedback, and the other two are less well-known reasons to join.
Networking
By far, networking is the number one reason that businesses join the Chamber. We all understand the value of communicating with one another, learning about what is going on in our community and working together. Another benefit of networking is partnerships. By participating in Chamber activities, you meet businesses that you may not normally run into, as they might be in different industries or circles of peers. Those connections can help you partner with others in the area to work on a joint promotion or perhaps look at diversifying what you offer, all based on another business’s need.
In fact, at our recent Business After Hours, a new member attended and by simply making new introductions, his company received at least four new opportunities to bid on a job, in addition to creating a connection on a job that was currently out to bid. Face-to-face interaction is still the #1 way we humans connect, and who better to connect with than business owners in the community facing the same challenges and opportunities.
Referrals
When you join the Chamber, you automatically receive a listing in our online membership directory. This is the primary way that individuals search our members, either by name of the company or by their business function (such as banks). In 2016, we increased the number of referrals going to our members, in some cases by almost 50%. Below are a few of the stats we track of for our online referrals.
| 2016 | 2015 | |
| Total Number of Referrals | 1,530,004 | 1,100,000 |
| Each Member’s Average Referral | 1,308 | 948 |
| Each Day Average Referral to Members | 4,180 | 3,055 |
Top 5 Categories Referred in 2016:
- Construction Contractor
- Distribution Center
- Manufacturers
- Beverages
- Banks
By the way, that is online referrals only, that does not count the multiple referral requests we receive and process in our office each and every day. In fact, we have found that for small businesses, we assist in increasing their “Searchability” on Google. We have multiple businesses that, when searched in Google, their online Chamber member profile appears first, before their own personal page. That is a HUGE benefit to membership in our growing digital world.
Supporting the Community
This is a touchy-feely benefit and one that cannot be quantified or qualified. Certainly, most members join the Chamber to advance their own business interests, but each business is also part of our community and by joining the Chamber they are supporting the business community in Topeka and Shawnee County. It gives us a larger voice, whether we are speaking at city council, submitting position papers or advocating on behalf of the business community. So while, statistically speaking, this benefit is not tangible, we as an organization understand it is typically the second or third most important reason that a business will decide to join.
If you are interested in learning about all the benefits of membership, contact Ashley Charest at (785) 234-2644.