Best of the ISP-Lists

Chamber of Commerce

Members of the ISP-Webhosting list discuss the benefits of joining the local Chamber of Commerce. This business decision is nearly a no-brainer, especially for anyone in a small community.

[May 10, 2001]

On the ISP-Webhosting list in April, WT inquired,

"How much value do you place in being a member of your local Chamber of Commerce? It seems to me that they're useful for networking only if you have time to participate and are good at working a room. Any thoughts?"

MT suggested exploring all the options first:

"Chamber membership can be valuable, but do some research. Determine who among your competitors also belongs to the chamber, and see if and where you can define a niche. If you see that the chamber is saturated with ISPs, for example, then you might want to check out a different one. Usually you'll find more than one local chamber; there are chambers that serve cities, counties, townships, and cultural communities, so take the time to find the right one."

Others enthusiastically supported joining:

[DJ recalled] "When we joined the chamber here, they worked with us on our membership costs, in return for us giving all chamber members discounts on our service. We also host the chamber's website and offer members discounts on hosting packages. It was definitely a help: chamber members seem to try to do business with other chamber members. We have many commercial customers because of our association with the chamber."

[CP agreed] "It is well worth it for me. I may not make all their functions, but when I do, I am a killer on greasing palms and making political small talk. The whole darn county revolves around these people: it gives me first dibs on new move-ins and businesses."

[AL enthused] "Chambers are great. When you join, you normally get a spotlight presentation to the whole group. My chamber meets once a week for a luncheon. The food is awful, but for the membership fee ($150 in my case), you get five minutes to introduce yourself to the members. That is the best marketing money you can spend. Everyone will know you personally, they will know and understand your business, and they will want to support you if at all possible."

[JE agreed] "There are a lot of services that our local Chamber of Commerce offers that are very good. I do not participate in most of their functions, but there are a lot of other opportunities:

• My local chamber does an annual B2B expo. It's small, but at only $75 for a table space it's worth the money.
  
  
• They also have a monthly newsletter where I can insert flyers for just $75 per issue, and that goes out to about 2000 chamber members, all business executives.
  
  
• I also make use of the chamber's insurance program: I wouldn't be able to offer health insurance to my employees if I had to roll the program myself.
  
  
• When I was looking for new office space, the chamber staff was able to offer suggestions, and even helped me negotiate a better rent.
  
  
• Our local chamber also runs an annual gift certificate program: people can go to the chamber office and buy a gift certificate which can then be redeemed at any chamber member. That made it easy for me to offer gift certificates locally.
  
  
• A year or so ago several local labor laws changed, and the chamber brought in a member of the state's labor law enforcement group to give a talk and answer questions from chamber members.

I have not once regretted joining. Of course, our memberships here are only about $300 a year: I'm not sure it'd be worth it if we were in a big city where memberships were $1000 or more, but it might."

— End