CompleteMember Systems Invited to Participate in Michigan Association of Chamber Professionals Winter Event

CompleteMember Systems has been invited to present our web-based membership management software system at the Michigan Association of Chamber Professionals (MACP) Winter Convention Event on March 24th & 25th. Learn more about the upcoming event by clicking HERE.  We were also recently invited to present at the Winter conventions of the Indiana and Ohio chamber of commerce executives.

As one of only a handful of national vendors invited to participate in these programs, we are honored to provide state chamber of commerce officials with information about the ways in which our membership management software can increase productivity among chamber staff or volunteers, thereby achieving cost savings, as well as providing new avenues of revenue generation.  We’re particularly honored to participate in this event within our home State of Michigan.

If you will be at the Michigan event, please stop by to see us, we’d love to meet you!

Increased Revenue Opportunity for Chambers of Commerce

Software development firm, CompleteMember Systems, is offering a FREE webinar for Chamber of Commerce staff on Wednesday, March 17th at 10:00 a.m. EDT to showcase its easy-to-use web-based membership and website management system that provides the ability for chambers to generate new revenue streams and decrease administrative costs.  Registration information and event details are available at http://www.CompleteMember.com/demo or you may also register by emailing bryan@CompleteMember.com. Event access information will be sent by return email.  This event is open to all executives and staff of chamber of commerce organizations.  Click HERE for additional information.

Local Software Development Firm Invited to Indiana Chamber of Commerce Executives Event

CompleteMember Systems has been invited to present our web-based membership management software system at the Indiana Chamber of Commerce Executives Winter Convention Event on February 17th and 18th. Learn more about the upcoming event by clicking HERE.  We were also recently invited to present at the Winter Convention of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Executives.

As one of only a handful of national vendors invited to participate in these programs, we are honored to provide state chamber of commerce officials with information about the ways in which our membership management software can increase productivity among chamber staff or volunteers, thereby achieving cost savings, as well as providing new avenues of revenue generation.

If you will be at the Indiana event, please stop by to see us!

Association Make-over’s Increase Membership

In today’s challenging economic climate, it’s not just individuals and companies that are adversely affected, Association memberships are declining as well.  Organizations that up to this point thought they were doing well have found in recent years that a lack of technological advancements and organizational updates has severely cost them members as the economy continued its depressed state.

The following is the story of one long-standing organization and their efforts to turn things around.  Perhaps your organization can benefit from following some of the steps under-taken by this group.

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A 90-Year-Old Organization Gets a Makeover

by Summer Faust, project editor at ASAE & The Center

For most associations, the middle of a recession isn’t an ideal time for an organizational overhaul. Faced with declining membership, failing finances, and an outmoded governance structure, the National Council of Catholic Women decided waiting out the slump wasn’t an option. With the retirement of its executive director in February 2009, NCCW turned to consultant advisors to help reinvent the organization.

“NCCW had struggled with change for years, but their financial problems were now severe and the economic downturn made their situation more dire. The board realized that NCCW’s survival depended on tackling the changes now,” says Joanne Dunne, CAE, president of the Lyons Consulting Group. She and project partner David Kushner, CMP, CAE, president of the Kushner Companies, identified three main areas of improvement: governance structure, membership structure, and internal operations.

Getting started. Kushner says stabilizing operational activities to keep NCCW afloat was a top priority, along with a thorough review of the bylaws and articles of incorporation, which needed important revisions regarding voting delegates and board duties. To pass any revisions, two-thirds of the voting delegates at NCCW’s September convention had to approve the changes.

NCCW had four weeks to prepare the provisions and compile a mailing to members explaining the proposed changes. “We engaged NCCW’s Episcopal Liaison, their official liaison to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to write a letter to the members supporting the changes,” says Dunne. “But even after all the prep work, we weren’t confident that the bylaws revision was going to pass.”

With an 80 percent vote in favor of the revisions, NCCW took a significant step toward organizational change after almost 90 years. The 41-member board of directors is now defined as the governing body of the organization, and the board can amend bylaws rather than voting delegates being required to do so during NCCW’s biennial convention. While 28 province directors representing provinces in the Catholic Church were retained, a president-elect position was created for 2010 and three vice-presidents will be eliminated in 2011, reducing the board to 33 members.

Overcoming obstacles. Confronted with an outdated database, office procedures from the 1980s, and little web presence, NCCW tackled essential internal changes while the overhauling the governance structure. Kushner says there were gaps in recordkeeping and office operations. “It was actually quite significant, [and] I think it’s been going on for many years. Clearly there was a lack of supervision of staff. They had no strategic plan, no effective operational planning, ineffective financial planning, [and] a significantly complicated and ineffective membership system in terms of categories,” he says.

Membership was dropping, in part due to unsent renewal mailings. After explaining the connection between the dysfunctional databases and declining membership, a consultant was hired to automate work that staff had done by hand, leaving them “astounded at what they’re now able to do,” says Dunne.

Despite the problems of the past, board members have been supportive and receptive to change.  “We had to begin to change the staff perspective and the board’s perspective,” says Dunne. “We worked diligently to help them understand where they were and what changes needed to happen for them to survive. At the same time, we worked with the leadership to build an open and trusting relationship which made it possible for change to begin.”

What’s next? Moving forward, NCCW is focusing on increasing individual memberships. Among those individual memberships, Dunne says NCCW would like to see an uptick in young, diverse membership too. There are no guarantees about the long-term success of the restructuring, but it seems NCCW has “overcome [the] lack of energy, and now there seems to be a new energy and a new willingness on the part of the organization to try some things to move forward,” Kushner says. Dunne agrees, saying, “The board took a risk, made a commitment to change, and they have taken the first big step. Now the hard work starts.”

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About CompleteMember Systems: CompleteMember offers an integrated web-based system that helps organizations spend less time on administration and more time growing and supporting their organization. Our CompleteMember system brings together member management tools, website management, and Quickbooks-integrated accounting into a single, easy-to-use platform. No more triple entries and lost revenue opportunities. Visit CompleteMember’s Website Content, Invoicing, and Member Management System, or click HERE to contact us for a FREE initial consultation to help your organization.

 

CompleteMember Systems Proud to Announce New Chamber Client

CompleteMember Systems is proud to announce the recently signed services contract with a new Chamber of Commerce client.  New Boston (Texas) Chamber of Commerce has contracted to receive:  the development of a new website utilizing the firm’s CompleteMember web-based software with full Quickbooks integration, member management, and on-going website content management.  Click HERE for more details.

Does Chamber of Commerce Membership Only Benefit Big Companies?

A recent public exchange on a social networking site regarding the benefits of Chamber of Commerce membership caught our attention; it took place in response to the posting of an article about the Chamber of Commerce Value Study we mentioned in a previous blog posting.  We think this conversation brings to light one of the basic issues involved in making a Chamber membership have value for your firm.  Read the exchange below to see if you agree.

From Ron (small business owner)

I have found that most Chambers promote large businesses that contribute a lot of money! The small businesses get left out of the loop!

From Linda (small business owner)

Ron -

I used to believe the same myself – that is until the day I decided that I wasn’t going to be left out of the loop anymore.

The strategy that I started using back then was to become extremely involved in the Chamber. I volunteered for a variety of committees, eventually became the Chairperson of a couple of them, offered to assist with some programs/events, sent useful information/articles to various members of the chamber staff including the Executive Director, and obviously, attended quite a few events. Basically, I made it impossible for them to overlook me.

Once I did that, I found I didn’t have to work so hard at it anymore and the contacts/benefits started to come to me without tremendous effort on my part – because now my company and I were known.

As micro-business owners we always face a challenge that we don’t have the resources to make ourselves ‘top of mind’ for those in the positions of power. However, the one resource we do have is ourselves – and if we offer to share our time, knowledge, and capabilities with the Chamber we become indispensable – to them and to many of those big companies because we become known as the person who ‘knows how to get things done’.

You might consider employing a similar strategy to see if it will work for you. Good luck!

Our thought is though every Chamber of Commerce and every situation are different, if you want your membership to be beneficial to your firm, you need to plan to put some effort into making it effective.  It takes more than signing the membership application and sending your membership check; you need to make an effort to get involved and to interact with staff and other members at every opportunity.  This is evidenced in Linda’s response to Ron, and the results she found by following an ‘active’ strategy.

Do you agree?

How SEO can help your organization gain additional membership

What if I told you that you could get 70% more visitors to your organization’s website within three months? 70% more people looking at your members’ businesses. 70% more people looking at your events calendar. 70% more people considering becoming a member of your organization. You would say, “yeah right, by spending ten thousand dollars on advertising.”  Well, we were able to increase one of our customer’s organic search traffic by 70%, and for not much more than a few hours of their time.

How did we do it? Three simple words (or one acronym) – Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The purpose of this blog post is not to tell you how to optimize your site for search engines, the purpose is to communicate the importance of SEO so that you have ‘top of your mind’ awareness of it. If you would like to know what steps to take to increase your web traffic by 70%, then visit CompleteMember.com to download our SEO guide and chamber of commerce case study.

Why is SEO so useful? One of the main reasons that SEO can be so beneficial is that it is incredibly cost-effective versus advertising. If you spend money or time optimizing your website JUST ONE TIME, it will pay off for several years to come in the form of higher search engine rankings, without more investment. However, if you want people to visit your site from advertising, you have to continue paying out of pocket as long as you want to keep the visitors coming.

How can SEO increase your organization’s membership? When you have more people finding your website with relevant keywords, you will have a directly correlated increase in membership applications.

Even if visitors aren’t interested in becoming a member, but may be interested just in your events, your advertising members and member profiles will get higher visibility on your website thanks to the increased number of visitors. More people will frequent your members’ businesses. The word will spread that your association helped to grow members’ businesses, and as a result, more members will join your organization. It’s a win-win situation no matter what way you look at it!

As with any marketing, it’s imperative to make sure your SEO campaign is targeted at the right audience. If you need help with your SEO campaign or want to use a system that automatically optimizes your website for search engines, please give us a call at 1-888-568-5440 or Contact Us.

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About CompleteMember Systems: CompleteMember offers an integrated web-based system that helps organizations spend less time on administration and more time growing and supporting their organization. Our CompleteMember system brings together member management tools, website management, and Quickbooks-integrated accounting into a single, easy-to-use platform. No more triple entries and lost revenue opportunities. Visit CompleteMember’s Website Content, Invoicing, and Member Management System

The Real Value of Joining Your Chamber

A 2007 study showed that membership in a local chamber of commerce will significantly boost a business’ image among consumers, as well as increase the likelihood of consumers shopping at the member’s business.

The study, commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), IBM, Administaff, Small Business Network, Inc., and Market Street Services, showed that when respondents were told that a particular small business was a member of its local chamber, they were 44 percent more likely to rate it favorably than study respondents who were not told of the chamber affiliation. Respondents were also 63 percent more likely to want to purchase goods or services from a small business that is a chamber member.

“We discovered that informing someone about a company’s chamber membership opens the door to substantial increases in positive perceptions of that business,” said Alex Trouteaud, Ph.D., senior strategist for The Schapiro Group. “There clearly is a feeling by our respondents that chamber membership is synonymous with quality and desirability.”

To tap into this reservoir of goodwill, a small business should not only join the local chamber of commerce and participate, but also make sure consumers and other businesses are aware of that chamber affiliation.

The positive impact of perceived chamber membership is felt by big businesses, too.  For example, when consumers believed that a restaurant chain was a member of the local chamber of commerce, they were 40 percent more likely to eat at the franchise in the future.  And if a consumer believed that one of the major automobile manufacturers was a member of its local chamber, that consumer was 9 percent more likely to consider purchasing his or her next car from that automaker.

“This study reinforces research done in 2005 about the perceived capacity of chambers to lead businesses and lead communities,” said Mick Fleming, president of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE).  “These new national findings point to even more direct benefits for companies willing to be stakeholders in their local chamber.”

The study results had good news for chambers themselves, where 82 percent of respondents indicated that a local chamber of commerce “creates jobs and promotes economic development.”

 “The message from this national study is as simple as it is ground-breaking,” said Jim Blasingame, small business expert and president of Small Business Network, Inc. “Join your local chamber, be an active participant in your chamber’s programs and be sure to let your customers and prospects know you’re a proud chamber supporter when they come in your business and when they see your marketing material.”

J. Mac Holladay, CEO of Market Street Services, an economic development consulting firm based in Atlanta that helped create the study, said, “It is refreshing to learn what we have suspected for years — that chamber membership and community involvement are good investments.”

Want more information? Read the full chamber of commerce study…

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About CompleteMember Systems: CompleteMember offers an integrated web-based system that helps organizations spend less time on administration and more time growing and supporting their organization. Our CompleteMember system brings together member management tools, website management, and Quickbooks-integrated accounting into a single, easy-to-use platform. No more triple entries and lost revenue opportunities. Visit CompleteMember’s Website Content, Invoicing, and Member Management System

Why Join a Chamber of Commerce or Business Association?

There has been a great deal of news recently about businesses and associations leaving the United States Chamber of Commerce due to the Chamber’s stance on the climate change policy. This has raised the following question in the minds of thousands of business owners: “What do I get out of joining a chamber of commerce?”

Unfortunately, sometimes the answer might not be particularly obvious, and as a result many businesses don’t join their chambers of commerce. But the answers are actually strong ones. So, as a business owner, why should you join your local chamber of commerce? Here are a few very compelling reasons:

1.       Bring More Customers in the Door. A recent study by the Schapiro Group, an Atlanta-based consulting firm, revealed that membership in a chamber of commerce can significantly boost a business’s image in the eye of consumers, as well as other businesses, particularly other chamber member businesses. In fact, survey respondents were 63% more likely to purchase goods or services from a small business that is a chamber member! Businesses that were a part of chambers were 44% more likely to rate the business favorably than a non-member. This is solid statistical evidence showing how chamber membership can directly boost your bottom line.

2.       Most Customers Can Find Your Business. Undoubtedly, when you join a chamber of commerce, more local residents and out-of-town visitors will be able to find out about your business through your chamber’s website. That is why the Business Listings section of the CompleteChamber website package is often the most popular destination for businesses. Furthermore, local residents want to support local businesses that support the community. So it’s a healthy symbiotic relationship where businesses and consumers win.

3.       Get Involved. By joining your chamber of commerce, you show your support for the local community. Not only will this add to your bottom line, but it will also improve the quality of life for you and your business because they will be more a part of your community. Chamber of commerce websites are often the first destination for residents and visitors looking for local events. And with your membership, you’ll often be the first to know about, and have priority with, local festivals, fairs, parades, and other events.

If you need more information about joining your local chamber of commerce, please contact us for a free list of chambers of commerce in your area.

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About CompleteMember Systems: CompleteMember offers an integrated web-based system that helps organizations spend less time on administration and more time growing and supporting their organization. Our CompleteMember system brings together member management tools, website management, and Quickbooks-integrated accounting into a single, easy-to-use platform. No more triple entries and lost revenue opportunities. Visit CompleteMember’s Website Content, Invoicing, and Member Management System.

CompleteMember Parent Company Donates Website to Non-Profit

CompleteMember’s parent company, Powerful Design has joined with Detroit-based marketing consulting firm, Strategic Growth Concepts to develop and provide  a website to a non-profit animal rescue group that was recently victimized by thieves.

Detroit-based animal rescue group, HomeFur-ever, recently suffered the loss of thousands of dollars worth of food, medical supplies, crates, and other equipment when thieves stole their van and enclosed trailer in broad daylight (see news coverage HERE).  The van and trailer were eventually abandoned and recovered with extensive damage, but the items stored in both were either gone or destroyed.  Since HomeFur-ever does not currently have a building, the group stores all of its supplies and equipment within the vehicles, this makes the loss even more devastating and has seriously hindered their ability to care for the 90+ animals currently under their responsibility.

In order to help the group obtain donations of cash and goods to facilitate their recovery from this ordeal, Powerful Design worked with the group’s pro-bono marketing group, Strategic Growth Concepts to provide a comprehensive website that will meet their current needs, as well as expanding with them as their organization begins to once again achieve growth.

The website, www.HomeFurever.com was built utilizing Powerful Design’s proprietary website management system, MYCE, a user-friendly system enabling the rescue group to offer a wide array of useful tools for visitors to the site, including:

• the ability to provide one-time donations OR monthly donations in increments of $10, $25, $50, or $100
• the opportunity to ‘sponsor’ on-going animal care, treatment for major animal medical issues, or gifting an adoption
• a HomeFur-ever ‘Fundraising Kit’ for individuals or groups who want to develop fundraising events on behalf of HomeFur-ever
• photo galleries of the group’s animals which enlarge significantly when clicked on to enable better views of the available animals
• a HomeFur-ever video
• links to upcoming HomeFur-ever adoption & fundraising events (including links to maps of event locations)
• videos of, and links to, the news coverage received as a result of the recent robbery the group was subjected to
• resource links for pet owners, including:  pet emergency care, trainers, veterinarians, pet insurance, and many others
• an educational page about current animal-related issues
• access to the HomeFur-ever Twitter and Facebook sites
• online forms for those interested in:  fostering, adoption, volunteering, raising funds for the group, making food or other donations to the group, etc.
• a link to the website of an artist who does custom animal paintings; HomeFur-ever will obtain 10% of the revenue generated from every painting contracted via the link from the HomeFur-ever website
• links to national animal rescue related fundraising sites.

Powerful Design (www.PowerfulDesign.com) and it’s sister companies CompleteMember (www.CompleteMember.com)  and CompleteChamber (www.CompleteChamber.com) utilize the powerful MYCE Website Management System in the development of websites for their client firms, including:  chambers of commerce, membership organizations, cities/communities, and small businesses.

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CompleteMember offers an integrated web-based system that helps organizations spend less time on administration and more time on growitng and supporting their organization.  Our CompleteMember system brings together member management tools, website management, and Quickbooks-integrated accounting into a single, easy-to-use platform.  No more triple entries and lost revenue opportunities.  Visit CompleteMember’s Content, Invoicing, and Member Management System.