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Shannan Reid is the Executive Director at the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery, Tx. The Montgomery Area Chamber is only about 5 years old and is a high growth area just North of Houston. With just 209 members at this point, Shannan explains how their Chamber is able to Play Big! They have a vision for what the mature version of their Chamber will look like and they are serving their community and membership as if they are already at this mature level. A major advantage that Shannan has is that they are in the process of creating this Chamber so it can go any direction that they feel is needed and they don’t have to be tied down to old traditions. They are very active in finding out what the needs are of their members and then creating programs to best serve their membership. By keeping a pulse on what the members needs are, also requires the Chamber to have the courage to sunset some programs that are no longer serving their members.
While surveying new members, Shannan found out that 95% of the businesses are joining the Chamber for engagement. Engagement can mean different things to each business, but there is both the give and take in the engagement process. Some businesses want to engage at the level of getting their name out in front of other businesses and the community, while others what to engage by learning what is going on in the community so they can better serve their target audience. In both types of engagement, the Chamber needs to be the trusted resource for your community. Chambers should leverage all of their relationships to best serve their members. Shannan has a neat phrase that she tells all new members, “My number should be in your speed dial”. She shares her cell phone number with each new business to give them the confidence that she is working for them and will be their trusted resource to get them the answers that they need.
We also discussed how important it is to learn something new. As a Chamber, education programs are a great way to keep your members engaged and learning how to better round out their business. I mentioned that in the digital age that we live in, education has never been easier. We used to have to be at a library or referencing a book or going through some type of format education to learn, but new we can learn about anything, even when we are on the go. That is way I love podcast! You can learn about any topic. Google and Youtube can also be great helps in allowing you to learn something new.
Shannan was a great guest to have on Chamber Chat Podcast. For anyone who would like to get in contact with Shannan about anything we disucussed in this espisode, she can be reached at her office 936-597-5004 or you can call/text her cell phone at 936-524-2484 or email at admin@montgomeryareachamber.com.
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