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My guest this week is Jim Johnson from the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce in Georgetown, TX. As we talk about the importance of serving the greater business community in this episode, Jim shares a recent experience that has made him look at this topic more closely. In February 2018, a gas leak was found in a part of their town where there was a large concentration of businesses. Because of the make up of the soil, the gas did not dissipate very quickly and about 70 businesses were forced to evacuate for their safety. Of these 70 businesses, only 10-15% were Chamber members. Jim made the decision to advocate for all of these businesses, not just the members. The Chamber had signs made to direct customers to the temporary location for these businesses. The Chamber also communicated with the gas company to try to reach a settlement for the displaced businesses and loss of revenue. One of the big lessons that Jim learned through this experience is the need to have good contact information for all businesses in his community. By having good contact information, the Chamber can better communicate in a timely manner when needs arise. Besides emergency situations such as this one, there are other times where it is important to reach out to ALL local businesses. Jim has a goal to one day have a printed directory of all of the businesses in Georgetown and a database to go with it.
Another way that the Georgetown Chamber engages non-member businesses is through their annual bridal show. The Georgetown Chamber is unique in that they have an event venue attached to their building that they rent out for non-dues revenue. They are able to leverage this facility through this bridal show and they invite all businesses in the area that are involved in the wedding industry to participate.
If you would like to connect with Jim Johnson about anything we discussed or how he is doing things at the Georgetown Chamber, you can email him at jim@georgetownchamber.org or you can reach him by phone at 512-930-3535.
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