How Chamber Members Become Superfans

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.

Episode 38 — Superfans
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: Solo
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.098 Brandon Burton
What are you a fan of? Are you a super fan of anything? Maybe a sports team, a band, a TV show, or a brand? Let's talk about this right after the intro. This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
00:32.556 Brandon Burton
Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I'm Brandon Burton and I'm here to introduce you to people and ideas so you can better serve your Chamber members and your community. Now, something about me. I am a super fan of the San Francisco 49ers. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would hang out at the 49ers training camp each summer. We would Watch the players practice, we would get autographs and pictures of the players and coaches, and we would learn everything we could about every player. My friends and I we were so connected to the 49ers that as training camp progressed and started to wind down, they would have to make roster cuts, and my friends and I would find ourselves devastated and just quite honestly upset with some of the players that they would have to let go. Now I also got to meet some of the Forty Niner greats like Steve Young and Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens before his ego got too big and and Ken Norton Jr. But my bedroom, it was filled with all sorts of Forty Niner memorabilia, and even my office today still sports much of my prized Forty Niner collection. So that question I asked at the beginning. What are you a fan or a super fan of? Were you able to give that some thought? Think about your experience when you were first introduced to this thing that you're a fan of. And at one point you were just a casual observer. And what took you along that journey from being a casual observer to becoming a super fan? I decided that today I I wanted to do sort of a book review for Pat Flynn's new book titled Superfans. For those of you who may not know, Pat Flynn, he is the founder and host of a podcast and a blog, both by the same name of Smart Passive Income. He considers himself to be a crash test dummy for business. He tries things out and lets you know what works and what doesn't work.
02:52.058 Brandon Burton
And in his new book, Superfans, he takes you through the journey of a fan, starting off as a casual observer to becoming part of an active audience, to being a connected you know, being connected to the community, and then finally becoming a super fan. So, as I become a bigger fan of Pat Flynn, obviously I've I've bought his book and I I subscribed to his podcast and over the last year or two I've learned a a lot from him. I learned about how to get this podcast started from studying what Pat does. One thing that I really like about Pat from the first time that I listened to him is that he was very selective about any sponsors or advertisers for his show. He talks about receiving large offers from companies to advertise on his podcast when he was just getting started. before he was really making any any kind of money from it. And he turned them down because their message did not fit his brand. It it was not in line with his subscribers. And I've tried to bring that same kind of thing into Chamber Chat Podcast. I could get advertisers or sponsors for any random products. in fact on other podcasts I hear many ads for security systems or shaving kits and and things of that in those lines, but that's not for my show. My audience consists of chamber professionals. Not that you don't need a security system or shaving kits, but I you're here for a reason and I want to serve you the best way that I can. So I want any of my sponsors of this show to be in line with you, with my audience. So most chamber fet professionals will want to use a local business for anything that they're able to in order to support their local economies and that's great. And I totally encourage that. The two companies that I've chosen to sponsor with so far with Chamber Chat Podcast are Community Matters and Swipe It. I decided to work with both of these companies because, well, let's start with Community Matters. They specialize in chamber publishing of maps and directories. And even though you may have and probably do have local publishers in your city, there is a difference.
05:19.028 Brandon Burton
in working with a publisher that's familiar with chamber publishing. And Community Matters always follows through with their commitments, which is a big deal, making sure that you as a chamber get your your part of your nondues revenue, but also get a a good quality product on time and from a company that treats your members right. Now you can learn more about having Community Matters work with you on a a future project, map, or directory by visiting Chamberchatpodcast.com slash CMI, which stands for Community Matters Inc. So again, Chamberchatpodcast.com slash CMI. Now Swipeit, you've probably heard their ads on on the this podcast, but Swipeit is a credit card processor, and I'm sure you have a press credit card processor or two that are members of your chamber. Or you may even use your local bank for processing credit cards. And the reason I chose to partner with Swipe It is because they beat the costs of most competitors sometimes by as high as 40%. But maybe more importantly is Swipe It offers an affinity program that they can pay your chamber non dues revenue year after year. You're able to help your members become more profitable by saving their in their credit card fees and you can help them you can you know earn non recurring non-dues revenue for the chamber for each member who starts swiping with swipe it you can you can have a representative from swipe it probably the owner kevin hodis contact you about getting your chamber set up with their affinity program by visiting chamberchatpodcast.com slash cc, which stands for credit card. So chamberchatpodcast.com slash cc. Now in this episode today, I plan to walk through about the first three-fourths of Pat Flynn's book, Superfans. And as I mentioned, I I'll be highlighting the things that stood out to me and specifically how those key points apply to chambers of commerce.
07:37.794 Brandon Burton
Now, as you listen to this episode, I'm sure that you'll hear some ideas and you'll probably have some ideas from your own, just you know, sparked from from what you hear. I would encourage you to write it down. Write those ideas down if you can. If you're driving, don't write them down, just keep driving. You can always go back to this episode and listen to it again and and then jot those notes down. But I want to be sure that you can act on these ideas as impressions come to you. I've Always thought that it would be awesome to see a chamber with a fan base of members who serve as ambassadors. Not the kind of ambassadors that wear the red coats and show up to ribbon cuttings, but I mean real ambassadors who go out in the community who share the message about what the chamber can do for businesses with everyone they meet. Just think about how powerful that would be. Imagine that. So without any further delay, let's get into the book. So he has the book broken up into four parts. And the first part he talks about the casual audience to becoming active audience. So casual audience, these are going to be people who they may hear about the chamber because you do a 5K or the chamber because they see ribbon cuttings in the the newspaper, things like that. They're that's all it is is just casual, Bystandards almost. They don't really know exactly what the chamber has to offer, but they've heard heard the chamber name. They may know a business that's a member, but that's about the extent of their their interaction with the chamber. So back in episode five of Chamber Chat Podcast, I had interviewed Tony Felker from the Frisco Chamber of Commerce. And he talked about Something they do at their chamber is I can't remember if we call it a yellow highlighter or green highlighter exercise, but the the point is they take a a highlighter, they print out their membership list, take this, I'm gonna say a yellow highlighter, and go through the membership list and highlight the name of each business who is an active participant with the chamber. So first of all, what defines an active member?
10:00.894 Brandon Burton
Is that somebody who shows up at all the mixers? Is that somebody who shows up at all the ribbon cuttings or all the luncheons? Or is that somebody who sits on your board? Is that somebody who advertises in in whatever the chamber puts out there? And I hope the answer is yes. I hope that answer is if somebody's participating in any one of those things, that they are an active member. And even today. You could say if they are commenting or reacting to your social media posts from the chamber, that I would consider them an active member because they're plugged in. They're they're getting some kind of value from the chamber. So part one in this or I guess this is the first chapter in this part, he talks Pat Flynn talks about learning the lyrics. And he he tells a story about his wife. Who was a big Backstreet Boys fan when she was a teenager. And they have the the popular song, I'm sure you're familiar familiar with it, but quit playing games with my heart. Quit playing games with my heart. And now you probably all have that song going through your head now. But they knew Backstreet Boys, they knew who their audience was. And They knew that their audience was teenage girls. They knew that these teenage girls would have crushes on boys, and that they would end up having their hearts broken. And so having these lyrics quit playing games with my heart, they were speaking to their specific audience. They knew what they were going through, and they created lyrics that resonated with their audience. I in episode six of Chambertop Podcast, I talked about Good vibrations, frequency, and resonance. And in that episode it kind of goes along these same lines about what you can do to resonate or speak the language or the lyrics of your audience or your chamber members. So do you know the lyrics for your audience? Do you know what your chamber members or what the greater business community is looking for, what their needs are?
12:27.254 Brandon Burton
Are you speaking to them? When your members get emails or see social media posts, is it speaking to their lyrics or the language that they care about? So just think about that as you get your branding out there. Is it speaking to them? And in the next chapter he talks about breaking the ice and to not be so formal. I think in the especially in the business sense, everybody Wants to be so formal, you know, handshakes and wearing suits and all these things, and not that any of that's bad. in fact, a lot of it's good, but be willing to share things about yourself and your staff that are personal. You know, not just on the business level, but let them know if you're a super fan of the 49ers, or whatever you're a fan of. Maybe you're I don't know, Billy Idol fan, w whatever it may be. let your let your members know who you are what what makes you tick and that's going to make you more real to them and they can connect with you and build a better relationship with you. So this will create real bonds with your members. Now Pat Pat Flynn is a he's a huge back to the future fan and his audience knows all about it. And he talks about how whenever His fans see the movie Back to the Future, they'll often hit him up on Twitter and say, Hey Pat, I'm watching Back to the Future, I'm thinking about you or they'll come across some kind of paraphernalia or, you know, fan gear for Back to the Future and they'll often send these things to Pat because they know he collects Back to the Future memorabilia. So he has in the book even he showed pictures of all these things, you know, from the movie that people have sent to him. Because they know what a big fan he is. And it really just makes that connection real and creates a bond between these fans and and you. So think about how you can become real and connect with your chamber members by just sharing personal things about yourself and break that ice. Now the next thing that that Pat dives into is he talks about creating quick wins.
14:53.442 Brandon Burton
And if you can create an opportunity for your casual or potential members to get a quick win, then they'll come back for more. And this is why social media and video games are so success so successful is they create quick wins constantly. People are in just in life, people are busy and they often want to know what's in it for me. So if you can show them How you can serve them, give them that quick win, give them something of value right off the bat, you immediately establish a good value for the chamber. Now I know some chambers have created a program for new members that pairs them with a mentor who's another chamber member in a related industry. That can be a quick win. They can create a relationship that can feed each other business, and then they both win. It's a win-win for both of them. So, what are some other quick win opportunities that you can create? You may have some flashes of ideas come into your mind. And again, if you are, jot those down so you can act on them. Because creating those quick wins are going to bring them back over and over again. So, as I mentioned, Pat is a big back to the future fan. So his next step here, he's titled it Drive the DeLorean. So By Drive the DeLorean, he's talking about helping your members or potential members to imagine how their situation could improve by being an active member of the chamber. Now, this can be done by testimonials and by real stories of people who've walked this path from being a casual member to an active member and what that action has done for their business. their networks and their overall relationships. Pat says, tell them a story of what their problem looks like and what it looks like once it's solved. So I'll repeat that. It says tell them a story of what their problem looks like once it's been solved. So you have the answer to help them solve their problem and often using the words like imagine. You know, picture this, imagine this.
17:17.782 Brandon Burton
You have this problem, we have the solution, and with the solution applied, your life is dramatically different or your business succeeds. Without this answer, you may continue to struggle and continue to go down the same path that you're already on. But let us help you get to that next level by trusting the chamber and the resources we have for you. But overall, just show them some examples of transformation of some of your members. So his next step that he highlights, he he titles Return Every Handshake. Now this one is huge. How many of you are connected to or follow Frank Kenny on social media? He's a great example of what it means to return every handshake. Whenever someone comments on one of his posts, he always, at least from what I've seen, he responds to their comment in a personal way. He'll often mention their name and something unique to what they commented about. It's far too easy to get too busy to be bothered with returning every email or replying to every comment on social media, but this is a game changer. Some chamber executives put off the impression that they're untouchable. You can't reach them. And they're always too busy or can't be bothered by the average Joe. If you see the average Joe The average Joe is leaving comments on the chamber social media posts, you should be drawing notice and making Joe feel welcome and glad that he's participating and being active. This may be his way of making the cut on the yellow highlighter exercise. Now, as a side note, when we talk about returning every handshake, I'm not talking about just hitting like or the thumbs up button with their comment, but actually put a little effort. Into responding with a personal touch so they know that you spent some time thinking about them individually. So, part two of the book, he gets into the next transition of taking this active audience to becoming a connected community. So, how do you take active members and turn them into a connected community? The first thing he talks about, he says, let them take a shot.
19:41.676 Brandon Burton
So Pat shares a story about a man named Steve Spangler, who produces scientific videos that are very entertaining. And he's known for performing scientific demonstrations on video, specifically on YouTube, that really wow his community. Now, Steve Spangler learned that without engaging his audience in the right way, that although his videos would get a lot of views, the comments were very lackluster. People may comment and say, Wow. Cool, that was neat. But that was about the end of the comments, and there would only be a few of Now that was before he learned a simple strategy. Rather than explaining how the science worked in the video, he would demonstrate he would go about his demonstration and then he would ask his audience to leave a comment in the comment section on YouTube about how they thought the experiment worked. He left it up to his audience. To explain how it worked. Now, this experiment of his of asking for the input from his followers put his comments and engagement through the roof. Everyone likes to show how smart they are. And if you provide a platform for them to share what they know with others, then many people will engage. This may require some creativity to implement this at a at a chamber level, but give it a try. You know, simple questions, even even like Posting up what is healthier, kale or spinach. Yeah, you could put that on your Facebook feed for the chamber, just to get some reaction, just to test it out. And people will weigh in with their expertise, for good or bad, or you know, sometimes they'll get into you know little back and forths with each other about which one is is better for you. so also good, you know, what would you do questions. would be a good option to help get some unique feedback and and find some answers for unique situations. For instance, if your city is struggling to find employees for restaurants in your area, you may ask your members in an open-ended question, what would you do to attract these types of employees to work in our city? And people will weigh in. They'll give their feedback and let you know i some of them will be terrible ideas
22:09.466 Brandon Burton
And some of them will be pretty good ideas. It will spark something that that you can try, you know, that you can work with the city with. then he talks about letting them decide. Let your audience, let your members make a decision. So this step is similar to let them take a shot, but it may be a little bit more specific. So in essence, you want to ask your members for input on making a decision. For example, if you're working on a rebit rebranding campaign, you may ask your members to vote on your top two or three logo designs. You could do the same thing when it comes to a program for a luncheon or speakers to choose from for an event. The idea is to give some control to your members so they feel like their voice is making a difference. Now the next step is create a challenge. Now this is a fun one. As I read this chapter I had a few ideas, but as you onboard new members you can create a challenge for them to meet certain requirements. And if they complete the requirements, they can get some kind of an award. Now these requirements, they they may be to reach out to, you know, a certain number of members to create a network of their own, or to attend a certain number of chamber event events in their first three months. Or to bring a potential member to an event. Yeah, you get the idea. But you could even step this challenge up by creating little rewards throughout the challenge so they get the instant wins, those quick wins that we talked about earlier, all along the way. And that will help to get them addicted in a good way. So they can continue and and complete the challenge that you set out for them. And that's really going to ingrain them and get them get their claws into the chamber and and everything the chamber can do for them. Now the next step that Pat talks about is opening the factory doors. No, by this he talks he means to kind of show behind the curtain. Anytime you can p pull back the curtain to show your members how much you really do on their behalf, they will appreciate your efforts so much more. Especially if you only offer this behind the scenes peak to certain people, maybe those who complete your challenge, or those who are most engaged with the chamber, this will not only make them feel special but
24:35.416 Brandon Burton
But it will give them something to talk about as they visit with other members. And it'll make them feel special that they know something that the other people don't and they'll they'll be happy to share it. So often I see advis advocacy efforts go unnoticed by many of the chamber members. But if just a few businesses could see how important and what an impact those efforts are to every business in your community, then they'll start to talk. And help spread the message of the good work that the chamber does for everyone. So hopefully that's given you some ideas of what you can do to open the factory doors, let your members see behind the curtain of what you do for them. So the next step, Pat talks about staging an e a gig. I was gonna say stage an event, but he calls it a gig. So hopefully you have gigs or events on a regular basis. I will not go into Too much detail on this segment, other than these events should be an opportunity for people to get know get to know the chamber and and the staff of the chamber. So these events can be very stressful, I know, for for chamber staff, as everything always seems to get pulled together at the last minute, but they are the opportunity for the community at large to get to know you. So take advantage of the opportunity, and even though you're very busy, try not to To look busy. Make time to shake hands and build those connections with those members that are taking time out of their day to be there. So this next step, I love. the next step he says, give them a name. Give your audience, give your membership a name. I love this idea. So I wish I could see a a r a show of hands, but how many of you have a name for your chamber members? Think about that. What I mean it it makes total sense to be able to have a name so you can you can say the name and it refers to your whole membership. So couple examples. If you think of Trekkies, you know that I'm talking about Star Trek fans, or cheeseheads are Green Bay Packer fans, or parrotheads are fans of Jimmy Buffett, or Swifties are fans of Taylor Swift. I actually didn't know.
27:02.102 Brandon Burton
Swifties that Taylor Swift fans were called Swifties. I learned that from Pat in his book. But fans of Pat Flynn are called Team Flynn. So there's a lot of power that comes through a group of people having a common identity. Pat shares a story in the book about how Star Trek was almost canceled only after one season, after one year after a launch, because it just it didn't have the ratings. But there was such a fan base of Trekkies that got on board with a letter writing campaign to NBC that they had to keep producing Star Trek. They ended up producing in total 31 seasons and over 740 episodes. Now a group with an identity can go to bat for you. They can they can fight for you. So if the chamber ever receives bad press, your fans will have your back and support you all the way. I'd encourage you to give some serious thought to what you should call your chamber members. Sometimes your members come up with the name and sometimes you have to give it to them. This may be something that you can let them decide. Put a couple options out there on Facebook and on your social media accounts and let them vote. Let them decide what the name should be for the your chamber membership. It may seem uncomfortable at first to refer to your membership by a name, but you'll get used to it and it'll create an identity that they can all relate to. I think this that step right there is magical. So the as we keep moving along, the the next step is bringing them together. So this happens already with chambers, but maybe you can step it up a notch. Maybe you can reach out to your most active members and invite them to a private get together. This is how your biggest fans this it it allows your biggest fans to support each other and become even bigger fans because of the connections that you're facilitating. So with that it it takes us on to the next step, which is make them shine. So this topic is pretty unique. The idea is to take your biggest fans and put the focus on them. Maybe
29:25.664 Brandon Burton
Maybe they are the focus of the of a newsletter article or a social media post. the bigger the platform, the better. Pat tells a story of the company Chubbies. Maybe you're familiar with them, maybe you're not, but they they produce men's shorts, kind of unique designs and stuff on But in the world of Instagram, Chubbies was getting tagged in photos from their customers wearing the shorts. picture somebody out of the pool, you know, and they're wearing chubby shorts. They get a picture and they tag Chubbies in it saying, check out my new Chubbies. but at one point it the Instagram feed for Chubbies was featuring 95% of the posts were their customers that were tagging Chubbies in their posts. in fact in 2015, Chubbies took this to the next level by hiring male models for their ad campaigns. out of their customer base to feature their brand. I just I thought that was awesome. But those fans that got chosen to be the male models, i imagine I mean they're gonna be fans for life. They're gonna wear chubbies, you know, as long as chubby's is around. So those were models that they used for their their own customers. But This this topic is very open to creativity, but the i idea is to find ways to put your biggest fans in the spotlight. So not every chamber member is going to be your biggest fan, but you will have some that rise to the top, and those are the ones that you want to make shine. So the third part to this book, so like I mentioned, we're going three-fourths of the book in this this book review on this episode, but the Part three is taking the connected community to becoming super fans. Now this is where it gets good. This is where your real super fans really rise to the top. So Pat talks about this, he he calls it Remember the Lemons. So he tells a story when he was a waiter while he was in college. He and his his fellow waiters, they would play a game when they would wait tables to see who could earn the most tips on a given night.
31:44.566 Brandon Burton
So Pat noticed that a certain man was a pretty regular customer. He would come in a few nights a week, and sometimes he'd come in with work colleagues. But Pat made it a point to be this man's waiter. And Pat would notice that the way that this man would would place his order, and he made it the goal to make this li this man's life and his ordering as easy as possible. So every time the man ordered, he would specifically ask for water and Three lemons. Not a bunch of lemons, or not one lemon or or a whole bunch, but three, very specific. So Pat got to know the man's name, which is Albert, and he got to know Albert's regular order. He formed a relationship with Albert because he cared about him to the point that Albert would ask for Pat to be his server whenever he came in, and Pat would always bring him his water with you got it three lemons. His tips went up drastically too, from the standard fifteen percent tips to tips ranging from twenty to twenty five dollars all the way up to a hundred dollars when he would have other colleagues in there with him to eat. So the lesson that Pat learned was to pay attention to the individual and you will get rewarded. So people, businesses all have different reasons why they get involved with the chamber in the first place. If you can figure out what their why is, what their reason is for joining the chamber, you can learn their name, name of them individually, their business, what their needs are, and then deliver and make it better and better over and over again. Then you'll be figuratively bringing them lemons every time they visit. So I love that story. But the next step. is send unexpected messages. So think about how it used to feel when you would check your mailbox. I mean your actual mailbox, you know, where the mailman delivers mail. how did it feel when you received a letter from a friend or a family member? Especially if it had been a while since you last communicated with them. Those little things make a person feel special. If you were to take a minute and send a quick email
34:09.558 Brandon Burton
or even a physical note to one of your members, totally unexpected, and not asking for anything, but just to say thank you, or that you're thinking about them, how would that make them feel? Now we're also in the time where we have access to pretty amazing technology. So what would it mean to one of your members or maybe a new member to get a personalized video message from you? If you acknowledge what they're doing within the chamber community and mention their name and their business. They would know that you took the time out of your day to think about them and to even take action to reach out to them. Now in the book, Pat talks about an app called Bonjuro, which gives you an alert on your phone every time someone joins your your list, your email list, or whatever that list may be. But the app will prompt you then to make a short selfie video to send to the new subscriber. Now I've not used this app yet. But I have done something similar when chamber professionals have joined my email list. I've sent personalized video messages to them to welcome them to the chamber chat podcast community. Gee, I really need to get a good name for you guys. But I offer to help them along the along their journey as they explore all that the podcast has to offer to them. So this almost always, every time I I've sent a video. message like that's personalized almost always gets an email response back because it's an unexpected message. It's going above and beyond. So you can see big payoffs by finding pleasing ways to interrupt the pattern of day-to-day operations for your members. Make them smile and know that you care about them. Now this next step is Pat calls it just getting them involved. So whenever you can make sense of it,
36:13.164 Brandon Burton
Get your members involved. This may be in a committee, this may be some role at a chamber event or in a larger level. You have members that serve on your board. I mean, they are involved. So the ways to get your members involved are limitless. It just takes a little bit of creativity. So a mentorship program could be a great way to get more seasoned fans of your chamber or members to help bring new members. Along their journey to help them become fans. Now, this last step that he highlights is to offer platinum access. So provide opportunities for your biggest fans to get a little more. Something special. So this may be a paid feature or a bonus to make certain members feel more special. Think about Going to a ballgame where you're looking to meet up with some friends, only to find out that their tickets were upgraded to box seats with an all-you-can-eat buffet. That makes them feel pretty special. But that's the kind of thing that you want to do, that you want to be able to offer to your biggest fans. Now, you can pay for box seats, or you can get an upgrade, if you know what I mean. Maybe you have a a big name speaker at an event and This platinum experience could be an introduction or behind the scenes introduction to the to the speaker, or maybe early access before the event. Maybe it's special seating or reserve seating. You can use your creativity to come up with better ideas than what I'm throwing at you, but the idea is to make them feel very special. Now, this really hits on the highlights of what I got out of the book Superfans by Pat Flynn with regard to how it can be applied to chambers of commerce. This book really targeted is it's really targeted to entrepreneurs. But as I read the book, I started to think about how an entrepreneur has to build everything from scratch. While these principles can be applied to a chamber very easily, since so many systems are already in place, including some kind of a following. You already have a membership, some following that you can apply these principles to. Now the idea is to turn that following into
38:36.596 Brandon Burton
Superfans who will stand up for the chamber and help inform others of the great value that your chamber has to offer. Imagine having an army of business owners and representatives going throughout your city that promote and tell every other business how great the Chamber of Commerce is. So I enjoyed doing this little book review for Pat Flynn's super fans. You can check out the show notes where I'll plug in some of the highlights from this discussion or or episode. The show notes page is chamberchappodcast.com slash episode thirty eight. And share with me do you like this? Do you like this kind of format? Should I do other book reviews over time? drop me a line on Facebook or or email, whatever whatever your preferred preferences or LinkedIn I And I'm happy to hear from you. But anyways, this is fun and I look forward to talking to you again next week.
39:43.254 Brandon Burton
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