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How
do other chambers of commerce use
the Business Intelligence Report?
The most common way that chambers use the
Business Intelligence Report
is to fax, print or e-mail the publication to the membership as a
value-added benefit to increase member retention and goodwill.
However, chambers of all sizes have created many
ways to use and distribute the Business Intelligence Report.
Many
chambers are using it to keep their small business members happy.
Others
insert it into their chamber newsletters to increase readership, and
many
have found it to be an effective tool for selling memberships to new
companies. Some chambers secure sponsors, others rely solely on
increased
member retention to fund it. All have found that it translates into
positive feedback from members.
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How do we know if our members will
like the publication?
There are two answers to this: First, we
based this
publication’s content on what chamber members said they wanted in a
business publication and in a chamber benefit. Business owners want
their
chamber to communicate to them, to make them feel like they are getting
something for their chamber investment. However, the information they
want
is knowledge that will help their business thrive, and they want this
information in short, easy-to-read bites. This is what we provide, and
we
continually survey members to make sure we are still meeting their
needs.
Second, you can always ask them if this is something they
can use. However, don’t fall into the trap of asking just a few people
for their opinion. Those few people do not
represent the average chamber member. Instead, we will allow a survey
of
up to 500 randomly selected members to get their opinions on our
publication. This is an
option that we offer for free to chambers that are serious about using
our
product. Call for details.
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Don’t our members already have too much to
read?
Yes, they do. That was one of the most
often-stated
problems for chamber members. It’s also one of the most-stated reasons
why chamber members appreciate our publication. We offer them more
usable
information, but require less reading time. Much less. Most business
publications are about 80% fluff and 20% usable information. We focus
on
the 20%.
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Don’t our members already get this type of
information?
Some members already do receive a portion of
this
information from their original sources. However, our staff scans over
150
sources each month. This makes it highly unlikely that anyone, even an
info junkie, could read one of our publications and claim they had
already
read even half of the information in other publications. If they did,
they
could have saved dozens of hours of precious time just by reading the Business
Intelligence Report.
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What if we try your service and find out
later it’s not right for us?
Are we locking ourselves into a contract?
Not at all. You can cancel anytime you want.
It’s our
job to earn your business every month.
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Can the Business Intelligence
Report be used as a revenue generator?
Yes. Keep in mind that the best way the Business
Intelligence Report generates chamber revenue is by
increasing member
retention and attracting new members. In addition to this, many
chambers
will find sponsors or advertisers to support the publication and
generate
revenue. The Business Intelligence Report is an
excellent
advertising vehicle for companies trying to reach other local
businesses.
The publication is well-targeted, highly read, and its small size means
that sponsors don’t have to worry about getting "lost" in the
publication.
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Will your service really help us retain
more members?
Your members need to justify their
membership investment
based on the perceived value of their membership. This includes the
amount
and, more importantly, the quality of tangible and intangible benefits.
Our job is to provide your members with a benefit they appreciate and
use.
And although it shouldn’t be the only reason, it is one more reason to
either join or stay with the chamber. That’s how we increase retention.
Offering the Business Intelligence Report to your
members shows
that you care about the success of their businesses.
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Can we measure this retention?
That’s a tough question. Many factors go
into whether a
member stays with a chamber or not. Let’s face it, you can’t simply
ask, "Did you stay with the chamber because of the Business
Intelligence Report?" If the Business
Intelligence Report
is the only reason your members are staying with the chamber, your
chamber
has bigger problems than we could probably address. Usually it’s a mix
of benefits that makes the difference.
Still, we can indirectly measure how well we are helping
you retain members. We do this by surveying your members and asking
them
to rate how valuable the publication is to them
and how important their benefits package is to remaining a member. If
we
rate as one of the top member benefits, and benefits are important to
your
members, it’s likely that we’ve made a positive impact on your
chamber’s
revenue. We offer this option for free to clients who have been with us
for one year or more. Call for details.
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We don’t have a retention problem,
why would we use your service?
Many of the chambers that we work with don’t
have big
retention problems. We asked them why they use our product. What we
found
was that these chambers normally don’t have retention issues because
they are already proactive in providing for their member's needs. They
immediately saw the value of offering the Business
Intelligence Report
and made it part of their benefit mix to create value and goodwill.
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How would we distribute the publication?
There are several methods to do this:
1) E-mail is the least expensive method and has become the most popular. We've developed an
easy-to-read HTML e-mail version along with a text version
for text-only email clients.
Our original PDF version can also be emailed to your members
as an attachment, or you can email a link to the PDF version
posted on your web server (see method 2 for more on this
solution).
2) You can post it on your chamber’s
Web site. However, it must be
located in a password-protected, members-only area. This can also be a
great way to drive member traffic to your web site, but you need to
create
a way to let them know there’s a new issue each month (such as emailing a
link to the new issue).
3) You can also insert part or all of it into your existing newsletter.
This is often done to save on printing costs and to increase newsletter
readership.
4) Finally, you can print the publication and mail it to your members.
This is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your
members,
but additional costs are involved. Chambers that use this method will
usually have sponsors or advertisers to
cover printing and mailing costs.
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Why does the publication have only three
pages instead of an even four? (refers to the PDF version)
There are two reasons for this. First, if
you are faxing
the publication, four pages becomes rather burdensome to fax,
especially
if you are using a cover page. Second, if you are printing the
publication, the fourth page is open for sponsors, mailing information,
chamber calendar, etc.
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How would we receive the publication?
We send out the publication on the evening
of the
23rd of each month for the following month’s issue. How you receive it
will often depend on how fast you need it. We can e-mail it, mail it or
FedEx it to you.
We also offer several formats: Adobe Acrobat (the most
common format and the viewing software is free), Pagemaker, HTML and
hardcopy. We
can also supply the publication text as a Microsoft Word, WordPerfect
or
text file if you are planning on using the editorial in your newsletter.
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Do we have to print the publication exactly
the way you give it to us?
No, you can use as much or as little as you
like, place a
different flag on it, redesign it or keep it like it is. Most chambers
keep the publication intact so that their members know the chamber has
set
up a special deal with a national publisher. Members feel good knowing
they are getting a valuable publication as part of their membership.
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What determines the price for your service?
Many factors go into this: your chamber
size, number of
copies reproduced, exclusivity arrangements, etc. Normally our rate
will
range between 10 and 50 cents per member per month. Call for details.
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What if I still have more questions?
Click here to find out how to
contact us.
We are happy to answer any questions.
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How
do other chambers of commerce use the Business Intelligence
Report?