Hope you got a copy of the Voice of Business in last Saturday’s Herald. The VOB is a labor of love for us (four times a year doesn’t seem like much until you try to put together 30 pages of content for each issue). Anyway, we hope you enjoy reading it and seeing some of the activities at the Chamber.
Now, give us some input: how can we improve? How can we brag on our business community? What would make you read and re-read our Voice of Business insert?
Remember, here’s our mission statement: The Sanford Area Chamber of Commerce exists to serve members by strengthening the business environment and enhancing the quality of life in Lee County.
It’s a broad mission, certainly…and maybe, in order to define our job better, we should talk about some of the things we do not do. First and foremost, we do not receive funds from any unit of government for Chamber operations. The City of Sanford gives us $2500 each year to send out welcome packages to visitors and prospective residents…that’s it…no money from the County of Lee or the State of NC. We operate solely on membership dues and sponsorships.
So…what else do we “not” do: We are not the Better Business Bureau. They are a separate non-profit entity, headquartered in Raleigh, whose basic job is to provide consumers with a way to check out a business or a charity…or to take complaints from customers who believe they were not treated fairly.
We are also not a consumer protection division. They are located in the Attorney General’s office in Raleigh. Their job is to pursue complaints against anyone who commits an unlawful business practice or fraud.
We are not the Tourism Bureau for Lee County, although we do many of the functions traditionally associated with tourism promotion. In many other towns, tourism promotion is funded by a tax on hotel/motel room charges or a prepared meal tax. Example: Moore County has a Tourism Development Authority that receives over $600,000 annually for promotion and operations from these sources. They have seven staff members and 1.1 million visitors annually.
Send us your comments on how we can better promote our members, increase opportunities to do business, and keep the whole community focused on improvement.
I’d like to offer a slightly different perspective, meant absolutely to be constructive as I support Sanford’s Chamber of Commerce and efforts at improving business in Sanford.
I think it is reasonable to point out the things that the Chamber is normally ‘not’. However based on an ongoing personal case with a business in another state, I’d like to offer that although the Chamber does not fill the role of the BBB or Consumer Protection directly, I think the Chamber does have an interest and even implied responsibility to act in the community interest and police or counsel their membership just as much as they promote it.
In summary, I believe the Chamber has some value in maintaining the quality of the businesses it helps support.
I’m not suggesting that consumers should complain en masse to the Chamber, or look to the Chamber to resolve a individual dispute per se. But I am suggesting that if the Chamber finds that a member may be engaging in activities that are undesirable or failing to fulfill customer/community expectations, it might benefit the Chamber’s reputation and the community as a whole for the Chamber to counsel with that vendor toward resolving a conflict or working through whatever challenges are impacting their performance.
….or worst case, cancel their membership and help with those adversely affected, perhaps by being their advocate, or directing them to the right resources.
In our case, that local Chamber(again, not Sanford) was aware of issues with the vendor, but chose to take a position of avoidance, which I believe was counter productive and possibly missed an opportunity to minimize the problem before it snowballed. Now about 50 customers nationwide are out hundreds of thousands of dollars, and 100s of vintage stoves are destroyed. The BBB was ineffectual by design, and the Kansas Attorney General’s office totally dropped the ball which is another year-long story.
The latter are of course not the fault in any way of that local Chamber, nor is it directly the fault of that Chamber for their member’s activities, but again an opportunity may have been lost by that local Chamber not taking the opportunity to meet with the vendor and see if they could assist. And by not doing so, some believe they jeopardized the business community and reputation of their city they are working so hard to promote.
And perhaps this is a role the Sanford Area Chamber of Commerce already does in a limited fashion when appropriate. If so I applaud the Chamber, if not, I’d constructively offer that some aspect of this oversight could be valuable especially since there is no local BBB or Consumer Protection function. After all, I suspect the ultimate goal of the Chamber is to promote and foster quality business, not just any business.
Anyway, just a thought based on a recent experience with a Chamber(not Sanford) member that slipped through the BBB, KSAG, and other ‘cracks’ and caused mayhem. I’m not sure just what that Chamber could have done, but I do know that by doing nothing they were guaranteed to have no effect.
I really appreciated your VOB insert, and would love to see even more stories about what’s new, what’s coming, or what even may be just potential business opportunities in the Sanford area. It would also be fun to hear more historic business stories, those of long-time Sanford area institutions still in existence or those that paved the way. It is always particularly interesting to hear about new businesses and what efforts may be under way to attract new industry to the Sanford area.
Keep up the good work, and I look forward to the next VOB installment.
I hope that was helpful feedback.
Cheers,
Al
I believe that Chamber members could benefit it there were a way they could ask each other questions concerning business opportunities, insurance, labor , etc.
They could present the question to the Chamber and the Chamber e-mail it to all the members. The members could e-mail the responses to the Chamber and the chamber back to the members. This would protect the members from mass e-mails from chamber members and everyone could benefit from the information.
This might not be exactly how it should go, but you get the idea.
It needs to remain in the membership circle and not just out there for anyone. After all, the chamber is there for its members.
Thanks for the good job you all are doing.