The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce picked up 125 new members last week during a two and a half day expansion campaign.
Mike Seward, the chamber's president, said current members broke into 11 teams in a friendly competition to recruit the most new businesses.
"It was a fantastic success," Seward said. "It certainly surpassed my expectations. I was hoping that we would get 100 new members."
Between Tuesday and Thursday last week, businesses throughout the Bay City area were offered up to $2,000 in incentives to join the chamber.
Seward said those incentives included several hundred dollars in advertising and the waiving of bank fees. The chamber's membership now stands at more than 900.
Most of the businesses that joined the chamber are small, employing 50 or fewer employees, Seward said.
"It's these kind of great companies in the area who we probably have not asked to join before," he said.
Those that joined during the new membership campaign include Bay City Academy, a charter school slated to open its doors in September; Castaways, a bar and restaurant located at 3940 Boy Scout Road in Bangor Township; and the Kawkawlin River Watershed Property Owners Association.
It was the chamber's first new membership campaign in a year and a half, according to Seward, who added that the success last week has the chamber considering another campaign next year.
"We believe that every single business that's located in the bay area should be a member of the Bay Area Chamber because we're here to represent the business community," Seward said.
Seward said it was too early to say which of the chamber's 11 teams brought in the most new members during the campaign.
But Do-All Inc. President and CEO Chris Girard, who organized the chamber's new membership drive, had an idea.
"Well, there was a Do-All team and they did pretty good," Girard said, laughing. "Overall, I think each team did its part to recruit new members. It was a nice team effort."
Article any source
No comments:
Post a Comment