Are you breaking your number one promise to businesses?

Your number one promise to businesses is being broken all the time. The promise? We're not going to waste your time or attention. 

We waste their time by starting meetings late or going over time. We waste their time by being unprepared for meetings or conversations or showing up uninformed or without an agenda. I have a rule for this: "No agenda, no attenda!"

We waste their attention by sending all emails to all members instead of segmenting them appropriately. We waste their attention by reminding them about every single event even though they have told us they don't want to come to anything -- by not coming to anything. And we waste their attention when we only talk about our stuff instead of the issues they care about. 

Here are three tips to make the most of your members time and attention.

1. Teach your volunteer chairs and paid staff to start on time and end early. In fact, share this video with them and I will tell them. Hey committee chairs, please start your meetings on time and end them early. Your failure to do so damages the brand of the chamber, as well as your own. 

2. Record member preferences and communicate with them accordingly. That event you're doing? Send them only the first announcement, but save all the other reminders for just those who have attended in the last three years or joined within the last three years. 

3. Ask your members about the issues they care about most and record them in your membership database, email program or both. If you have their attention on this topic, you don't want to waste an opportunity to engage them on the one thing they have been waiting to happen. Similarly, ask them about their insights about issues. They may want to help you inform other members about the issues and that's another way to create engagement out of attention. 

Hey we lots of meetings at the Chamber and I know -- meetings suck -- and I know this because I have the book. If you want to get into the minds of CEO's, read Meetings Suck by my friend Cameron Herold. And share it with your task force chairs. You can buy a copy buy clicking the button below.