Every year around this time, our Board of Directors and our executive staff chart the course for the Chamber for the year to come. We do this over the course of a weekend, at a strategic planning session in which we determine what's working, what needs work and what we need to get rid of to better serve our members. You can read more about what happened at this session by reading the column by our Board Chairman John Osborne on this page.
I would like to share with you the results of our 2015 Membership Services Survey, which the Chamber sent out ahead of the planning session. I want to thank all of our members who took their time to answer the questionnaire. It was valuable input that really helped to inform our discussion.
We asked the respondents to rank the challenges that most impact their business. Profitability and growth finished as the top challenge, with 53 percent of those who filled out the survey citing this at their top challenge. Competition followed closely by exposure were the next two challenges cited, followed by employment issues, local regulations and taxes.
When we asked you what the main purpose of our Chamber should be, nearly 48 percent of respondents said member services should be the Chamber's top priority. This was followed by Economic Development (28 percent), Community Development (11 percent) Advocating for Public Policy (8 percent).
When we asked you to rank the top three services that we as a Chamber offer our members, 65 percent ranked this publication, The Carlsbad Business Journal, as the Chamber's top service. Our workshops and professional development seminars were second with 58 percent followed by our website with 41 percent.
We asked you how satistied you were satified you were with our staff and almost 99 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the services we provide, with more than 40 percent citing their level of satisfaction as "excellent." That's probably the reason why 85 percent of you said you would be likely or extremely likely to recommend the Chamber to another business.
As the Chamber's president and CEO, I am happy with the results, but not satisfied. The board, Chamber staff and I see this as an opportunity to improve and look forward to the challenge of taking this Chamber from good to great in 2015.
Finally, there are a couple of things I would like to bring up, thoughts that came to my mind as I reviewed the answer of those who responded. The first is, how can we as a Chamber help you be a more engaged Chamber member? The survey had some great ideas, but many who answered indicated that they don't take full advantage of their Chamber membership.
Finally, I would like to ask you not to wait for our annual survey to reach out to us if you have any questions about your membership. I realize that like most businessowners, you are all busy growing your business, but we're here to help. Call us or email us. Ask us questions. We want the opportunity to improve our services to you.
I would like to share with you the results of our 2015 Membership Services Survey, which the Chamber sent out ahead of the planning session. I want to thank all of our members who took their time to answer the questionnaire. It was valuable input that really helped to inform our discussion.
We asked the respondents to rank the challenges that most impact their business. Profitability and growth finished as the top challenge, with 53 percent of those who filled out the survey citing this at their top challenge. Competition followed closely by exposure were the next two challenges cited, followed by employment issues, local regulations and taxes.
When we asked you what the main purpose of our Chamber should be, nearly 48 percent of respondents said member services should be the Chamber's top priority. This was followed by Economic Development (28 percent), Community Development (11 percent) Advocating for Public Policy (8 percent).
When we asked you to rank the top three services that we as a Chamber offer our members, 65 percent ranked this publication, The Carlsbad Business Journal, as the Chamber's top service. Our workshops and professional development seminars were second with 58 percent followed by our website with 41 percent.
We asked you how satistied you were satified you were with our staff and almost 99 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the services we provide, with more than 40 percent citing their level of satisfaction as "excellent." That's probably the reason why 85 percent of you said you would be likely or extremely likely to recommend the Chamber to another business.
As the Chamber's president and CEO, I am happy with the results, but not satisfied. The board, Chamber staff and I see this as an opportunity to improve and look forward to the challenge of taking this Chamber from good to great in 2015.
Finally, there are a couple of things I would like to bring up, thoughts that came to my mind as I reviewed the answer of those who responded. The first is, how can we as a Chamber help you be a more engaged Chamber member? The survey had some great ideas, but many who answered indicated that they don't take full advantage of their Chamber membership.
Finally, I would like to ask you not to wait for our annual survey to reach out to us if you have any questions about your membership. I realize that like most businessowners, you are all busy growing your business, but we're here to help. Call us or email us. Ask us questions. We want the opportunity to improve our services to you.