Five Major Benefits for Merchants Joining the Chamber of Commerce Association
Release Time:
2014-07-24 16:04
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A chamber of commerce is a voluntary and spontaneous organization established by businessmen as a civil society group. Abroad, wherever Chinese businessmen gather, there is a chamber of commerce. Most chambers of commerce overseas and abroad were established earlier, are larger in scale, stronger in strength, operate successfully, and their social influence and impact are increasing day by day. The more developed and mature the market economy is, the more businessmen realize the necessity of establishing a chamber of commerce. Unfortunately, many businessmen do not understand the nature and role of chambers of commerce, nor do they understand how participating in a chamber of commerce benefits their own development. I have heard many presidents and secretaries-general tell me that when they recruit chamber members, they often encounter businessmen asking, "What benefits do I get from joining the chamber of commerce?" It is difficult to answer immediately and often leads to embarrassment. This article attempts to answer this question. This is just my personal opinion for reference. At least, businessmen gain the following benefits from joining a chamber of commerce:
1. Network
To do business, you first need connections and relationships. Connections are the greatest wealth. Every successful entrepreneur understands that connections are more important than money, so they treat participating in social activities, meeting more people, and dining and entertaining as extremely important tasks. They select a few people from those they meet for long-term emotional investment, eventually becoming good friends. As a result, these friends will definitely help at some point, aiding their success. Therefore, within the same chamber of commerce, whether people are from the same region or engaged in the same industry, once you join, you become part of the chamber's social circle. Due to geographical proximity, communication and interaction are more convenient. If you are willing, you can quickly build a useful network of connections. A study has shown that as long as you have six friends, you can connect with the world. Friends of friends are your friends. Joining a chamber of commerce opens a door for you to enter a broader society and integrate into the collective. This should be a major shortcut for building your network.
2. Information Channel
Today is an information society. Doing business requires timely access to policy information, investment information, project information, production and sales information, price information, and more. If you can grasp macroeconomic trends, changes in macro-control policies, market directions, and investment risk warnings in advance, you will at least increase the safety factor of your investment and business development. Moreover, a useful business tip or an unexpected opportunity often arises from casual conversations. If you can perceive these sensitively and act early, you may make a lot of money. As a business organization, the chamber of commerce has a platform that serves as a communication channel and information hub, with far more information than individual businesses. Joining a chamber of commerce not only allows you to obtain business information provided by the chamber's secretariat but also to get useful information from government departments, entrepreneurs, and fellow townspeople. This will greatly help you enrich your knowledge, broaden your horizons, and expand your thinking.
3. Publicity Window
A person must have a reputation in society; a business must have credibility. This reputation and credibility are earned not only through personal conduct accumulated over time and the company's own publicity, product quality, and after-sales service but also by joining a chamber of commerce. Relying on the chamber's website, publications, meetings, and events for publicity can achieve cost-effective promotional results. Some may say, "I'm not an important figure, and my business is not big, so publicity doesn't matter," or some businessmen and even entrepreneurs prefer to keep a low profile and are not keen on showing off. However, in my opinion, once a business reaches a certain scale, external publicity becomes especially important to expand product influence and increase brand awareness. Publicity should not be seen as personal showmanship. The ultimate goal is to grow the business and make more money. Personal reputation and business prosperity often complement and enhance each other. Otherwise, so many companies would not spend huge sums on media advertising.
4. Assistance Platform
No matter how successful a person is, there will be times when they need help; no matter how smoothly a business operates, it will encounter emergencies or problems that cannot be resolved by its own capabilities and will need external brains and forces. Moreover, many small business owners or relatively weak entrepreneurs inevitably need to seek help from others during the startup or business expansion phase. By joining a chamber of commerce, you have a platform to make requests and can leverage the various relationships and channels the chamber has established, as well as the public relations resources of other businesspeople within the chamber, to help coordinate or even solve issues you encounter in business, such as seeking land, projects, funding, product sales channels, and even various rights protection matters.
"What are the benefits of joining a chamber of commerce?" In my opinion, as long as you make good use of this platform, you can gain many benefits as mentioned above. When you encounter difficulties, being a member or not makes a big difference. However, it should be pointed out that you cannot expect the chamber to benefit every member, just like buying insurance—you pay for peace of mind. If nothing happens, you shouldn't think you wasted the insurance fee. But if something does happen, what then? So paying membership fees is reasonable. Moreover, the chamber's funds are usually mainly contributed by the president and vice presidents. Even if strong entrepreneurs contribute more money to support the chamber, it is equivalent to helping fellow businesspeople and supporting weaker groups, which is a rightful act of giving back to society.
5. Weight of Voice
As Wu Xiaobo said in his book "Thirty Years of Turbulence," the private economy "is both a breaker of the planned system and a violator of the current system, forced to operate in the gray area between legality and illegality." Due to this situation, many private businessmen have money but low social status and little voice unless you are a big boss. But once you join a chamber of commerce, the situation changes significantly. If you are the chamber president, vice president, or even an executive director or director, when you need to deal with officials, you gain an identity that commands more official attention. Moreover, your requests and rights protection actions, when made through the chamber, carry more weight than if you act alone. Additionally, the chamber can recommend influential and capable entrepreneurs to political consultative conferences and people's congresses. By joining the chamber and becoming a leader, you have this opportunity, which is the best way to improve your social status and gain a certain voice in national political life.
Having written this far, I believe I have made clear why businessmen should join chambers of commerce and how joining differs from not joining. Naturally, joining is voluntary. Once you join, I hope you can focus on giving without expecting returns. The success or failure of the chamber closely relates to you, me, and everyone. Hopefully, we can work together, seek development, run the chamber well, and jointly create brilliance and glory.
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