016: Chamber Benefits Go Beyond a Membership

[00:01:01] What's going on everybody? David Noe with SpeakEasy HR presented by Payroll Partners. It is episode 16. It is November 25th and it's Thanksgiving week so I'm sure everybody is getting ready for the holiday week and a short week of work. So if you are joining us live, we're on LinkedIn and YouTube. You can engage with us, ask questions on the chat section and really just have fun.

[00:01:31] with this topic and this guest, which is a great week to have this guest because Saturday is Small Business Saturday. We have Black Friday coming up so people will be shopping. So anyways, I want to introduce Matt Appenzeller, CEO and President of Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance. Welcome, Matt.

[00:01:53] Matt Appenzeller Thank you, David. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. And hello to everyone out there.

[00:01:57] David Noe Yeah, absolutely. So if you are watching live, just comment where you're watching. If you have any fun plans coming up for the holiday, we'd love to hear from you. But obviously, if you have questions for Matt or myself along the way, please chime in and ask the questions. I'll pull them up as they come through. So we have a few things to get to. We'll get to the topic with Matt here a little bit about his background. He's been in the Chamber world for quite some time. But we have the world famous

[00:02:26] Envelope Icebreaker to get to Envelope Icebreaker to get to. And I have a quick new commercial I wanted to just share with everybody. I'm going to pull this up. Hopefully it will work.

[00:02:36] Let's see.

[00:02:40] Let's see.

[00:02:41] Let's see.

[00:02:43] Let's see.

[00:02:44] No more hotlines.

[00:02:44] I'm Matt.

[00:02:46] Say no more.

[00:02:47] Zero.

[00:02:47] With us, you get that human element in true zero.

[00:02:53] Service.

[00:02:54] Serve.

[00:02:55] We have 100 states.

[00:02:57] So visit zero.

[00:02:59] The net.

[00:03:03] So anyways, I've got, uh, I've got Sammy Kelly joining us.

[00:03:11] Great to see you, Sammy.

[00:03:12] Hi, Sammy.

[00:03:14] So she is, uh, actually gonna be one of my guests coming up.

[00:03:19] So more to come with, with that in the near future, but glad to have you on here, Sammy.

[00:03:24] So if you're watching live on LinkedIn and YouTube, tell us where you're watching.

[00:03:28] If you have any fun plans for the holiday weekend coming up, definitely let us know that.

[00:03:34] So Matt, are you ready for the envelope icebreaker?

[00:03:39] I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be David.

[00:03:42] So, all right, let's, all right, let's get to it here.

[00:03:44] So for those of you who have watched before, I've got 15 envelopes, 15 numbers and a envelope.

[00:04:02] All envelopes have a question in them.

[00:04:05] So Matt, do you have a number you want to pick out and we'll, uh, we'll go with, let's

[00:04:10] go with envelope 14, 14.

[00:04:13] All right.

[00:04:14] Envelope 14.

[00:04:16] It is.

[00:04:17] Let's see what Matt picked.

[00:04:20] This is a good one.

[00:04:21] What is your favorite piece of career advice?

[00:04:29] Never stop growing.

[00:04:31] Never stop growing.

[00:04:32] So that would, that would be along the same lines of be a lifelong learner.

[00:04:37] Um, that's just the best advice that I can give.

[00:04:42] And that sort of dovetails in into, you know, the, the, the best investment is the investment

[00:04:48] in, in knowledge, in your own, in your own knowledge and in yourself.

[00:04:53] So all of that sort of ties together.

[00:04:55] Just keep growing as an individual and keep learning.

[00:05:00] Yeah.

[00:05:01] Very good.

[00:05:02] Welcome Lisa.

[00:05:03] She is in Africa.

[00:05:05] So we have people around the world watching today.

[00:05:08] So that is great.

[00:05:09] Thank you very much.

[00:05:10] You want to pick one more matter.

[00:05:11] You want me to pick a number?

[00:05:13] Uh, you know, we'll go with, uh, let's go with number five, number five.

[00:05:18] All right.

[00:05:19] I like that.

[00:05:20] Number five.

[00:05:22] Let's see what is in number five.

[00:05:26] What's your favorite tradition or holiday?

[00:05:29] How about that?

[00:05:30] I would definitely say it's Thanksgiving.

[00:05:33] Um, I just enjoy, you know, the idea of family getting together and, you know, the

[00:05:40] older you get and, you know, you have kids that, that go there, you know, separate ways,

[00:05:47] which is, and, and they come home.

[00:05:48] So our daughter is coming in from Dallas, uh, on Wednesday.

[00:05:52] We're super excited to have her, uh, cause we just don't get to see her as much anymore.

[00:05:58] So anyway.

[00:05:59] Yeah.

[00:05:59] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:06:01] Yeah.

[00:06:01] I, I love Thanksgiving.

[00:06:02] My kids wanted to listen to Christmas music as soon as November 1st came around after

[00:06:07] Halloween.

[00:06:08] And I said, Nope, we're not listening to Christmas music until Thanksgiving.

[00:06:11] Sorry.

[00:06:12] It, uh, it's on, it's on the radio, you know, it's just like, man, I, I just can't get into

[00:06:18] the holiday spirit until Thanksgiving starts.

[00:06:21] So come Thursday, we'll be listening to music and decorating.

[00:06:26] I know a lot of people have their decorating traditions and they have specific things they

[00:06:31] do, you know, growing up in Michigan, we'd go cut down a tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving,

[00:06:36] we'd go and cut a real tree down.

[00:06:39] I remember doing that since I was really little and still to this day, my mom goes and she does it.

[00:06:45] So when we're up there in Michigan, we cut down trees and you know, it, uh, it's definitely

[00:06:49] changed.

[00:06:50] People just have a Christmas tree.

[00:06:53] They have lights on it year round and they just pull it up from the basement and, and put

[00:06:57] it up.

[00:06:58] That's very cool.

[00:06:59] Very cool.

[00:07:00] Everybody's got their, you know, everybody's got their traditions for the holidays, but,

[00:07:04] uh, so Matt, you and I have known each other for, for a little bit.

[00:07:09] Now you and I work together on the, on the chamber front.

[00:07:13] And so we have a great partnership with the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance and many chambers

[00:07:19] within that group.

[00:07:20] But, you know, take us back to when you first started getting into the chamber world.

[00:07:26] Cause you were in the U S army.

[00:07:27] So thank you for your service.

[00:07:29] How long were you in the army?

[00:07:30] Uh, just short of seven years, just short of seven years.

[00:07:34] Okay.

[00:07:35] And so what, what did you do in the army?

[00:07:37] I was in a short range air defense unit.

[00:07:40] So what that means is, um, we existed to shoot down enemy aircraft.

[00:07:47] Um, and our, our mission was typically to defend the post or when I was over in Europe,

[00:07:54] uh, defend the air base.

[00:07:56] And so, um, basically you would be, you know, mixed in with an infantry division and that's

[00:08:05] what you would do.

[00:08:07] Right.

[00:08:07] And hopefully you would never, uh, they would never get that close to where, you know,

[00:08:11] it came down to you to actually, uh, have to fire with muscles.

[00:08:14] Right.

[00:08:15] So, yeah.

[00:08:17] Yeah.

[00:08:17] And so you've been in the chamber world.

[00:08:20] You started in Preble County.

[00:08:22] It's a 2007 going back.

[00:08:26] So take us back to when you first started working in the chamber world.

[00:08:30] What, what led you to do that?

[00:08:32] What, what started all that?

[00:08:33] It's kind of a running joke in, in our industry.

[00:08:36] It's like no one like goes to school to be a chamber director.

[00:08:40] Right.

[00:08:40] I mean, so a lot of what happens to my colleagues happened to me as well.

[00:08:47] So, uh, I was actually working in our family business and the local chamber of commerce

[00:08:54] was looking, uh, for someone with some sales skills to, um, to be the membership services

[00:09:03] director and to help grow membership.

[00:09:05] Yeah.

[00:09:06] And, um, so I just, I just, you know, built out a spreadsheet.

[00:09:14] This is how we're going to do prospecting from here on out.

[00:09:17] And, uh, you know, just followed our process.

[00:09:21] And we had a record year.

[00:09:23] The first year we had, uh, slightly beat that, you know, the following year.

[00:09:30] Uh, and, uh, then they asked me, uh, at some point, I don't remember exactly all the years now, but they asked me to be the executive director.

[00:09:39] Um, so anyway, when I first was, was, when I first started, I was still working in the family business, but I was doing that part time.

[00:09:46] So, um, but anyway, they asked me at some point to be the executive director.

[00:09:52] Um, I went ahead and took the job and, uh, here we are.

[00:09:58] It's gosh, it's 17 years later.

[00:10:00] It's hard to believe.

[00:10:01] Um, I've been doing, uh, doing this with soccer now for, um, about 12 years.

[00:10:09] Yeah.

[00:10:10] And so for people that aren't aware of SACA Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance, just give everybody, uh, an, you know, understanding of, of what that is made up of.

[00:10:20] Obviously it's in Ohio, but it's more than just Southern Ohio, correct?

[00:10:25] Yeah.

[00:10:25] So we're an alliance of 129 chambers of commerce, mostly in Southern Ohio.

[00:10:32] Um, we go, uh, all the way over to the West Virginia border over at Martin's Ferry.

[00:10:38] Um, we go all up along like, um, West central Ohio.

[00:10:46] Um, we actually go all the way up to, uh, to Lima.

[00:10:51] Uh, so I know that's, that's the not so Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance.

[00:10:56] But what we do is we, um, we, SACA exists as an alliance to create value for, for chambers of commerce.

[00:11:04] And we do that in three ways.

[00:11:06] Number one, we, uh, form, uh, partnerships and relationships with, with carriers, brokers, and other affinity partners, such as payroll partners.

[00:11:18] Um, and, and so we can, uh, in turn offer products and services to employers.

[00:11:25] And then deliver those products and services through chambers of commerce and tie it to chamber of commerce membership.

[00:11:33] So, uh, we've been, SACA has now been doing this for, you know, this would be 32 years now, uh, that, that we've been in existence.

[00:11:44] Oh, there we go.

[00:11:44] Yeah.

[00:11:44] The bread and butter of what we do.

[00:11:46] Can you hear me okay, Matt?

[00:11:47] I can hear you.

[00:11:47] Did, did I drop off?

[00:11:51] Hello?

[00:11:56] Can you hear me?

[00:11:59] Yeah.

[00:12:00] It just said network connection issue.

[00:12:02] So hopefully that was okay.

[00:12:04] Oh, it was all worked out.

[00:12:06] So anyway, you were, you were, you were saying just about the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance and making up what that is consisted of 129 chambers.

[00:12:16] Right.

[00:12:16] So we're 129 chambers of commerce.

[00:12:18] Uh, I won't go into the whole thing that I just did, but we, uh, um, we, we, we, we negotiate benefits and affinity programs for chambers of commerce so that they can offer them to members.

[00:12:30] And we tie chamber of commerce membership to each of these programs.

[00:12:34] Uh, the bread and butter of what we've done historically is, uh, through health insurance.

[00:12:39] Um, the biggest program that we run is called the SOCA benefit plan in which we have partnered with some of our other alliances in the state of Ohio.

[00:12:51] And so, so we offer that plan, David statewide through about 275 chambers in the state of Ohio.

[00:13:00] Wow.

[00:13:01] Yeah.

[00:13:02] And it's, it's, so the, the medical plan is, is consistent upon how many companies are taking that into their business.

[00:13:15] So, uh, just for competitive reasons, I don't think I want to mention the exact number, but I, I will say we have over 7,000 employers, uh, who are, uh, participating in the plan.

[00:13:27] Uh, we have over, um, or we have around 50,000 employees.

[00:13:34] Um, and, and so this, the SOCA benefit plan, you know, it's actually the type of plan that it is.

[00:13:44] It's called a multiple employer welfare arrangement.

[00:13:47] And to the very best of our knowledge, David, we are, uh, in partnership with Anthem, of course.

[00:13:53] Um, yep.

[00:13:54] We are operating the largest, uh, multiple employer welfare arrangement in the United States.

[00:14:03] Yeah.

[00:14:04] Yeah.

[00:14:04] Yeah.

[00:14:05] That's great.

[00:14:06] I didn't grow up and go to school for that.

[00:14:07] Right.

[00:14:08] But that's just how it worked out.

[00:14:09] Right.

[00:14:10] So, no, but to, to, uh, for this, for this Saturday being small business Saturday and the amount of chamber members that are within those, uh, you know, local chambers.

[00:14:25] So anybody that is watching, if you're in another state, obviously there's a lot of chamber of commerce opportunities for businesses.

[00:14:33] And a lot of them rely on that opportunity with that, with that local community and the, and the, you know, chamber involvement to, to really make an impact on their, on their business, on their community.

[00:14:45] So if you are out and about this weekend, small business Saturday is, is, is a really important time and day for small businesses that really rely and going through COVID.

[00:14:56] A lot of them probably were unsure of what they would be, you know, facing, but the ones that did survive and are, are still operating.

[00:15:05] They, they do rely on, on the opportunity to offer benefits like you have through the, through the medical plan for their employees.

[00:15:13] So it, it really is a, is a huge benefit that I know a lot of those businesses, uh, are, are very much appreciative of.

[00:15:20] And, and I've known about that plan for quite some time back to one of my first jobs in HR and benefits.

[00:15:26] And we'd always ask clients about, Hey, are you part of Sokka as your chamber offering the medical plan?

[00:15:31] Because it's really a good way to offer reasonable healthcare.

[00:15:35] And, uh, you know, that was almost 20 years ago and it's still, still thriving and growing.

[00:15:40] So, yeah.

[00:15:41] Yeah.

[00:15:42] So two, two things about that.

[00:15:43] Um, it's really interesting that, you know, you kind of mentioned that.

[00:15:46] So when we first started the Sokka benefit plan, we thought it would be a temporary thing until, um, maybe Congress shored up some provisions of the affordable care act and about a year and a half, maybe even two years into it.

[00:16:04] We just said to ourselves, you know, Congress isn't doing anything anytime soon.

[00:16:08] So let's just go ahead and put our foot on the accelerator.

[00:16:12] And so we did.

[00:16:13] And, and, you know, the growth has certainly paid off.

[00:16:15] And what that's also done is, you know, we were a, um, in a, in a sense, what we were doing was kind of a pilot program after the affordable care act, you know, came along, um, right.

[00:16:27] And partnering with Anthem and they've been able to take this model along with one of our other partners, a company called Consolaplex.

[00:16:35] They've been able to take this model into, uh, I think Anthem now is in five states with Consolaplex and then Consolaplex also is, is in like three or four additional states.

[00:16:45] So it's been a real honor, uh, frankly, to, uh, be a part of something that has had this kind of impact on so many employers, not, not only in Ohio, but you know, the sort of the ripple effect in other states.

[00:16:58] Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you've seen how it's grown since you've been in the chamber world back, you know, 17 years ago.

[00:17:07] And I think moving forward, chambers are going to play a huge role in different communities and, and how they really work with their local businesses.

[00:17:16] So, you know, from understanding the role of a chamber, you know, and, and when, when you look at, you know, a chamber of commerce, you know, what are some of the overlooked opportunities that, that chambers can provide to help businesses, you know, make an impact in their community?

[00:17:35] Would you say?

[00:17:37] Well, I think you just hit the nail on the head.

[00:17:39] Look, you know, they're looking for community impact.

[00:17:42] Most, most, um, so the chambers themselves certainly are looking to, um, have community impact, but then you also have a lot of business owners in, in the community, uh, communities in which they have.

[00:17:56] You know, set up shop that, you know, aside from wanting their businesses to grow, uh, they also want to have a positive impact on the community.

[00:18:05] And so, you know, what are the issues that sort of surround that?

[00:18:08] Well, you know, in most communities it's workforce development, it's, it's economic development.

[00:18:15] Um, it's, it's attracting, um, you know, higher levels of education attainment into your community.

[00:18:24] And so the school systems become very important to that.

[00:18:28] And so, you know, chambers sort of mushroom into this wide ranging, um, these wide ranging discussions very quickly, uh, as a, as a consequence of belonging to your chamber.

[00:18:42] So, so to your question on overlook the opportunities, I would say that if you're a business owner, uh, who belongs to your local chamber, go ahead and volunteer to either serve on the board or start small.

[00:18:59] Let's start small.

[00:18:59] Let's serve on a committee or a task force.

[00:19:02] Yeah.

[00:19:02] Um, so that you can, you know, sort of get your feet wet on some of these issues that, that impact your community.

[00:19:10] Um, and then, you know, for the larger employers, um, it's really interesting.

[00:19:16] Some of the larger employers in, in these small communities, you know, they want to have, they want to be good stewards in their community and they want to have, you know, a certain amount of influence in our communities.

[00:19:26] Um, and it's almost like they're afraid to step out too far into that.

[00:19:34] And so what they end up doing is they, they give to charitable causes, but then they sort of forget to be involved in their local chamber.

[00:19:41] Right.

[00:19:41] And they need to understand that, you know, in these small communities, if you're a, if you're a large business in a small community, all of those smaller businesses are looking to you for leadership.

[00:19:53] Yeah.

[00:19:54] And so you need to have somebody, um, serving on that board, that chamber board or serving in a committee so that you can have the kind of stewardship and influence, uh, you want within, within the local business community.

[00:20:10] Yeah.

[00:20:11] Yeah.

[00:20:11] Yeah.

[00:20:11] And, and a lot of the chambers have staff on, on their, you know, uh, full-time staff within their chamber.

[00:20:20] And some of them are just volunteers that are obviously donating their time and efforts to the chamber, you know?

[00:20:28] And so every chamber is definitely a little different.

[00:20:31] So I think just from what I've seen just over the years, being involved in different chambers and getting to know the ones that are within the Southern how chamber Alliance.

[00:20:41] It's, it's really just figuring out, like you said, figuring, figuring, figuring out the chamber that you are a part of as a member, but also really finding the, the, the right way to get involved.

[00:20:51] And it doesn't take a lot of time, a lot of commitment.

[00:20:54] It's just, if you, if you get a group of people that do have, uh, an interest in getting involved, it can really make a big impact and be part of the ambassador committee or part of a committee that really does outreach to the, to the chamber members to get, you know, more engagement and more, um, you know, opportunities for them to just get to know each other and network and, and help each other out.

[00:21:20] So, you know, from, um, the role of the chamber, I want to move kind of a little bit in the member engagement because some people that are, are potentially watching this or listening to it, um, when it's, when it's on demand after we're, we're finished, you know, looking at just members and being engaged, you know, how does your members across the spectrum, you know, focus on personal benefits to those dedicated to the community impact?

[00:21:47] You know, how can, how can those members, you know, really focus on that as, as a chamber?

[00:21:54] Yeah.

[00:21:55] Um, and you and I talked about this offline beforehand and, and somebody, somebody a long time ago showed me a model, um, the investor engagement model.

[00:22:06] And so, so I would just say this, like as a chamber, your, your chamber can broadly be, uh, broken down into three kinds of members.

[00:22:16] Right.

[00:22:18] Um, you, you have one set, uh, that is basically just, you know, they're looking for, you know, they're asking themselves, what can the chamber can do for me?

[00:22:29] Right.

[00:22:30] What can the chamber do for me?

[00:22:31] Right.

[00:22:31] So they're looking for networking benefits, you know, events that maybe they can participate in or they can sponsor.

[00:22:38] Yeah.

[00:22:39] And, and while that's all well and good, remember if we're in a local chamber, let's say in a community of, you know, you know, of only a thousand businesses, well, after three years, you're pretty, you're pretty much going to know everybody.

[00:22:51] Like you are, or at least cross paths with everybody.

[00:22:54] So, so it's a very transactional sort of attitude.

[00:22:58] So then the next, uh, kind of, uh, person that you would run into or, or, or that is within that chamber is, you know, what can I do for the chamber of commerce?

[00:23:11] And those are the people who really step forward and serve on these tasks, forces and committees that I mentioned before.

[00:23:17] They're interested in serving on the board and they're just sort of service minded people, uh, that understand that, Hey, they're yes.

[00:23:26] Their chamber is a, their local chamber is a business organization, but it's also a community organization as well.

[00:23:31] Right.

[00:23:31] And then there's that, that third, uh, sort of clientele.

[00:23:36] Again, we're touching on the larger, the larger businesses is that, you know, how can I have steward stewardship and influence in my community?

[00:23:44] And what they're asking themselves is, you know, what can I do for the community through the chamber of commerce?

[00:23:52] Yeah.

[00:23:52] And, uh, that's where things like, you know, workforce initiatives, um, become really important to those kinds of businesses.

[00:24:01] But, but interestingly, right.

[00:24:03] So, you know, we're talking about businesses here, right?

[00:24:06] So businesses grow over time, hopefully.

[00:24:10] Right.

[00:24:10] Right.

[00:24:11] And so that business, and I'm going to see if I, that business may start here, but, but now it may move into this.

[00:24:19] It may start with what can the chamber, what can the chamber do for me?

[00:24:23] They may move over to, okay, well, now that my business is maturing, what can I do for the chamber?

[00:24:30] And with an eye toward, geez, if I get big enough, how can I be a really good steward and have influence on this community?

[00:24:36] So you just have, as a chamber, you have to be able to identify, you know, where each of those members are at in any given point in time and then try to appeal to them in those ways.

[00:24:49] Yeah.

[00:24:51] Do you have any examples of members within chambers that have used, you know, their involvement with the chamber to really create a significant impact?

[00:25:00] And what does that look like or what did that look like?

[00:25:03] Yeah.

[00:25:04] I can just tell you my experience in Preble County, right?

[00:25:07] So there had been a lot of starts and stops with economic development that was, you know, sort of publicly funded at the time.

[00:25:21] And we were able to put together what was known as the Preble County Development Partnership, and that still exists today.

[00:25:28] So it was a workforce and economic development partnership that is a public-private partnership.

[00:25:37] And to answer your question, you know, some of the larger and mid-sized employers really stepped forward.

[00:25:48] Yeah.

[00:25:48] To say, hey, look, this is a, this is long-term, if we do nothing, right, this is going to be a real problem in our community.

[00:25:57] And so let's, let's address it now.

[00:26:01] And so, you know, I'm not going to name names.

[00:26:04] I can just say that a lot of employers in that community came together and they got something done for that community through the chamber.

[00:26:14] And that's just one example.

[00:26:17] And I know that there are hundreds, if not thousands of examples of that all across this nation.

[00:26:23] Yeah.

[00:26:25] We've got a couple other.

[00:26:29] Brittany wanted to say hello.

[00:26:31] So welcome in, Brittany.

[00:26:32] So it looks like everything is.

[00:26:34] Hi, Brittany.

[00:26:37] Connecting with the chat.

[00:26:38] So that is good.

[00:26:39] So we are live on YouTube and LinkedIn.

[00:26:42] So if you are just joining us, Matt Appenzeller, president and CEO of the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance is with us to talk about chambers and the benefits beyond the membership.

[00:26:55] So coming up this Saturday, small business Saturday.

[00:26:59] So really find the right businesses that you want to go help support.

[00:27:03] Obviously, people shop online a lot and want to buy all their presents and cross off their people on their list to shop for, you know, over the first couple of days into the holiday season and may not get out to businesses.

[00:27:18] But if you have time on Saturday, get out to your local businesses and try to support them.

[00:27:24] I'm sure they will appreciate that.

[00:27:26] So going into your mission and benefits, Matt, with Sokka.

[00:27:32] You know, what for Sokka's mission to create value for chambers, how how has your chambers leveraged those resources to benefit the members within the chamber?

[00:27:47] Well, I think the numbers speak for themselves.

[00:27:49] I mean, aside from the Sokka benefit plan and some of our other stuff we have about.

[00:27:55] I'm going to say about between 10,000 and 11,000 memberships.

[00:28:00] Chamber memberships that are tied directly to to one of our programs.

[00:28:06] And so, you know, those employers, you know, it's not like those those programs are like foisted upon them.

[00:28:12] They chose them because they saw value in it or it saved them a heck of a lot of money or both.

[00:28:18] Right.

[00:28:19] And so and so our chambers have been able to, you know, as you say, leverage our programs not only to gain some membership, but in some of those cases as well.

[00:28:33] You know, there are some some non-dues revenue as well that is associated with that.

[00:28:37] Yeah.

[00:28:38] Yeah.

[00:28:39] Because the the medical plan, obviously, payroll partners is also a program partner with Sokka.

[00:28:44] So benefit, obviously, as a small business trying to pay your employees correctly.

[00:28:51] We obviously have a great solution and really can can tailor the software and offering great service to that to that member.

[00:29:01] You know, but for the Anthem medical plan, if I'm a small business trying to offer benefits, I would I would say a big majority of the chambers have members that are under that 50 employee mark.

[00:29:14] So I don't know what the true statistic is, but, you know, I would think a majority of your your chambers have members in that under 50 range.

[00:29:24] Yeah.

[00:29:25] So they they they definitely, you know, see the smaller business.

[00:29:28] So what what what what is that statistic roughly like from a chamber?

[00:29:34] For and this could be more of a national statistic or just in Ohio, but our majority of chambers seeing membership under that, you know, 50 employee mark.

[00:29:43] Yeah.

[00:29:44] For the local for the local chambers of commerce.

[00:29:46] Again, I don't have that stat either.

[00:29:47] But for the local chambers of commerce, I would surmise that about 75 percent of their membership is actually below 25 employees.

[00:29:59] So the medical plan, as you mentioned, that's that's the eligibility is for employers of two to 50 employees.

[00:30:06] We also have it for sole proprietors.

[00:30:09] But certainly that's right in the wheelhouse.

[00:30:13] But, you know, these what it allows, what we have allowed, you know, our part of our value proposition is that we negotiate these programs collectively through the alliance that the chambers individually could not negotiate for themselves.

[00:30:30] And so, you know, that's why we do what we do.

[00:30:33] And, you know, we've been doing a long time and I feel like we're pretty good at it.

[00:30:38] And payroll partners has been you guys have been great.

[00:30:40] Right.

[00:30:41] So let me make a little little plug for you guys here.

[00:30:46] You know, here's the way I say it, David, we've got plenty of time here.

[00:30:52] So I'll just say I call it the oh crap moment.

[00:30:54] Right.

[00:30:54] So here's what happened.

[00:30:55] Here's the journey of an entrepreneur, entrepreneur in my experience as a chamber director.

[00:30:59] Right.

[00:31:01] So the entrepreneur has an idea.

[00:31:04] And they say, you know, I think I can I think I can make some money off of this idea.

[00:31:09] And and lo and behold, through their passion, typically the idea works.

[00:31:16] And they do, in fact, start making some money.

[00:31:19] And then they may have to hire like one or two people.

[00:31:25] And it's really starting to work.

[00:31:27] And then once they have to hire like that fourth and fifth person, the oh crap moment hits.

[00:31:33] And it's like, oh crap.

[00:31:35] I not only have to focus on growing my business, but I don't have all of these other support functions.

[00:31:41] That.

[00:31:42] Yep.

[00:31:43] That need to happen.

[00:31:44] Otherwise, this thing is just it's going to spiral out of control.

[00:31:48] So some of those support functions include payroll.

[00:31:52] Right.

[00:31:53] Right.

[00:31:53] It's one thing when you just start a business and you ask your local accountant, hey, can you handle my payroll for one or two people?

[00:32:00] But now when you're doing it, you know, for four or five people, you know, accountants want to be accountants.

[00:32:06] They really don't want to be handling payroll.

[00:32:08] So so a company like yours.

[00:32:11] Right.

[00:32:11] You can be a partner just as your your name suggests.

[00:32:15] It's it's perfect for small businesses to be able to do that.

[00:32:19] And then you've added obviously you've added some some HR software on top of that.

[00:32:24] And, you know, again, like for a small business and and hopefully there are some small business owners or operators out there.

[00:32:32] I mean, what typically happens is someone gets appointed as the office manager.

[00:32:38] Right.

[00:32:39] Yep.

[00:32:39] Over the over the course of time with no real, you know, like formal training in HR.

[00:32:44] And you just get to a point where, you know, that's that's insufficient.

[00:32:48] That's just not going to work anymore.

[00:32:50] And you need some professional HR help.

[00:32:54] So.

[00:32:54] Yeah.

[00:32:56] Yeah.

[00:32:56] And it's it's complex because you have payroll taxes.

[00:33:00] Ohio is one of the most complex states in the country.

[00:33:04] Pennsylvania and Kentucky are right there with it.

[00:33:07] So you you obviously have to be accurate and compliant with local payroll tax, state payroll tax and and all of the requirements around that.

[00:33:20] And if you're a small business trying to do it or you have a CPA trying to help you get that up and, you know, kickstart that off the ground.

[00:33:28] Then you start hiring people and you got a group of 10, 15 employees.

[00:33:33] They're relying on you to pay them right and take care of their taxes correctly.

[00:33:37] So that's yeah.

[00:33:38] Like like you said, I mean, that's where we come in and really can help.

[00:33:42] So businesses really don't have to worry about that.

[00:33:45] They can focus on their business and grow in their business and we'll take care of the other payroll complexities and stuff like that.

[00:33:53] That's right.

[00:33:53] And give them a human, you know, that human element to contact when they have a problem or if they have a question or if they need to hire people, you know, our team's there to help.

[00:34:03] So appreciate that because you have seen it firsthand.

[00:34:08] And, you know, several other chambers have have also been working with us.

[00:34:14] So it really just helps helps out a lot.

[00:34:17] So hopefully more people can consider at least talking to us.

[00:34:21] If you're not a client currently of ours, we we'd love to talk to you.

[00:34:25] Just like Matt said, having that that oh crap moment as a small business.

[00:34:30] And it's not it's not fun.

[00:34:32] You want to hire people.

[00:34:34] Oh crap.

[00:34:35] What do I do?

[00:34:37] It's still going to be it's still going to be a challenge to hire people next year.

[00:34:40] It's not all going to come January 1st.

[00:34:43] It's not all going to be, you know, completely different.

[00:34:46] And there's going to be people that, you know, you can find and hire.

[00:34:50] It's still going to be a challenge for for small businesses.

[00:34:53] So so looking at the employer's perspective, you know, and how you have seen those trends

[00:35:03] over time, you know, have you noticed any any trends in how employers expectations of the

[00:35:10] chambers have changed, particularly with, you know, that's a really great question.

[00:35:17] And I'm glad I'm glad you've asked that.

[00:35:19] So there used to be something that was called civic rent, you know, it's just kind of your

[00:35:24] duty, you know, as an employer to belong to, you know, some local organizations and one

[00:35:32] of those, you know, would be your local chamber of commerce.

[00:35:35] Right.

[00:35:35] But but that has changed over time.

[00:35:38] So then it evolved into, hey, you know, what's my ROI?

[00:35:44] What's my return on these these chamber dues that I'm paying every year, which is certainly

[00:35:48] a valid question.

[00:35:49] Right.

[00:35:50] And so, you know, in addition to a chamber having a solid program of work, that's where

[00:35:57] SOCA benefits come in, where where we can offer these value programs and hopefully the the employer

[00:36:05] can save the cost of their membership.

[00:36:08] And in some cases they save it many times over.

[00:36:11] Yep.

[00:36:12] But then I think, you know, the way that you asked this previously was was what about post

[00:36:18] pandemic?

[00:36:21] And that's a really key thing.

[00:36:24] So I can tell you this is that we have heard many stories from chambers that during the pandemic,

[00:36:32] they became like the trusted source of information in their communities.

[00:36:40] Yeah.

[00:36:42] Because so many small employers were certainly impacted by shutdowns and and all of that.

[00:36:50] I know for us.

[00:36:53] We suddenly became, you know, we've been for years and years, we've been offering these

[00:36:58] programs and then all of a sudden we got into the information business.

[00:37:01] Yeah.

[00:37:02] And and and I don't think we've gotten entirely out of that, but a lot of these chambers got

[00:37:08] into the information business as well.

[00:37:10] And that has been a tremendous boost for them.

[00:37:18] They've they've seen many of these chambers have seen higher retention rates post pandemic

[00:37:25] because they really came through as the trusted source of information for their local communities.

[00:37:32] Yep.

[00:37:33] And, you know, now they're being able they're able to capitalize on that.

[00:37:37] And now it's just been a good thing.

[00:37:39] I mean, this is what chambers do.

[00:37:41] Yeah.

[00:37:42] Right.

[00:37:42] This is what chambers.

[00:37:43] Sometimes people forget about us.

[00:37:45] Right.

[00:37:45] When things are going well, it's like, yeah, what's that chamber really doing for me?

[00:37:48] And then something bad happens like a pandemic.

[00:37:50] And yeah.

[00:37:51] Yeah.

[00:37:53] Yeah.

[00:37:53] And then, you know, being at chamber events and seeing the participation, I think more people

[00:38:00] are going to things in person versus being virtual.

[00:38:05] And so it's good to see that, you know, it's good to see people getting out and trying to

[00:38:10] network and meet people and just know more people in their community, especially if they

[00:38:16] are a new business or a growing business and they're trying to find the right resources,

[00:38:22] the right people to partner with or hire.

[00:38:26] And it's just it's going to be there.

[00:38:29] Chambers are going to be there for quite some time.

[00:38:31] As you've seen, I don't think chambers are going to go away.

[00:38:35] If anything, they're just going to continue to be a bigger piece and have a big impact

[00:38:41] on small businesses that really need need that support and help help each other out in

[00:38:47] the local community.

[00:38:48] And, you know, people that are going into the workforce obviously don't know a lot about

[00:38:56] chambers.

[00:38:56] But if you get into a company, you might have the opportunity as a as a young professional

[00:39:02] to get involved in your chamber.

[00:39:04] And there's a lot of them, you know, a lot of them have like a young professionals group

[00:39:08] or a way that a young professional can get involved in and try to find that next generation

[00:39:13] of chamber directors and people that will be helping out their local community for for,

[00:39:20] you know, for.

[00:39:22] Yeah, it's a great it's a great way to bridge the question.

[00:39:28] How is how does my employer if you're if you're a young person, how does my employer

[00:39:33] have a continuing impact on on our community?

[00:39:39] Right.

[00:39:39] And it's just it's a great way for a young person to to get involved.

[00:39:43] So you did you did mention, you know, chambers have been around for a while.

[00:39:47] You know, chambers have been around internationally for like hundreds of years.

[00:39:51] Like the first chamber of commerce.

[00:39:53] Yeah.

[00:39:55] In the United States actually predates the Revolutionary War.

[00:39:59] So we're not going away anytime soon.

[00:40:01] I can tell you that.

[00:40:02] Yeah.

[00:40:02] I also want to mention during the pandemic.

[00:40:06] The U.S. Chamber of Commerce came through for all of us.

[00:40:12] I mean, they I can't remember the exact way it was set up, but for a while there, they

[00:40:18] actually had a 4 p.m.

[00:40:21] briefing daily to where, as you remember that the PPP legislation was sort of coming that

[00:40:29] I mean, they were literally like, this is exactly we're down to the one yard line on this guys.

[00:40:35] Oh, and we moved the ball another inch.

[00:40:37] Yeah.

[00:40:38] You know, but I mean, it was literally that detailed, the kind of briefing that we would

[00:40:44] receive daily.

[00:40:45] And then we could go back to we could go back to our chambers, our chambers to relay that

[00:40:49] information to their employers.

[00:40:52] And, you know, it just just a phenomenal job by a lot of people.

[00:40:57] Yeah.

[00:40:58] Yeah.

[00:40:59] And, you know, I think that that time frame of of the pandemic and seeing just what happens

[00:41:09] because of that, I think people really see what what impact chambers have on the community.

[00:41:16] And if something ever to happen like that again, I think chambers are really going to continue

[00:41:22] to be a big impact.

[00:41:24] But if they're not, you know, it's it's again, it's like having having that resource available.

[00:41:30] And a lot of times people forget it.

[00:41:32] And that's the role of the chamber is to be consistent with their membership engagements

[00:41:37] and trying to get members to participate in events and sponsor events.

[00:41:42] And it seems like every chamber has a golf outing and different things throughout the year that

[00:41:46] people can get involved in.

[00:41:48] And and so it's just a matter of really just getting out side of your office walls and and

[00:41:56] and getting getting involved, but not making it a huge commitment.

[00:42:01] You know, time commitment wise, it's not like you are going to have to be, you know, taking

[00:42:06] a big chunk of your day to day schedule out.

[00:42:08] It's maybe once or twice a month going to events, going to meetings and being being a part of it and

[00:42:14] helping helping your local chamber.

[00:42:16] So, again, if you're not involved in your chamber and you're a member of a chamber, it might be

[00:42:22] a good time to kind of see, OK, how are we going to get involved in 2025 with our chamber

[00:42:26] and try to do a little more than what we're doing now?

[00:42:29] And obviously look at benefits that are available, you know, like ours with payroll partners and

[00:42:34] and things that might make your business and your life a whole lot more streamlined and

[00:42:40] help you save time and efforts with the right partner.

[00:42:44] So so looking ahead, Matt, you know, what do you see as some of the biggest

[00:42:49] challenges and opportunities that chambers will will have in the coming years?

[00:42:54] You know, how are how are you and the staff at SOCA trying to prepare for those?

[00:42:59] Yeah, we recently rolled something out that that for the local chambers of commerce that we call

[00:43:07] the four critical challenges facing local chambers of commerce today in order.

[00:43:13] They are the inability to invest in and implement technology as technology, as you know, is just

[00:43:20] racing at us and changing at a very fast pace.

[00:43:25] The second one is, you know, sort of a lack of industry standards across chambers.

[00:43:32] I think we need to collectively really do a better job of that.

[00:43:36] A lot of local chambers just really don't know if they're.

[00:43:40] I mean, they can see their balance sheet, they can see their income statements, they can see

[00:43:45] membership going up and down, but they don't know how they're performing relative to other

[00:43:49] chambers.

[00:43:50] And I think we can do a better job of of that.

[00:43:53] So I would say those are the top two challenges out of the four challenges.

[00:44:00] Okay.

[00:44:01] Yeah.

[00:44:02] And, you know, if anybody is not a part of the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance, if you are

[00:44:09] part of a chamber and you don't know if they're a part of the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance

[00:44:14] in Ohio, please, you know, go to join SOCA.

[00:44:16] You can scan the QR code on the screen and get more information about the programs, what

[00:44:22] chambers are part of that and get connected to the staff at SOCA.

[00:44:28] Matt has a great staff with him that have been doing this for quite some time.

[00:44:32] So they know what they're doing with the Chamber of Com or the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance.

[00:44:37] And it's, it's again, a great way for small businesses or midsize businesses, or really

[00:44:44] any business for that matter, to, to make an impact in their local community.

[00:44:48] If, if they are not currently or being a part of the, the committees and being a part of

[00:44:54] the board.

[00:44:54] And there's just so many ways that a business owner or someone on your staff can be, you know,

[00:45:02] a part of your local chamber.

[00:45:04] So if anyone has any questions for Matt, we do have the chat open and I did see Sammy.

[00:45:13] Thanks Sammy.

[00:45:14] She had just put in here, love the team on SOCA.

[00:45:16] So thank you for acknowledging them, Sammy.

[00:45:20] It's definitely great to see you on here.

[00:45:22] So yeah, if anyone has any questions for Matt, please chime them in and put them into the

[00:45:28] comment section, but you know, again, if there's a, if there's anything else, Matt, that you

[00:45:35] want to bring up before we get off, if we haven't gone over it, is there anything else that you'd

[00:45:41] want to add?

[00:45:42] I would just say that whether, whether you belong to your, your local chamber or, or you don't

[00:45:47] start with this question.

[00:45:51] What impact can I have on my community through the Chamber of Commerce?

[00:45:56] And if you can start answering that question internally, then you can go to your chamber

[00:46:02] and say, okay, how, where, where do we fit in here and how can we help?

[00:46:07] But you know, it starts with you as an employer, like what kind of impact you want?

[00:46:12] We all want better schools.

[00:46:14] We all want better workforce.

[00:46:16] We all want to grow our businesses.

[00:46:18] Yep.

[00:46:18] Um, so yeah, answer that question and go from there.

[00:46:23] Yeah, no, absolutely.

[00:46:26] Um, well, Matt, I really appreciate your time and being part of this episode.

[00:46:33] I think what you're continuing to do is, is phenomenal.

[00:46:37] And we obviously are, um, such a great, you know, big supporter of Southern Ohio Chamber

[00:46:45] Alliance and all the chambers that we get to work with through your partnerships.

[00:46:49] So we certainly appreciate everything that you've been able to do for us and our team

[00:46:53] and want to continue that into next year.

[00:46:56] So we're excited to, to keep that planning going and, and get more involved in, in the

[00:47:00] chambers that we're a part of in Ohio.

[00:47:03] And, um, you know, just wish you and your family all the best with the holidays and your

[00:47:08] family traveling.

[00:47:08] I'm sure they're coming from the warmer weather and, uh, hopefully they are prepared to be

[00:47:14] in the, in the Ohio weather for a few days, but, um, but yeah, hopefully, uh, we appreciate

[00:47:21] the partnership.

[00:47:22] Yeah.

[00:47:22] We appreciate the partnership that, uh, that you and payroll partners have, uh, have provided

[00:47:29] to us and to, to the chambers and employers that we serve.

[00:47:32] So happy Thanksgiving to you and your family as well.

[00:47:36] Yeah.

[00:47:37] Thank you very much, Matt and happy Thanksgiving to everybody out there watching.

[00:47:40] And again, have a great holiday season.

[00:47:44] I know it's crazy.

[00:47:45] It's almost December already.

[00:47:46] This year is flying by, but it's going to be January before you know it.

[00:47:50] And, uh, we'll be ready for another exciting year.

[00:47:53] And obviously if you have business initiatives to grow and be more connected to your community,

[00:47:58] local chamber is the best way to get more involved.

[00:48:02] So please look at that and try to find the right chamber to be more involved in and, uh,

[00:48:08] really appreciate, uh, everyone watching.

[00:48:10] So Andrea enjoyed watching.

[00:48:12] Thanks David and Matt.

[00:48:13] So thank you, Andrea for watching as well.

[00:48:15] This was great.

[00:48:16] So, uh, we'll talk to you soon, Matt.

[00:48:19] And, uh, thanks again.

[00:48:20] Thanks everybody.

[00:48:21] Good.

[00:48:21] Thanks everybody.

[00:48:22] Thank you.

[00:48:23] Bye-bye.