With just about everything else you do, membership in the Waukesha County Business Alliance requires you to put time and effort into it in order to get results. Members who join then sit and wait for things to happen for them will most often be disappointed. Sure, our website links to yours. Yes, we send out a New Member email with a description of your business to our membership when you join. Of course, we talk up our membership as a whole and the importance of doing business with members.
But the members who see the most gain are the ones who get involved and take matters into their own hands. Attending or sponsoring at events, reading and advertising in the Biz Blast, and getting to know other members – these are the ways to see results.
One of our newer members, AmeriSign & Graphics, joined the Alliance in January 2010. Chris Sherman, President, is one of those people who really understands the importance of getting to know others without expecting them to become his customer. Chris and his business were recognized at our Top 10 Businesses of the Awards in June, after receiving a record number of nominations.
AmeriSign & Graphics had an open house and Tweetup last Thursday and I had planned to stop out for a half hour or so on my way home. Three hours later, after eating some tasty food, enjoying a glass (…or two…) of wine, I had met several people in person whom I had only known previously online, and really enjoyed getting to know them.
Friday after work, I popped in again to talk to Chris about a potential partnership, and again, I stayed chatting with him longer than I had planned. He is such an interesting guy and completely blew me away with a story he told me about our Top 10 Awards in June. Being among the winners, after the event was over, Chris sent a note to each of the other winning companies. He congratulated them on being recognized as one of the top businesses in our county, and let them know if there is ever anything they could work on together, to let him know.
At the awards luncheon, we also name the “Business of the Year”. For 2010, our winner was Lakeland Supply, a distributor of packaging, paper and janitorial products. Chris contacted Vince Schmidt, the president of Lakeland Supply, and sent him flowers, with a congratulatory note. Just a few months later, Vince called on Chris to make a sign for the side of his building, proclaiming to everyone on that stretch of I-94 that they were the winner of the Business of the Year. I’m sure you’ve seen that sign – on the south side of 94, just east of the exit for Highway F.
Would Vince have gotten that banner made if Chris hadn’t had congratulated him? Maybe. Would he have used an Alliance member? Who knows. Would he have built that connection with a fellow member, based on their commonality of being a Top 10 Business in our county? Definitely not.
Seeing members doing business with members is another great thing that makes my job worthwhile!
AmeriSign & Graphics: http://www.amerisignandgraphics.com/
Lakeland Supply, Inc.: http://www.lakelandsupply.com
For more information on the 2010 Top 10 winners, click here.
For more information on how your company could become a Top 10 Business of the Year for 2011, click here.
