(ROCKWALL – October 29, 2013) The Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce recently expanded its membership by an astounding 248 businesses in less than three days, putting it on the fast-track to achieving nearly 1,000 members.
More than 130 business and community leaders came together October15 for a high-energy recruiting effort that spanned 2 ½ days at the Texas A&M Commerce Rockwall campus, topped off with a celebration at Culpepper Steakhouse to recognize the event’s top producers.
The Chamber’s baseball-themed membership drive was dubbed “A League of Their Own,” and drew many of the community’s heavy hitters to call upon contacts who were not already members of the Chamber. Motivational speaker Jimmy Cusano of Your Chamber Connection led the event – which was part pep rally, part sales seminar, and part friendly competition. Current members formed teams, worked the phones and shared their Chamber story with prospects. Cusano kept the energy flowing, injecting humor and asking random participants to do push-ups if he thought someone else wasn’t paying attention.
“I bring a lot of attitude, a lot of mojo,” said Cusano, who has helped more than 600 Chambers across the United States and Canada raise more than $50 million.
“It’s a message. People walk away with a different perspective; it’s more about us and less about I. Chambers of Commerce are about us. It’s about business, and what collectively business can do together – not “What am I going to get?”
Chamber president Dana Macalik pointed out that the event goes far beyond increasing membership. “It’s about expanding our business base and lobbying for infrastructure. It’s about job creation, education, and growing our local economy. It’s about putting us in a better position to compete.”
Larry Parks, Chamber Ambassador and Senior VP of American National Bank in Rockwall, chaired the winning Yellow group to victory, raising $26,260 and welcoming 52 new members. “The event was a ton of fun. We learned a lot about the Chamber and its value to our community. The response was great. Our Chamber is approaching 1,000 members…Now that’s a force to be reckoned with inAustinand throughout the Metroplex,” he said.
Parks was also the Top Individual Producer during the event, with Mary Johnson, Rob Dixon, Angus Gascoigne and Melissa Moseley not far behind. Johnson served as Captain of the first place team, with captains Jim Bess, Joe Wimpee, Tom Ryan and Karen Coughlin giving them a run for their money.
Bob Holliman with Lakeside Chevrolet, along with Rod Holland, Rod Holland & Associates-Keller Williams, were the Red Team Chairs. They raised $21,950 and brought in 53 new members. “When we look at the DFW area, we see we have some exceptionally strong competition around us,” Holliman said. “We’re not necessarily competing with people near us. We want to compete with Frisco, Colleyville, Coppell, Prosper…We’ve got to really up our game to do that. We need a big Chamber. And this was a great event to get us going in that direction.”
The membership event represents a new approach for the Rockwall Chamber. In the past, the Rockwall Chamber based its membership structure on company size and number of employees. The new, tiered marketing model is based on an “a la carte” menu of services. There are five investment levels ranging from the Entrepreneur Level to the Chairman’s Circle.
Cusano said the tremendous success of this membership drive stems from pride in the Chamber, and pride in the community.
Macalik added, “We’ll continue reaching out to companies to expand our presence and our influence in the region as well as in our community. We look forward to utilizing our growing membership base to affect legislative change, impact economic development and build up the business community.”
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