While change is on the horizon for the Four Flags Chamber of Commerce, at 321 E. Main St., Interim President Randy Hendrixson said he sees opportunity to visualize an organization that is relevant and important to the Niles community.
Hendrixson stepped into the interim president role in October. After former president Tyanna Weller resigned.
Hendrixson served on the Buchanan Chamber of Commerce as vice president for two years before he became executive director of the Buchanan Chamber of Commerce in 2013.
In his role as interim president for the Four Flags Chamber of Commerce, Hendrixson will oversee the chamber’s membership events, bookkeeping and accounting, while helping to come up with a future vision for the chamber.
“It is more about taking a good look at what we are doing now, but more so in the future and planning for that,” Hendrixson said.
The Chamber is 100 percent dues driven and currently serves between 300 and 400 member. The chamber’s goal is to provide an abundance of resources and networking and to help local businesses find ways to reach customers and ultimately to grow.
“The essential part of it is that through communication we are economically leading our community,” Hendrixson said. “Whether that be the business or nonprofit center, because that is important too.”
Helping these entities to find answers to problems, gain pertinent information or move toward a resolution are at the core of the organization’s purpose.
But the chamber’s job has changed and so have some of the needs of their members.
Now with the click of a search button, those seeking information can find an array of information on the internet. Hendrixson said he has heard this argument before.
With chamber memberships across the country declining, Hendrixson said now is the time to reassess.
Despite technology contributing to the change, technology is not the enemy, rather, a tool, Hendrixson said. Giving local businesses the full advantage of this service is part of the chamber’s new vision.
Chamber ambassadors and members of the promotions and marketing committee will soon receive training to help lead businesses in having an online presence through the Google Verification Campaign.
According to data compiled by the chamber, fewer than 15 percent of local businesses are Google verified, meaning they cannot be found on any Google search.
The campaign will quite literally put local business on the map, by teaching them how they can become visible in the internet age.
“It is such a simple free thing to do that we just realize that this is something we can help and do it completely free to our members, “ Hendrixson said. “While enormously benefitting our community.”
The campaign is expected to start as early as January of next year and will include taking participants through the steps of Google verification, and may include several seminars as well.
Hendrixson said a second phase of this campaign would seek to teach business owners how to be more mobile friendly and examine the amount of traffic that visits their webpage.
While there are many ideas, such as the Google Verification Campaign, Hendrixson said that there is still some planning to do.
“It is more about a hard reset and we really do not even know what that means yet,” Hendrixson said.
As part of the re-evaluation process, Hendrixson said he has been looking at how other chambers function in their cities and trying to gather the ways in which they are successful in aiding their community.
Making the chamber more visible is also a goal, Hendrixson said. Sending a chamber member to every council meeting to gain a presence and being accessible when residents come to the city with a concern could help them reach more people.
“I believe one of our opportunities is to really make sure that we have a presence there,” Hendrixson said. “So that we are not only representing our members well, but so we are listening and hearing information that we can take back to our members.”
The chamber will also continue to provide networking events, such as the Business After Hours and Eye-opener Breakfast series as well as the Manufacturers Round Table, which seeks to help local industrial firms find qualified workers. Incorporating more connectivity with Lake Michigan College and Southwestern Michigan College students will also be a goal at the manufacturers’ roundtable.
Additionally, the chamber will continue to work with the Niles Main Street Downtown Development Authority and the Southwestern Economic Growth Alliance.
Co-chair of the Chamber Advisory Board Barbara Craig, who works at Lake Michigan College as the vice president of regional campuses, said that the chamber will also likely be moving from the first level of the Carnegie Building to the lower level. The move is expected to take place some time early next year and an exact date has not yet been set.
In the coming weeks, Hendrixson encouraged members of the community to come forward and let the chamber know what they need or want to see in the future.