Christopher C. Murphy |
April 1st, 2005 07:30 AM |
Yeah, I feel the same way. I've joined organizations for a yearly or monthly fee and they spend all the money I give them on marketing to get you to spend more money on them.
My local Chamber of Commerce took $250 from me after convincing me I'd get business from all the members...not one call all year. They have probably spent about $200 on mailings to me, emailing me and phone calls to get me to come to $25 a plate dinners with other members! I refuse to pay for access to something I already paid for...that's insane. I can call them myself or mail them because I have their contact information and next year I'm saving $250 and marketing myself to the members without the Chamber.
Get this - when I told the guy at the Chamber I wanted to contact members with my own mailing he said, "If you do it through us it has more creditability....it only costs $125 for an insert into our quarterly mailing". I get those mailings and it's just like any other mailings. I'm not anymore impressed with Chamber members because I know why they joined...to get more business like me! I'm sure a small percentage do it for PR reasons, but the small business owner is looking for leads. The Chamber asking for more money on top of the $250 joining fee has po'ed me off.
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