THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER

I want to thank all of the members who have been supporting our events this year. We are beginning our New Member Campaign and will run it through August, 2012.  

We will be giving prizes out during this time for most membership referrals and renewals. We hope that all of you will participate.

We have surveyed our membership once again to get feedback on our website.  So many of you have taken the time to respond and we appreciate it.  The Chamber is striving to make the changes that you, our members, need to help you grow your business.

We did a few After Hours ConneXion Mixers and will continue to have more of these. It is important that you share with us your thoughts on what we can do to improve and expand our value.

If you are looking for a great Mother's Day or birthday gift, we have our "Dining Deck" of cards that give you over $500 worth of savings on dining throughout Pittsburgh. Our Mother's Day special for orders placed by May 4th is a deck of dining cards for $15.00. Contact the office if you would like some.

We will be assisting one of our local students in his dissertation by completing a few surveys (10 minutes) electronically and submitting them for data collection. If you would like to help our student, please contact the office.

Our new Board of Directors and I are privileged to represent this Chamber at major regional events, as well as, provide a business advocacy role with Harrisburg and Washington D.C. through our membership on the Allegheny Conference Board.

We value your ACTIVE PARTICIPATION.

Gary

Gary Heckel, Board of Director

President

Becoming a Chamber Member

As diverse and unique as our membership is, there is one underlying quality we all share with passion - BUSINESS.

Membership with the South Hills Chamber of Commerce carries with it a distinct opportunity to belong to a community of like-minded individuals who run organizations with thoughtful leadership dedicated to economic growth and civic pride.

SHCC Membership

Purchase a SHCC membership and enjoy the many benefits that our members receive:

• Discounted event registration
• Business profile page on the chamber website
• Opportunity to join SHOP Local
• Discount services/deals with our business partners

Why Customers Don't Want Your Customer Service

You're a business owner, but you are also a customer, right? Business owners buy products and services not just for their businesses, but for themselves as well. That gives them lots of exposure to various degrees of customer service.

Can you think of an excellent experience you had with another company? What about a bad experience? Now ask yourself how your business compares. What do you think your customers are saying about you? (Not sure? Do a Google search on your business tonight.)

One way to ensure customers are raving not ranting about you is to redefine the old, commonly accepted meaning of customer service. The outdated way to think of customer service is resolving a customer's problem AFTER the sale. We tell customers our response time to their problem is faster than the other guys, we hire a customer service department to take their problem calls, and we provide liberal return policies when they are disappointed with their purchase.

Today, successful businesses can't afford to fix problems. Margins are too tight, and problems cost too much. Problems will erode your valuable time, resources, reputation, and cash. Rather than paying to fix mistakes and problems, invest in preventing problems.

Take the time to truly understand what is important to your most valuable customers. Don't assume you know what is important to your customer; there's a great chance it is much different from what is important to you. Study, learn, ask questions, and then anticipate what their problems will be. Create solutions and quality controls within your business that aggressively seek out those problems and eliminate them long before they become your customer's headache or disappointment with you.

Do you value your time? You can bet your paying customer does. In fact a common discussion has become how customers value time just as much as they value their money. Deliver a problem free service or product to your customer and you are giving them a bonus of time. Time they didn't have to spend fixing a problem, calling you, exchanging an item, or demanding a discount. Time they may spend telling their neighbor about the excellent service you provide to your customers.

About the author

Mike Bowman is the owner and publisher of The Quarter Roll, a personal finance magazine that makes financial education entertaining. Learn more at TheQuarterRoll.com.

15 Largest Employers in the Pittsburgh Region

Reference:  2012 Edition Connections - Pittsburgh Region

UPMC Health System:                                                                   40,000

US Government:                                                                             18,600

Commonwealth of PA:                                                                   13,600

University of Pittsburgh:                                                             12,200

Giant Eagle:                                                                                      11,100

West Penn Allegheny Health System:                                     10,000

Walmart Stores, Inc.:                                                                    10,000

PNC Finiancial Services:                                                              10,000

BNY Mellon Corp.:                                                                             7,600

Allegheny County:                                                                           7,000

Westinghouse Electic Co. LLC                                                        6,200

FedEx Corporation                                                                            6,000

Highmark Inc.                                                                                   5,300

US Steel Corporation                                                                        4,700

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Newsletter Sponsor:  

$500 a year

(4 issues) provides you with an ad in each issue, small write up about your company in one issue and a free ad on the website 4 times.

Workshops Sponsor:

$500 a year

(Quickbooks Class, Listening to Your Business Class, Business Plan in a Can Class) provides you with a free a seat in each class or your designate, free ad in newsletter and advertising at all three classes.

ConneXions Networking Sponsor:

$1500 a year

"Monday Madness" 5:30 P.M.-7:30 P.M.-Andora's Restaurant once a month provides you with an ad on website for a year and promotion and free reservation at each ConneXions networking event.

Luncheon Sponsor:

$150 each

Lunch Meeting that you select. Free reservation at your selected luncheons and an ad in the newsletter.

Women of Influence Event Sponsor:

$200 for each event 4 times a year.
Free reservation at each event, an ad in the newsletter (4 times) and a promotion at each event (4 times).

Scholarship Event Sponsor:

$1000 Event to be determined.

You will get a free promotional ad on the website for a year, in the newsletter and promotion at the event.

Trade Show Sponsor:

$1,000

Which provides you with a promotional banner at the event, ad in the newsletter and free ad on the website for a year.

Special Events: TBD (3)

$1,000

Which provides you with a promotional banner at each event, ad in the newsletter and an ad on website for a year.