by Jim Durland, President of ChamberMax and publisher of Membership Monday

Business owners are exposed to more sales and marketing messages today than ever before in history. It has been suggested that they see and hear upwards of 5,000 messages every single day. What does this mean for chambers of commerce? This message overload means that chamber professionals must set themselves apart from the crowd in order to inspire a prospect to join the chamber.

One way to accomplish this is to take advantage of the basic emotional triggers that evoke genuine, heartfelt feelings in the prospect. The following emotional triggers are applicable to chamber development.

FEAR: Fear is the strongest human emotion. In chamber development, it is the fear of loss or of losing something, which is a stronger feeling than that of a potential gain. Understanding this basic human condition can have a big impact on membership sales.

The majority of membership representatives present the benefits of membership by painting a picture of what the prospect would gain by becoming a chamber member. However, the top professionals know how to articulate what the prospect will lose by not being a member.

GUILT: Over the years, I have learned that prospects feel guilty when they do not join and members feel guilty when they do not renew. They know that the chamber is doing great things on their behalf. This feeling of guilt is part of the reason why the prospect or past due member won’t return your phone calls or reply to your letters or emails.

Prospects and non-renewing members will often ease their guilt by rationalizing that the chamber has many other members who support the cause, so their support won’t be missed. To keep them from rationalizing away their guilt, make sure to continually communicate why the chamber needs them specifically (you do!), and how they are anything but just another number (they aren’t!).

TRUST: You would be hard-pressed to find a more respected, credible and prestigious business organization than the chamber of commerce. Emphasizing this will go a long way toward establishing trust with a new member prospect. How long the chamber has been in operation, the number of members and the length of time you have been employed by the chamber will also help to build up trust.

Additionally, you should reassure your members on just how frugal and conscientious your chamber is in spending their membership investments. While the question is seldom asked, I assure you that all of your members, as well as prospects, want to know how their money is being used.

BELONGING: Few people can honestly say they prefer to be isolated, to be an island separated from the mainland. In fact, human nature dictates that people want to belong to a group of like-minded individuals – in the chamber world, they want to belong to a group of like-minded professionals. Appeal to this basic desire to belong. As the saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

COMPETITION: At times seeming at odds with the need to belong, competition will nevertheless always be a strong motivating factor for many people – and businesses. The old adage of keeping up with the Joneses persists for a reason. Many people are affected by a competitive desire to feel equal to or better than their peers. Being able to compete is not only a sign of belonging, but it also provides an opportunity to move ahead or “win.”