The Northern Ohio Area Chambers of Commerce (NOACC) is one of the largest independent chamber associations in the U.S. NOACC boasts 126 chambers of commerce and 40,000 employer groups. This year marks the association’s 25th anniversary.
“We celebrated in grand style. We’ve done nothing,” deadpans Cindy Holzheimer, NOACC president and CEO. “Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we didn’t get to do anything, but that’s OK. We’ll do it all next year.”
Celebrations aside, NOACC, based in Cuyahoga Falls, hasn’t exactly been idle this year. NOACC has greatly stepped up its game plan to help its members through these uncertain times.
“We have been able to pivot our organization to offer more and different kinds of help to our members,” Holzheimer says. “We have become a lot more than just a benefits provider for our chambers.”
Of course, those NOACC superior cost savings programs in the form of medical insurance plans (Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield), workers’ compensation, third-party administrators, energy aggregate discounts and wellness plans have been hugely popular as individual chambers attempt to help hold down costs for their members. NOACC also assists its member chambers with competitive costs concerning delivery services, credit card processes and more.
“We are also affordable for any chamber,” Holzheimer says.
This year, NOACC has added unprecedented efforts to making sure its members get through this challenging year and beyond. An important part of that assistance has been to offer leadership training, especially geared to chambers that have had to reduce staff.
“Some of those people may not be coming back. There may be only one person running a chamber. We try to give them support, including providing them with content for their newsletters. That information may come from the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the White House, Ohio Statehouse — whatever is relevant to members to help keep them up to date,” Holzheimer says. “You also keep hearing how important well-being is to everyone these days, and we have extended that to include our members. We check in on our members on a monthly basis, whether that is to bounce ideas off each other or to commiserate.”
Holzheimer notes that “small businesses are the backbone of any chamber” and make up the majority of members. Because COVID-19 has especially hurt those businesses, often targeting retail and restaurants, Holzheimer feels their pain.
“It varies from community to community, whether it’s a majority of manufacturers or nonprofits or anything in between, but all small businesses are struggling now. Unfortunately, we are seeing some of those small businesses not returning. It’s very sad,” she says.
To help prevent those closings and shore up small businesses on the edge, Holzheimer says this current situation is often when a local chapter and NOACC can step in with extensive education, advice and other tangible lifelines. Varied benefits (besides major financial cost savings programs and relevant legislation updates) can include mentorships, provided office space, participation in shop local campaigns, member-to-member discounts, recipient of a chamber’s website traffic, shared advertising, sponsorships and inclusion in a chamber’s directory.
David Keller is president and CEO of Keller National, an independent insurance brokerage in Cleveland Heights specializing in auto, home, life, business and group benefit plans. Now a member of the Heights-Hillcrest Regional Chamber of Commerce, Keller says being a chamber member for more than a decade has helped him connect with vendors he can trust when he needs services and products.
“Also, from a business perspective, the chamber really gave us an avenue when we started the business to get in touch with new people and to expand,” Keller says. “The chamber has become a cornerstone of our business marketing plan. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone involved. You do business with others, and they do business with you.”
Keller also tips his hat to both his local chamber and NOACC for its leadership and guidance during the pandemic upheaval.
“When this all rolled out, we were lost, like most businesses,” Keller recalls. “We didn’t know what it meant for us or the business community. The chamber connected us with resources to navigate everything we needed, including information on the Paycheck Protection Program loan. That was particularly excellent for us because we could share that information with our client base.”
When businesses began to reopen, Keller notes the chamber was right there, bringing in experts and providing other resources to make sure its members knew what was acceptable and what should be done to be compliant.
“It was nice to be able to turn to the chamber,” Keller says.
According to information supplied by NOACC, “consumers are 44 percent more likely to think favorably of a business and 63 percent more likely to purchase goods or services from a company in the future when they know the business is a member of the local chamber of commerce.”
“Chambers are great hubs of their communities,” adds Jim Penttila, client relationship manager, Boutique IT Solutions (BITS), and a member of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce. “Chambers are nonpolitical, and they drive both economic and social development. And, chamber members and leaders are very approachable on multiple levels.”
Holzheimer wants businesses to remember there are benefits of being a chamber member, no matter where a business is in its life cycle — just starting out, expanding or selling. A chamber is a nonprofit membership organization that acts as a local business advocate. A board of directors and members know and invest in a community, Holzheimer says.
“People do business with people they see, people they trust, and people who are referred to them by someone they trust,” Holzheimer says. “That’s the chamber.”