L EADI NG P E O P L E . L E A D I N G P R O S P E R I T Y.
Total Resource Campaign Working Together – We Can Make Longview Better!
Moving Longview Forward! by Dr. Dale Lunsford The launch of the TRC and Intercity Visit program a decade ago came just as many in Longview were seeking a more strategic vision for the city’s future. The TRC empowered Longview businesses to see the Chamber not as a membership organization but a partnership. With intentionality and enthusiasm, we reached across the community with a comprehensive campaign that demonstrated the many facets of an effective Chamber of Commerce. Organizations could see in the TRC specifically how they could partner with the Chamber to advance their businesses and grow the city’s economy. For the first time, many organizations began to see the Chamber as a partner toward success. The Intercity Visit program has equipped stakeholders from across Longview to envision our own future by looking in depth at the experience of other cities. From our first visit to Chattanooga to this year’s visit to Tulsa, the Chamber’s Intercity Visits have helped to define the agenda for Longview’s strategic vision of the future. Whether it’s downtown redevelopment, caring for the homeless, or the arts as quality of life, ideas from our intercity visits are already at work making Longview a stronger community.
We too often forget that Longview is blessed with one of the nation’s top Chambers. The successes of the TRC and Intercity Visit helped to propel Longview being named the “Chamber of the Year” in 2019 by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. I’m encouraged that the TRC and Intercity Visit remain as effective today as their launch ten years ago. ................................................
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TRC Member Business Opportunities Successful business plans start with strategic thinking and planning. Kelly Hall and your Longview Chamber team rely on that same thinking and planning to prepare not only the Chamber’s programs and initiatives each year but also the growth opportunities for local businesses. Ten years ago, the Chamber’s leadership initiated the use of a Total Resource Campaign (TRC) to assist in their strategic planning. The Chamber has grown to and maintained over a 700% increase of revenue development since the program’s inception in 2011. That tremendous growth has directly affected the benefits Chamber businesses can utilize in their business growth toolkit. The TRC at Longview allows chamber members to use the chamber to grow their own businesses through sponsorships of the Chamber’s programming. Sponsorship in a TRC is not about simply donating money to the chamber. Sponsorship is a reciprocal arrangement in which members are able to grow their own businesses while also supporting the chamber’s initiatives. The sponsorship relationship allows businesses to find and advertise to diversified target markets, many of which are available only through the chamber. Not only does a TRC allow local businesses to expand their reach, it also allows business representatives to expand their business connections and build upon their existing business development plans. As a TRC volunteer, Dorrie DeLand, TB&T’s Vice President of Business Development, has experienced first-hand how the TRC has allowed her to assist “the Chamber in growing the businesses of Longview. Central to the Chamber’s work, the campaign allows me to tout the economic development, legislative, education advocacy, and workforce development resources of our Longview Chamber of Commerce to new members.” Nick Bowen, Financial Advisor and Investment Coach, realizes that “As a local investment advisor and financial coach with roots in the community, I LOVE volunteering with the Longview Chamber’s Total Resource Campaign (TRC). For me, it is investing my time with a focus on business and community growth. Since the TRC is member-driven, the vision of the Chamber is guided by what members care most about. Engaging with the TRC has allowed me to see this first-hand and continues to provide a framework to build valuable connections and relationships. This helps me grow my business and give back at the same time. The Longview Chamber shares my passion for growing Longview.” Through the TRC, the Longview Chamber has provided member businesses and their representatives opportunities integral to business growth and success.
