The Chamber and You

Membership in the De Soto Chamber of Commerce provides networking opportunities and more.

ARTICLE BY Leah Wankum

PHOTOS BY De Soto Chamber of Commerce

It took only three hours for the De Soto Chamber of Commerce to grow its membership by 49%. That kind of explosive growth might have taken five years, had it not been for the membership drive in February 2020.

That was before Covid-19—some members may still recall that day, when everyone came together to recruit new members and retain existing ones.

Sara Ritter, president of the De Soto Chamber of Commerce, said the secret ingredient to the blitz in membership was Your Chamber Connection, a national organization based in Texas that led the membership drive and made it a fun-filled and encouraging event for chamber volunteers.

“We (hadn’t) done a formal recruitment campaign with volunteers at this scale,” Ritter says. “To be able to get nearly 70 new members in a 24-hour period was unheard of.”

The 2020 drive marked the first time the chamber had worked with Your Chamber Connection. While it almost looked like a telethon, the drive was an opportunity for chamber members to join together in teams and share with potential new business members their testimony about the benefits of being involved with the chamber.

Ritter says the membership drive with Your Chamber Connection would not have been possible without the support of the chamber board.

“They had the vision to embrace this new concept that we’ve never been through before, and at the end, when we saw the amount of effort and new opportunities for both our members

and the new members that came from it, it was amazing to see that sort of cooperation for a community as a whole,” Ritter says. “It warmed my heart.”

Bringing in Your Chamber Connection was both a key strategy to the drive’s success and also a unique, out-of-thebox opportunity because it encouraged volunteers to get competitive and have fun recruiting new members, Ritter says.

“What was so amazing to me was seeing these folks support the chamber and making those calls, and getting members in,” Ritter says. “It was such an inspirational day, seeing our members support our organization and make phone calls and say you need to be involved.”

During the membership drive, the chamber gained 68 new members, resulting in more than $30,000 in new membership revenue for the chamber and the De Soto Economic Development Council, Ritter says, adding that the average per dollar investment came in around $500 per member.

“Yes, we are small, but we are now growing,” Ritter says. “We’re still a pretty small chamber, so now that everyone is familiar with how this process works, we expect that the next time we do it, there’s going to be even more support.”

Prior to the 2020 membership drive, the chamber had about 125 members. Afterward, the chamber’s total membership came up to about 200, Ritter says.

“Recruitment is essential to allow the organization to grow, but without the retention of our existing members, we wouldn’t be where we are at this point,” Ritter says. “We take pride in

the fact that we have long-term members, and we wanted to make sure that retention was as equally important in this membership drive too.”

Corey Davis is a new member who came on board after last year’s drive. As owner of Mowmentum Lawns LLC, Davis says his new membership has already been helpful because he made connections with other businesses from the chamber directory and gained new clients who live in the Arbor Ridge townhomes. “I’ve had multiple phone calls off the directory, and I’ve actually grown probably 20% every year that I’ve been here,” he says.

Corey Davis is a member because his wife, Jill Davis of Mary Kay, recruited him. He has watched firsthand how his wife’s business and network of connections have both grown during the life of her chamber membership (at least 12 years and counting). They met their real estate agent, Kris Johnson, also a chamber member, through those connections.

“If they want to do business in De Soto, I believe it’s a good idea,” Corey Davis says. “You’re definitely going to meet more people.”

Jill Davis agrees, saying she and her husband would encourage anyone to join if they have a business interest in De Soto.

“One of the first things that I realized 12 years ago, even before the explosion of De Soto, is just how active the chamber is,” she says. “There’s lots of meetings, lots of networking opportunities; even during Covid, there have been regular updates.

“I’ve always called it a very ambitious chamber. Sara is just always forward-thinking in how we can grow the chamber, meet the needs of members and be set up for future growth, not just maintaining.”

As part of the chamber since November 2002, Ritter has seen membership ebb and flow over the years. Historically, the chamber’s highest level of membership has been about 170 members. Then the Great Recession hit in 2008, and the

chamber lost members as businesses closed. Membership grew incrementally afterward, until the rapid growth in early 2020.

Half the chamber members are from outside De Soto because they have a vested interest in the growth and development in the city.

“That says a lot about our community as a whole,” Ritter says. “De Soto is on the map, and there’s a lot of interest in the De Soto area for businesses.”

Ritter says they’re slated to retain about 160 to 170 members from this year’s membership drive. That’s an 85% to 90% retention rate—much better than what other chambers have experienced, especially as so many businesses have struggled through the pandemic.

“It is so hard to be able to say we’ve achieved everything we wanted to because right as we had that momentum, Covid hit,” Ritter says, adding she hopes to bring members together again when it’s safe to do so.

Chamber membership can counter some of the effects of the pandemic because the chamber can provide both networking opportunities as well as Covid-19 relief resources.

“It’s just a great opportunity for a business in De Soto to have that contact and relationships with people all across the (Kansas City) metropolitan area,” Ritter says. “Those relationships are something that you can’t put a dollar sign on.”

FOR MORE

DE SOTO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, 32905 W. 84TH ST., P.O. BOX 70, DE SOTO, KS; 66018 913-583-1585; WWW.DESOTOKS.ORG

YOUR CHAMBER CONNECTION, 8208 BRIDGE ST., NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX 76180; 800-678-6241; WWW.YOURCHAMBERCONNECTION.COM