Went to a chamber of commerce member focus group tonight. The chamber decided to focus group it’s members as step one in designing their marketing plan for the near future. A funny thing happened in the middle of a set agenda designed to further the pre-designed plan, the meeting became the plan.
Twenty business owners got to know each other and the networking and understanding was better than any business after hours I have attended. The conversations between the members who previously had never met each other looked like a college homecoming lunch.
I have no idea whether all these groups will produce a remarkable marketing plan for the chamber. I do know that if they just have meeting like this every month, the chamber will do just fine.
Sometimes just getting people together and asking their opinion is all you need to build connections.