When Planets Align, Chambers Will Merge

Welcome to BizVox, part of the Electric Secrets variety podcast. We are dedicated to small businesses, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits. You're here to build knowledge, spur productivity, and have a few laughs along the way. My name's Scott Leon Smith, and I'm your host, let's talk some shop.

Once every hundred thousand years or so, when the sun doth shine, and the moon doth glow,

and the grass doth grow, chambers of commerce merge into one. So in this episode of BizVox, we are going to be discussing what happens when multiple chambers of commerce merge to form a single great organization. And to help me do that, I am joined by Casie Grau.

What's your official title, Casie?

Casie:

Executive Director. 

Scott:

Executive Director of the Crawford County, the new Crawford County Chamber of Commerce.

Scott:

Hello, Casie.

Casie:

Hello, thank you for having me.

Scott:

Thank you for being on an episode of BizVox. So the merger of the chambers is now official. It's January 2025, right?

Casie:

Correct. So it became official on January 1st of this year.

Scott:

January 1st of this year. Casey, give us some of your background. How did you come to be the, again, the executive director of the Crawford Chamber of Commerce?

Casie:

Yeah, thanks. Well, so I worked in insurance for 22 years, and in 2024, decided to take a leap of faith and try something new, and was fortunate enough to get hired at the Bucyrus Area Chamber. And while I was learning that, there was a couple of leadership changes in that organization, and so got promoted to the executive director of Bucyrus about February of 2024. And then we started talking more and more about the merger and what that would entail. And so applied when they were ready to have that executive director position ready to go for the merger applied for that, and was fortunate to have been selected by our board for that. So my role in that was leading all of the tactical plans through the merger, but then the change management piece is kind of those human elements of change through it as well.

Scott:

So your transition was a trial by fire, pretty much.

Casie:

Very much was.

Scott:

Yeah. Wow. So what prompted the merger?

Casie:

So this is not something that's been a new concept for the area. For years, this has been kind of considered. And I don't think that the area was really ready for it until last year. And I think the board recognized that. So in change management, there's an exercise you can go through. It's kind of change readiness survey, and that didn't necessarily happen. But in our minds, that was kind of happening of like, okay, let's assess how ready is the community for this now? And our board decided we think that the community is right for this. And so we went through some really kind of tactical and strategic things last year to help get the community ready for that.

Scott:

What kind of factors did you look at?

Casie:

Yeah. So we had a lot of conversations with our members, with chamber members. And is this something that you would be in tune with? And does this feel right to you? And 90% of them said yes. This makes total sense. And by the time we had had those conversations, the Galion Crestline Chamber had already merged too. So part of the county had already gone through a merger. 

Scott:

Okay.

Casie:

So I think that helped lay the groundwork. And then seeing that a lot of our members had office locations in both Galion, Bucyrus, Crestline, made a lot of sense to just say, there's a lot of duplication here from membership dues standpoint. And we're doing events together already. And the ones that we're not doing, they're pretty similar. And so I think people were feeling like, okay, you know, we see the duplication, we see that you're already doing things together. Let's go ahead and pull the trigger on this.

Scott:

So was there anything else that you looked at, not just with the members, but with, you talked about events, events happening all at the same time. Was there anything, commerce-wise, money-wise, finance-wise that was happening that prompted the merger?

Casie:

Yeah. I think, you know, we really started to talk about not only the money from the chamber side of it, but the money that the members were paying. And then from a broadened standpoint, okay, how do we take that money that they're paying and leverage it so they get broader exposure across the county? So for most of our members, they're going to pay equal to the same amount of dues they had before their merger.

Scott:

Gotcha.

Casie:

And so if we keep kind of that intact, some of them pay less now, some of them pay more.

But on average, those dues are pretty much the same. So how do we take those dues and give them a better ROI by giving them broader exposure across the county?

Scott:

So ROI for my listeners?

Casie:

Yeah, return on investment. 

Scott:

Yes, of course. 

Casie:

So forgive me, I throw that out a lot.

Scott:

Whenever we talk business, we always throw acronyms in and I just want to make sure. 

Casie:

Yes, coming from the insurance world, we did a lot too. 

Scott:

Absolutely. Yep. Education was my background. So acronyms all over the place.

Casie:

Yeah. Yeah. So I think, you know, we really started to think about it too from, okay, it makes sense for us to do this financially, but for our members, really like, they could get better value out of their membership if they had broader exposure. And if you start to think about our area as not just individual cities and towns, but a conglomerate of Crawford County, when people come to the area, we can say, well, hey, you can go to Bucyrus to have lunch at Baker's Pizza, but why don't you head on over to Galion and go to the theater there? And then you can go to Crestline for dinner. And by the way, there's a doctor over here that might serve you well too. And so if we get people to think a little bit more globally about the area. 

Scott:

And the towns are close enough together where that can make sense. 

Casie:

It can make sense. 

Scott:

It's not an hour drive to Galion from Bucyrus. It's 10 minutes. You've got it.

Scott:

Yeah.

Casie:

And we did hear a little bit of like, well, it takes me 20 minutes to get from New Washington to Galion. And so I always said, well, think about when you go to Columbus and you want to go from one side to another because maybe you did dinner here, but then you want to go to a show over there, it might take you 30, 40 minutes to get to the other side. 

Scott:

And if you're on the outer belt, you're taking your life in your hands. 

Casie:

And you might get behind a tractor and a school bus here.

Scott:

Yes, exactly. 

Casie:

Yeah. But you get the scenery of the countryside. So, you know, too, if we can get people outside of this area to think about our area like that, I'm not just going to Bucyrus. I'm going to Crawford County to spend my money. And therefore I might go to Bucyrus for one thing in the day, New Washington and the next. And we can really start to spread the wealth and kind of work together a little bit better.

Scott:

That's great. What goes into coordinating this merger? I imagine stress is the main ingredient, but outside of that.

Casie:

You know, I love the philosophy or the tagline, how do you eat an elephant? And it's one bite at a time for us. Sometimes it was two bites at a time.

Scott:

Wow, yes. So a lot of work, right?

Casie:

A lot of 12-hour days, but we knew that it was worth it in the end. So we had a project plan and it included everything from we need a new website. We need a new handbook. We need to get an EIN number. We need social media. We need all the things that go into having a new business. And we just laid that project plan out. And so every time our staff met, we just one bite at a time worked on these items. And knowing that we had to get this done by January 1st, we knew we had a timeline that we had to follow for that. So there were some tangible items like that that we needed to have a project plan for. Then we also started to think about the intangible stuff. Like, how do we really get people ready for this? They say that they are, but we also know there's a segment of the population that's a little nervous about this. And they're afraid they're going to lose their community in this. So we started spreading some messages about, you know, the goal in this is not to lose your community. In fact, it's to embrace it and to promote it better. And then we just started getting out together. The Gallian Crestline Chamber and the Bucyrus Chamber, the staff of both of those, we wanted to be seen all over the place together. 

Scott:

And seen as important.

Casie:

Yes, so we started doing that. And even if we didn't have a specific event together, we would go to each other's events and be there to support one another. So I think our goal was to get people used to seeing us. So then when the merger did happen, it's like, okay, why I've already seen them together anyways, this feels like what's already been going on. So did a lot of that. And then also it was just when people weren't sure about it, we didn't fight them on it. It was, we get it. It's okay if you don't agree. Give us time that we can show you that it's going to work. It's going to be okay. 

Scott:

The anxiety of a big change. Yeah.

Casie:

Sometimes it just takes time letting people have time with that. I think we probably still have a little bit of that now. You know, you're never going to get everybody fully on board with a big change like this, but we're hoping to demonstrate in 2025 that this is going to work and we really want to support everybody. And by the end of the year, they're going to feel much better about it. If they did have any trepidation. 

Scott:

So eating an elephant one bite at a time, no elephants were harmed in the recording of this segment. We're going to take a short break and we'll be right back with Casie Grau.

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Welcome back to BizVox. We are talking with Casie Grau, the executive director of the Crawford County Chamber of Commerce. She has overseen a chamber merger in the past year or so, right?

Casie:

Correct.

Scott:

Okay. So what are the new mission, vision, values of the Chamber of Commerce? 

Casie:

Yeah, I could read them if you want me to. They're pretty lengthy, but …

Scott:

Go right ahead.

Casie:

Yeah. So mission is that we want to serve as a leading advocate for our members by creating a positive economic climate, supporting and developing all industries, and attracting others to visit and contribute to our communities. So last sentence is kind of unique and important because what people may not realize is the Crawford County Chamber also oversees Bucyrus tourism.

Scott:

Wow, yes.

Casie:

Yeah. So the Bucyrus Tourism and Visitors Bureau is an arm of ours. And so we really wanted to be sure we included something about visiting the area. And when you visit, you come and you experience not only what's happening today, but we have so many historical things that was important for us to kind of mention in here as well. 

The vision is we strive to build a community where our members flourish, industries thrive, and visitors want to experience our past, present, and future. So that's where you're going to get that kind of nod to the tourism piece. 

But really, when we worked on these, we sat down and talked about what's really important to us and what we've heard from our members. And then we started to explore some options, meaning like, okay, what are other chambers doing that? And these chambers feel pretty innovative and they want to move forward. And we got some language from those chambers and then we took it kind of massaged it to make it our own. We started with kind of this platform of everyone else's vision, and mission values, and then we tweaked it and tweaked it and tweaked it and we felt like it was ours. 

Scott:

It's so important. It's so interesting when you mentioned tourism as part of your mission. I always try to bring the podcast back around to branding. And part of your brand is your community.

Casie:

Yeah.

Scott:

And you're working together to bring more businesses in. You're not just networking with each other, but making your home, your community attractive to other businesses. And the Chamber of Commerce is so much a big part of the overall branding of the community that it's impossible to not consider that as a small business or even as a big business. You have to consider the community and you are not only your role in it, but your role in bringing more businesses in.

Casie:

It's so true and so key. And I tend to see it as like we have an ecosystem here.

Scott:

Absolutely.

Casie:

Yeah. When we lose a member or part, then our ecosystem has to shift a little bit. And so having that chassis of vision, mission, values is really kind of what's there. So when something does go wrong, we got to go back to that vision, mission, values and look at it and say, okay, what about this is going to keep us moving forward and what solution does our vision, mission, values provide us to keep moving forward. And you know, when we hit a bump in a road and that kind of thing. So, you know, the values section is kind of the behaviors that we expect of our team.

Scott:

Oh, great.

Casie:

And it's everything from teamwork to dependability, integrity, and service. And so you'll see, if you read our values, we've even integrated fun into the mix. And it's really important to me that our team likes to come to work because it gets stressful.

Scott:

Oh, absolutely.

Casie:

And being in the public spotlight, it's hard some days and we have to have some thick skin. And so we really want when our team is together to have some ability to kind of release that negativity and make it bounce off of us a little bit better. So we have lots of fun together. If you've ever seen our Facebook post, one of our staff members, Heather Martin, is so good at this. And so it's really important to me that our team feels that way, that they can have fun and have a little bit of release. 

Scott:

So it's very important. Yeah. I'm always, I'm a huge advocate of humor anywhere, especially at work. 

Casie: 

It's key. 

Scott: 

We need to let off some steam and to not take yourself so seriously, even if you are doing something that is a serious endeavor, supporting businesses is so serious, but we can have fun while we're doing it.

Can you talk about some recent events? I know you had a Candlelight Christmas and a couple of other things happen last year.

Casie:

Yeah. Come the end of the year, fourth quarter, we had Candlelight Christmas. That was provided by the chamber and then the tourism together. And that same night, the Galion Crestline Chamber had the holiday open house and auction. So our team kind of split. We divided and conquered that night and both turned out to be really great events. Candlelight Christmas, despite the weather, we had a good turnout and there were some new partnerships that we had to help us get that event done. And we even had Mrs. Claus do a Christmas tree lighting and it was freezing outside for Mrs. Claus, but we had a good time with her. So that was kind of what wrapped up the year, those two big events. And for me, it was kind of the cherry on top of the year. So ending the year with a magical night of Candlelight Christmas and then over in The Hub and Crestline is where they held the holiday open house in auction. So many people came out for that and had a good time together. And so it was just like, okay, we ended the year on a really high note and it felt really good to do that. 

Scott:

And that community, that sense of fellowship is important as well.

Casie:

Yeah.

Scott:

And taking the opportunities to bring people together to celebrate the year and celebrate their businesses is just so important.

Scott:

We're going to take one more break and we will be right back.

Casie:

All right.

Scott:

Hey, did you know BizVox is just one segment in the variety podcast we call Electric Secrets? And more segments are being added as we speak, including Dedicated to the Craft, a segment that reveals the secrets behind the often misunderstood professions of acting and directing. I host that one too. Keep an eye out for more segments in the next couple of months. Now back to the show.

All right. Welcome back. We're with Casie Grau at the Crawford Chamber of Commerce post-merger. What are the chamber benefits for businesses?

Casie:

Oh gosh. We have so many. We've got the traditional ones. So if you're a chamber member, you can get discounts on things like health insurance for your staff, workers' compensation through Sedgwick. And then there's an energy benefit too where you can get discounts on electricity and gas. So those have been some of our traditional ones. Also, if you kind of watched our newsletters and our social media in 2024, you notice all of the stuff that we do to promote our members. So it's a sharing information or sharing post doing spotlights and emails. And we've got about 2,500 subscribers who are emailed now. So it hits a really big audience. All of that is free. So anytime we have a member reach out and say, Hey, can you help me get this communication out? We're like, Yep, we'll take it. We'll run with it. You don't have to pay anything extra for it.

Scott:

That's great.

Casie:

So it's really good. And then of course the events. So networking and having the ability to get out and to meet other members of the community, especially now that we've got this broader scope is key to having a business that's known in the area. But then this younger generation, they really want to see businesses that have social responsibility and they're engaged in the community. So we're hoping that people see the chambers, the avenue to meet that expectation. 

Scott:

How many member businesses do you have now?

Casie:

So we have around 400. So really good. We're hoping we already have had these first couple of weeks, people reach out and say, Hey, we want to be a member now. So we've got a really good response going. And we've got a lot more work to do though. So there's some corners of the county where we've got people who have never been a chamber member and probably because they never really understood the benefit of that. And they just saw it as like an extra expense, which we totally understand. But we're hoping that people will really take advantage of the camaraderie that you get through this, the exposure that you get, and then the ability to have these discounts, if you will. The discount through AES, the alternative energy source, it'll pay for your membership will pretty much pay for itself. So there are several things built into our benefits that will pay for itself. And we just need members to kind of use them and then reach out if there is a benefit that we're not doing, but they're like, Hey, have you ever thought about doing this? We're pretty open to new ideas and exploring what the community needs.

Scott:

First Fridays, how does that work now with the merger? Are the First Fridays coordinated between Galion and Crestline, Bucyrus? Yes, or is it centralized to Bucyrus? How's that working now?

Casie:

Yeah, boy, we've got a busy summer coming up. So we will have First Fridays in Bucyrus, and Third Fridays in Galleon.

Scott:

Okay.

Casie:

And then we're working with Galion, or excuse me, Crestline’'s community development team to see how we can do some different things this summer for them. So we were doing some Third Thursday events in Crestline last year as well. And just wasn't getting the attendance that we were hoping we would get. So we're going to try to switch that up a little bit this summer and see if we can do some different things. We just haven't quite figured out what that is yet.

Scott:

Can businesses jump around? Can a Bucyrus business go to Crestline for the Thursdays?

Casie:

Oh, yeah, we're hoping that they do.

Scott:

Okay.

Casie: 

So yeah, by coming, if you're a Bucyrus business and you want to go over to Galion for their third Friday, boy, that'll get you some broader exposure and similarly for the others too.

Scott:

Absolutely. Yeah. All right. Thank you. This was awesome. Thank you. A lot of great information. As a recap, I can't overstress the importance. We've had the last two episodes talking to directors of the chambers of commerce. And I just cannot overstress the importance of being a member of your chamber and getting the support that you need, getting that fallback position of having somebody that has your back and a network that is looking out for you and making sure that you are part of your community, your business community, and your community-community, those go hand in hand and that it's, I can overstress the importance. In fact, I'm overstressing it now. I'm kind of beating a dead horse. I should stop.

Casie, thank you so much for being part of this episode. 

Casie:

Thank you for the opportunity. 

Scott: 

And we're looking forward to what's coming from the brand new Crawford County Chamber of Commerce.So in the next few weeks, find an elephant, not literally, that you can take little bites out of two fix whatever major crises you are having. Hopefully, you're not having really major crises, but maybe little problems that will work too.

We'll see you next time for BizVox. I'm Scott. Let's get to work.

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