With little fanfare, John Tripolsky officially became new Executive Director of the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce yesterday. [1,2,3]
Picking up where things left off with our debrief of his immediate predecessor, John Olson, we sat down with Mr Triposky for about ninety minutes this morning at our offices on East Michigan Avenue to discuss what he has inherited — and where he’d like to see things head. [4]
He began by characterizing this Chamber and the greater Saline business community which it is chartered to serve as “running a good ship,” with “really sound fundamentals.” Anticipate that members will continue to be leveraged with weekly interviews on The Lucy Ann Lance Show. The networking breakfasts (“BBRs”) will continue. Within that construct, then, his first charter consists of efficiency and leverage. [5,6]
Accounting has been moved to a cloud-based infrastructure believed to reduce staff work by fifteen hours a month. Attention has now turned to networking. “I’d like to see us create structures where businesses in the same stage of their life cycles can be connected so they can give and take from one another to benefit from common experiences. We’re in a unique place to facilitate that.”
This thinking applies to the overall Chamber brand as well.
“We need to be as valuable a resource to our members from Pittsfield Township as we are to those in this ZIP Code,” Mr Triposky began. “This Chamber has a solid working relationship with Main Street. They are really good at what they do. I want to have that same sort of network with other chambers — with Chelsea and Ypsilanti. Things like bar crawls, very unstructured, that intermix these larger areas.
“That means a larger audience and the ability to showcase each city in a light that draws people to it. In our case, draws people to Saline.”
John Tripolsky very much sees the fundamentally changing nature of the way businesses locate, invest, and hire in the era of current and emerging technologies. “For some startups and even satellites, this could mean adapting Chamber space to provide conference rooms for meetings here in cases where the company people are working from home otherwise. I can see becoming more of a knowledge and resource hub for provisions that they don’t need and don’t want to carry internally for uses that are only occasional.” [8]
With this in mind, one of the first thoroughly Tripolsky imprints anticipated after the first of the year is a planned podcast series around creating understanding that can come from stories of success behind one’s business. Under the rubric of “The Chamber on Demand,” he is clear that this not look like the typical self-promotion, list of upcoming specials, or special event bullhorn. [9]
It’s a bold, marketing-minded move aimed at growing the pie for members at a time when chambers may be re-emerging as a business development necessity.
At the same time, it doesn’t stand alone. John Tripolsky has a firm goal in mind of growing membership in the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce to 450 by this time one year from now. Constituents are thus advised to look for a mix of new, integrated initiatives in the coming months en route from here to there.
And, like his predecessor, Mr Tripolsky does not see that path as one that involves much time spent sitting in the executive director’s chair back at his office.
References
- “John Tripolsky” JTE Marketing Group.
- “john.tripolsky” Instagram.
- Saline Area Chamber of Commerce (home page).
- “Steps Have Been Taken To Debrief John Olsen Before His Tenure With Saline Area Chamber Of Commerce Closes” Dell Deaton (October 2, 2018) Saline Journal.
- The Lucy Ann Lance Show (home page).
- “Building Business Relationships Breakfast” Saline Area Chamber of Commerce.
- Saline Main Street (home page).
- “It’s Important to Understand What Being a ‘Smart City’ Means to Saline, Part 2” Dell Deaton (April 16, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “The Beginners Guide to Podcasts” Jordan McMahon (July 27, 2017) Wired.
