The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce is full of resources
Tap into the resources and connections of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce through Ask SAM. With a simple e-mail or call, this free service can identify the expertise, product or service that you need to run your business.
Topics are limitless but often include questions related to social media resources, local business referrals, Chamber offerings, regional demographics, relocating to Madison, how to start a business in the area…the list goes on and on. All questions are handled by a knowledgeable GMCC team member who personally responds – usually within the same day.
When we recently spoke with Jane Boutelle, GMCC Business Resources Manager, she mentioned they had only had a few questions that have taken longer (up to a few days) to dig into and generally those questions required tapping into the vast knowledge base within the 1,400+members to address very specialized issues, such as the import/export business between our region and China.
Officially launching last May at the GMCC Annual Business Expo and Madison Small Business Conference, Ask SAM stands for “sharing answers with members” but don’t let the name fool you, it is also open to non member use.
In our conversation, Jane shared how a busy small business owner needing to negotiate their lease renewal used Ask SAM to learn more about norms within commercial real estate and what is happening here in the Madison marketplace. In the end, this information saved the business owner several thousand dollars and the landlord even added air conditioning to the space.