Post written by Brian Nemoir, President of Full Impact Communications, LLC, and chair of the Waukesha County Business Alliance Board of Directors.

Redo, reposition, revamp, retrench…more often than not anything with the added prefix “re” is in response to a challenge of some sort.  Challenges are often tough to categorize as either good or bad, and as business leaders we face any number of challenges on a daily basis, some of which require those preferably avoidable “re” words.

The Waukesha County Business Alliance isn’t exempt from such challenges.  We are currently entering the final stage of our member renewal process, which to-date has already delivered an astounding record-breaking 82% renewal rate.  While it would be easy to raise a glass and toast such successes, the more-critical question is what happened to those 18% that didn’t come back?

The Alliance is a customer-driven product; what we offer is that which our members influence via creation and participation.  The Alliance is constantly evolving, responding to the needs of our customers, working to improve our product offering.

It’s easy to say that it’s the value of our product offering that sets us apart from other existing and newly formed organizations.  Our response?  Numbers don’t lie, and while 82% renewal rate is a nice endorsement, here are a few other facts and numbers that support the four pillars of our organization

• Advocate—Last year’s merger of Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce and WCAN produced not only a newly-named organization, but also a more robust advocacy effort.  Water, education, transportation, taxation, economic development, and workforce training are just a few of the issues that the Alliance played an active role in at various levels of government.  I think it’s fair to say the voice of the Waukesha County business community has been, and will continue to be heard.
• Develop—This is the “what you know” part of our mission.  Last year the Alliance hosted 41 development events and programs, focusing on business development featuring great backyard talent, as well as regional experts.  Helping you get better at what your business does keeps you coming back for more.
• Network—Take what you know, and put it in front of who you know, a fairly simple formula for business success. Last year nearly 7,000 attendees participated in 156 events and programs…all designed to increase who you know.
• Promote— We hope that for every new business ribbon cutting the Alliance participates in, it leads to a future application for our heralded “Top 10 Business of the Year” award and subsequent ceremony.  From the Alliance business resource directory and map, to sponsorship opportunities, we work to add additional value to your membership by creating opportunities to be in front of friendly audiences.

Challenges present opportunities, not the least of which is to remind the member-driven Alliance what we do well, and reconsider what we can do better.  The Alliance will work equally hard to make sure the 18% return, and that the 82% get the return on their investment.  Those “re” words may not always be comfortable, but they are part of what makes the Alliance an ever-improving organization.

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Note from Carolyn: Have you signed up yet for our Annual Meeting next week? The theme is “Waukesha County is OPEN for Business!”, and it is next Tuesday, September 27 from 11:30-1:30pm at Country Springs Hotel. Join us as we celebrate the successes of the business community, recognize our volunteers and sponsors from the last year, and present the Don Richards Leadership Award to former Lt. Gov. Margaret Farrow. She will be presented the award by former Governor and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson. We will also hear about the “state of business” from WMC President Kurt Bauer. Details here: http://business.waukesha.org/events/details/annual-meeting-2011