gmcc membership brochure_2011

Maximising your Membership

A short guide

Call 0845 602 9469 or log onto www.gmchamber.co.ukCall 0845 602 9469 or log onto www.gmchamber.co.uk

Take advantage of your membership benefits now! Call 0845 602 9469 or log onto www.gmchamber.co.ukCall 0845 602 9469 or log onto www.gmchamber.co.uk

Introduction

Like everything in life, you will get out of your Chamber what you put in - so we encourage you to make full use of your membership. Access all the services you need, make real use of your Account Manager and please get in touch whenever you need help. We’re here to help and support you at all stages throughout your business journey. And where we don’t provide a service directly, we have thousands of members that can!

Take advantage of your membership benefits now! Call 0845 602 9469 or log onto www.gmchamber.co.ukCall 0845 602 9469 or log onto www.gmchamber.co.uk

Account Manager

From the day you join, you’ll have your own account manager, dedicated to helping you. Please get in touch whenever you need advice, help with a business issue, or one of our services.

Policy & Representation

As a Chamber member, we offer you the expert help and services of the largest policy team working in any UK Chamber. We’ve had real successes in influencing government policies on the issues that matter to business.

Please get in touch to tell us your issues - whether those are double yellow lines outside your premises, business tax, employment policies or digital infrastructure strategy - we’re here to listen, and take your views to the right people for action.

Free PR Support

Let us know your business news and success stories - and we’ll get you coverage. The PR team is here to put you in touch with the media, and we regularly get our members’ news featured in the local press, broadsheets, national radio and television.

Get involved

If you want to take an active role within the local business community - helping to influence policy and steer decision making - then we can get you involved through our councils and committees. Each is focused to take action in a certain local area, or policy topic:

Local councils - by area

We have 10 local councils - working to tackle local issues in each of the ten Greater Manchester Authority areas. Members take an active role in steering their work.

The policy focused groups

• Employment & Skills Committee• Property & Construction Committee• Transport, Planning & Environment

Committee• International Trade Council• Economic, Finance and Tax

Committee• Digital Infrastructure Group• Carbon Reduction Group

Sector councils – by industry

• Automotive & Logistics• Construction• Engineering & Manufacturing• Hairdressing Business• Health & Social Care• Digital & Creative

We actively welcome Members to get involved in shaping the local economy through council and committee involvement.

Working with You


Savings for you & your business

ChamberPlus

ChamberPlus combines expert money-saving services with a collective purchasing procurement framework and an online marketplace to help members trade, save and grow.

• TRADE: The ChamberPlus online marketplace will offer members a virtual shop front to trade with thousands of businesses and nearly half a million employees across Greater Manchester. This is a new service and ChamberPlus has recently launched as an online membership directory for you to find and contact other Members. You can create virtual shops and trade with each other. It’s entirely free to Chamber members - go to www.chamberplus.co.uk and start setting up your own business profile.

• SAVE: Our business advisors can cut your costs on everything from utilities to stationery, fuel to business rates. They will thoroughly review your current indirect business costs and work with approved suppliers and collective purchasing frameworks to deliver you serious savings. Chamber Plus has saved over £1,000,000 by reducing members’ overheads by an average of 18%

Our latest frameworks offer building, electrical and plumbing products and services utilising ChamberPlus e-procurement, a revolutionary online procurementtool with automatic three way matching of purchase order, invoice and delivery note - saving you further money in compliance and back office efficiencies.

Regus Gold Card

Members receive a free Gold Card for the duration of GM Chamber membership.

Your Regus card gives you flexible meeting space at over 140 UK Regus business lounges and 1,100 worldwide. With complimentary internet access and refreshments while you’re visiting, it’s ideal for meeting clients off-site, catching up with a new contact when travelling - or simply to work offsite in some quiet space.

Saving you Money

Call 0845 602 9469 or log onto www.gmchamber.co.uk

AA Breakdown - preferential rates

We offer you 60% reduced rates on AA Breakdown Cover - particularly useful if you have a team based on the road. It just offers a little extra peace of mind, at a cheaper price.

LateRooms.com

Whether it’s for business or personal travel accommodation, we’ve teamed up with LateRooms.com to give Members easy access to a range of great rates and choice on hotels worldwide. You can save up to 70% off the rack rate, and book rooms quickly and easily online.

Free Legal Expenses Insurance & 24 hour Legal Advice Line

Our free Chamber Legal Expenses Insurance significantly reduces the risk of litigation and provides Members with essential and immediate legal expenses protection and legal advice. You have access to more than £670,000 worth of indemnity each year against a range of business related legal problems. You also get access to a 24/7 Legal Advice Line by calling 0845 602 9469.

Business Advice Centre

We also offer services such as credit checking, grant searching and marketing lists. Contact us for more information.

Primary Health Plan

With your Membership you can offer your staff access to a quality health plan from just over £1 a week. It’s a great staff benefit - and can help your business too, by improving the costs of long-term absenteeism, and helping with staff retention.

Savings for you & your staff City Card

You’ll have received your City Card in your welcome pack - it’s ready to use straight away, giving you huge savings and discounts - of up to 50% - on a range of leisure, lifestyle and entertainment services across Greater Manchester.

You simply show it at the participating business to claim your discount. To see the full list of offers, and for further details about the scheme log on to our website.

Promote your business

You can also take part in the scheme by putting forward your own special business offer or discount to other members - please call us for more details.


Reward your staff

You can buy additional City Cards for your team at just £10 each - a fraction of the normal price of £49.99. Email us at [email protected] to order extras.

Social Circle

Our Members and their employees get free membership to Social Circle - Manchester’s premier activity group - connecting you to over 70 social and activity events a month. It’s a great benefit for boosting your staff rewards package. As well as free membership to the group, some of the events are free - and there’s a packed and varied schedule to choose from. Sign up directly by logging onto our website.

Challenge 4 Change

Challenge 4 Change is a 13 station aerial-trekking and challenge course, designed for groups of all abilities. Perfect for cost-effective team building, we offer Members major discounts on bespoke training sessions & team builds, with packages and times to suit. Again, it’s a great venue for a staff away day or reward. Arrange a visit or speak to the team about your needs.


Networking and events

Everyone loves networking and events, and we run over 250 every year so you can build your contacts list and meet your next customer. There are different formats and times, including golf, black tie dinners, networking activities, specialist seminars, business breakfasts and more, all at different venues across Greater Manchester. Members get extra discounts and you can view the calendar and book onto events online. www.gmchamber.co.uk/events

You can also sponsor events, with a range of cost-effective sponsorship packages on offer. Call us to find out more.

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are the ideal route for growing your future skilled workforce, and improving your bottom line results in the process. We offer a free recruitment service, funding and full support along the way, placing around 2,500 Apprentices in over 1,100 GM businesses every year. Our team are experienced and flexible - we can build frameworks to suit your particular business needs, and we take care of the admin and paperwork!

Your business advisor can arrange to visit and discuss what you need.

Business Training Courses

We run a huge range of accredited training and skills courses for all your staff and Members get extra discounts on our competitive prices. You can see the latest courses online, or speak to your business advisor for more details.

Business Finance Support

Access to quality funding can be difficult for many start-up or expanding businesses in this economic climate. We offer loans to entrepreneurs who are struggling to raise funds from mainstream lenders, as well as development loans for specialised areas such as technology and innovation.

Developing Your Business

Call 0845 602 9469 or log onto www.gmchamber.co.uk

Consultancy Support

We can provide quick access to the expertise you need from a trusted pool of approved consultants - whether that’s to implement a carbon management scheme, gain an ISO accreditation, develop a LEAN processing culture or put in a new HR system.

Tap into our Corporate ServicesIf you’re a small or medium sized business, we can help manage your costs and improve overheads by managing your HR, Payroll, Health and Safety or IT using our proven business support outsourcing model.

Start-up Advice

We have a team of advisors dedicated to advising start-ups on finance, marketing, business planning, IT and staff - and we can quickly get you access to the services you need. Speak to your Account Manager or call the Membership Team for details.

Global Trade Support

You may be thinking about growing your customer base overseas - if you do, our International team have everything you need to learn export skills, set your business up to trade internationally, and access any grants available to you.


Communication

53 Degrees Magazine

You get 10 free copies of the Chamber’s 53 Degrees Magazine sent to you for free as part of your membership. It’s one of the best-known business magazines in Greater Manchester, and it’s packed with information and features about membership and member profiles. You can advertise in it too. Call our PR team for further details on 0161 237 4226.

Chamber Logo

As a member, you can use the Chamber member logo on your stationery - it’s a recognised mark of quality, and Chamber Members like to trade with each other! You’ll need to apply to use the Chamber Member logo - please call the Membership team to gain access.

Website

We’ll shortly be launching our new group website - www.gmchamber.co.uk, which is being re-designed to help you find the information and services you need quickly and easily. You’ll need to register to book events and training online, and it only takes a few minutes to do so. Remember to tick the ‘Chamber Member’ box to have your member discounts applied to bookings. Sign up here: www.gmchamber.co.uk

The latest news…

We use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to post out the latest member news and services, and you can sign up to these via the Chamber site. There’s also a Member blog - always worth a follow for its business news on: www.gmchamberblog.co.uk

Eshots and letters

We send out regular letters and e-communications on topics that matter to our members - such as Events, Training, International Trade and the Chamber Bulletin. You can manage your preferences to these at any time by logging into your account at www.gmchamber.co.uk

Get in touch

If you have any feedback or requests about the way we communicate with you, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Sheena Henthorne, Communications Director on 0161 237 4029.


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GM

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Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce would like to thank Marketing Manchester and associated photographers for kindly supplying the images used in this brochure.


For more information about Membership with the Greater Manchester

Chamber of Commerce, please call 0161 876 3300

www.gmchamber.co.uk