We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liz Ogle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Liz, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

We all went through the struggle of 2020, teams all of a sudden were required to stay home, events and programs were canceled, and it seemed like everything was at a standstill. Working for the community, specifically parks and recreation, we know that sometimes we are the only avenue for fitness, programs, socialization, and celebrations for some folks in our community. While many organizations made the hard decision to cancel everything going forward, I couldn’t accept that for my community. I live in the community I serve, and knew we needed to pivot, but how?

Luckily, I had spent several years prior building our online community, so moving things online was less of a hurdle than for many others who didn’t have an online presence prior to the shutdown. We learned that we could promote healthy habits and outdoor activities with very little staff involvement. We chalked up walking trails around town with positive quotes, hopscotch and other fun challenges, and added our social handles to tag us in their photos and videos.

The first holiday after shutdown was Easter. Parks and Rec hosts a huge egg hunt and has the Easter Bunny out to take photos and interact with kids every year. Clearly, that could not happen. Instead, we reached out to our online community and asked for the names of their kids. After a single afternoon, we had over 150 names. We turned off comments and got to work. There were only two staff members on campus, me and the director. So I got in the bunny outfit and we took a posterboard and headed outside to take a series of photos. I photoshopped “Happy Easter, XXX” and included all the names submitted, then posted all the photos on Facebook. The post quickly started to go viral, and the requests for more names came flooding in. We ended up posting the blank poster bunny images so folks could make their own Easter greeting to their kids. That initial post reached over 4 million people and over 40 countries. The photos were being reuploaded like crazy, so the true reach it had is unknown.

These small pivots made me realize that the smallest kind gesture in what felt like the end of the world as we knew it, can be more impactful than giant, annual events. Keeping your customers (in our case, community) in mind for all your decisions, understanding their struggles, and choosing to find ways to be supportive, whether it’s through your products or services, will create the most loyal customers you’ve ever experienced.

I’ve taken this lesson with me as I moved into a new field. I now work for the Grandview Chamber of Commerce, so the community I serve is more the business community, but the approach is the same. Be kind, and small gestures have big impact.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a Kansas City Native. I moved to Grandview, Missouri in 2008. At the time, I worked for Garmin International, based out of Olathe, Kansas. I commuted from Grandview to Olathe every day for six years, until one day I saw a flyer for walking your dog in the annual Harry’s Hay Days Parade in Grandview. I put a little bow tie on my schnauzer and off we went. During that parade, I met the City Administrator’s wife, and we chatted along the entire parade route. I told her I lived here but rarely spent time here since my work and friends were all on the Kansas side. She asked how I liked my job, which at the time, I was pretty miserable with… I had no passion for it, I didn’t feel engaged, and I was just a number.

At the end of the parade, she introduced me to the City Administrator, Cory Smith. He was kind, and we made small talk. He asked for my contact information, and I shared it, expecting to never hear from him again because that was my expectation of the local government, they put on a good face, but never actually follow through. Imagine my surprise when just a few weeks later, he calls and says he has a job for me with a local business. A month later, I was working as a Marketing assistant at the local jewelry store, minutes from my home.

That interaction was the turning point in my personal and professional life. I became more involved in the community, I created a Facebook group that gives citizens a platform to share their experiences (both good and bad) with local businesses, giving those businesses an opportunity to see what folks are saying and engaging to either thank them or address an issue. Over the years, I’ve rallied community members to help our neighbors in catastrophic events (fires, floods), set up community clean-up days, and ultimately engaged everyone in our community to build and maintain a better city. In 2017 I was named Citizen of the Year, something I thought was only offered to retired folks. I made friends and connections that have pushed me to step out of my own comfort zones, which has led me to this point in life… as the President of the Grandview Chamber of Commerce.

I absolutely love working in and for my own community. I’ve worked for local businesses, I’ve worked for the City, and now I feel I’ve come full circle by being given the opportunity to lead the Grandview Chamber of Commerce into its next era. An engaged community is a thriving community. Being part of the Chamber allows businesses to show the public they are a supportive and active part of the local community. People are more likely to support a local business when they know that the business is active in the community and supports local initiatives and programs, like being part of the Chamber.

The Grandview Chamber provides a variety of benefits, like networking & marketing opportunities, educational programming, resources, advocacy, and more. We are highly engaging online and offline, with monthly, quarterly, and annual events offering opportunities for any business to get involved. We might be a staff of only two, but we are mighty and dedicated to supporting our members. I highly encourage any business owner to get involved with their local Chamber of Commerce.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I am extremely real and transparent online. I talk how I talk in person, I share the good with the bad, and I let my online friends into my personal world often. I think this has helped build my reputation because I treat everyone as a friend, and sometimes that requires you to be blunt and honest. I understand that my online presence is a constant reflection of my personal and professional persona. I keep this same mentality with the organization’s online presence – we address the bad and celebrate the good, and we don’t sugarcoat things or be untruthful. We earn the trust of our customers and community by maintaining an honest presence.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

We stay very engaged online – we follow our Chamber members on various platforms and interact with their content both as our organization and personally. We make sure to call and email our members and new businesses in the community throughout the year. Two of those calls must ALWAYS be a simple check-in, with no ask. We want to know how business is going, what they’re struggling with, and how we can assist.

The most meaningful is dropping into their place of business in person or setting up a time to grab a coffee and catch up. People do business with people they like, know, and trust. We use this approach to build relationships with our Chamber members, prospective members, and the business community as a whole. Why would they want to be part of our organization if they don’t trust we have their best interest at heart and if we aren’t friendly and easy to talk to? They wouldn’t. The more interaction you have with your clients, the more you understand how they like to be contacted and communicated with.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.grandviewmochamber.com
• Instagram: /grandviewmochamber
• Facebook: /grandviewmochamber
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/grandviewmochamber
• Twitter: @gmochamber