Thursday, September 25, 2008

Check Your Ego At The Door...

It's a great idea to become a leader within your chapter by taking on a board position. There are several benefits:
  1. You are a more visible member in the chapter with more prominence.
  2. Others will look up to you as a leader.
  3. You will gain respect from other chapters, especially when your chapter does well. You'll be partially credited with the success of the chapter.
However, you do a disservice to your chapter if you:
  1. Carve out your own kingdom.
  2. Are unwilling to listen to advice and suggestions from others in your chapter or in leadership positions.
  3. React negatively to anyone's ideas that differ from your own.
The key to remember is that 'we're all on the same side, wanting what is best for our chapters'. No one person is more important than anyone else, or as Charles Dickens wrote, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'.

Make the effort to understand someone else's point of view and intent, before judging or acting in a rash manner. You'll have less regrets if you do.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Try New Approaches

We're half way through 2008. In looking back at the first half of the year, how would you rate your personal networking efforts and those of your chapter's? If you are dissatisfied with either, it's not too late to turn things around in the second half.

Sometimes it is the little things that will lead to greater success in AmSpirit Business Connections. Maybe try something a bit different like some of the following:

  • Visit another chapter. Pick one that does not have your category represented if possible. Why not build relationships across chapters? If your category is very popular, then just go to the other chapter to see if you can learn one new thing to take back to your own chapter.
  • Ask someone to go to lunch that you haven't met before from another chapter, or pick someone from your own chapter that you haven't been able to spend any one-on-one time with for a long time.
  • Find another networking event this month to attend that is not AmSpirit-related. Maybe you'll find a person to invite to your chapter, or maybe a contact for someone else in your chapter.
There are lots of opportunities to change your networking efforts in another direction. If you're 'stuck', break out of your rut with a new activity. It just might jump-start the second half of your year!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Owners, Renters, and Squatters...

Networking groups, whether it is AmSpirit Business Connections or otherwise, all tend to have 3 types of members. There are Owners, Renters, and Squatters. Which are you?

Owners--Members of this type are fully engaged in their groups. They take leadership roles, whether as a board member or just demonstrating leadership skills and setting good examples for others in the group. They attend their chapter meetings diligently, generate referrals constantly, and are always looking for ways that they can contribute to the continual improvement of their chapter.

Throughout the week, they are always thinking of how they can help and serve others. Rather than having a mindset of 'what do I have to do to be successful?', they have the mindset of 'what else can I do to be successful?'

They seek out other networking opportunities, also with the thought that they will attend the event in the hopes that they can uncover opportunities for others, not themselves.

Renters--Members in this category are able to contribute to their networking groups, but usually only do the bare minimum to get by. If they're required to do something, they'll do it, but rarely will go beyond what they're required to do. Their thinking is dominated by, 'what am I required to do to remain in good standing?' If 2 referrals a month will be required, they'll make sure that they generate 2 referrals, but no more.

As long as they belong to groups with strong leadership, they can be good members, because they will be held accountable.

Squatters--Members in this category take up space in chapters and do not follow the guidelines of good networking behavior. They scoff at structure, minimize the success of others as irrelevant, and erode the effectiveness of their groups. They want all the benefits of networking without putting forth any of the effort.

They miss meetings frequently, generate referrals only if it is easy (like someone asking them if they know a good realtor), and rarely attend any other networking events. They love making excuses as to why they can't attend events or meetings, and if questioned about their behavior, will be indignant about it. They take up a business category in their chapter and keep it from being occupied by any other business professionals who could be a much better fit for the chapter.

Before anyone thinks I am overly harsh in describing these types of networkers, please understand that I am only sharing what I have observed over the years through my involvement in AmSpirit Business Connections. I have been a Renter myself. Until I fully understood what it meant to be an Owner and the benefits associated with it.

I do not expect every member to generate tons of referrals every month or to attend every meeting. I do expect professionalism. I do expect that members deem their chapter meetings just as important as any client meeting. I do expect communication from members when they cannot attend.

We all have times where we have a conflict and cannot attend an event or a meeting. It should be the exception, though, and not the norm.

Owner, Renter, or Squatter: which are you?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

It's Just Lunch


Actually, no it's not. If you're in a chapter that distributes 'lunch bunch' assignments, don't ever miss out on meeting other chapter members one-on-one. If you belong to a chapter that thinks it's unnecessary to have such a thing, too bad for you.

This is one of the most important activities to accomplish within your chapter each and every month. What do we always say? It's all about Know, Like, and Trust. What better way to quickly get to know, like, and trust someone than to spend at least an hour of one-on-one time with them?

It's very difficult to know everything there is to know about another person's business when you only hear a 30-second commercial weekly and maybe when that person is the featured speaker a couple of times throughout the year.

If you're the Social chairperson for your chapter, don't ever neglect getting this out at the beginning of each new month. Also implore your chapter members to not only meet with their assigned partner, but choose someone else in the group you'd like to know better. Or even seek out members from other chapters to meet. What a concept! You might generate a cross chapter referral or be better able to refer business back to someone in your own chapter.

The more chances you give yourself to interact with others the more successful you will be as a networker. So why limit yourself? Also, don't make your lunch bunch forms too complicated. It really just boils down to having two columns with member names listed across from each other. Keep rotating one column until everyone in both columns meets one another, then re-shuffle the list.

One last piece of advice. The next time you meet with your lunch partner for the month, I challenge each of you to come up with at least one referral for each other over the course of your meeting. Think about it, how many more referrals could your chapter generate if this happened at every lunch bunch meeting throughout the year. A 16 person chapter would generate 192 additional referrals. That's more than half of what some chapters accomplished in 2007.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Introduction to Another AmSpirit Business Connections Member

Hello Everyone:

I'd like to introduce all of you to Joshua Wagner, a new member of the TGIF chapter. Joshua is a motivational speaker and life coach. His recent posting on his blog is very relevant to what we experience in our AmSpirit Business Connections chapters. He writes about how small deviations in direction can lead to being way off the mark in the end.

Think about your experience in your chapters. How often have you witnessed chapters that begin deviating from the proven formula and end up losing members or falling into mediocrity?

Read Josh's blog here to be entertained and reminded of why it's important to 'stay on course'.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Putting Others First

The next time you attend a networking event, be deliberate in your efforts to help others. Seek out new people to chat with, ask questions about their business, and ask how you can help them as far as getting business leads or making introductions.

Too often I run into people at events that are so driven to talk about themselves and care nothing about listening to anyone else. These people fail at connecting with anyone because they're perceived as selfish.

Do you know the best part about helping someone else find leads or making introductions? They'll usually feel inclined to return the favor!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Keep An Open Mind For Other Potential Members

Everyone wants more business and more clients to work with, right? At least most of us fall into that category. That's why almost everyone joined AmSpirit Business Connections in the first place.

The wonderful thing about AmSpirit Business Connections is that when we are members of our respective chapters, we are not competing with others in our business categories: only one member in a distinct business category in each chapter.

However, there are times when this should not be taken so literally. If we let our chapters become so territorial that we reject potential new members because of a perceived conflict, we're hurting everyone in the chapter.

Let me explain this further. I'm not saying it's good to have two realtors, two mortgage lenders, etc. What I am saying is that it's entirely possible to split some categories and respect the other person's niche. Even though you may be able to handle commercial and residential home sales, you will find that by focusing on the one area you will benefit more in the long run. If you do residential, let a commercial realtor join. That commercial realtor may be your best referral source, and vice versa.

I've also heard members say, "Well, let them into the group, but I won't refer anything to him. I can handle both commercial and residential." That's fine. But think of the other members in your chapter who could benefit from knowing, liking, and trusting the new member. Every time you add one more person to your chapter's network, it opens the potential for referrals to all the other business categories in the chapter.

So the next time you reject a potential new member because you see a conflict, think objectively about it. Is letting this person join really affecting your bottom line negatively? I've seen groups with 3 insurance agents and 3 attorneys before. They all respected each others' core businesses and even though they overlapped, they only spoke of their core focus areas.

The more you hold onto everything in your category, the more your business loses opportunity for growth and expanding your sphere of business contacts.