Massive Referrals Built Well: Roseville Business Network
April 17, 2009 by Matt Freeman
Filed under Networking, Strategic Partners
*******Update********** Since the time of this post Kevin Nakano and I both decided that the time constraints on our businesses right now required us to make some tough decisions. These decisions required us to take a look at all the activities in our schedule and eliminate something. By deafult of being one of the newer ventures we had taken on Roseville Business Network was put on Hold.
However, I do encourage anyone that would like to utilize the model not to let our decision stop you. The group was a total success. I was introduced to a few great people and one of the members Johnny Kovalek and I are in the process of starting a new gropup of power partners. Stay tuned as we are looking for a few members in a related industry to create a powerful team. Thanks for visiting and sorry for the news.
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I think that many of you who are reading this post have been part of a Business Network. Many of the common groups such as BNI, Letip, and National Business Exchange are excellent groups. These groups have been around for a long time and they have proven track records. I have been a part of these organizations in the past and I have had a great level of success from them. Some of my best business partners today grew from a relationship established from one of these groups. (my intent is not to knock any of these groups but merely offer an alternative. Any material within is purely my opinion and not that of Kevin Nakano.)
The Problem-Inability to choose who you get to work with and referral quotas-Every one of these groups has a process in place for new member enrollment. You have to go before a panel to see if you would be a good fit for the group. Naturally many of the business owners enter the group with previously established relationships that they have had over many years. When the panel accepts a new member of a certain trade often it is not unanimous. Common trades include: Financial Planning, Insurance, Mortgage Lending and Real Estate. Each of these trades require a great deal of trust for both the referrer and the consumer. When you enter a group it may be hard for other members to refer the business to you but that is the foundation of the group itself. It is a referral network designed to exchange business between members.
Another downside is that there are costs and quotas that must be met to maintain a membership. In order to meet a quota I think that many times members refer an extremely cold lead. If you get in the habit of submitting bad referrals for the sake of meeting a quota that will also defeat the purpose and the level of trust amongst members.
The Solution-Roseville Business Network- Kevin Nakano, Nakano Realty andNakano Consulting, is known in the Sacramento area for his Networking prowess. I met Kevin through an associate I had met in one of these groups. Kevin and I hit it off and we had a lot of similar ideas. Kevin had started a group, Elk Grove Hub, and that group was doing really well. He asked if I would like to co-chair a group in Roseville. This was the beginning to the Roseville Business Network. Roseville Business Network is a non-exclusive, free networking group that meets once a month. The frequency of once a month versus once a week is designed to allow time to meet offline, if you will, and develop the one on one relationships deeper. The fact that we are non-exclusive gives business owners the ability to develop a relationship with those that they connect with instead of being forced to use who is there. The guidelines to membership are simple and we do run a tight agenda. Another reason for the frequency is that many of the past groups felt rushed and it felt as though the members were not present. This was because the time commitment was too much to maintain. As small business owners we are the business and we cannot be away that long. The reason that we do not require a fee is simple. Everything costs and it is not necessary. Relationships cultivate business and they should not have a price tag. One would argue that a small fee helps to maintain the commitment. If you need to spend money to commit to something then you are not the partner we would be looking for. Our goal is to foster relationships that lead to increased business. It is that simple.
Summary-Supplement not Supplant- The networking groups that I have mentioned are meant to supplement your current groups not supplant them. We both are strong advocates for the traditional networking groups and are actively involved in such groups. Kevin has also founded Referral Partners International which is an exclusive Networking group. There are opportunities to start a chapter on his site.
I encourage you to check us out. Visit the site, Roseville Business Network and Elk Grove Hub and give us a call.
If you’d like to attend one of the meetings the times are posted on the site and where to RSVP. Other related sites to check out:
