BUILDING MY ROLODEX

A friend called last week to schedule a “let’s catch up” lunch. I grabbed my calendar and he asked when I was available. When I told him it would be a week and a half before I could get together, he was shocked. He asked if I had a lot of jobs in the middle of the day during the week. I told him that mid-weekday work was rare, but I tried to book as many lunch meetings as possible.

While a few clients will take a lunch meeting, most of my mid-days are spent at networking meetings. I belong to several business networking groups and a few Chambers of Commerce. Their events and meetings give me the opportunity to meet hundreds of other business owners and contacts, face-to-face, to build great relationships. And those people can help carry my message to the hundreds of people they each know. In turn, I grow my contact list to possibly help my other contacts and clients with referrals.

A quick scenario; At a recent networking event, I met a man who owns a commercial hard surface cleaning company. They specialize in removing dirt from tile floors and walls in restaurants. They can restore grout to like-new appearance. When asked what I do, I briefly discussed my business. And I emphasized my vast experience and interest in working at restaurants.

To be honest, I will never own a restaurant. And he may never need a balloon entertainer. But as he visits his restaurant clients, I’ll be on his mind anytime someone mentions “Family Night”. And I will drop his name to people I meet who own restaurants, retirement homes and schools; any place with a kitchen that might have tile floors. If I can bring a referral to an existing or potential client, I improve my reputation. I’m not just pushing balloons, I’m also helping the client look out for their business.

There are many types of networking groups. Some require membership fees, other have meeting and referral requirements, while a few have mandatory participation levels.

Casual Contact Networks – These groups allow a wide range of professions to get together, learn about each other’s business and get to know each other in a non-business scenario. These networks often have monthly lunch meetings that can include guest speakers talking on topics of business, technology, marketing or other topics of general interests. Casual Contact Networks can also meet for breakfast meetings or after-work mixers. These networks include Chambers of Commerce that require membership.

Chambers are excellent sources to get to know businesses in your market. Members generally refer other members and meetings often allow attendees to bring marketing material to meetings to share. Most Chambers will allow guests to visit a couple of meetings prior to joining. This will allow you to get a feel for the group. I advise visiting several Chambers if possible. In my market, I could join up to eight Chambers of Commerce that are in my area. Not all of them fit my style or my marketing approach. I have been a guest at many of the Chamber luncheons to learn which ones work for me.

An excellent source for Casual Contact Networks is Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/). The website allows anyone to start a group, set up meetings and invite people to attend. These groups are very diversified, (Brazilan Culture, Ballet, Fitness, Single Mothers). But there are thousands of business networking groups. Just type your area of interest and zip code in the search fields. A quick look at the list can reveal many groups that gather at an area restaurant once a month just so you can meet other business owners, swap biz cards and help spread the word about their products/services. These meetings usually allow each person to stand in front of the group and present a short introduction to your company.

Strong Contact Networks – These groups typically meet weekly for the purpose of exchanging direct referrals collected over the previous week. Membership is restricted to only one person from each profession or specialty, (1 lawyer, 1 accountant, etc). The meetings are usually more structured than Casual Networks, allowing open networking but only a couple of more detailed presentations from selected members. These groups require members to cultivate their contacts into specific referrals for other members.

The largest of these networks is BNI (http://www.bni.com/), with chapters all over the world.

Community Service Clubs – These groups offer the opportunity to give back to the community while building relationships with other businesses that are like-minded in support of the Club. While there is no overt networking involved, conversations often revolve around business and providing word-of-mouth marketing.

Service Clubs include Rotary Club, Lions Club and Kiwanis Club. Primarily established for community improvement, these groups can be an excellent source of referral possibilities.

Professional Associations – What have been called “Knowledge Networks”, these groups are made up of one specific industry, (banking, insurance, architecture). The primary purpose of a professional association is to exchange information and ideas. While you might not be able to join the Certified Life Underwriters Association or the American Accounting Association, these can be excellent sources for referral business. While attending a networking event, ask an acquaintance if they are a member of any professional associations. Ask if they would recommend your service to their members. Chances are they would be eager to share your information with their colleagues.

Do I belong to a Professional Association? YES; My local balloon jam! While don’t have a fancy name like the Regional Association of Latex Inflators, we do get together to share twisting ideas, exchange tips for ending lines and help solve each other’s problems.

There are several tips to successful networking.

- Find groups that fit. You might “kiss a lot of frogs”, but you will eventually find groups that are comfortable and offer you opportunity to expand your contacts.
- Practice your “elevator speech”. This is your quick introduction of who you are and what you do. Emphasis on QUICK. Fifteen to thirty seconds and include who you are, your company name and your top services. I like to have the other person talk first. That way I can possibly customize my intro to fit their company.
- Have business cards available, not in your hand. Don’t introduce yourself by extending your right hand for a shake and extending your left hand with a business card. Wait for the opportunity during the conversation. If the opportunity arises, make it happen. Ask the other person for their card. They will also ask for yours. Now you have a prospect for your services and you have a contact for your referral list.
- Set yourself apart. One of the key tools, according to marketing geniuses, (Seth Godin, Scott Ginsberg), is to be unique. I don’t have a problem with that. In all of my networking groups, I am the only balloon business. And I don’t join a group that doesn’t provide the opportunity for me to bring a sample of my work to every meeting. Whether it is an attendance prize or a gift for the hosting restaurant, I always bring a balloon sculpture to show off my talents. I can talk all day about my stage show or my delivery pieces or my décor work and people will listen. But when I walk in with bouquet of balloon flowers or a leprechaun on a pot of gold or Santa with Rudolph, people are approaching me and asking what I do.

The best advice, above all other, is this: Participate. Regardless of the group you join, you must attend the meetings, join the conversations, meet new people, catch up with people you already know and become known to everyone. This is the best way to expand your referral base and build the relationships that will increase your business.

Thad James
SAMMY J Balloon Creations
http://www.sammyjballoons.com/
“Balloon entertainment with a twist”

Giving It Away for Free

A recent discussion about "freebies" allowed me to examine my own policies. Of course, my thinking has changed over the years. Influenced by my experiences and by many wise sages of the balloon world. There seem to be two extreme schools of thought.

On one side: Those that never give away any balloons. Don't work for free for any reason. This would diminish the artist's value, destroy the chance to get paid for future events and plant a seed in people's mind that "balloons are just free".

On the other side: Balloons bring joy to everyone, so everyone should get a balloon. Take balloons with you wherever you go and make something for everyone you meet. This spreads the joy of balloons, expands your potential customer base and is a lot of fun.

I believe most ballooners are somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. But finding a comfortable compromise can be tricky. I have always run my ballooning as a business. Whether, as I first started, I was a part-timer or later when I became a full-time company. I learned from those that came before me to handle the business as a professional. While I don't always have a bag of balloons on my shoulder and I don't sit at the park just making balloons for fun, I have discovered some very strategic ways to promote my business providing "free samples".

When I first joined my Chamber of Commerce, I didn't have a lot of money for advertisements or sponsorships. But each meeting/luncheon/event offered the opportunity for promotion. The Chamber had a table that allowed members to display business cards, flyers or coupons. I brought a balloon sculpture with a stack of business cards. I spent the entire meeting talking about balloons, twisting, entertaining and the services I offered. At the end of the meeting, I offered the sculpture to be given away as an attendance prize. To this day, my sculptures are highly sought after prizes, discussed for months afterward and have brought be a significant amount of business.
I have created a buzz about my business with a unique "freebie". Nobody is discussing the coupons from the local pizzeria. They make take one, but people are not pointing at the pizza guy and saying "That's the guy who makes pizza". The insurance agent gives away an umbrella at every monthly membership luncheon. It may be a good way to promote the agency but next month nobody will talk about who won the umbrella. Many people will discuss who took home the giant balloon penguin family sculpture.

Connie Iden-Monds, one of the smartest business minds period, offered an excellent promotional idea a few years ago at Twist & Shout. She talked about using her non-balloon corporate friends as marketing tools. She would call several contacts at large offices and told them she would be delivering large balloons sculptures to their offices on a certain day. She asked her friends to leave the sculpture at the reception desk for as long a possible. A stack of business cards accompanied each sculpture. Once the friend picked up the sculpture, they were asked to place it somewhere very conspicuous: lunchroom, meeting room, coffee machine or just leave it at the front desk. Somewhere that a lot of co-workers and customers would see it. Of course, the business cards stayed with the sculpture. The deliveries were made early in the morning for the most impact.

I will always support organizations that are important to me. Some people write donations. My donation is one of time and talent. I offer the most unique of support: balloon entertainment. The organization gets extraordinary balloon creations for their event. I get to know that I supported a great non-profit. The added benefit of promoting my business is a bonus. Potential customers get to see me in action and they know I have a heart by supporting the same group that they do.

Of course, I must balance the "non-profit" work with the "profit" work. I get two or three calls a week asking for my "support" or a "donation of time" for a "really good cause". I don't doubt they have a good cause, I can't donate to all of them. Even if it would mean "excellent exposure" and an "opportunity to give away my cards". (These are commonly used words used by non-profit event organizers) I don't blame them for trying. Their job is to call anybody and everybody who will help make their event a success.

This is a business and the bills can't be paid with balloon sculptures. Or can they? Maybe I should try to send the electric company a woven bucket truck next to a utility pole....



Thad James
SAMMY J Balloon Creations