Category Archives: AmSpirit Business Connection

Pasta & Referrals

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What does pasta and referrals have in common? Everything, according to AmSpirit Business Connections Director, Jim Kehoe.

In working with his Chapters, Jim shares NPR Planet Money Podcast #400. In this 7-minute podcast, the program host relates the story as to how the Barilla Pasta Company turned around the performance of its manufacturing plant in Southern Italy.

In summary, the Barilla Southern Italy plant had an extreme absentee problem that was impairing production and, in turn, financial performance. To address the problem, managers relied on a risk of loss, performance reporting and accountable peer pressure.

The risk of loss was , if performance does not improve, the plant would close and relocate, terminating the employment for thousands of employees, good and bad.

The performance reporting was making public the absentee records: who was absent, when and how often.

The accountable peer pressure caused friends and co-workers to encourage (and even demand) those chronically absent to get to work because if the plant closed, it would cost them.

As Jim points out, great Chapters within AmSpirit Business Connections embrace the same motivators that the Barilla managers deployed.

The risk of loss is, if the Chapter does not function appropriately, it impairs what members can make through the Chapter via the generation of referrals.

The performance reporting in our Chapters is tracking attendance, ensuring members do their lunch assignments, completing the Chapter Performance Report and instituting professional fees.

The accountable peer pressure is where members hold fellow members responsible to do what is required to keep the Chapter functioning optimally.

So it may seem that pasta and referrals have little in common. When it comes to the manufacturing pasta or generating referrals, however, the most important ingredients are risk of loss, performance reporting and accountability.

Make The Most Of That Membership

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MAKE THE MOST OF THAT MEMBERSHIP
SEVEN ESSENTIAL ACTIONS TO ENSURE YOU
BENEFIT FROM ANY GROUP OR ORGANIZATION

If you make your living in business, you ought to get involved with groups or organizations in your area. This could include a professional or trade association related to your business. It could also be the chamber of commerce in your area or region. As well, it could be a service organization, such as a Rotary, Kiwanis or Lions Club. Or it could be a structured networking organization such as AmSpirit Business Connections, BNI or Gold Star.

Whatever the case, if you are an entrepreneur, sales representative or professional, membership in one or more of these groups and organizations is the perfect venue for exposing your business in the community. In addition, this is a surefire way to network yourself amongst others involved in the group or organization. Most importantly, in time, your membership will result in business coming your way.

Know this, however, membership alone is not enough. Membership merely gives you the opportunity. To take advantage of the opportunity and reap the benefits of membership, you need to undertake seven simple (but essential) actions.

 CONSISTENTLY ATTEND: To ensure that you remain in the minds of your fellow members, plan to be in attendance as often as possible, if not all the time. While it is not reasonable to expect perfect attendance, when it comes to benefiting from your membership the old adage “out of sight; out of mind” could not be more true.

 COME EARLY…STAY LATE: The most effective memberships are those where you are known, liked and trusted. In short, you need to establish a relationship or rapport. This can be difficult to achieve as organizations roll through the agenda in a timely manner. Thus, it is the time before and after the periodic meetings where you have the best opportunity to develop those one-on-one relationships with others.

 ASSOCIATE BETWEEN MEETINGS: Even if your group or organization gathers on a weekly basis, there is a relatively vast time between meetings. You benefit most from your membership when you make productive use of this time. You can use occasional telephone calls or e-mails, informal luncheons, and other communication as a great way to solidify relationships with your fellow members.

 GET INVOLVED: Answer this, “If you do not attend a meeting, will you be missed?” If your answer is anything but a resounding “YES,” you are not making the most of your membership. Get involved. Serve as an officer, a committee chair or generally just roll up your sleeves and get busy. Not only does this increase your exposure to other members, it serves to brand you as one who is committed to the general welfare of those around you..

 PRESENT YOURSELVES WELL: Right or wrong, everything you say and do creates an impression. Knowing this, carefully conduct yourself. Act professionally. While you can employ humor, do so wisely. Choose your words carefully and tactfully. It is much easier to

think before you speak than to profusely apologize for something that came flying out of your mouth. Even make sure that what you are wearing is appropriate for the group and a reasonable representation of the image you want to project.

 ADD VALUE TO OTHERS: People cannot help but like and support those who are helping them. Knowing this, you are wise to find ways to help your fellow members. You should look for opportunities to refer them to customers and clients. You should introduce them to people that might benefit them, such as strategic partners or reliable vendors. You should share with them any beneficial information related to their competitors or industry. Whatever you give, will ultimately come back to you.

 BE PATIENT: You can realize a plethora of benefits from joining and becoming involved with groups and organizations. And you will find these benefits wonderfully worthwhile. Unfortunately, however, these benefits are seldom immediate. They take time to manifest themselves. Remember, these benefits are the result of strong, long-term relationships – the best of which you will forge over months and years of interaction.

In summary, if you belong to any number of groups or organizations, great. That is a wonderful means of gaining exposure for your business and networking yourself. If, however, you want to maximize the benefits associated with membership, reflect upon your actions and activities and measure them against the actions listed above. If you note deficiencies, take action … as that action will lead to wonderful benefits.

Tune Into All Of This

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Tom Anderson, Central Ohio Director and founder of Excelleweb, often asks AmSpirit Business Connections members, “Do you have cable television?” Most indicate they do. He then asks, “Do you only watch one channel?”

That usually generates an odd look and perhaps a chuckle or two. After all, with literally hundreds of programs on cable, it would be utterly silly to limit oneself to a single channel when there is a plethora of viewing options.

Tom will then ask, “If it is ludicrous to subscribe to cable television and only watch one channel, then why would you get into AmSpirit Business Connections and limit yourself with respect to all it has to offer?” That is a great question and it usually generates silent contemplation.

AmSpirit Business Connections is the networking equivalent of a full cable package. Certainly, the main line up is your weekly Chapter meeting. If you limit yourself to that, however, you are simply not getting your money’s worth. Beyond this one activity, consider all the networking options over the course of a typical month in AmSpirit Business Connections …

  • There is informal networking before and after Chapter meetings;
  • There is visiting other Chapters and attending socials (both your Chapter’s and others);
  • There are lunch assignments through your Chapter and ones you can organize on your own (with members both inside and outside your Chapter);
  • There are area wide events, Leadership Conferences and brown bag learning opportunities; and,
  • There is simply connecting with a fellow member on the telephone or e-mail (whether near or far).

In closing, remember AmSpirit Business Connections will not change your life … but you can change your life through AmSpirit Business Connections by tuning into of all it has to offer.

How Much Does Your Chapter Care?

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It’s interesting to visit various AmSpirit Business Connections chapters and see how different they really are. Ideally, your experience as a visitor should be the same no matter which AmSpirit chapter you visit. I was reading a new book this evening that I just purchased, “The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence” and in just the first few pages I was inspired to compare the content in the book to AmSpirit Chapters.In the first few sections, the book details how successful restaurants almost always have the same thing in common: spotless, clean-as-you-can-possibly-get, restrooms. They pay attention to the little details to provide a great experience for their customers.What about your AmSpirit Chapter? What little things does your Chapter do to make it a great experience for your guests? (That is, if you have guests coming on a frequent basis, but that’s another story for another day.)

  1. Do you have a sign in sheet for your guests to register their contact info so that you have a tracking process in place for your membership chair to follow up easily?
  2. Do your members arrive early so that they can meet guests and make them feel welcomed before the meeting begins?
  3. Do you follow an agenda for the meeting so that your chapter is organized?
  4. Do your chapter officers provide their weekly reports in detail or do they often say ‘no report’ or give it little attention like ‘I’m the Secretary, I track referrals, back to you Mr. Vice President’?
  5. Do your members stay afterward to talk with guests and ask them if they have any questions about the chapter or the organization?
  6. Does your chapter get involved in the area wide events offered every month by AmSpirit HQ (MORE meetings) or other Chapter Socials? Does your chapter promote your socials on the AmSpirit web site?
  7. Do you as a member make an effort to get out to other chapters to meet other AmSpirit members and see how you can help one another?
  8. If you see a member struggling to give or receive referrals do you make a point to approach them in order to offer help?
I’m sure there are other ‘little things’ that I could list here but this is a great start. When you have a chapter doing none of these things or very few of them, you might as well hang a sign outside your meeting space that says, “We Don’t Care”.

The Shelf Life Of A Referral

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Referrals are the primary reason why entrepreneurs, sales representatives and professionals become and stay involved with AmSpirit Business Connections. It is these exchanges of opportunities and contacts among members that fill Chapters with excitement and energy. More importantly, this excitement and energy creates enthusiasm among members to generate even more referrals.

Often, however, we do not maximize the amount of excitement and energy that the referral process can generate. Although we generally do a wonderful job of giving referrals at Chapter meetings, there is much more to the process. It is these other parts of the referral process that, have the potential to increase the level of excitement and energy within the Chapter.

Every qualified referral has a potential shelf life of at least three Chapter meetings. In other words, a referral can be presented or discussed at least three different Chapter meetings – once before the referral is given, once when the referral is given, and once as a follow up to giving the referral. Each time the referral is discussed, we are adding energy and excitement to the Chapter, which carries over into greater enthusiasm to further the process.

Here is a breakdown of the three meetings:

Build Up (Meeting 1): Generally, we have a reasonable notion when we will be generating referrals for people within our Chapters. Often, in the course of working with customers and clients, we are working on the production of referrals well before we are able to give them. It is a discussion of this effort that can create energy and excitement. For example what if we said something like:

“I don’t have any referrals today, but I am meeting with a client later this week. After this meeting, I am hopeful of having a referral for Sandy.”

In creating this build up, certainly we run the risk that the referral will not be generated. This might result in a let down. We should never avoid something because of the possibility of failure. Besides, more often than not, this will not occur. If it does, remember and remind people, like the holiday season, it is the thought that counts. And additionally, this can be spun into positive energy. For example we can handle it by saying:

“Sandy, that referral opportunity I mentioned last week did not work out. I am sorry. But I am going to continue to try to find you something.”

Presentation (Meeting 2): Although this may not be the very next meeting, when the referral opportunity finally comes to fruition, we have a second occasion to infuse energy and excitement into the Chapter meeting. Again, generally we do a good job of presenting our referrals, but an example might be:

“A week or so ago, I indicated that I had a potential opportunity for Sandy looming on the horizon – here it is. Sandy, give them a call; they are expecting you.”

Follow Up Reporting (Meeting 3): We generally know (or should know) the results of our referrals. Generally these results are positive. Sharing these successes with the Chapter provides us a third occasion to infuse energy and excitement into the Chapter meeting. Again, this may or may not be the very next meeting, but once we know that the results were even mildly positive, we should share this with the Chapter. An example of how we might do this could be:

“I don’t have any referrals today, but I want to share with the Chapter that I gave Sandy a referral a week or so ago and my client cannot stop raving about the level of service she provided. Thank you, Sandy. You made me look like a superstar.”

In summary, referrals are the lifeblood of AmSpirit Business Connections and thus we need to maximize the impact they have. Whether or not we have referrals to share each week, we can still create excitement and enthusiasm within our Chapters by not only giving referrals as we have them, but also sharing with the Chapter the prospects of referrals we are working on as well as reviewing with the Chapter the positive results of the ones we have given.