The Guelph Business to Business Network Group draws members from a 125km radius of Guelph. Members are B2B providers who provide a service to businesses (as opposed to the people in the business), living/providing services within Guelph and Wellington. All are well connected, experienced business people, experienced in networking and they can and do share contacts and leads.
The purpose of the group is to:
· Find solutions to issues encountered in your business and help others
· Make/gain new contacts
· Make/gain referrals for new business
The meetings are scheduled every 6-8 weeks around the activities of other business organizations.
Timing of the Meetings
I believe you should spend one day a week on your future. That can mean sales, meetings, research, networking, attending trade shows, whatever you need to do, including getting an oil change on your car because your car is part of your business. I also believe networking is part of your business so it should happen in business hours. We meet from 9.30am to 11.30am. This gives people a chance to put fires out, come to the meeting, and then make sure the fire’s out then have lunch.
Who is in the Group?
The focus is Business to Business, not Business to Consumer.
We don’t have the Financial Planner/Real Estate/Mortgage Broker/Banker/Home Inspector/Mover group as they are really a service to the people in the business.
There are a couple of Financial Planners who specialize in planning for businesses and a Commercial Banker.
We also don’t have the holistic health circle because one again, they are services to the individual not the business.
We have a couple of each business type in the B2B categories. Competition is not the enemy. They can be your best friend if you are overloaded, need a source of information, or just a friend to talk to who understands the business.
The members all have top notch skills and have a lot to offer. They want to work on independent schedules because they all have other commitments. They like a variety of work, and find contract work is suitable.
Starting the group:
Stage 1
First of all I started the group with the idea of getting people from my 7 distinct networks within 125 km radius together so they could meet each other, help each other with connections and grow. Guelph cannot operate in isolation and neither can any other town. There are skills and experiences the newer as well as existing businesses will need as they continue to grow and stretch their wings. Business and Culture outside the area is different, so they will need ‘friendly’ contacts to help them make sense of it, and to make referrals for them.
Stage 2
This is designed to help people grow their business outside of the closed loop of each other and each other’s contacts.
The next stage is to bring in larger businesses that will use the skills in the group, and make connections with organizations that are in contact with businesses that could benefit from their skills on an as needed basis.
Business Trends – entrepreneurial businesses, lean and nimble, use the skills they need when they need them (contract workers etc. which is what members like).
This group is uniquely positioned, particularly as there is a focus in this area on the Innovation Sector: many will also be small businesses (to start with) that will need these services.
Meeting details:
Symposium Restaurant
9.30am Doors Open,
Registration 9.45,
Program Start 10.00
Networking Fee of $10.00
What We Are All About
First of all, the B2B Group is about growing business.
There are opportunities at the networking meetings to
ü Find solutions to some speed bumps encountered in your businesses,
ü Make new contacts
ü Gain referrals for new business
ü Make referrals to others for new business
ü Help others solve problems
There are really 3 opportunities for networking at these meetings.
1. While we say the doors open at 9.30, and the program starts at 10.00, I find people are already lined up at the door when I arrive. So it’s open networking.
2. I find there are some shy ones who are either there for the first time, or need some time to warm to the room and the people. To ease people into the whole networking thing, we have small tables of 4 where there is a discussion topic. Feedback tells me that people get some real solutions so I make a point of making the discussion topic meaty, to do with business.
3. The third opportunity is in the 30 second introduction. I always have a variation on the question to be answered in the introduction to stop it from getting stale. It gives people a reason to connect afterwards.
The meeting is supposed to be over at 11.30, but I find people are still talking when I leave.
People have all got good leads and solutions from the group.
The members are all well connected, experienced businesspeople as well as experienced in networking. They can and do share contacts with each other.
Sometimes we use nametags, and sometimes not. It keeps the businesses secret so you have to go and talk to people to find out who they are and what they do.
If we are going to have a number of new people, to break the ice at the beginning, I put together “Talk To” cards. They are just cards with a person’s name on it and a few others I think they should talk to. I have been told it’s a brilliant ice breaker because it’s like a permission ticket to talk to people. They have to find out why I have said to talk to each other, so it creates an opportunity for networking.
It's a good investment of your time, and it certainly isn't boring.
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