Do you understand what Strategic Networking is?  Strategic Networking by TBN’s definition is working with Referral Partners to grow your business.  For example, if you are a Mary Kay representative and your target market is women (because that is who serve the best) and you want to focus your marketing on them, you may want to work with a professional who sells jewelry (like Silpada or Jewels by Park Lane).  Referral Partners by definition is: Non-competitive professionals seeking the same target clients that provide complimentary solutions to client needs .  So if you sell make-up and your partner sells jewelry and you both share the same target, why wouldn’t you want to work together?

The MAX program enables you to take your networking to the MAX!  MAX exercises ignite interactivity amongst small groups to dig deep into the relationship building process. The small group structure provides you with the ability to interact and learn from existing and potential referral partners.  Referral Partners can provide a strong level of benefit for customers or clients and build a stronger relationship than you can achieve by merely providing your products and service to clients alone.  Register for MAX if your target is Consumers for September 7th at Costco.  Feel free to ask questions right here in the comment box and see you there!

Clayton R. Hicks

Founder of TBN

513-371-5299

clayton@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

http://mytbn.org

We are now changing the name from B2C MAX to Consumer MAX.  We will help you reach your Consumer Targets by taking your Networking to the MAX. What does the word “Consumer” mean in the MAX program you might ask?  Consumer is the target market in which you provide service directly to.  In this case where we are asking you about “home service”.  At the MAX event, we are putting together groups of professionals who all share the same target, but are complimentary to one another.  So for instance, in the home services group, we need Real Estate agents, title companies, loan officers, handy men, plumbers, electricians, etc.  This will be a complimentary group and we are looking to create this group as well as others.  These others include, women, seniors, families, etc.  These are the target groups we are creating, so if you are a service/product provider to any of these groups, register for Consumer MAX at http://b2cmax.eventbrite.com.

The objective of MAX is to provide business professionals with a program that helps them develop referral partners and to use referral partners effectively to grow their businesses and the businesses of their partners.  The exercises we have developed will ignite the process of building a Sales TEAM through Referral Partners.

See you there and feel free to ask as many questions as you need,

Clayton R. Hicks

Founder of TBN

513-371-5299

clayton@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

http://mytbn.org

Are you looking for more ways to engage and help your clients?  Are you looking to keep your clients and gain nothing in return except to keep them?  If you are a professional and you are exploring different ways to keep and maintain clients, then the next time you are at your clients office…ask them if they have any other “pain points” you can fill…watch their eyes light up!

TBN MAX has 3 major benefits, but none are greater than “client retention”.  In general MAX would not be looked at as a way of keeping your clients, but as a way to locate them more often.  But MAX helps you leverage relationships to keep them too!

Client retention is just as important as “new” business development.  Keeping clients for a longer period of time reduces the cost of marketing and the cost of closing new business overall.  This will help with budgeting for the coming years when you know your income can become steadier.  Client retention comes from a high level of trust in your products and services AND in you as a person who cares about them and their growth, not just your fees and sales.  The way you build this trust is simply this; when your client needs something you don’t offer, you can reach out to your sales team to fill the need.  Your client trusts you, you show yourself to be someone who cares about their business success, not just whether they buy your product or services, so this will keep them around for the long run.

Ready…set…GROW!

Clayton Hicks

513-371-5299

clayton@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

http://mytbn.org

When you increase your referrals you will reduce your cold calling efforts.  When your team is out there working with their existing clients or developing new business and find there is a need that exists that they can’t provide, but find you can; this is an opportunity for you to close more business.  Referral Partners is a relationship that works back and forth, to and fro.  This process will meet the needs of both parties; increased closed business through referrals.  The more often you meet with new business opportunities, the more often you can help someone on your team which can create a vertical funnel of possible business for the team overall.  Everyone on the team can find balance with less cold calling and more closed business.

• Cold calling example – you could make 300 cold calls per week, using the national average 2-3% prospect to lead ratio, you will get 6-9 appointments out of that.  If you sit down with all 6-9 of them (30-60 minutes with each one) and your lead to close ratio is 30% you will sell to 2-3 of them.  How much total time does it take to make 300 cold calls do all the follow up, and close the sale with 2-3 clients?

• Referral Partner example – Your Referral Partner sends you 2-3 clients per month that could use your services, and that your partner has suggested should meet with you.  They have “pre-sold” you.  When you call, the clients agree readily to the meeting.  After the meetings, (30-60 minutes), both agree to become clients of yours.  Wasn’t that a whole lot more fun and less time than beginning with 300 cold calls?

Which one of the examples would you rather spend your time doing?  If you are a B2B Professional and wish to join us on August 18th at IKEA, register here.

Thanks,

Clayton Hicks

513-371-5299

clayton@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

www.mytbn.org

The value MAX presents for your business:

1.      ROI /Our Guarantee – we guarantee a 3:1 return on your investment or your money back. As long as the member follows the program, attends all the monthly meetings, completes all the exercises outside of the meetings, and has met with a facilitator or leader about issues they may have, they can receive a full refund and drop out after 6 months

2.      Networking to the MAX – This is the graduate course for networking and creating a steady stream of referrals leveraging Referral Partners.  The exercises we provide are meant to continue to change and flow each month to allow you learn at the event, then implement into your marketing plan immediately.

3.      Results – Results are important to you and us.  We will provide you with action steps to take outside the events in order to achieve maximum results.

More to come…please feel free to ask questions about MAX right here on the post.  The MAX Program has been under construction and we want to fully understand the value of the program.

thanks

Clayton Hicks

513-371-5299

clayton@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

Have you been looking for Results from your networking efforts?  Are you achieving the Results you desire or are you still spinning your wheels with existing groups?  Do you desire to see more results or are happy with the status quo?

The MAX Program strategically places you with professionals that can complement your business.  It is the initial starting point for developing strong relationships with these pros which creates a sales team for you and your business. You will also need to be willing to be part of their sales teams as well, or Referral Partners won’t work for you over the long-term. This sales team will keep their eyes and ears open for opportunities for you to go in behind them and close a higher percentage of business, and provide a solution to some client need that the team member may not be able to provide on their own…this is the “complimentary” nature of the Referral Partner business relationship.

Results from having complimentary business professionals on your ‘Sales TEAM’ can leverage your ability to reach your target market with more cost and time effectiveness and close more business with more frequency.  Our guarantee will help you to hold yourself accountable and TBN accountable to provide you with the best program possible.
Ask us how you can guarantee your networking efforts!  If you are a B2B Professional you can register for B2B MAX on the 18th HERE!
 

Thanks,

Clayton R. Hicks

937-671-6238

clayton@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

Welcome to TBN!  Where we take client retention seriously…we take lead generation personally…and we constantly innovate new ways of helping you to build a TEAM of professionals spreading the word about what you!

You really must have balance in marketing your business…to some cold calling seems to be the “only” way of growing their client base…I am here to tell you that balance is a “SURE” thing.  Having a balance of cold calling and relationships, will help you to have multiple ways of marketing your business from the beginning.

We have developed a new program in TBN called MAX.  It provides you with a unique perspective on how important relationships are in growing your business and gets you closer to your TARGET in a networking environment.  At TBN MAX there isn’t any room for fluff so it helps you get right down to business.  TBN MAX will enable you to MAXIMIZE your time, energy, and relationships.

MAX Events we provide Monthly:

B2B – This event  is for professionals who provide products or service to Business. This event is held at IKEA in West Chester, Ohio.

B2C – This event is for professionals who provide products or service to Consumers.  This event is held at Costco in Springdale, Ohio.

If you have any questions about where you fit in or want more information on these TBN MAX contact us right away!

Clayton R. Hicks

President & Founder

O – 513-371-5299

D – 937-671-6238

info@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

www.mytbn.org

Do you realize that most professionals over look their relationships to get something they think is more?  Did you know most professionals will not even follow up after meeting someone for the first time?  Its sad, but FACT!

A few weeks back a big international company showed up at one of our meetings handing out goodies and wanted to sit down and do a one-on-one…”with little ol’ me”, I thought to myself.  He invited me to his store that morning and I thought to myself “I wonder what he wants, again “with little ol’ me”.  So, I agreed to meet with him before the store opened…I thought this is cool, I get to go into this huge store (escorted of course) with no one else around…so, I showed up on time to meet with my potential relationship over something and I didn’t know what to expect but I kept my expectations low…well, here is where we will stop because we are talking about follow-up, right?  Slowing down, right?  To speed up, right?

To finish a little more of the story, the relationship has turned into something for the “books”.   A relationship that no one would have ever predicted…a situation that no one would have thought would have turned out to be a GREAT Referral Partnership…I will continue the story another time, so stay tuned.

So I did slow down, I did listen, I did have an attitude of “let’s see what happens here”…is there someone you need to follow-up with today?  Is there someone who deserves your attention today?  I try to look at it like this…Everything happens for a reason and the reason may not be clear til you sit down and find out.

Happy Relationship Building, have fun with it…and Grow that business

Clayton R. Hicks

937-671-6238

clayton@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

Client retention is just as important as new business, right?  Client retention means you can keep the lights on…it is still money in the bank.  The other day I was speaking with a client and she was telling me that she had not received “new” business over the last year…you saw the word “new”, right?  And as we were talking about her business she was telling me that the only thing that has transpired was she had referred a bunch of her TBN relationships out, but had yet to see money in her pocket.  It was then I started asking questions about some of the transactions and the majority of her referrals had turned into help for her clients.  Her clients were happy, but she wasn’t because she felt the value was not there.  I told her if your clients are happy, so you shall be.  She apparently had an “ah-hah” moment and the light bulb was pulsating above her head.  At that very moment she realized that TBN wasn’t always going to be a place where you could get referrals, but it is a place where you can keep your clients happy!

One of the main benefits that most TBN clients don’t see initially is client retention…client retention is a problem we all face at one point in our careers, but it is the key to sustained business growth and staying in business overall.  The next time you see an opportunity to help your clients, go ahead…use the relationships you have spent time building…that’s why they are there.  Just a tip, have a relationship with your client too, don’t turn it into only a transaction…build on it!

Thanks,

Clayton Hicks

937-671-6238

clayton@tristatebusinessnetwork.com

www.mytbn.org

See what most don’t realize is that we are more about business development, relationships, and growth of one another’s business…

Business Development – our solutions will allow you an opportunity to make connections (online and face to face), brand your business (online and face to face), referral business (online and face to face…see “I Need A”), and above visibility (online and face to face…check my personal Facebook for reality). Every person that writes a blog, a “need”, and an event will be posted on my profile for over 1700 to see immediately after the post is published..(just an example…but this also occurs on TBN’s fan page)

Relationships – our face to face meetings have a relationship exercise at each meeting giving us all the chance to get to know one another better and start to build trust. Referral partners are “key” to staying in business throughout the best and worst of economical times

Growth – as soon as you get plugged in online and face to face, you will start to see growth in your business…whether it be connections, visibility, relationships, etc…more than likely a quick step in the right direction to build your business and stay in business.

Above is just a little information on what TBN really is, but this is not all…

In the comment section below, feel free to tell us how TBN has helped you build your business.

Thanks,

Clayton R. Hicks

Founder