Re: Need Help Finding or Starting Lead Club in Rochester, NY

"DoctorK" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> I'm trying to locate an existing Lead Club in Rochester, NY -- a
> weekly or bi-weekly meeting of a group of sales people to exchange
> leads, tips & referrals.  I know there are several professional
> networking organizations in the area, but I was looking for something
> a little less formal, and without the annual membership dues.

My experience with the Lead Club, and several other such groups, was that
they were pretty much a waste of time. I guess it depends on what you do and
with whom you meet.

> Any ideas on where I can find such a group?  Any advice on starting
> one up?

As I continued to network and cold call and do all the other things people
do when they are trying to start their business, I started meeting my
competitors and forging some friendships. One day, I invited a few of these
friends over to my house for pizza, to talk about marketing our businesses,
etc.

It turned out that we weren't really competitors after all. One guy there
built and programmed computer circuits ("embedded"). Another guy was into
setting up computers, etc. I was doing database at the time.

To make a long story short, things worked out pretty well. We threw leads at
each other and worked together in one way or another for a couple of years.
In fact, quite a lot of my work for my first year or so came out of that
group.

So..... forget the Lead Club and the various groups you . A random grouping
of people is not likely to pan out for you. Start talking to your
competitors and people in businesses that are closely related to yours. In
terms of "networking", getting together with people who have common or very
similar goals is probably the best way to go. The only way to do that is for
you to hand pick each person within whatever kind of group or get together
you create.

Mike