Networking groups meet in early a.m.
It’s 7 o’clock on a Wednesday morning and most Long Islanders are on a train or in a car heading to work, but for a growing number of island-based entrepreneurs, early morning, once a week, means time to network with other business people and trade referrals to grow their business.
“Networking generates business relationships as well as social relationships,” says Gerard Simonelli, a Jericho financial planner who is vice president of a business networking group in Syosset.
On the North Shore, networking groups often meet in diners—popular ones are the Old Westbury Diner and the Greenvale Townhouse Restaurant, both on Glen Cove Road, and the Harvest Diner on Old Country Road. Participants come from Glen Cove, Sea Cliff, Oyster Bay and East Norwich, among other locales throughout the island.
Principal networking groups are LeTip, founded in 1978, which boasts 11,000 members in 600 chapters throughout the U.S. and Canada and maintains 24 chapters in Nassau and Suffolk. Another group is Business Network International (BNI), started in 1985 in California. BNI has more than 6,000 chapters throughout the world and 30 chapters in Nassau and Suffolk. A more recently developed, Long Island-area networking group is Interchange Business Organization (IBO), founded in 2006 by Tom Gibson of Glen Cove, which has 13 chapters on Long Island.
Elizabeth Trimm Wiesmann of Sea Cliff has been a BNI chapter member for five years. An Arbonne International independent consultant on health and wellness, Wiesmann markets cosmetic and skin care products. “Networking has enabled me to meet people outside my normal sphere of contacts,” she says. “The professionals I meet in my group are able to help me grow my business.”
Another member in a North Shore chapter is Patrick McEvoy, a home appraiser, who has been a BNI member since 2001.
“In a networking group, you see the same people every week,” he says. “You develop a relationship and get to know the individuals so you feel confident to refer them and they build confidence in you.”
McEvoy adds, “The networking concept has definitely worked for me.”
Similarly, LeTip member Barry Paley, an East Norwich realtor who was president of one of the LeTip chapters, says that meeting professionals on a weekly basis results in regularly seeing “20 to 30 people who act as an unofficial sales force for you and your business.”
Paley says, “LeTip has helped me build my business in measurable ways.”
He recalls a recent referral from a fellow member in his chapter that resulted in a total of three transactions for him—a mother’s house, her daughter’s and a house for the mother-daughter duo.
“The concept of BNI is ‘Givers Gain,’” says Wiesmann. “If I help you with solid leads, eventually you’ll return the favor.”
In starting IBO, Tom Gibson says he was aware that “networking groups can get boring.” Gibson says he “added a new twist to networking—business development. I worked to make the networking experience affordable, productive and fun. Members look forward to coming to a weekly meeting that offers those features.”
Frank Ciotta, a Mill Neck home appraiser, and Bill Jaye, a personal injury attorney who has had clients in Glen Cove, agree that coming to the early-morning meetings of their BNI chapter at the Old Westbury Diner “pay off in referrals.”
In his case, notes Jaye, “Even a handful of referrals over the course of a year more than pays for the membership dues.”
LeTip, BNI and IBO groups encourage business owners to visit a chapter, usually at no charge, and introduce themselves and their business. Annual membership dues include an initial payment of about $450 and then a quarterly assessment for the breakfast and location cost. On Long Island, quarterly dues average about $150.
The value of networking groups is affirmed by efforts to start up new groups. In Oyster Bay, financial planner Alex Gallego and chiropractor Dr. Scott Cavagnuolo of East Norwich, both Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce members, are working to establish a networking group that will meet in the East Norwich Diner on Northern Boulevard.
Gallego says that he wants to develop a networking group designed “to get local people together and support local businesses and professionals” in North Shore communities. He anticipates holding meetings twice a month with the kick-off meeting possibly being on St. Patrick’s Day, Tuesday, March 17.
As business networking continues to proliferate on national and local levels, North Shore business owners can expect to see more and more resources to help them cash in from this growing trend.
Further information about networking groups for North Shore business people is available from group websites: www.letipli.com, www.bni-li.com and www.meetibo.com.
