It’s 7 o’clock on a Tuesday morning and across Long Island, most businessmen and women are on trains and roads to get to work. For some, however, early Tuesday mornings–and some other mornings as well–are the time to head to a diner to attend a weekly early morning breakfast get-together to meet fellow business people, exchange business cards, and seek and give business referrals.
It’s all part of a growing movement on Long Island that has seen a proliferation of business networking groups over the past few years.
“Networking is a powerful way to establish business relationships and social ones as well,” says Gerard Simonelli, a Jericho financial planner who has been an active business networker for more than a decade and is now Education Coordinator of a BNI (Business Network International) chapter that meets every Thursday at the Celebrity Diner in Syosset.
BNI is the largest and best known networking organization in the country. In Nassau County alone, more than 30 chapters comprise some 600 members representing numerous business categories including attorneys, bankers, financial planners, real estate brokers, insurance agents, dentists, fitness trainers, printers, painters, funeral directors, window shade installers, auto mechanics, writers, photographers, web designers and dozens of other professions and businesses. BNI was founded in 1985 in California and has chapters throughout the country and overseas.
The structure and format of the networking groups is typically the same: chapters allow only one member per profession or business category to avoid inter-chapter competition; members make formal brief presentations to the group each week to describe their business, cite the kind of referrals they prefer, and illustrate an example of how they helped a client or customer. The meetings are often slated to last an hour and a half, but members typically stay longer to schedule “one on ones” when they discuss their business in more detail with individual members.
Simonelli, the Jericho financial planner, says attending a meeting is “like farming, not hunting…You don’t go to a meeting and expect to return to your office with a new client, much less a check. You have to establish relationships with others to encourage them to refer you or to give you business directly. This takes time.”
The format is the same with most networking groups, the more popular ones on the Island being Le Tip and IBO (Interchange Business Organization) in addition to BNI. Le Tip was founded in 1978 and boasts 11,000 members in 600 chapters nation-wide and maintains 24 chapters in Nassau and Suffolk. Long Island-based IBO was founded in 2006 by Tom Gibson of Glen Cove; it maintains nine chapters in Nassau County and six in Suffolk.
“It’s a win-win situation to be active in a networking group,” says Cathy Avery, a life coach whose IBO “Omega” chapter meets at the Omega Diner in New Hyde Park every Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.
“You get a chance to introduce your business to a group of very supportive people who then effectively become a part of your ‘sales force,’” says Daley. “At
the same time you get to meet and know professionals who you or other contacts of yours may hire as different situations and needs arise.”
At the Omega chapter’s meeting, Carolyn Redmond, a title insurance agent in Garden City, who is the group’s president, talked about strategies for making the 60-second “elevator speech” that is the standard introduction tht networking members develop to introduce themselves and their business.
“Remember the letter ‘C’ when writing your speech,” she says. “Your remarks need to be concise, clear, compelling, credible, concrete and conversational,” she tells the dozen members of the chapter, who represent businesses in Garden City, Mineola, Roslyn, and Jericho, among other nearby locales.
Joe Tracz, a Plainview Realtor who has been a long-time member of the BNI chapter that meets on Tuesdays at the Celebrity Diner, says that the group has been a measurable help to his business. “I’ve gotten many referrals from our group, and I’ve given them as well.” Tracz notes that the motto of BNI is “Givers Gain.”
Some other BNI members who echo his sentiment about networking benefits say that more than half their annual business comes from referrals attributable to BNI contacts.
“Making a commitment to attending a networking breakfast every week is making a commitment to building your business,” says Rob Tollin a reverse mortgage consultant who served as president of the BNI “Advantage Referrals” chapter in Syosset,
Woodbury attorney Jeff Getzel says he benefited enough from LeTip membership to keep him active in the group for more than 16 years.
Typically, networking groups invite newcomers to their meetings and require a commitment to join the group after two visits. Meeting venues where various local chapters meet include: Celebrity Diner, Syosset; Old Westbury Diner; Omega Diner, New Hyde Park; Seven Seas Diner, Great Neck; Majestic Diner, Westbury; Harvest Diner, Westbury; Plainview Diner; Empress Diner, East Meadow; Bagel Boss, Hicksville; Embassy Diner, Bethpage; Greenvale Townhouse; Empire Diner, Hicksville; Colony Diner, East Meadow.
Membership fees vary generally from one to two thousand dollars a year, which includes the price for a weekly breakfast. Further information is available from bni-li.com, letipli.com and meetibo.com.
