Boulder LINQs

Recruiting New Members

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:25:53 +0000

Boulder Linqs, a 10 year old, independent professional business leads group, is looking to expand its membership. Presently we have 35 members and are seeking 10 more active members.

To that end, Boulder Linqs is opening up their regularly scheduled meeting February 7th and will provide a free lunch to those who are interested in joining.
RSVP required by Jan 31st.

In 2011, Boulder Linqs members have passed close to 1400 leads which have generated over $350,000.00 in business for its individual members.

Boulder LINQs was founded to promote the business interests of all the members. We act as ambassadors for fellow members in the wider business community. Membership is limited to one member from each business and professional classification. Our group meets for a weekly luncheon to exchange business leads, discuss business, and learn from others about how we can all become better business people and help to strengthen each others endeavors.

If you are serious about growing your business and help others do the same, we are interested in meeting you. Bring many business cards. We will be doing some interesting networking activities during lunch.

New 2011 Board

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:34:20 +0000

The results of the 2011 Election of Board Members/Officers are as follows:
President – Michelle Irons
Vice President – Tracy Schloss
Secretary – Nate Bollinger
Treasurer – Amy Heinzmann
Member at Large – Spencer Turner

Congratulations to the new board we welcome you 5/3 for your first meeting.

Social Media Poll

admin — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 18:29:25 +0000

Created a LinkedIn Poll on social media, let us know how much time you spend on social media, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn weekly.

Social Media Round Table

admin — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:32:07 +0000

Questions to ask yourself before the round table Monday Night
• Are you ready to learn the next steps for your company and social media?
• Do you have questions about what you should be posting?
• How to find your target audience?
• Better understand how will social media can help my business?
• How about the big one – HOW DO I FIND TIME for one more thing?
• Would you like to walk away knowing how to manage your social media time?

In a round table forum we will explore and find answers to those and any other questions you may have about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. So plan to come and bring your questions. I will use some time to demo each platform and quickly give you the tools to better maximize your online presence so you can compete with the “Big Boys”.

The LINQs social media round table is this Monday night March 7th from 6:30-8:30
Location is 4450 Arapahoe Ave – (Mark and Tricia’s Office) Boulder

Belonging to other groups

admin — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:35:40 +0000

The question came up last week about whether LINQS members can belong to more than one leads group. Here’s what is in our By-Laws:
Section 6. Prohibition on Membership in Similar Organizations. Subject to the following exceptions, a member shall not be a member of, nor regularly attend meetings held by, any other similar networking organization which functions, in whole or in part, to facilitate the sharing or passing of business leads or referrals among its members:

i. Membership in other networking organizations which do not function to facilitate the sharing of leads/referrals among members but rather serve solely as networking opportunities and/or educational forums is permitted.
ii. Membership in other networking organizations (including those which facilitate the
sharing of leads/referrals) outside of Boulder County, Colorado is permitted.
iii. Members who own/work for two or more distinct business categories but who represent only one such business category in Boulder LINQS are permitted to represent their other business categories through membership in other networking organizations (including those which facilitate the sharing of leads/referrals) so long as they promote only a single distinct business category through each membership.

The restrictions set forth in this Section 6 are applicable only to the individual who represents a particular occupation in Boulder LINQS, it does not apply to the company or business as a whole. Therefore, business associates or colleagues of members may be members of other networking organizations, including those which facilitate the sharing of leads or referrals.

Improve your 45 second presentation

admin — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:00:02 +0000

How do you sell you or your business with a 45-second commercial or at a networking event? Do you start with “I provide _____” (a “sales dump” of all your services?) Or do you introduce yourself by your job description and then try your best to keep eye contact as your audience’s attention wanders?

What we learned today is that if you sell this way, stop. The people we’re addressing don’t care about us or what we offer “Until they know how what you have can benefit them,” says Mark Magnacca in his book So What? How to Communicate What Really Matters to Your Audience.

When we market what we offer, we have to communicate tangible benefits rather than features of our products/services. Features are characteristics (e.g., same day return calls, 6 full-time staff, 65 minute massage). Benefits are outcomes or what people get from our product/service. Customers don’t buy features, they only buy benefits.

How can LINQS members apply the So What? factor to our 45-second commercials?

Remember that your pitch should answer these questions:

For what? (For what reason are you giving your presentation or pitch?)

“So what?” (Why is this important to the audience?)

“Now what?” (What do you want to have happen as a result of this communication?)

Your 45-second commercial should:

Answers the question, “What does the (organization) do?” (more than just your occupation)

Highlights key benefits, compelling and relevant to the audience

Uses the “Do you know how,” “Well, what we do is…” format

Peaks someone’s interests to learn more by asking, “How do you do that?”

Sets up Psychic Real Estate

Part 1: Ask a question or state the typical “pain” people often experience who don’t buy from you. Get the audience to agree with you and feel that you really understand their challenges

Part 2: Describe or state the key benefits people receive because you make all that pain go away!

We explored this 2-part template to create new 45-second commercials and worked in small groups to craft our new “pitches:” We can’t wait to hear all the new commercials next week!

Review Cathi Hight’s Full 45 Second Commerical Presentation

So What! 45 Second Commercial

Cathi Hight

Kaizen Consultant

Hight Performance Group, Inc.

(720) 304-0747

www.hightperformance.com

The Science of Email Marketing

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:52:06 +0000

Do you send your customers emails? Do you know the best time to send them? what day is the worst time to send emails? HubSpot has a free webinar coming up. Thursday, February 10, 2011 Read more about it

Welcome to our New Website

admin — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 04:16:40 +0000

Welcome to the Boulder LINQs new website. We launched our site in January 2011. Member web design Tracy Schloss designed it for us and we are excited for all that it will bring us.