Yearly we re-examine our networking activities and investment of time, energy and money. We look hard at hours, cost and energy spent on our networking activities. This included associations, groups and all open and closed networking groups. We determined what our time is worth on an hourly basis including gas, expenses, taxes and insurance. Many were amazed as they calculated their hourly worth and multiplied it by the number of hours spent per month in networking activities. We posed this question, what is your ROI? –return on investment. Many discovered that they were spending more time, energy and money in activities that were NOT bringing a desired result in their personal growth, or in their bank accounts!

We also look at who we are spending our time with. We explored our values and principles of living and conducting our business. The question was asked, do you find yourself associating with people who share these values and principles? Are they likely to inspire you to grow or encourage you to stretch in your daily business? In addition what type of customers are you seeking to do business with? Do they align with your principles and values? Do the people you network with hold these same standards? Are they likely to bring you the type of referrals or new clients that you desire to do business with?

These questions and more will help you to discover what your POTENTIAL ROI might be over the course of a year.

So ask yourself these questions. . .

1. Do I spend my time in events that help me grow and encourage me along my path to success?
2. Am I truly gaining a positive ROI in personal development, new business and quality of life?
3. Is my business showing a steady pattern of growth as a result of my investment in these groups and organizations?

In some cases it might be time for you to trade up! Consider aligning yourself with . . . .

• People who are extremely growth driven
• People who are goal-directed
• People who are huge-thinkers
• People who are ultra-positive
• People who have your respect
• People who have your trust
• People who have a proven track record

What is your time worth and how are you spending it? Invest wisely and produce a great return in your personal life, business and community today

**Register Today for Our  Newsletter on our home page and receive our Networking ROI Calculator.  This tool will enable you to enter the information of where you are spending your time along with the cost and calculate what your return on that investment should be in either personal development or cash in your bank account.

The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing ~John Russell, President, Harley Davidson

In the movie Daddy Daycare, the fathers decided to gather the children around the kitchen table to ask them what activities they wanted to do and what would be fun about daycare for them.  The answers they gave of course were astounding and from there a successful business was born.   The fathers actually never intended to turn this into a business but as they began to deliver what their customers asked for the numbers of children in their care grew to the point where they had to make a decision to move into a larger space or to let some of their customers go.

Your customers what to be heard and validated!  If we spend quality time talking to customers face to face and really listening to what they want or have to say we will grow our business and our reputation. 

 Discussion Questions:

• What method do you use to survey current and potential new customers about their needs or potential issues?
• What is it about your business that will inspire existing customers to talk about you or draw potential new customers toward you instead of your competition?
• What are you doing to stay current in today’s market place?
• What will be the benefits to your business/company for making this change?   

“Make sure you are taking care of your customers, because if you don’t someone else will.”  (Paraphrased from Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard)

You can identify strategic ways of implementing growth to attract new customers retain existing customers and reach your goals. 

open groups for the purpose of learning how to better serve our community members and other community partners.

We will be adding more groups as we grow our IBAL Community website and look forward to hearing ideas on topics and ideas that we can pass along to our member participants.   Please visit or subscribe to our news feed  for future dates and times of our introductory Think Tank events which we will start in the later part of August.