Presently, the Indianapolis marketplace is over-saturated with networking organizations all vying for a professional person’s time. From obligatory referral organizations to professional educational programming, where to invest one’s “FREE” time yields many options.
Having lead my own organizations since April 2010, it’s amazing how small business owner expressed concerns remain the same. Professionals are focused on five strategies of networking–sales harvest, education, professional development, community connections and philanthropy.
While it would be great to find all those goals in one organization, what I hear more and more from local entrepreneurs is how impossible that is to accomplish. Therefore, most business owners will tell you they are attending three to four organizations per month or more apart of their “business development strategy.”
For the genuine intuitive person, it can be very hard to find a group to call home. Large organizations can be both very territorial in they pay sales people to capture sales from visitors. Smaller groups can help new business owners, when the right fit is found. More seasoned members funnel warm leads to new members to welcome them in the fold. One of the challenges of both of these groups is the limited ability for real conversations to take place at an event.
Having attended many networking groups, here’s my opinion on where to invest time.
1x/month at the GKIC Indianapolis. the foundational level membership will offer you a healthy nudge on time to task management and business brainstorming for 30 day periods of time.
2x/month at the BS&T Forum will offer you practical how to information on marketing.
