Referral groups

I got roped in to joining BNI a month ago. We stay pretty busy and I'm the type of business owner who puts his personal touch on most things so it was hard for me to commit to 2 hours every wednesday. Since we had a superstorm in '09, business is doing the ol' rollercoaster so I'm trying some new things.

As some of you know, I'm trying to hone in on the market who would buy stone coated steel shingles, I'm hoping that meeting with other business folks once a week will help. It's already looking up and we haven't officially started our group yet, still in the "training"

Anybody tried this type of thing? Success or fall short?

That's what I'm thinking OS. They've all heard of our business, but now I'm putting the face/trust to the name. These are people that talk to a lot of other people. I've heard of many of them before, but really like a few of the folks more than I expected.

No time invested, but I learn what other tradesmen offer and their quality, as they do mine, we refer each other.

I think it's going well but I'm only a few weeks in. Most people are older than me, so I think that I have to gain their trust more than they need to gain mine....at least in their eyes.

I don't trust old folks anymore than I trust younger ones, they have been foolin people longer :)

To be honest, I have a level of trust for almost everybody there already.

You learn who gives good leads and who's leads are marginal or worthless.

We are a member of Letip for over 10 years. We use Letip for a lot of the support services I need. Printing, office phone systems, IT services, employees IRA's, Cell Phones, office machines, gas cards, carpeting... We put the roof on the carpet guys warehouse. We have also done a lot of work for others thru the years. They always give a glowing review at the meetings about our work.

OS, wow. Didn't expect you NOT to be a roofer in one! It was very hard for me to commit to the two hours. This week REPAIR day landed on the same day as BNI....that was stressful but turned out fine. We don't have a single repair guy like some of you, I send them out in groups of two usually.

I think I have a lot to gain being a roofer in this group. We are pretty busy, but not booked for 3 months every year like we were before that big storm. This winter I've talked myself in trying to be a better salesman.