I joined BNI (Business Networking International) a bit over 3 years ago, and in 2008 that group accounted for 25% of our sales.  25%.  From one group.  We have done work for folks in that group, their friends, their parents, their kids, their coworkers and so on.  It’s a very powerful organization and I would urge anyone who has not experienced it to find a local chapter and go visit.

Recently I was invited by a business acquaintance to attend a local ABWA meeting.  ABWA is the American Business Women’s Association.

I pointed out the fact that I was, in fact, a man and that well, this was an association for Women; my acquaintance just chuckled and urged me to attend.

I attended my 1st meeting last month and joined that night.  Absolutely amazing group.  Amazing.  Group.

Now here’s the meat of my little story and what prompted this post…

Yesterday I was meeting with a potential client and during our conversation she mentioned that she was interested in locating a patent attorney to ask some very general questions.

When I got back to the office I fired off an email to a few of the ABWA members asking if any of them knew of a patent attorney I could refer to my client.

Next thing I know an email has gone out to our entire group and my inbox begins flooding with personal referrals for patent attorneys.

Within a matter of hours I had a list of 15 patent attorneys and their contact information to pass on to my client.   These are not just random names pulled from Google – these are personal referrals from folks who had done business with them.

That, ladies and gentlemen, rocks.

Daniel Scurlock
Scurlock Systems and Associates LLC
www.scurlocksystems.com