Focused on Building Strong Business Connections
The San Mateo Professional Alliance is a business leads club. The club provides each member with valuable opportunities to promote his or her business or profession and to network with other business owners.
Our Goal
Our goal is very simple - to expand each member's business! To do this we meet regularly to have lunch, to learn about each other's businesses and professions, and to exchange business leads.
The meetings run for about an hour. Each member and guest provide a short introduction to his or her business and explains what kinds of business leads, customers, and clients the person is looking for.
Then, two of the members each deliver a separate 10-minute promotional presentation to the group telling all the members in more depth about his or her business or profession, the types of products or services provided, and what distinguishes that business from its competitors.
Membership
The club's membership is limited to only one representative from each type of business or profession. As a result, all tax and accounting referrals go to the one CPA in the club, all real estate legal matters go to the one real estate attorney in the club, everyone looking to buy or sell a home or condo are referred to the one Realtor in the club, everyone searching for a home loan is referred to the one real estate lender in the club, and so forth.
Meetings
At the meetings, members may display and distribute business cards, company brochures, and other informational materials. A member will exchange a business lead when the member believes he has information about someone who could benefit from another member's services or products.
The leads are exchanged on a small slip of paper called a "leads slip" and the lead may be as simple as the name and phone number of a person the member wants to refer to another member of the club. This exchange is a very powerful tool! Wouldn't you like to have 20 other business owners referring your business from their current and future customers and clients, friends, relatives, and acquaintances?
Future Growth
Club members are highly motivated to expand the club's membership base because additional members will produce more business leads and general networking opportunities for all members of the club.
Dues
Club dues are very, very low - only those necessary to maintain the club's website and pay for direct out-of-pocket expenses of the club's operation. Membership in the club gets you an automatic listing on the club's website unless you choose not to be listed. Unlike most other business leads clubs, our club is run by, and solely for the benefit of, the members. We do not pay exorbitant dues to some distant central ownership organization that gives little or nothing in return.
History of Business Leads Group
This San Mateo Professional Alliance is a small business networking group that provides local businesses the opportunity to participate in networking with other small businesses and business professionals. We sometimes refer to our group as the SMPA.
Our business leads group has several objectives including providing business-to-business exchange, business-to-business leads, small business opportunities, small business ideas, small business marketing strategy, and small business networking, among other objectives.
One of our objectives is to have a dynamic Internet website that will draw businesses to our business development group (SMPA) by including in the website a variety of terms that will bring potential members to our website, including small business entrepreneurs who wish to be involved in generating business sales leads, networking, and building a professional business group that would engage to valuable networking, disseminate valuable small business information, assist in obtaining free business leads for all the members and otherwise promotes our business networking club.
Business leads clubs have been around for about 100 years in significant numbers in the United States. One of the earliest business clubs in the West began in San Francisco early in the 1900s.
These very valuable business exchange groups are sometimes referred to as business leads groups, business leads clubs, leads groups, leads clubs, networking groups, business networking clubs, free business leads groups, small business entrepreneur groups, small business associations, and numerous other names. They generally all have a common goal and that is to increase the business opportunities for all members of the club.
Our club is especially unique because it was locally organized by members of the club, is operated by members of the club, and provides all the club members with an excellent opportunity to discuss business ideas, marketing strategies, and ways of increasing the business opportunities of every member of the club.
Our goal as a club is to increase in size until our membership includes approximately 30 to 40 businesses. This is the optimum number of members so that each of the members can introduce themselves at each meeting and thus allowing time for one member to present promotional information on such member's business to all the other members in greater depth. Business leads are passed between the members regularly. Our membership fees are very low and the number of leads past is quite significant.
If you would like to increase the number of leads available to you for new business, increase the number of networking opportunities you have, and meet regularly with other members of the business community in San Mateo County, please consider attending one of our Wednesday's lunch meetings.
We would enjoy having you join us for lunch and we would certainly be very interested in finding out about your business, what sort of leads we might be able to give you, and what sort of leads you might be able to bring to our group. We look forward to seeing you soon at one of our meetings. Please contact Mike Foor at (650) 430-6500 anytime to find out more about the club. We would be happy to discuss the club with you and how it can help you in your goal to expand your business in the near future.