11/02/09

Fauquier Chamber Leadshare History Continued

The members of the Leadshare Groups have passed over 20,000 new business lead referrals among the nearly 100 business members over the last 10 years.  We have many positive testimonials from members who have said such things as, "I have doubled my business since joining Leadshare;" "I don't know how much business I have actually received but I know I have become a better business person with all the help I have received here;" Or "Leadshare saved my business!" Also one enthusiastic member states, "I would be out of business without Leadshare! Yes I got the leads that helped but I also got the ideas and business expertise of 30 other business people;"  And another recent one; "I was about to quit after 4 months as I had not received a single lead then I received 2 leads, one was for $6,000 worth of business and the other was for $8,000, I paid 75 dollars and got back $14,000..."  For some folks it takes longer than others to produce leads."  This latter testimonial is very true, however, most members have found that if they generate leads for others, they will also receive leads in return.

The beginning was with the Tuesday Leadshare group where it grew from four or 3 original members to fifteen in a few short weeks. Angela Denson (now Smith) and three members, Michael Moorhead, Dave Colleran and Jan Sutton were key to the immediate success. Angela approached every chamber member and Jan and Dave applied successful membership building techniques learned from the Prince William County networking group they had previously founded. They now turned their efforts to help build Fauquier Chamber's Leadshare program.

Soon most business professions and industries were represented in the Tuesday group. So in early 2000, the Wednesday Business Leads group was formed. It originally met at noon and was having trouble growing as many members had difficulty getting away at mid day. So the group changed to 8 A.M. along with Tuesday Leadshare and both met at the Legends Restaurant. Both groups  had several joint new member breakfasts and luncheons plus an occasional evening social to try and encourage new members to join. All were successful due to excellent advertising, excellent planning and organization by the group leaders along with the top flight Fauquier Chamber of Commerce staff assistance.

The ads by Times Community Newspapers and the former Fauquier Citizen - both members and now merged into one company did much to help the program grow. In 2001-2004 there was a jump in the business population of Fauquier and this passed on to the Leadshare groups. By the end of 2002 both groups were suffering from too many members. It was determined that 35 was the optimum group size.  In late 2002 there were 40+ members in the Tuesday Group and 37 in Wednesday. With only one hour, it was difficult for each member to give a one minute story of their business story, have a ten minute presentation, pass leads, and do organizational business. So both Tuesday and Wednesday groups amended their rules to limit group membership to 35. This limit and published success of the "Leadshare process" created a waiting list for many industries. Then in May 2003, Thursday Leadshare group was formed. This group decided to be less rigid in the rules department and instead set "guidelines for participation." As with the other groups, they required regular attendance although less rigorous "rule" requirements for a member's rejection and a more liberal way of counting leads. That rule set created some Fauquier Chamber coordination problems between the 3 groups and was superseded in August of 2005 with a uniform set of rules, guidelines and hints for all Leadshare groups.

The Thursday group grew rapidly and has continued to stay in the mid 20's on its roster. That success brought about a demand for a Friday Business Leads Networking group. On January 12, 2007 four founding members, Joyce Carter, Adrienne Stone, Jim Casey and Andreas Keller hosted 20 potential new members and had 12 charter members signed up within one week. So with Friday Leadshare successfully launched, and now has 25 members and meets at 8 am at the Ballet Academy of Warrenton. Will there be a possibility for a Monday group?  Most thought not, due to the demand of after weekend rush. But that is what they said about the problems with a Friday Leadshare "...no one will come due to the end of week rush."  We at "Leadshare Central" predicted a Monday Leadshare would be formed and on now there is one in the planning stages but not as a Breakfast group but a lunch group. Why? Because it works, it creates demand by those left out of the fun and easy way to build a business in Warrenton and Fauquier County, Virginia. Stay tuned....

The groups have moved 4 times sometimes on short notice as the economy took it's toll on the establishments where groups were meeting or the establishment asked that we move due to not receiving the previously envisioned business increase due to the Leadshare Groups meeting there. At present, July 2009, the groups are experiencing a transition from a large Main street cafe to small room in Denny's a locally owned franchise on 29 north of town.