This
Networking Group Gets Results
NJBIZ,
July 31, 2006
By JOAO-PIERRE RUTH
MORRISTOWN - Last Tuesday night some 45 professionals including attorneys and
mortgage financiers—and a masseuse—hobnobbed at The Famished Frog bar and
restaurant in Morristown. The get-together was the latest extension of
Biz-to-Biz Café and the first
Biz-to-Biz
focuses on getting attendees to take the time to develop real relationships
rather than engaging in a flurry of business-card swaps. Founder Mariana
Maldonado seeks the involvement of a broad spectrum of professionals. The
group, which charges $20 per gathering, collects no membership dues.
“I always
feel there isn’t enough influx of different people coming into an event when
there is a membership,” Maldonado says. “You get the same people all the time.
What I found is one-quarter of our attendees are repeats, three-quarters are
new at every event.”
Started
in June 2004, Biz-to-Biz Café has so far met primarily in the
Though
the group’s roots are in
Attendance
at Biz-to-Biz Café events ranges from 20 to 60 and attendees get the floor to
share a bit about themselves and their companies. “The format…allows people to
target who they really need to meet,” Maldonado says.
In
addition to open networking for all professionals, Biz-to-Biz sponsors themed
events that include networking for solo businesses proprietors and
entrepreneurs, and an information exchange for corporate IT and communications
professionals. The group also offers onsite seminars for companies on topics
including the art of selling and developing an effective networking style.
The next
Biz-to-Biz gathering will be at the Hohokus Inn on
August 9. The group’s full calendar can be found online at www.biztobizcafe.com.
One
attendee at last Tuesday’s event found the structure more useful than other
types of networking gatherings. “If you go to a networking function and just go
around and pick up business cards, you’re wasting your time; you’re not
building a relationship,” says Phil Doyle, director of 24-7 Networking Sales, a
professional sales company in Oak Ridge. His sales team generates leads on
commission for client companies.
“I never
look to make more than two or three connections at a function,” he says. “I
really do stop at three. Any more than that and they feel you are just shaking
their hand and moving on to the next person.”
Maldonado
says she is not out to replace networking events hosted by local chambers of
commerce. In fact, she is vice president of the board at the Mahwah Regional
Chamber of Commerce. Biz-to-Biz Café also has ties with such organizations as
the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce and the North Jersey Regional Chamber of
Commerce.
Another networking group is
working to meet the interests and needs of a subset of people in
Laura Occhipinti, 29, started
Occhipinti is prolific in planning
events; there are as many as five per week and up to 30 per month. They draw
from 20 to 120 attendees from across the state.
NJYP events include speed
networking, dinners for sales professionals and even weekend tubing trips down
the
“I am also working on a membership
incentive where Young professionals can get discounts around the state,” says
Occhipinti.
Locations for NJYP events range
from
“Because I am catering to a
younger crowd, they want more casual social opportunities to network. There are
a lot of happy hours and mixers that attract that age range,” says Occhipinti,
who in March left her job in social services to plan and promote NJYP events on
a full-time basis.
There
seems to be plenty of room for these networking groups to grow in the state.
Maldonado will gauge the reception of open networking events in Morris and
Maldonado
hopes to draw more support from area chambers as Biz-to-Biz Café grows. “I’m an
advocate of the chambers. I think everyone should belong to a chamber and to a
business organization,” Maldonado says. “This is an adjunct.”
E-mail to
jpruth@njbiz.com