Visit to Whittier Leads Club

Our director, Stephen Page of Harrington Family Lawyers recently spoke at Whittier Chapter of Leads Club in Los Angeles.

Richard Montano, Stephen Page, Lisa Bentson, Mark Villalobos

Those attending Whittier Chapter included fellow guest speaker Lisa Bentson, director Mark Villalobos, and assistant director Richard Montano.

Stephen spoke about our chapter, and how he became involved in Leads Club.

Whittier Chapter is a thriving chapter at Whittier, which is southeast of Los Angeles, but about 30 minutes north of Anaheim. The chapter was founded 15 years ago. Members were keen to give each other leads, and the number of leads (and their value) were monitored so that the success or otherwise of the chapter and each member in it was able to be measured. It was clear that networking within the club had been so successful that in addition to the business each member gave to the others that friendships had evolved.

Members spoke positively about a recent mixer involving the local chamber of commerce.

Lisa Bentson is the president of Ali Lassen's Leads Club and is the daughter of the founder, Ali Lassen. Lisa was the other guest speaker on the morning, and quickly engaged with chapter members.

Lisa and all the members of the Whittier chapter were friendly and inviting. Stephen was made to feel very welcome. Well done!

Upcoming mixer

Although Brisbane Central Leads Club is a business club, designed to grow each member's business, we also like to meet socially once a month. We call this a mixer. The purposes of this are:

• for the members to see each other member's business
• see how they do business
• increase trust and camaraderie among members, and
• therefore generate more leads within the club.

This month the mixer is being held at Rob Caughey's Action Coach at Morningside at 6pm on 29 June. All are welcome.

Top 5 ways of growing a business using a blog

There are five top ways of growing a business by using a blog, according to one of our members. Stephen Page of Harrington Family Lawyers and author of the Australian Divorce Blog and the Australian Gay and Lesbian Law Blog said those ways were:


1. Create a blog that has a name related to your field of expertise.

For example, if you know about widgets, you might call your blog Simply Widgets.

2. Post items on the blog regularly.

There need to be regular blogposts. Don't let the blog go stale- no one will look at it.

3. Show your expertise in your field by the content of your blogs.

Stephen authors two different blogs: one focussed on divorce and family law, and the other on a different market- those of LGBTI people. The contents of one do not necessarily refelct the contents of the other, given their separate market positions. What is written must reflect your expertise and reputation. Write something knowledgable and you will appear knowledgable. Write something trashy, and you will probably attract clients you don't want.
 

4. Google remembers


Your reputation may be lost very easily from a blogpost. Assume that everything that you write will be viewed forever: all your typos, grammatical mistakes, or worse, any unprofessional content. Google and other search engines will scoop it up and serve it to any prospective customer or employer.

5. Link your blog to your other online presence

A blog is not the be all and end all of an online presence. Work out what works for you. When you do, makes them all work together. Stephen uses Linkedin and Twitter, in combination with the blogs to put out a more powerful message.

5 ways to build a business

There are 5 ways to build a business, according to one of our members. Rob Caughey of Action Coach business coaching, recently spoke about those five ways, which he emphasised all business owners need to know, and remain focussed on if they are to succeed in business. Rob also mentioned that by focusing on all of the 5 ways and not just one or two, can lead to exponential profit in the business.

1. Leads

Focusing on leads or new business helps grow the business as a whole. Many businesses focus on new business.

2. Conversion Rate

As Rob showed, by increasing the conversion rate of new leads will directly lead to a large increase in profit.

3. Number of transactions

It is one thing to have an increase in the number of customers who have converted form leads, it is another to engage at a greater level with each and every customer. The classic example that Rob talked about came from McDonald's: "would you like fries with that?"; which in enough sales led to an increase in sales (and profits) for McDonald's.

4. Average Sale

By focusing on the average sale will enable the business owner to focus on increasing the amount of that average sale.

5. Margins

Sales revenue is not enough. There also needs to be a focus on the profit margin, including increasing it by reducing costs.

New Members Wanted

Brisbane Central Leads Club is seeking new members in the following categories (each member on acceptance will be the only member in that category):

• commercial solicitor
• marketing/PR
• web developer
• general insurance broker

If you want to generate new business, by obtaining leads from other business people, then consider joining.

We meet each Wednesday at 7am at Paddington. Our club is dynamic and growing. Members are focussed on growing their businesses and those of other members.

 To contact us, phone our director, Stephen Page on 07 3221 9544 or email  him spage@harringtonfasmilylawyers.com .

You are more than welcome to come for a visit and work out for yourself if there is a suitable fit.