A Blended Networking Model Comes to the U.S.

By Lori Richardson, Northwest Bureau Chief         Lori's Bio        Email article    RSS feed  

Launched five months ago in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, I was excited to participate in the U.S. launch of High Output Networking in Seattle on October 24th. High Output Networking (HOPN) is a new networking concept that blends in-person and virtual connection between business professionals.

According to Patrick Von Pander, High Output's Executive Director, "what helped to inspire our business model and the culture we are creating was the lack of business networking that addressed what WE were looking to connect with (as seasoned businesspeople and veteran networkers with a "get-it-done-now" attitude) in the form of a business networking group. Our goals include:

• create environments that help people to build and develop deep, trust-based relationships in an accelerated way
• create a quality, shared database for the benefit of all members
• allow the freedom and flexibility for members to network within and across in-person meetings as much or as little as they choose

• allow members to use the private, members-only web site to network when it fits into their schedules and situations, creating a "My Space for business professionals"

High Output Networking co-founders are Canadian serial entrepreneur George Moen (currently President of Blenz Coffee) and worldwide sales trainer Howard Olsen.

Howard is a gregarious, outgoing type with a booming voice. He told me that he and co-founder Moen that they started this group for themselves, because they "just didn't like the networking options out there."

Their model is to put 45% of the reasonable, one-time membership fee into the membership through paying a portion to the person who facilitates each meeting, and by offering a 25% "rebate" to any member who refers someone that ends up joining. The rest is going toward paying for the infrastructure of the web-based portal being officially launched soon. For now, a site with 3rd party tools is up and running, but the team of Moen and Olson decided to build their own proprietary portal now that their 3rd party concept is proven.

Members meet at events, and as they are going around the room introducing themselves, they also mention what they are looking to buy, and who, if anyone, they want to meet. Someone wants to get a set of tires - BAM! A person across the room hands a business card with tire information on it - or a name of someone who can help them out. I experienced the value myself within the meeting, when I heard someone looking to make contacts in the commercial real estate market - because I have a "killer" referral for this person. DONE! That easy.

On the website, members post what they can offer, and also what they are looking for. These emails fly furiously throughout the day. I need to change mine to a "digest" version as it is a bit distracting.

Assuming that the "culture" of the concept and the group stays as it is intended, this could be a highly attractive option to the "meet and greet" glad-handing networking that goes on too often around every city and town. Take a look at High Output Networking and voice your comments.

 

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Reported by Lori Richardson, networking resource for the Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska. Lori works as a sales coach and trainer for B2B companies through Score More Sales, a sales effectiveness organization. Her "Winning Teammates" program shows businesses how to grow profits by putting a process in place to nurture alliance partner relationships. For more information, and a free e-book, go to Score More Sales.