- Business Networking Groups
JOIN A TEAM
for Referral Networking
What is a Referral Group?
There are different kinds of referral networking groups, aka “business networking groups” and “referral groups.” Our referral groups have room for only one person per profession so all referrals for one type of product or service goes to the one member in the group who provides it.
We have taken the concept of referral networking groups to a new level by adding on group business coaching and business development education during our meetings.
Members love our groups because they each get lots of time to talk during each meeting and they get to learn useful information like how to monetize LinkedIn; using Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for business; public speaking; sales; websites and other topics. Members also get the opportunity to give a presentation to the group once or twice during their one-year membership.
Admission to the group is based on a one-year membership only. Once a member you will be able to participate in our group WhatsApp chat, LinkedIn pod; you will have access to the Members-Only Learning Centre on our website; and receive a free silver listing on our website with the option to upgrade to a Platinum listing for a discounted fee to reach even more consumers.
DO YOU WANT?
THEN YOU WANT TO JOIN ONE OF OUR GROUPS
Membership Details
> One year membership
> Only one spot per profession
> Weekly group zoom meetings faciliated by Tammy Defoe, Business Coach
> Meetings consist of a roundtable (30-45 minutes), then business development training (30-45 minutes – optional to stay for BD)
> Members can give a 15-minute presentation during our group meetings once or twice during their one-year membership (This would replace the business development section of the meeting)
> Free admission to all of our open networking events for one-year (Both the monthly virtual and the monthly in-person events) – Value $340
> Free Gold Directory Listing (or small upgrade fee to get the Diamond Listing Plan) – Value $73
> Participation in our group Whatsapp chat and group LinkedIn pod
> Suggestive Referring Webpage (shown in the video below)
> The directory listing and SR webpages provide multiple backlinks to help with Google rankings (Members who don’t have a website can have their business cards linked to their LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or other professional URL)
> Discounts on our Guest Speaker marketing package, Website Development and SEO services, and Business Coaching
> Corporate+Club discount card
> Option to enroll in our association health and dental plan (Provided by Green Shield)
> See other features and benefits above
What is "Suggestive Referring?"
Watch this video to find out >>
- Current Exclusive Referral Groups
BUSINESS NETWORKING GROUPS TORONTO AREA
TORONTO NORTH B2C/B2B
Weekly group meetings
Thursdays @ 9am on Zoom.
A few times a year, we will meet in North York for an in-person breakfast.
*New*
YORK REGION - RICHMOND HILL B2C/B2B
Weekly group meetings
Tuesdays @ 12pm on Zoom
A few times a year, we will meet in person for a group lunch or dinner.
*New*
TORONTO AREA B2B
Weekly group meetings
Thursdays @ 12pm
This group is open only to business owners or self-employed professionals who provide products or services to other businesses.
OUR TORONTO NORTH GROUP
This group has been running for over 2 years. Members have provided and continue to provide lots of referrals and other support to help each others’ businesses to grow. These members are also active at GTApreneurs open networking events by attending as guests, being Guest Speakers or being exhibitors.
To accommodate the schedules of members, we have most of our meetings online, with an in-person social a few times a year. These are pictures of the members who attended our 2022 Holiday Networking Breakfast. Members who couldn’t attend are not shown.
We are a 14-person strong, enthusiastic group right now, but, there is still room for more.
From some of our members...
Randi Goodman, Real Estate Broker, GTApreneurs Toronto North Group (0:43)
https://www.randigoodman.ca/
Lisa Taylor, Independent Consultant, Modere, GTApreneurs Toronto North Group (0:46)
https://linktr.ee/ElleTJourney
Gilat Khorsandi, ASEA and Liz Jakoi, Holistic Tranformation Coach (0:54)
FAQ about our Exclusive Business Coaching and Referral Networking Group Memberships.
As our groups are exclusive, we only allow only person per profession to join each group. This way, all referrals for a particular type of product or service will go to the one professional who offers it.
Sometimes there is a bit of an overlap, as in the case where a lawyer practices multiple types of law. The lawyer would only represent one type of law practice and promote that service in the group if we have another lawyer in the group who practices another type of law that the first lawyer does.
There are other entrepreneurs who have more than one kind of business. Each of them can only promote the business that is not already represented in the group.
We understand that everyone needs some time off for vacation, sickness, family emergency, client service or sale. So, you are welcome to miss up to 6 meetings in your one-year membership to maintain your membership.
If you send another professional to take your place at a meeting, it won’t count as a missed meeting.
Your replacement can be your Assistant, another colleague in the same profession as yours, your spouse or another unrelated entrepreneur whose profession is not already represented in the group.
If you get busy often, you will want to have a back-up person on the ready to fill in for you.
If you miss 6 meetings without sending a replacement, your membership may be ended.
We want you to send as many referrals as possible to other members, however, the minimum is one qualified referral sent every 4-weeks or you could become a client of another member instead, and it would count as a referral.
“Qualified referral” means the prospect is looking for the products or services of the member being referred to and agrees to connect with the member, and the prospect and member are connected by formal email introduction, Linkedin group chat, Facebook chat or WhatsApp chat.
In addition to this minimum quota, you are required to do something every week to support another group member.
If you don’t have a referral to send or you don’t become a client of another member (i.e. buy something from them or receive their services and pay for them) in a particular week, you could do something else of value, such as:
- Give a Google review, LinkedIn recommendation or Facebook recommendation
- Like, comment on and share other members’ social media posts (This leads to boosting their posts up in the newsfeed, thereby giving it exposure to more people)
- Attend a member’s webinar/event
- Host a joint webinar/event with another member
- Promote another member’s webinar/event
- Share your Suggestive Referring webpage with others
- Share the Suggestive Referring webpage of another member with others
- Bring guests to a GTApreneurs open networking events
- Provide a free product or service to another member
- Other
*You can miss up to a maximum of 6 weeks per year of giving group support
“Qualified referral,” means the prospect is looking for the products or services of the member you are referring to, the prospect agrees to connect with the referral receiving member, the member is given the contact information of the prospect, so s/he can follow-up, and the member you want to send a referral to doesn’t already know the prospect.
If you don’t have a qualified referral to give in a particular 4-week period, you could become the client of another member, meaning you could buy something from a fellow member or pay for services of another member.
It is a mandatory requirement of your membership to do something of value to support another group member every week.
If you don’t have a referral to give, you could do something else like:
- Give a Google review
- Give a LinkedIn or Facebook recommendation
- Attend a member’s webinar/event
- Promote a member’s webinar/event
- Bring guests to a member’s webinar/event
- Bring guests to a GTApreneurs open (drop-in) business networking event
- Like, comment and share members’ social media posts
- Give a free product or service
- Give a shout out to a member on your social media pages by sharing their GTApreneurs directory listing, website or other information
- Share your GTApreneurs directory listing with your contacts and ask for their feedback, as it shows the business cards of the other members at the bottom of your listing.
- Something else of value to support another member’s business
Yes, you are welcome to attend one meeting as a guest before deciding to join. Keep in mind, that as long as the perceived quality of the professionals who are interested in the one position in a particular group for their profession, the professional who registers (including payment) first will get the spot. So, it’s typically better to sign-up as soon as possible if you want the spot.
We don’t allow for professionals to join the group for any less than a one-year commitment as existing members will not want to refer their contacts to the short-term member who may not be around for long.
No, you don’t have to give a referral to every member of the group.
As long as you give a qualified referral to one member of the group or to GTApreneurs each month, you will meet the minimum referral quota.
There are a variety of business development topics presented at the meetings over the course of a membership. We rotate the topics so new members will have the opportunity to participate in all of the topics as soon as possible in their membership.
Most of the content presented at the meetings can be found in our Members Only Learning Centre.
Topics include, but, are not limited to:
- LinkedIn (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Facebook for business (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Instagram for business (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Twitter for business (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Sales (many different sub-topics) (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Public Speaking (Elevator Pitch, presentations, speech delivery, etc.) (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Websites and SEO (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Canva (How to use the web-based graphic design software) (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Social media posts (Types, how to create and schedule) (Presented by GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Business accounting and taxation (Presented by the Accountant in the group)
- Business structures, trademarks and related information (Presented by the Business Lawyer in the group)
- Business valuation, sales, franchising and succession planning (Spilt into separate topics – Presented by members specializing in these areas)
- Growing and Protecting your wealth (Presented by the Financial Advisor of the group)
- Group health insurance and group RRSP or pension plan (Presented by the Financial Advisor in the group)
- Real estate investing and related topics (Presented by the Realtor in the group)
- Real Estate lending (Presented by the Mortgage Broker in the group)
- Estate Planning, POA (Presented by the Wills and Estates lawyer in the group)
- Health and wellness for entrepreneurs (Presented by a member or GTApreneurs Group Coach)
- Hiring and managing employees (If we have an HR professional in the group)
- Other topics (Other members are welcome to give a 15-minute presentation about their area of expertise. The Group Coach may also present other topics)
No, we don’t give any guarantees. Although we will give you the only spot for your profession and help to promote you in group meetings and at the open networking events you attend, it is ultimately up to the members and the Group Coach to send you referrals when they have them, or they may become your client.
You still need to do your part to build relationships with the other members, give support to the other members and utilize your sales skills to bring in business.
Your ability to do the above and the frequency with which members come across referrals for the type of products or services you provide will determine how much business you will get as a member.
The amount of money you will make will depend on the above and how much you make per sale/new client as every professional has different prices for their products and services.
Unfortunately we don’t allow members to visit other exclusive groups as each group has one member per profession max, however, you and all referral group members are welcome to attend our open networking events. You will likely see some members of other GTApreneurs exclusive groups there.
Unfortunately, you can only join one of our exclusive groups as it would be too difficult to send regular referrals and give other support to members of two or more groups.
You are welcome to attend all of our open networking events though where you will meet new potential clients and referral partners each time.
Absolutely!
Although you are in a group where you commit to sending referrals to other members, it’s normal that you may have some referral partners who are not members.
You and other members can send each other referrals regardless of where the prospects live.
- Let us know
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