Ways to make the MOST of your LeTip group

Orange County financial planner and long time LeTip member William Jordan has some great ideas on how you can make the most of your LeTip membership...this is great info for both new and old LeTip members. Thanks, William!

1. Give Le Tip a full year.

Any marketing you try requires time and development. I have seen a few new members wondering aloud why they aren't getting more business from the group...the second month they are there! Two months in you're still learning how Le Tip really works. In certain business categories that are easy to understand and tip you'll see an overnight success. In most cases, it takes time for members to get to know you and your business.

There are specific things a new member can do to increase their results from Le Tip which I will discuss in a moment. However it all starts with making a commitment to yourself and the group. If someone can't make a 1 year commitment to the group, I would frankly advise them not to join.

2. Have excellent attendance.

This may be a given, yet we have seen many brand new members over their first 2-3 months miss 4 or 5 of 7-10 meetings. Since members don't always join for the first meeting of the month, they are allowed 3 absences in the first quarter, which sometimes translates into the option of missing 3 of their first 4-6 meetings. Then they miss 1 or 2 of the first couple meetings in the new quarter.

Being present at the meetings, especially as a new member, is absolutely essential for both getting to know other members, and instilling confidence in them. When someone joins the group and then seems to never be around, they should expect it to be very slow going because other members will not be sure the new member plans to stick around. I can tell you that when a new member leaves our group, you can go look at their attendance. The vast majority of the time they just weren't around as much as they could/should have been.

3. Identify your power partners.

For every member, there are several other business categories who can pass you a lot of tips, and usually vice versa. As an example in my category for Financial Planning, I come across clients who need a new CPA, or who need to have an estate plan done on a fairly regular basis. Likewise, those members come across many clients that need a new financial planner or would benefit from meeting with me. This makes us "power partners". Now imagine that I join the group, and never talk with the CPA or Estate Planning Attorney.

In some cases, it is harder to know who your power partners are. A very high priority should be placed on identifying business categories that you can tip frequently, and that can tip you frequently. If those categories are represented in the group, you should go out of your way to get to know them. If they are unfilled, your first priority should be to bring guests in those categories until they are filled within the group.

Then meet with your power partners on a regular basis. Make a concerted effort to find business for them. In almost all cases, a member you are tipping regularly is going to go out of their way to try and tip you. Educate each other on how to do that effectively.

4. Focus on receiving outside tips.

The last area I see new members miss the mark on is the tips they ask for. There's a reason Le Tip requires them to attend the new member orientation. One of the critical subjects discussed is how to obtain outside tips.

Some new members join the group with the limited view of expecting to obtain all their business from inside tips, the members alone using them. If this is successful or not, it is limited to the size of the group. On the other hand, some members learn quickly that their best tips, and largest volume of tips, should be outside tips to people who are not in the group.

This requires you the member to teach us how to find outside tips. Yes we need to know and understand what you do, and even more importantly we need to know HOW to find outside tips for you. If I simply told everyone to use my services, my outside tips would be limited to the times that someone walks up to another member and asks them "Hey do you know a financial planner that you can refer me to? How about in your Le Tip group?" How often does that happen? Instead it is a requirement for all of us to teach the members how to find outside tips. This is 90% of what you should be covering in your commercials and in your speaking opportunities.

Side note: The last key which applies to everyone in the entire group is to invite guests. Groups ebb and flow with members joining and leaving all the time because that's how life is. We must constantly be inviting new guests. As a group, I would say that should be our number one focus. There are thousands of business people out there who would love to join our group. Lets all commit to inviting just 3 guests over the next 3 months. This will help everyone in our group be more successful.

I hope this letter has been helpful. While it's intended for newer members, even while typing it I thought about ways that a long time Le Tip member like myself can improve what I'm doing. ~ William Jordan