GREATER NEW ORLEANS EXECUTIVES ASSOCIATION

 Attendance:  36

Bulletin–2011-55

November 15, 2011

HOLIDAY 

GNOEA will not have a breakfast meeting on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 due to the Thanksgiving Holiday.  Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 as a Nighttime Visitation with Denise Berthiaume, LeMieux Galleries, 200 Metairie Road, Metairie, from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.  Attendance for visitation is mandatory, exactly like a regular breakfast meeting. 

Below please find a map for your convenience.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=200+Metairie+Road,+Metairie,+LA&hl=en&sll=37.0625,95.677068&sspn=36.999937,56.25&vpsrc=0&hnear=200+Metairie+Rd,+Metairie,+Louisiana+70005&t=m&z=16

MURIEL’S HOLIDAY PARTY

GNOEA will hold our Holiday Party at Muriel’s Restaurant this year on December 13th from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm.  Muriel’s requires that I purchase a certain amount of food and the more members we have attending the party, the cheaper it will be.  The cost of $50.00 per person is a worst case scenario only. 

Please let Susan know if you plan on attending and how many will be in your party!

ELECTIONS

Congratulations to the following three members who were elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the next eighteen months:

Chris Hosch, WJS, Robert Ramsey, Ramsey’s Diamond Jewelers and George Rojas, Scheuering Security Service

Congratulations to all of them!

NEW MEMBER 

Recently, GNOEA has gained two new members into our association, Jim Hudson with Iberiabank under the classification of “Bank”.  He will share this classification with Tom Tappan with Iberiabank. 

Also, William “Bill” Dalton with Firefly Digital under the classification “Web Hosting / Web Design”.

Please, let us all take a few minutes to welcome both of them at our breakfast meetings!

PROGRAM 

Today we had the pleasure of having as our guest speaker Dan Kelly, President of both “Beads by the Dozen” and Endymion.  Dan Kelly was a young member of the Krewe of Endymion in 1987 when he started going to China to comb through factories for the hottest plastic beads and toys. 

Named for the Olympian god of fertility and eternal youth, the largest krewe in Mardi Gras history was founded in 1967 as a small neighborhood venture in the Bayou St. John-Gentilly area. By 1974, Endymion had grown into a super club.

Mardi Gras-style beaded necklaces, once associated exclusively with seasonal pre-Lenten celebrations along the Gulf Coast, are now a bona fide national phenomenon.  Indeed, from football games and theme parties to corporate events and even wedding receptions, from parades and festivals to just about any locale where the Spring Break crowd gathers, the festive strands have become a celebratory fashion statement.

We wish to thank Mr. Kelly for taking the time to visit with our association!

APPROVED PROSPECTIVE MEMBER

The Board of Directors, the Classification and Membership Committees have approved the following firm for membership into GNOEA.  Members have five days to voice an objection to inviting them to become a member.

Peter Sather                            Proposer:         Paul Cosma

Kid Gloves, Inc.                      Classification: Specialty Moving, Storage & Receiving”

 

SURVEY

GNOEA’s Board of directors is asking that you please take a few minutes to answer a couple of questions.

A) Would you be interested in joining a GNOEA Business Group.  Yes or No.

B) If you are already in a GNOEA Business Group, would your group be interested in having new members?  Yes or No

C) If you already have an established GNOEA Business Group, would you be interested in helping other GNOEA members start a new Business Group?

NETWORKING BY MICHAEL MITCHELL

As I mentioned at a recent breakfast meeting, I learned a lot about networking from Majeed Mogharreban, who was a speaker at the recent IEA conference in Ottawa.  Some of the ideas I’d heard before, but that did not make them less helpful; some things bear repeating and timeless truths about networking fall into that category.

Here are a few that I’ve taken from his handout Networking Action Plan Workbook.  If you feel like this is useful and would like to read further excerpts, let me now.

How Can I Help You?

Networking is a two-way street.  It’s not about what you receive in the way of tips or leads, but also what you are able to supply to others.  The biggest mistake amateur networkers can make is approaching a new contact and asking themselves “How can you help me?” If you can figure that out, great, but beware of asking for something before you establish rapport and trust.  By focusing on the other person, genuinely wanting to know about them and how you can help them, people will be much more interested in giving you their contact information and following up with you.  Constantly ask yourself “How can I help this person?” and “Who can I connect this person with?”

It’s important to note that merely asking how you can help someone does not commit you to anything;  nor do you need to be able to immediately help someone before you ask them.  What is important is to know how you can help someone so that in case you meet the right person or read the right article, you know that it would be helpful to connect this person to that contact, resource, or information.

Relationships First

Focus on building the relationship before selling or asking for anything.  Establish trust and rapport.  This can be done by finding common ground, common contacts, and giving a few reasons why other people trust you.  Examples include how long you’ve been in business, a story that indicates you are competent in what you do, and recognizable organizations that you are associated with.  The most powerful is having a mutual acquaintance that you do business with.  That allows them an avenue to check into your background and gives the idea, conscious or unconscious, “If he’s good enough for ABC Co. or Johnny McBusinesspartner, he’s good enough for me.”

Build the relationship by being generous in terms of referrals, information, sharing resources, invitations to events, etc.  Over time, trust will build and they will be more confident in referring your business.  Make sure they always know how they can help you, without being pushy about it.

Be Genuine

To be an effective networker, you must be genuine.  Genuine enthusiasm for your product, service, and company;  genuine interest when asking people about what they do for a living and what their interests are;  genuinely giving without expecting anything in return.  If you’re not genuine, you will hate it – and people will know it.

Don’t Keep Score

If you are giving with strings attached it will take away from your gift and stress you out.  Just don’t keep score.  Expect to give lots more than you receive.  If you find value in helping other people, you are well on your way to having the right mindset of a super networker.  Some people will help you that you can’t immediately help back.  Take it.  Be grateful.  Realize that it is a gift to allow someone to help you.  They get to feel helpful.

The one caveat to this is if you find that you are continuously helping someone who just takes, you are free to reduce or eliminate the help you give them.  But never say, “You owe me.”

Everyone Counts

Another amateur mistake in networking is when someone thinks “this person can’t help me” and therefore they are not important to connect with.  If you take the “How can I help you?” approach, you will almost always find a way that you can help that person now or in the future.

What’s important to keep in mind is that everyone knows people.  Most people know on average 200 people that “like, know and trust” them and 2000 people that they know and who know them.  That means each contact you make has a reach of 2000 people.  Would you act differently if you treat each person you met like an audience of 2000 people?

OPEN CLASSIFICATIONS

If you know of someone who is the owner, principal, or upper management (national companies only) of one or more of these Open Classifications, please give that name to the Membership Committee or invite them to a Tuesday morning breakfast.  If you invite them to a breakfast meeting, please give the name and other information to either the President or Susan prior meeting. 

Below please find a list of open classifications:

Air Conditioning                                            Hospital

Aircraft Sales & Service                                Hotel  

Appliance Sales and Service                          Interior Designer

Audiologist & Hearing                                   Internet Search Engine Optimization

Chiropractor                                                   Janitorial/Cleaning Service

Coffee Shop/Service                                      Lawn Maintenance

Commercial Window Treatment                   Medical Facility                                            

Country Club / Golf Course                           Optometrist

Courier Service                                              Physical Therapy

Direct Mail Advertising                                 Plastic Surgeon

Drug Store                                                      Podiatry

Dry Cleaners                                                   Property Management                       

Entertainment                                                 Psychologist

Equipment – Rental                                        Real Estate – Commercial    

Flooring                                                          Sign & Banner

Furniture Store                                               Sporting Goods

Glass Company                                              Supermarket Retail

UPCOMING PROGRAM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greater New Orleans Executives Association

Weekly Leads and Information Sheet

 

DATE:

NAME, COMPANY, MEMBERSHIP NUMBER:

DIRECT LEADS TO:

1.

I PURCHASED A PRODUCT OR SERVICE FROM:

1.

GENERAL LEADS:

1.

MEMBER VISITATIONS:

1.

IMMEDIATE NEEDS:

1.

THANKS TO:

1.

COMING EVENTS

1.

Suggestions / Concerns / Announcements/ General Information Attend