Bconnected

There’s schmoozing and then there’s networking. Serious networking. Like the kind that enables business people to make connections that boost their bottom line. After all, who has time to mill around a rubber-chicken dinner in the vain hopes of attracting new clients, only to trudge home clutching the same business cards from last time?

Lynn MacMichael, who runs Halifax networking organization BConnected, is determined to keep things fresh. That’s why she works hard to make things interesting, so it’s not the same old faces time and again.

That means getting creative. She not only hosts weekly power lunches, she puts on a different event for members each month such as speed networking, where participants have one minute to make their pitch to every other member (think speed dating without the sweaty palms).

Then there are events like mystery badge night, the Christmas mixer and golf networking. Not to mention two trade shows a year and events held at members’ place of business.

Have a countertop that needs repairing? No sweat. MacMichael has a renovation guy for you. Cheap flights could be on the horizon, too, with the “air-miles lady” she has on board. Another member takes care of websites for many of his BConnected colleagues, while the mortgage brokers and real-estate brokers in the group work closely together to develop new business.

MacMichael encourages members to bring guests and emphasizes the fun factor in her events. She also ensures everyone present meets all of the other guests, instead of shuffling from one foot to the other, and gives them any contact information they need.

BConnected is a full-time job for MacMichael, a rarity at many of the other networking clubs. She’s been known to work 12-hour days to develop the organization, which now has more than 75 members and is attracting a couple of new members per week. MacMichael is even thinking about franchising in the next two to three years.

She also plans to teach MBA, law and business students the art of networking, which she sees as critical in today’s current economic climate.

“Cold calls just aren’t cutting it anymore and nobody likes doing them anyway, so if you know how to network, you really can grow your business,” says MacMichael, who worked in sales for 25 years (15 of which were in the cell-phone industry).

“There are so many important things to networking – being prepared before you go, what you do when you’re there and then your follow-up. So many people do not follow up, it’s crazy. And it can be follow-up as an email, a phone call, a coffee. It depends – you have to prioritize who you want to meet.”

It’s all about building long-term relationships, she reminds potential members. She never enjoyed the cold calling herself, which is part of the reason she started something new.

MacMichael could have started BConnected anywhere but her Nova Scotia roots run deep. She grew up in Dartmouth and still lives in the same neighbourhood after 44 years. Growing up, she remembers her mother and grandparents piling the kids into the station wagon to explore a different part of the province every weekend. It’s a tradition she carried on with her own child (now grown) and now that she’s an empty-nester, she carries the torch on her own.

She also trained in Nova Scotia, studying at teachers’ college and at Dalhousie University, where she later worked before entering the telecom industry.

If there was ever a concern over whether her new venture would fly in Nova Scotia, it’s been put to rest.

BConnected members Rick and Colleen MacLennan got so much out of their experiences with MacMichael’s company, they set up their own coaching and consulting practice. The couple had been living in Calgary but have now bought a home in Nova Scotia.

As Colleen explains, they came to Halifax because they wanted an adventure and they wanted to be on the ocean. So they hopped on a plane, not knowing a soul when they landed. Then they heard about BConnected and started attending meetings.

Over the last few years, the MacLennans have built up a successful practice while barely having to advertise. So successful, in fact, that they were able to buy a condo, car and furniture with their earnings.

Through BConnected, Colleen also ended up joining the Halifax Club, where she has made some valuable contacts. Although she no longer expects to necessarily do much business directly with other BConnected members, that doesn’t stop her from attending meetings.

“Just knowing that if I wanted to know anybody – if I wanted to meet somebody in a bank, Lynn will introduce me to someone in a bank because she is such a gregarious creature. Just knowing her and who those other people are that she knows is like unlocking the secret of the universe. She is really just a crackerjack.”