10/22 Meeting

It seems I've been lagging behind a bit on the posting of minutes... sorry about that!

10/22:

Hello All! Speaking of Re-Capping....looks like we are all going to need our furry caps here soon. Brrrr. We can look forward to hot soup at Luigi's next Wednesday though!

As for the last meeting we had 19 attendees. Good show! We had 2 guests, Steven Brower from Farmers Insurance and Colleen Gould who is with GSI. We also welcomed Brent Runge from Access Telcom as a new member. So happy that you joined the group Brent! We are certain that we can send many fabulous leads your way.

Leads were the theme of the day with Mark from the Wonderful Spokane Public Library giving one lead and receiving one from Bob from Copeland Architecture and Construction and one from Kyle with Standard Digital Print Co, Mark sent a lead Clint's way at Western States Insurance, Teresa from Mission Possible kindly referred a friend to Grant with Welcome New Neighbor and I too (Parkside Physical Therapy) sent one to Mr. Pond. You can get the full run down at:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA

I would also like to thank Teresa from Mission Possible for making a visit to our office with her handsome son Greyson and her husband. Mr. Greyson is an aspiring model and actor....it would be fun to hear alittle more about that at the upcoming meeting. But, thank you for the visit Teresa!

We did not have a presentation this past meeting and are looking for member to step up for dates. Especially you newer members! Alisha with GSI did update us on a few activities that will be taking place soon. 11/7 is the Breakfast Meeting at Quality Inn, 11/14 is the Economic Forecast meeting. The emails we all get from Greater Spokane Incorp. are always full of activities that will keep us all busily doing business. If you have not looked at the website lately-DO!

Guess that is the news of the day. Take care all and we will see you on Wednesday at 11:30!

9/10 Meeting

Hello Everyone, Hope you all are well and happy. We had an informative and "MOVING" meeting on 9/10 with Bill Kilian presenting from American Van Lines. Bill did a fantastic job of giving us a taste of history concerning the moving industry, how Bill became involved in this line of business and how he loves his work and the people in the community he serves. From all us in the group Bill thankyou-it was fun to hear your story! We all know the moving company we can suggest to our friends, acquaintances and family when they are planning a move or need storage space.

We had a rousing group of 17 at the meeting with 4 referrals passed to me to be recorded. The attendance and these referrals are noted on the google site at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA&gid=7

The group was reminded by Alisha that we have another little competition going. The person who brings the most visitors that actually become members of the Downtown B2B in Oct. and Nov. wins the illustrious prize of a free B2B MEMBERSHIP! Now there is a prize worth throwing your full energy into obtaining! Get those invitations out one and all and lets keep our group not only growing but thriving.

Hope to see each of you (and your buddies of course) for the meeting on Wednesday 10/8/08 at Luigi's.

6/25 Recap

Hello B2B Members and Guests. It was great to see you all at the meeting on Wednesday. Such a nice big group that some of us got "scouched" over to a table at the side! Sorry about that Cheryl-Ann, Sarah and Brent.

We had a quick go around the table to allow everyone the opportunity to tell what new and exciting things they and their place of business are offering this early summer. We got to hear a little from our guest Brent Runge representing Access Telcom. He is fairly new to Access Telcom but has worked in the field of telecommunication for over 8 years. I personally know that Access Telcom has some fabulous products as I tested -- and our office purchased -- a fancy little headset that works remotely from our phones and it has been very beneficial for ME! I just love it. So...we would like to welcome you to our group Brent. We hope you enjoyed your visit with us and will be lunching with us every 2 weeks as a member.

Gina, back from her exciting trip to Africa looking happy and ready to make all of our homes and businesses more beautiful! She gave us an excellent presentation (with a stage and everything!) showing us unique carpets, luscious glass tiles, and new eco-friendly countertops that she is able to offer to her clients for updating their homes and offices. Gina takes the time to go the clients homes to find out exactly what it is they are hoping to accomplish. She then puts together a package to accomplish the tasks set forth and then gets the necessary contractors to complete the job. She has all the contact with the contractors and reports to the client. It sounds heavenly! No job is too small she states and she offers the first hour consult for free, after that it is $75/hour.

I know that we will all tell our buddies and family members about Gina and her wonderful shop.

And speaking of leads...GRANT IS THE BIG WINNER FOR LEADS GENERATED! He had a whopping total of 17 and so will walk out of the next meeting with quite a bit of cash. I do not have the money count but I am sure that Dean who is in charge of the big bucks will hand it over to Grant on July 9th during our next meeting. CONGRATS GRANT AND A BIG THANK YOU FOR LETTING OTHERS KNOW ABOUT ALL THE GREAT B2B MEMBERS! Cindy Guthrie and myself we tied as the runners up with 10 apiece. Pretty darn good if I say so myself!

Please check out all the specifics at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA&gid=7

6/11 Recap

Here we go: The attendance and leads (10 of 'em!) for the meeting can be found here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA&hl=en (make sure that you get to the 6/11/08 tab).

As we didn't have a presenter for day we had a bit of extra time to chat about some of the other things that are important in our lives, including the following from Dianne and Roger:

Officeteam, a division of Robert Half International, is having our 5th annual SUIT DRIVE to support "OUR SISTERS CLOSET" the the YWCA. We are accepting donations of dry cleaned women's suits and any other career/interview type of clothes. We are also in need of gently used shoes and accessories. These donations will support the cause of helping women in the local community who need help getting back into the work force and have no other means of getting the wardrobe together for such events. It is a great program and 100% of the donations stay here in Spokane.

Donations will be accepted at the Officeteam office at 601 W. Riverside Ave #960 OR we would be happy to pick them up at your place of employment. The suit drive runs from July 21st thru Aug. 1st.

ALSO: The downtown National Exchange Club is the oldest service club in Spokane. We are celebrating our 60 year anniversary. We have an annual CRAB FEED that takes place the 1st week of December.

We are seeking donations of services, art work, and items that will get bids. you will get company or individual recognition for any donations you make. We typically make 30k+ in one night and 100% of the profits get split up between Vanessa Behan, SCAN and Children's Home Society.
Please contact Dianne LaValley for any additional detail. This is a great event and it is amazing how so many Spokane folks get out for this event and are very generous! I would like to begin the collection of donations as soon as possible. I am happy to pick up any donations from you.

And as if that weren't enough, Roger noted that he is on the board of the Union Gospel Mission and that both Classy Rack locations (http://www.ugmspokane.org/ClassyRack.aspx) are accepting donations and have some fabulous clothes and household items for even more fabulous prices. The proceeds go to support the Union Gospel Mission.

Thanks for passing along the info, Dianne and Roger, and thanks as well for being such models of engaged citizens!

Membership Update
On the guest front, we had Pam Lilla from US Bank, Jenna Buckley from KXLY, and Laurie Ramsey from Paine Financial. Laurie will no longer be a guest as she has joined the group, as has Teresa Bacal from JTGrey. Hooray!

That's a wrap. Hope to see y'all on Wednesday, June 25th.

~Mark

5/14 Recap

Hello to the Wonderful B2B Group,


A HEARTY thank you to all of you who trusted my cooking and braved finding Parkside Physical Therapy to attend the 5/14 B2B meeting! Erin, Brad, Rand and I just had a great time playing hosts and hostesses and being able to have you all see and hear about the services that our physical therapists can and are HAPPY to provide. We hope that each of you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did!

The group had 6 leads handed in during the meeting. Hopefully each of us is keeping one another in mind when we hear of needs or wants that our friends and family have! Who is responsible for these wonderful leads and who received them is posted at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA&gid=7


AND...congratulations to Cheryl Ann Millsap and Spokane Metro Magazine! Cheryl Ann and the Spokane Metro Magazine group had an absolutely beautiful and well attended launch Wednesday, May 21 at the Fox. Thank you for inviting the B2B Group Cheryl Ann. It was so much fun to meet so many people that are such a vital part of the Spokane "Scene"! We all wish you all the success in your new endeavor!

4/9 Recap

Hi to all of the B2B Group! I must say that I am finding our group more "rousing" every week. It is so exciting to be a part of. We want to give a hearty welcome to both of our new members. Cheryl-Anne Millsap, editor of Spokane Metro Magazine and to Renae Allen of Global Credit Union. We are so happy to have both of you join our fantastic group.

Mark started out the meeting with a discussion concerning when the meetings should start, how the time should be used and when we will adjourn. It was decided that the meetings would begin at 11:30 AM and would end at 12:30 allowing us to mingle afterward. As soon as everyone is seated we will begin our 30-60 second explanation of our businesses. If there is a presentation this will be next and scheduled to end at 12:30.

And then we went on to follow that script to the letter. Everyone introduced themselves and their businesses. We were introduced to Cheryl Ann Millsap and she explained to us that she will be the editor for the new magazine Spokane Metro. A beautiful, slick papered, "coffee table" type magazine that will give us interesting profiles about the people of Spokane, businesses in Spokane that have a special niche and HOPEFULLY a B2B group that is excited to be center stage so to speak! Renae Allen of Global Credit Union told us about her work and how she has much to offer the small business owner and their employees. She welcomed all of us to give her a ring and find out how she can help us and our workmates.

We also had the pleasure of being introduced our guest Teresa Bacal from JTGREY. We learned about her job as a planner of large corporate events and meetings. She explains that she finds speakers for these events-it sounds like a great opportunity for all of us to learn about the what great things will be happening in our area. Thank you for joining us ladies.

Many of our members have been EXTREMELY busy giving out leads. We had 7 leads turned in last week (did everyone turn theirs in on the referral form?). Everyone please check out the spread sheet that tells about all of the particulars of leads, visits and attendance at

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA

Keep up the good work gang. We will see you all on 4/23!

Tah~ Carol Reynolds, Parkside Physical Therapy

3/26/08 meeting

From the pen of Alisha Benson:

B2B Meeting Notes for 3/26

The overall theme that was shared by Jay Anderson, Cindy Guthrie and Bob Britton is that the market is good here in Spokane regardless of what we are hearing elsewhere.

James Hicks with West Coast Entertainment brought flyers and information for the special discounted rate for B2B groups, Ambassadors, GSI members and friends/families to the opening night of Phantom of the Opera – Wednesday 10/8/08. To order tickets contact James at 777-6253.

Chris Hagerman with Family First Senior Care also shared a promotion with the group – 20% off the first week of services.

Mark Pond provided a very interesting and informative presentation about some of the capabilities of Spokane Public Library - services that are free (as long as you have a library card) and much easier and more effective than a Google Search. He focused in on the Business Resources section and 2 of the 40+ databases the library subscribes too. The library is paying almost $12,000 for just these two databases and their capabilities are amazing. Mark share a statistic that the average white collar work day is 8.89 hrs and 7.76 hrs is spent on research and information gathering. Mark just brushed the surface of how these databases can help reduce the amount of time spent researching. ReferenceUSA is the #1 source for information on businesses and people. Want to identify your competitors, or identify businesses in a certain industry to target? This database will provide you with more details than you can imagine. Demographics Now is your resource for every demographic breakdown imaginable. Working on business plan, analyzing a new market, wanting to understand your customers better? This database will provide you some detailed, eye opening answers. You can check them both out at www.spokanelibrary.org

If you are one of the people who spend 7+ hours a day researching or know someone who does, send a referral along to Mark. Thanks for the great presentation Mark.

Please take a peek at the summary of the leads at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA.

See everyone on April 9th!

2/27 Recap

Hello to the all you B2B folk,



Hope that you all are enjoying the sun breaking through and reminding us that spring is just around the corner! We had a busy meeting with a lot to discuss on Feb. 27th with a great presentation from John Sutherland of the Spokane Chiefs and an fun and informative table display by Don Cain from Print Elements. There were 17 members present as well as Ken Sanders,Alisha Benson and Kathryn Grabel representing GSI. Kathryn is the new Membership Account Executive and we want to send her a warm welcome. We also had a guest in our mist. Lynn Spearman, owner and operater of

Radiant Skin by Lynn located at 18 E Indiana St. (in between Division and Ruby on Indiana). It was fun to hear from Lynn, about her business and how she would like to join a group like B2B to encourage word-of-mouth referrals to grow her cliental. Before she left she was signing one lucky member up for an appointment so I am thinking that this is what our group is ALL ABOUT! Way to GROW!



We went around the group as usual to introduce ourselves and what it is that make our businesses special. After these introductions Mark brought up the idea that Paul Hajek and he had discussed earlier in the week. They thought that as a way to encourage more discussion between group members and to gain from the abilities, ideas and expertise of our varied cohorts that we should have one member write in our B2B blog about some of the biggest challenges that they face as a business. These would be posted by the member soon after the meeting and the rest of the group would answer the blog with bright

ideas about how these challenges might be met. We will discuss at the next meeting exactly how to respond and get your ideas posted but everyone seemed to be in agreement that this seemed like a great way to keep us all working toward the same goal of helping one another and finding ways to generate more leads.



John Sutherland let us all know about the great group outings available with the Spokane Chiefs-what fun! He reminded everyone of the the

3/5 STAPLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NIGHT. FROM 5PM TO 7PM WILL BE NETWORKING BEFORE THE GAME AT THE SPOKANE ARENA IN THE LES SCHWAB MEETING ROOM. TICKETS ARE $10-$13. CALL JOHN TO GET THOSE SOUGHT AFTER TICKETS AT 328-0450 EXT 316. LET'S ALL GET OUT AND DO SOME NETWORKING AND THEN ENJOY THE CHIEFS VS. PORTLAND.



Don Cain made a beautiful presentation table for the meeting to display the incredible amount of products available through Print Elements. His business had some fabulous testimonials from around the table of members that have used Print Elements services and have been thrilled with the outcomes. It was so good to see that so many people in the group have used Print Elements-that is exactly what we want to accomplish in the Downtown B2B Group-keep it up gang!

And to close...and to leave you with a challenge to improve these lead numbers. Cindy Guthrie from Windemere Real Estate was the only person in our group with any leads given to me to note. She passed one to us at Parkside Physical Therapy (which we are very grateful for and for which Cindy received a free 30 minute massage coupon from our office!) and Cindy passed a lead to Don at Print Elements! SUPER JOB CINDY! Please everyone look at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA to keep look at our leads and attendance. There will be a test on this in the next meeting with super duper prizes for the person that can answer my tricky question....cool.

2/13 Recap

From Carol:

Hello Everyone,


It was another great meeting for the Downtown B2B group on Feb 13th. The attendance was down a bit to 12 people. It was fun to see Mark use his interior design/sociology expertise to change the set-up for the tables so that everyone could talk to one another with more ease and to make it so the waitress or waiter can walk on the outside of the tables and not disturb conversation that might be occurring across the tables. We are looking for any and all ideas that might make the meetings more effective so please speak up if you have any thoughts that might improve the physical or social aspects of our meetings.

We did not have a presentation by a member but did discuss the presentation schedule for the quarter. For the next meeting to be held on 2/27 John Sutherland will be giving the presentation and Don Cain will wow us with a table presentation (we can't wait for either one!). The schedule for the upcoming verbal and table presentations for the quarter will be sent to us by Mark via email in the near future. We talked about the possibility of some of these presentations being "onsite" at the place of business of the presenter. We decided that it would be best if the meetings that are going to be held "on-site" would need to be announced at least one meeting in advance so members would not be taken by surprise and end up at Luigi's all by themselves!

We welcomed TWO new members to our group! Clint Morton from Western States Insurance Agency and Gina Cook from Design Corner. A BIG WELCOME TO BOTH OF YOU!

Mark went on to lead us in a discussion about what businesses would be the best referrers for the members in the group. I will give a listing of these below so that everyone reading this update can think about people that they would like to invite that would be great additions to help with referrals for our Downtown B2B group:


BUSINESSES/BUSINESS PERSONS WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE ADDED TO OUR GROUP

Jay Lake_______________Attorneys and Accountants

Jay Anderson___________Homeowners with insurance needs

Bill Killian_______________Realtor

Paul Hajek­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­______________Commercial Bankers, Business Attorneys, Business Brokers, Printers

Don Cain_______________Any businesses in need of advertising

Cindy Guthrie___________Folks in need of residential housing

Carol Reynolds__________Medical Facility representatives, Chiropractors

Gina Cook______________Floor covering people, interior designers, cabinet makers, architects

Dean Marshall__________Other small business owners

Chris Hagerman_________Anyone in need of in-home care

Jeremy Pointer_________Businesses with needs to upgrade their internet access to T1 or more, companies in more than one location

Clint Morton____________Business people that lend money to others

Mark Pond_____________Suggests that someone that sees and talks to many different types of people such as a barber or haircare person


So, everyone think about who that might invite to our group that might be a good referral source for someone else in the group. Just such a person walked into my life wanting to become involved in a business referral group just such as ours. Her name is Lynn and she is the owner of Radiant Skin by Lynn where she works as esthetian. She will be attending the next meeting as our guest and is excited to be there!

Please visit our leads and attendance records at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA
which will give you full run down of who gave and received leads from our group in the last couple of weeks.

Please remember to please submit monetary estimates for all leads produced within our group for 2007. Please email these to me and I will pass them on to GSI. Also please send your profile sheets into this address so that I can send them off to others in the group and so that each of us can share them with potential clients.

Thanks all. See you on 2/27/08.

Presentation Schedule

Hey all.

Below is the list of folks who have expressed interest in doing a presentation for the B2B group. If your name doesn't show up here and you would like to do a presentation, just let me know and we'll get it hammered out.

Feb 27: John Sutherland
Mar 12: Grant Sorge
Mar 26: Mark Pond
Apr 9: Dianne LaValley
Apr 23: James Hicks
May 14: Carol Reynolds
May 28: Petrushka Pavlovich
Jun 11: Sarah Mark
Jun 25: Gina Cook
July 9: Clint Morton
Sept. 10: Bill Killian

And on a related note, below is the list of folks that have expressed an interest setting up a display table to showcase some of their wares. Again, if you would like to be listed but are not, the options are the same as above.

Feb 27: Don Cain
Mar 12: Kyle Klippert
Mar 26: Jason Farrow (Bill, would you like to keep this slot?)
Apr 9: Mark Pond
Apr 23: Carol Reynolds
May 14: Grant Sorge

1/23 Recap

From the desk of Carol:

We had a super meeting with 21 people in attendance. We had two representatives from GSI including Ken Sanders,Membership Account Executive and Alisha Benson, Member Relations Coordinator. Alisha will be attending our meetings from now on-WELCOME! We look forward to working with Alisha to make our B2B even more effective as a Business Referral Group. Alisha asks that we all remember to get our "ideations" into GSI and that they are pleased to take these ideas at www.newideasinw.com Ken gave us a business card for a prospective new member to our B2B group and that was passed on to Alisha for her to contact. A big thank you to Ken.

The group also has a new member! Cindy Guthrie from Windermere Real Estate/Manito. Cindy explained to us that she has previously worked at GSI and knew just who to contact to find out which business group was the most "happenin' " and was given the Downtown B2B information. We all plan to make her association with the rest of us a very positive experience and profitable. So gang, lets not only tell others about Cindy at Windermere but lets make sure to refer all our friends in our business group as often as possible! Keep those Leads Referral Forms coming. You can email those to me at info@parksidept.com or fill out the B2BConnect Leads Referral Form and hand to Carol. And on the track, please visit our leads and attendance records http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA
which will give you full run down of who gave and received leads from our group in the last couple of weeks.

We want to give a hearty thanks to Jay Lake from Lake Investments for his very informative presentation concerning how his business works and why it is unique. Jay tells us that unlike many investors, he makes no money on commission for the products that he sells. His money is made on an hourly basis for his investment advise. Fee only so no conflict of interest as to where to invest others money. Initial He tells us that he LOVES Retirement Plans, loves to work with young folks just starting with an investment plan and has FREE INITIAL CONSULTATIONS. Let's get the word out!

Diane reminds us all to remember to please submit monetary estimates for all leads produced within our group for 2007. Please email these to me and I will pass them on to GSI. Also please send your profile sheets into this address so that I can send them off to others in the group and so that each of us can share them with potential clients.

Thanks all. See you on 2/13.

1/9 Recap

Thanks, Carol, for putting these notes together:

Hello Everyone! What a great way to start out the new year to see so many people at the B2B meeting. It was wonderful to have each of you there and a special thanks to those who brought guests. Mark Pond did an excellent job at his new job of leading our meeting-thank you Mark! He has also done a fabulous job of creating a spreadsheet to keep track of lead and attendance which can be seen at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pC3IuhtGzGDN4XkuAfah9CA and I want to personally thank Mark for taking the time to come to Parkside Physical Therapy and acquaint me with this spreadsheet and the blog that he has been working on.

We had 12 members in attendance and 2 visitors. James brought Amber Triplett who works with him at WestCoast Entertainment. She will be attending the meetings from time to time when James is otherwise occupied. Jason F. tells us that he is passing the torch to his co-worker, Bill Kilian. Jason will be in attendance for the next meeting but after that time Bill will be representing American Van Service, Inc. Jason assures us that we will continue to see him from time to time as he is going to be joining the Ambassadors program with GSI. You will be wonderful as an ambassador Jason. And none of us blame you for being excited about that new jacket!

There were 9 leads passed-great job of that. Especially Grant. Here is a quick rundown: Dianne LaValley (1), Jason Farrow (1), Kyle Klippert (1), and Grant with a grand total of (5)-he has been a busy man! If anyone has anymore leads to pass along to me please do so by email and I will get them accounted for.

Dianne acted as treasurer as Dean was absent from the meeting due to being snowed in. She collected the $10 that will go to the B2B group member with the most leads in 6 months. If you did not contribute your $10.00 as yet please bring that for the next meeting on 1/23.

Mark led us in a discussion covering all of the Rules and Regulations. We discussed the particular importance of these items:

·Not missing more than 3 meetings per quarter

·Making at least one onsite visit to another member of the group per quarter

·Each member needs to bring at least on guest per quarter

·The importance that each member bring business leads to others in the group and recording the monetary effect of that referral.

Jay Anderson is doing well and should be able to attend the next meeting. That is fabulous news and we look forward to seeing you Jay.

Grant had a super special for the B2B members. For each new client we refer to him that he can make a presentation to he will give us $100.00 as well as one free month of advertising in his "Welcome New Neighbor" baskets. Now you can't beat that. Lets spread the good news of Grant's enterprise to our fellow business people and reap the rewards.

We ended the meeting with a "fist-pounding on table" urging from Jason to get our Profile Sheets updated and in by our next meeting. These Profile Sheets are essential for all of us to get to know one another and understanding how we can help one another to make our businesses grow. Let me know if you do not have a copy of a Profile Sheet and I will get a copy to you immediately.

Alrighty then. Take care all and we will see you on 1/23! Carol

The Roster

Hi all --

I'm posting the group roster here. When you click on the images, you'll get the full size version.