2011 in 2011: Experience More! – Jamar is the President

 Rainmakers is one of the most unique relationship marketing companies in the world.  We have gotten here by being flexible with market needs, and finding innovative solutions to achieving the result of creating revenue through relationships.

At first, we were an events company; hosting events with 100-700 people in attendance.  Then we focused on our ability to grow our members’ businesses through a business development system.  This strategy was followed by networking in targeted groups called power circles.

Our next strategic move is to shift our event strategy in Indianapolis from one action board/power circle hosting an event to 3-5 power circles hosting an event. 

We have seen this model work wonders for energy and attendance at the AM Brownsburg and Rush Hour events.

This “hub and tether” strategy will:

- increase membership attendance at events to improve the energy and experience,

- add more guests per event so our members always have a fresh pool of contacts,

- and give Rainmakers more financial and manpower resources to promote each event thoroughly and increase attendance.

The visible result of this change, beginning with Indianapolis’ June events, is that there will be less events with more people at them.

Here are the events that are “experiencing more” beginning June 1st:

• AM Carmel – (Includes Northwest tether)
• AM Fishers – (Includes Starting Point tether)
• Bridges to Enterprise – (Includes Manufacturing & Mid-sized B2B tether)
• Techmakers
• Boomers & Beyond
• Rush Hour (Includes Commercial Property and Property Management tether)
• West Lunch
• Avon (Includes Plainfield tether)
• Brownsburg (Includes Homebased and Emerging Business tether)
• Jumpstart
• South Lunch

 All other Indy events are closed as of June 1st, and have been converted to power circles that are attached to the events that are “experiencing more”.

As you read through the list, you notice that our hubs are not completely filled with tethered power circles.  We have 6 new power circles going through a Leadership Development Program that teaches new power circle leaders how to run an effective 20-25 person group, and are actively recruiting more leaders.  Please reach out to me if you would like more details about jumping into this program for our existing and emerging leaders.

If you lead a power circle that is not listed above, we would love to get you officially tethered to an event.  Please contact me to get that going.

We have also created a 27-point marketing plan that will drive more traffic to each hub through email and social media marketing.

The Main Event is being re-worked, and will come back this fall with a flurry of fantasticness.  Imagine an event with hundreds of people, at an exclusive location, with more “new” people to network with than you could even get to in an evening.  The experience that we are creating for the re-launch of the Main Event will bring back the lustre of Rainmakers big and flashy events of the old days. 

Our eventual vision is to have 80 people at each event – 30 of which are guests.  This may not happen instantly, but as we fill out our new structure, we will have events that are sustainable, filled with energy, and complete with the ‘right’ people in the room.

Some of you may think that with this move, Rainmakers is shrinking, retreating, or going away, and this is not the case. 

Re-organizing our events is a strategic move that will position Indianapolis (and all future markets) to consistently have strong events with lots of new fresh contacts.

If you have questions about the logistics of this change, please contact me by responding to this post, or by emailing me at jamar@gorainmakers.com.

Thank you for your flexibility, patience, and trust as we make this transition!

Get ready to experience more in 2011 from Rainmakers as we push toward impacting 2011 members businesses this year!

Jamar Cobb-Dennard is a business development strategy and implementation expert, and the President of Rainmakers Marketing Group.  Click to learn more about Creating a Word of Mouth Marketing Machine.

Emotional Experiences Sell – Jamar is the President

Clients buy emotionally and justify their purchase intellectually.  The best companies in the world structure their sales and marketing programs around this concept.

When I bought my first BMW, the salesman put the top down, made sure the A/C was ice cold, and turned on a little rap music to heighten the mood.  He knew that if I was going to buy that car, I had to fall in love with the emotional experience of driving it.

After I bought it, I received emails and snail mail that affirmed the good decision I made in purchasing that vehicle.  BMW sold the car emotionally, and reinforced the sale intellectually.

Rainmakers is on the path to following the same concept for our member purchase and retention process.  Hosting fantastic events is the emotional experience.  After a prospect is “wow-ed” by an amazing event, they attend the WOMMM (Creating a Word of Mouth Marketing Machine), and reinforce their thought process to purchase intellectually.

WOMMM was launched in Indianapolis last month, and our new members (and current members) love it!  I have already noticed members like Jeremy Zucker getting a faster start, and creating conscious results, with their relationship marketing efforts as a result of attending the WOMMM.

Now it’s time to work on creating an amazing emotional experience for members and guests at events.  I have been to almost all of our events in Indianapolis.  Some of them are awesome.  Some of them have been fairly lame. 

What could we do to create a model so ALL of our Indy Rainmakers events are awesome? 

I would love to see 50 members and 30 guests at every event.  There is a buzz in the room.  People are passing business, and connections are made.  Every attendee leaves Rainamkers events with a renewed sense of energy and passion that is like none other in the marketplace. 

That is the vision of the event that we could create.

Here is one idea I presented to the chairs yesterday during an event “experience” discussion.  What if we used our most successful events as true “hubs” that supported 3 to 5 power circles of 10 people apiece, and they all hosted the event together.  That way every event was guaranteed to have more people in attendance, and the pressure to fill the room with guests was removed from each individual action board?  We would also be able to start more targeted power circles, and they could leverage the power of “getting the meeting” faster at the event that they co-host.

The Indy chairs seemed to really like the idea, and thought it could create some real leverage for our events and our power circles.  It’s easier to invite guests to awesome events.  It’s easier to make a decision to go to a fantastic and inspiring event. 

Those are just some of the thoughts.  What do you think of this idea to create a fantastic event experience?

Jamar Cobb-Dennard is a business development strategy and implementation expert, and the President of Rainmakers Marketing Group.  Click to learn more about Creating a Word of Mouth Marketing Machine.

Product Pyramids Give Clients Somewhere to Go – Jamar is the President

Rainmakers released a new training product called Velocity this week, and our phones have been blowing up with people wanting to take part.

The reason why is our members now have a path to follow to create success in their membership.

This is what it looks like:

When you give your clients baby-steps to follow in order to create success with your product, they’re more likely to follow it. 

The easiest way to do this is to start with a free product that gives people a taste of what you do.  At Rainmakers, this is our event. 

At the event, we convert new prospects from freemium to premium by inviting them to the WOMMM.  You can also do this in your business with a low-cost offering that gives high-value to the participants.

Once the participants feel “full” and comfortable, they are then even more open to investing more time and money with you for your higher value product offerings (i.e. membership, consulting, training, etc.).

How have you implemented product pyramids or client paths in your business model to engage new prospects?

Jamar Cobb-Dennard is a business development strategy and implementation expert, and the President of Rainmakers Marketing Group.  Click to learn more about Creating a Word of Mouth Marketing Machine.

Listen to the Problem; Give ‘em What They Want – Jamar is the President

We released Rainmakers new program, Velocity, yesterday and we already have 3 registered and 47 others on a list waiting to be called to sign up.

Velocity is a training series that creates relationship marketing results for Rainmakers members who want more inspiration, more referrals, and more sales from their Rainmakers membership.

The early success of this program has nothing to do with me, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that we listened to our members challenges with our product, and then gave them exactly what they wanted.

There is a lesson in this for all of us as business owners.  When was the last time you polled your clients to see what they didn’t like about their experience with your product?

When I was at reachmore, I polled our clients, and created a product that instantly gave us a 10% boost to our top line revenue.  Try this out, and let me know the results you get. 

You can find some good tips on surveying on SpinWeb’s blog.  In the past, I have used Survey Monkey to complete my survey.  SpinWeb also has a survey tool that you can integrate onto your website.

As the President of Rainmakers, I will keep listening to how you are experiencing your membership, and create a product that helps you WIN!

What do you think of the new Velocity offering?

Jamar Cobb-Dennard is a business development strategy and implementation expert, and the President of Rainmakers Marketing Group.  Click to learn more about Creating a Word of Mouth Marketing Machine.

Join Live Blog of Rainmakers Growth – Jamar is the President

The best thing about being the President one of the largest business associations in Indianapolis is that I get to listen.  I get to listen to the dreams and ideas of thousands of small business leaders whose success is directly tied to how effective I am at creating an association that helps them win.

If you would like to hear a four-star general’s perspective on my style of leadership, and why I listen first, check our General Stanley McChrystal. 

During a conversation with Rainmakers member, Robby Slaughter, he shared his insights on how my business could do to a better job of growing and serving its members, and I got to listen.

One of Robby’s ideas was to share the creative process that I go through to grow the association, as the President of Rainmakers.  Transparency about the creative process would allow all of the Rainmakers members to comment on and be a part of the change, and would also give everyone a peek into “what the heck is going on”!?!

Fantastic idea, Robby!  I am going to do it.  I commit to blogging a few times a week about who I’m meeting with, what ideas were shared, what I’m working on, and what I’m learning.  All of the blogs will be subtitled and categorized, “Jamar is the President”, so you can easily find them on jamarspeaks.com.

In the spirit of getting this thing started, share this blog with your Rainmaker friends, subscribe so you’re always updated on your association, and comment below on what you think of this initiative!

Jamar Cobb-Dennard is a business development strategy and implementation expert, and the President of Rainmakers Marketing Group.  Click to learn more about Creating a Word of Mouth Marketing Machine.

‘Golden Boy’ of Business at Rainmakers Helm – Jamar is the President

Indianapolis, IN, April 5, 2011 – The backbone of Indianapolis’ economy consists of small business owners who thrive on relationship marketing and guerilla marketing techniques to generate revenue. Rainmakers Marketing Group is a business association that has been an innovator in teaching business owners how to create results through relationships. They have been so good at it, that they took business development expert Jamar Cobb-Dennard from failing at networking, to becoming Rainmakers Rookie of the Year, and now the associations newest President.

“As we move into markets outside of Indianapolis, we need a strong business development and operations system that can be replicated. Jamar is the person that can make that happen,” remarks Rainmakers Founder, Tony Scelzo.

Dubbed the ‘golden boy’ by renowned business coach, CJ McClanahan, Jamar Cobb-Dennard is well known in the small business community for creating rapid sales results, carries an unmistakable brand of leadership, and has an amazing ability to connect with any audience that he speaks to.

Former Rainmakers President and current Vice President of Development, Nikki Lewallen, says that “with Jamar on the bus as Rainmakers heads into its biggest year ever, we now have the capstone to a dynamic and steady team that will create history in how businesses create revenue through relationships.”

Rainmakers started in 2003 as a gathering of a few business owners who were looking to connect with each other’s network, and has grown to be one of the 10 largest associations in the Indianapolis region, with over 1450 members, and events in 3 states.

For more on Rainmakers Marketing Group and how their product helps business owners grow revenue through relationships, visit http://gorainmakers.com.