Questions for Evaluating the Business Development Value of Membership in a Trade, Community or Professional Group
Firm Issues
By Bob Weiss
January 2008
Here are 11 questions to ask when evaluating the business development value of membership in a trade, community or professional group.
After attending a meeting, if you can't answer "yes" to at least eight of these questions, the group is not a good investment of your time.
- Frequency - Does the group meet at least monthly?
- Philosophy - Is your networking philosophy compatible with both the members and the organization's?
- Size - Is the group large enough, or sufficiently segmented, to offer a diverse base of contacts?
- Prominence - Are the members prominent, can they influence others and become key contacts for you?
- Redundancy - Is the group diverse enough so that the members lead you to different resources and other groups of contacts?
- Dimension - Are the interests of the membership diversified? Can they offer information or access to resources you cannot otherwise obtain?
- Accessibility - Are the members accessible outside of regular meetings once a relationship is built?
- Reciprocity - Does the group understand the concept of interpersonal debt?
- Compatibility - Do you and the members have a high degree of similarity, especially age, occupational prestige, socio-economic status?
- Continuity - You will be investing your time over time to build key relationships. Is membership turnover low?
- Structure - What types of leadership opportunities are available for you to build prominence within the group, such as serving on the board, on a working committee?
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