• Julia Norton, AllState Insurance
• Darenna Rainsdon, Free Range Services
• Robert J. Stevens, Appraisal Tek
• Bill Robbins, William Robbins Insurance
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Bill Barchilon, CPA
• Andrew Peterson, A-Team Construction
• John Burk, Sharp Painting
• Chuck Wennerlund, Fuller Asset Managment

Referrals

4 Referral was passed.

Group Discussion/MasterMind:

• John offered the members introductions into his primary referral group.
• The group discussed strategies for getting bids out quickly as many of have noticed that we are getting shopped for price as much or more than usual.

Moderator:

• Darenna, Nov. 12
• Chuck, Nov. 19
• No Meeting Thanksgiving Holiday Week: Nov. 26
• Mike, Dec. 3

• Julia Norton, AllState Insurance
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Gary Miljour, Cherry Creek Mortgage Company
• John Burk, Sharp Painting
• Lydia Wietsma, Keller Williams Realty
• Chuck Wennerlund, Fuller Asset Managment

Referrals

2 Referral was passed.

Group Discussion/MasterMind:

• Our discussion this week focused mainly on the election results and what this does to consumer confidence.   
• Gary Miljour is our Moderator of next week’s meeting.

Moderator:

• Darenna, Nov. 12
• Chuck, Nov. 19
• No Meeting Thanksgiving Holiday Week:  Nov. 26 
• Mike, Dec. 3

Please note that the moderator days changed due to Bill Barchilon out at jury duty.

• Andrew Peterson, A-Team Construction
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Darenna Rainsdon, Free Range Services
• John Burk, Sharp Painting
• Bill Robbins, William Robbins Insurance
• Chuck Wennerlund, Fuller Asset Managment

Referrals

1 Referral was passed.

BRN Charity Event

Attendance at the Saturday October 24, 2008 The Rock N Roll Paint-A-Thon was really good this year. We had 25 volunteers and painted the house in under three hours.

Group Discussion/MasterMind:

• Our discussion this week focused mainly on recent news about issues surrounding the recent US Government bailout.
• Gary Miljour is our Moderator of next week’s meeting.

Moderator:

• Gary, Nov. 5
• Bill Barchilon, Nov. 12
• Darenna, Nov. 19
• Chuck, Nov. 26
• Mike, Dec. 3
• Darenna, Dec. 10
• Chuck, Dec. 17
• Mike, Dec. 15
• Bill Dec, Dec. 31
• Andrew, Jan. 7, 2009

• John Burk, Sharp Painting
• Bill Robbins, William Robbins Insurance
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Gary Miljour, Cherry Creek Mortgage Company
• Chuck Wennerlund, Fuller Asset Managment

Referrals

3 Referrals were passed. 1 testimonial.

BRN Charity Event

Saturday October 24, 2008 The Rock N Roll Paint-A-Thon.  Team Leader:  John Burke

This years event will start at 7:00am-8:00am.  Handouts were given out at the meeting with the location of the property.  If we have at least 15 people, we should be able to have the home painted in about 3 hours.  Lunch will be taken care of by BRN.  All participants need to goto:  rtevents.org and fill out the insurance waiver.  Please do this before showing up.  All participants must be at least 14 years of age or older for insurance purposes.  For more information please contact team leader John Burke at (602) 499-7142.   

Group Discussion/MasterMind: 

• Our discussion this week covered items about helping uncover opportunities for your business by piggybacking off of your business partners database.   
• Andrew Petersen is our Moderator of next week’s meeting. 

Moderator:

• Chuck, Oct. 8
• Mike, Oct. 15
• Bill Robbins, Oct. 22
• Andrew, Oct.29
• Gary, Nov. 5
• Bill Barchilon, Nov. 12
• Darenna, Nov. 19
• Chuck, Nov. 26
• Mike, Dec. 3
• Darenna, Dec. 7

• Darenna Rainsdon, Free Range Services
• Julia Norton, All State Insurance
• Lydia Weitsma, Keller Williams
• John Burk, Sharp Painting
• Bill Barchilon, CPA
• Bill Robbins, William Robbins Insurance
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Gary Miljour, Cherry Creek Mortgage Company
• Chuck Wennerlund, Fuller Asset Managment
• Robert J. Stevens, Appraisal Tek

Guests

• No Guests in attendence for this week’s meeting.

Referrals

6 Referrals were passed. 1 testimonial.

BRN Charity Event

Saturday October 24, 2008 The Rock N Roll Paint-A-Thon.  Team Leader:  John Burke

This years event will start at 7:00am-8:00am.  Handouts were given out at the meeting with the location of the property.  If we have at least 15 people, we should be able to have the home painted in about 3 hours.  Lunch will be taken care of by BRN.  All participants need to goto:  rtevents.org and fill out the insurance waiver.  Please do this before showing up.  All participants must be at least 14 years of age or older for insurance purposes.  For more information please contact team leader John Burke at (602) 499-7142.   

Group Discussion/MasterMind:

• This week we had a new member join.  Bob Stevens is with Appraisal Tek and is a certified appraiser.  Please get a chance to introduce yourself and make him feel welcome.  Welcome to our networking group Bob. 
• Our discussion this week covered items about marketing your business through a slower economy.  Mike had some questions about what is the best way to make calls to your database without becoming a pest.  We also spoke about referral marketing vs. commodity marketing. 
• Next week all members must bring at least 2-3 longshot referrals.  A longshot is someone who might need the service of one of our members.  Please do not forget, this should be fun. 
• Bill Robbins is our Moderator of next week’s meeting.  Good luck with that Bill. 

Moderator:

• Chuck, Oct. 8
• Mike, Oct. 15
• Bill Robbins, Oct. 22
• Andrew, Oct.29
• Gary, Nov. 5
• Bill Barchilon, Nov. 12
• Darenna, Nov. 19
• Chuck, Nov. 26
• Mike, Dec. 3
• Darenna, Dec. 7

• Darenna Rainsdon, Free Range Services
• Julia Norton, All State Insurance
• Lydia Weitsma, Keller Williams
• John Burk, Sharp Painting
• Bill Barchilon, CPA
• Bill Robbins, William Robbins Insurance
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees

Guest

• Robert J. Stevens, Certified Appraiser, AppraisalTek

Referrals

3 Referrals were passed. 1 testimonial.

Charity

Reserve some time October 24 for the Rock N Roll Paint-A-Thon. Contact John Burke if you want to participate.

Group Discussion/MasterMind:

• Lydia has two commercial properties available, one near Ikea.
• Still talking about the bail out and the economy. We also talked about change, as in trying on new fields of work when things get tough. The longer you stay in the business, you develop expertise, you find a way to survive.

Moderator:

• Chuck, Oct. 8
• Mike, Oct. 15
• Bill Robbins, Oct. 22
• Andrew, Oct.29
• Gary, Nov. 5
• Bill Barchilon, Nov. 12
• Darenna, Nov. 19
• Chuck, Nov. 26
• Mike, Dec. 3
• Darenna, Dec. 7

• Julia Norton, All State Insurance
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Andrew Peterson, A-Team Construction
• Bill Robbins, William Robbins Insurance
• Darenna Rainsdon, Free Range Services
• John Burk, Sharp Painting
• Bill Barchilon, CPA

Referrals

4 Referrals were passed. 1 Dance Card

Charity

Reserve some time October 24 for the Rock N Roll Paint-A-Thon. Contact John Burke if you want to participate.

Group Discussion/MasterMind:

Has the recent US Government bailout plan affect your business? So far most of us have not seen any immediate affect. Opinions were split on what the long-term effects would be.

Moderator:

• Darenna, Oct. 1
• Chuck, Oct. 8
• Mike, Oct. 15
• Bill Robbins, Oct. 22
• Andrew, Oct.29
• Gary, Nov. 5
• Bill Barchilon, Nov. 12
• Darenna, Nov. 19
• Chuck, Nov. 26
• Mike, Dec. 3

• Julia Norton, All State Insurance
• John Burk, Sharp Painting
• Charles B. Wennerlund, Fuller Asset Management LLC an Independant Money Management Firm
• Anna Garcia, Sunrise Bank of Arizona
• Bill Barchilon, CPA
• Gary Miljour, Cherry Creek Mortgage
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Darenna Rainsdon, Free Range Services
• Andrew Peterson, A-Team Construction

Referrals

4 Referrals were passed. 1 Dance Card

Charity

Reserve some time in early October for the Rock N Roll Paint-A-Thon.

Announcements:

• Mixer: The next mixer will be Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 5:30 at D’Arcy McGee’s Irish Pub in Tempe Market Place. Map. Andrew and Darenna will work on the fliers for the event. Andrew’s flier will be available to handout, both at the mixer and other times. Darenna’as flier will be uploaded to the web site; a link will be provided to it for the email. Gary reminded the group that we all made a committment to each call and invite 2 people on our lists personally.

Group Discussion/MasterMind:

The group discussion focused on the recent Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac takeover by the US government and what it might mean to lending and the industries of the other group members. Seems like the inventory in the Valley is starting to decline but lots of what is selling is reposession.

Moderator:

• Gary, Sept. 20
• Bill Barchilon, Sept. 27
• Terry, Oct. 1
• Darenna, Oct. 8
• Chuck, Oct. 15
• Mike, Oct. 22
• Bill Robbins, Oct.29
• Andrew, Nov. 5
• Gary, Nov. 12
• Bill Barchilon, Nov. 19
• Terry, Nov. 26

• Bill Robbins, William Robbins Insurance
• Darenna Rainsdon, Free Range Services
• Bill Barchilon, Accountant
• Charles B. Wennerlund, Fuller Asset Management LLC an Independant Money Management Firm
• Lydia Weitsma, Keller Williams Integrity First Real Estate
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Andrew Peterson, A-Team Construction
• Gary Miljour, Cherry Creek Mortgage

Referrals:

3 Referrals were passed. 1 Dance Card.

Guests:

• Julia Norton, All State Insurance

Announcements:

• We will be unable to use our usual space at the Karsten Golf Course club house for the Aug. 27, 2008 meeting. Instead it will be held at Gary’s office, 1630 South Stapley Drive Suite 100, Mesa, Arizona 85204. Map.
• Mixer: The next mixer will be Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 5:30 at D’Arcy McGee’s Irish Pub in Tempe Market Place. Map. Andrew and Darenna will work on the fliers for the event. Andrew’s flier will be available to handout, both at the mixer and other times. Darenna’as flier will be uploaded to the web site; a link will be provided to it for the email. Gary reminded the group that we all made a committment to each call and invite 2 people on our lists personally.

Group Discussion/MasterMind:

• Gary started a lively discussion about Web 2.0, as it pertains to business. It must be treated as any other kind of advertising. We may never book business from Facebook but it may help get us in front of clients. But not every person of a certain age is comfortable with the time it take.

Moderator:

• Mike, Aug. 27
• Bill Robbins, Sept. 3
• Andrew Sept. 10.
• Gary, Sept. 17
• Bill Barchilon, Sept. 24
• Terry, Oct. 1
• Darenna, Oct. 8

• Darenna Rainsdon, Free Range Services
• Andrew Peterson, A-Team Construction
• Bill Barchilon, Accountant
• Anna Garcia, Sunrise Bank
• John Burke, Sharp Painting
• Michael D’Elena, Reckless Tees
• Gary Miljour, Cherry Creek Mortgage
• Bill Robbins, William Robbins Insurance
• Charles B. Wennerlund, Fuller Asset Management LLC an Independant Money Management Firm

Referrals:

8 Referrals were passed.

Announcements:

• We will be unable to use our usual space at the Karsten Golf Course club house for the Aug. 27, 2008 meeting. Instead it will be held at Gary’s office, 1630 South Stapley Drive Suite 100, Mesa, Arizona 85204. Map.
• Mixer: The next mixer will be Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 5:30 at D’Arcy McGee’s Irish Pub in Tempe Market Place. Map. Andrew and Darenna will work on the fliers for the event. Andrew’s flier will be available to handout, both at the mixer and other times. Darenna’as flier will be uploaded to the web site; a link will be provided to it for the email. Gary reminded the group that we all made a committment to each call and invite 2 people on our lists personally.

Moderator:

The following is the order for moderators.

• Darenna, Aug. 13
• Chuck, Aug. 20
• Mike, Aug. 27
• Bill Robbins, Sept. 3
• Andrew Sept. 13
• Gary, Sept. 20
• Bill Barchilon, Sept. 20
• Terry, Sept. 27

We will recycle this list, starting in October.

Group Discussion:

Should we replace our insurance referral partner. Andrew and Gary both have extended invitations to a property & casualty insurance broker to see who fits in with the group.

What are we all doing to serve our customers? Anna’s bank is increasing personal service like flagging their calendars for client birthdays. Gary is using Plaxo.com to help organize better and be less reactionary. The system sends reminders, etc., electronically. It reminds him to call 5 people per day and allows him to touch his entire list 3x/year.

Is customer service free?
For the client it is. And it most likely is if you’ve got an employee who can make it part of their day anyway. And maybe it’s not free if you don’t have employees but it’s low enough cost (and there are software options to help) that it’s worth it.

Right now we’re all working for tips because the commissions are not there. When the market was hot it seemed easier to step away from their business. Now we’re taking more calls on weekends and putting up with after hours stuff because we’re chasing tips.

So when do we let calls go to voice mail? It’s dependent on the client. Some will ask if you need to get the call. Some will be offended, as if they are not important.