Congratulations, and Welcome to American Business Associates!
Your decision to invest in yourself through an ABA membership is, indeed, a smart one. By joining this special group of success-oriented businesspeople, we’re confident that you will benefit enormously from ABA’s structure of selective, non-competitive executive networking.
Your Council, and all ABA Councils, are composed of businesspeople at every level and meet regularly to apply ABA’s benchmark networking formula. Our professionally facilitated groups work hard to strategically merge each member’s interests and business markets. As you already know, ABA memberships are exclusive, so you won’t have any competition in your group.
Networking – ABA style – gets people moving. Our Councils provide you with an in-the-field support system that increases sales success, and a structured marketing program that creates a constant source of new prospects.
That said, as with everything else in life, you only get out of it what you put into it. If you ask any of our long-time members (we have members who have been in ABA for 35 years!) They’ll tell you attending each meeting is important, but Opportunity Calls are also crucial. Getting to know each member of your council, and helping them to get to know you, dramatically increases the number of opportunities you’ll receive.
It’s also crucial to understand that generosity helps increase your incoming flow of referrals too. You’ve probably heard that “Givers get” and that’s certainly true of ABA.
Bringing guests is also an important part of ABA membership. We encourage you to immediately start thinking about and inviting professionals you know who might benefit from attending an ABA meeting. Don’t worry about whether they join or not…they’ll decide that for themselves. But we like to say, “Guests are gold,” and over the years we’ve seen countless guests come and go and even if they don’t join, they sometimes can become a referral source for you. Don’t wait to “get acclimated.” You saw something in ABA that caused you to make a wise decision…share that with others and ask them to come to personally meet everyone.
Besides networking to get referrals, you’ll find that your ABA membership has many other advantages, not the least of which is access to an astounding amount of knowledge and expertise. Sales, Legal, Accounting, Insurance and a wide range of other professionals are ABA members, and they generously share their knowledge and advice with other members. Need help? Ask! Ask at your council meetings.
Your ABA membership gives you access to the members in your group via the Members Only section of our website, and our very own LinkedIn group.
You’ll soon be receiving instructions for how to log into the Members Only area of our website, and how to join our LinkedIn in a separate email, all of which is included with your investment in ABA.
As a Member, you’ll quickly learn how to:
- Generate New Business
- Get More Qualified Referrals
- Expand Your Knowledge of the Marketplace
- Align Yourself with Respected and Successful Businesspeople
- Stay Ahead of the Competition
- Grow Personally and Professionally
ABA is a “safe space” and anything that gets said in the room is kept completely confidential. Members like you often share competitive information, industry knowledge and experiences of working with other companies and people. This information can potentially save you time, money, and can sometimes prevent you from making a costly mistake. (Please be sure to keep anything you hear at an ABA meeting confidential.)
I look forward to working with you, and I’m committed to making sure your ABA membership fulfills or exceeds your expectations. Please call me, or contact your Council Facilitator, should you ever have any questions or comments about your membership.
Once again, welcome to ABA.
Sincerely,
Ellen Volpe
President