Tulare Sunrise’s B2B Program – “If you can’t fight ‘em, join ‘em.”

“Your meeting is too early.  I’m not a morning person. You meet at what time? Is that AM or PM?“  Such are the objections we hear over and over when recruiting new members. 

Tulare Sunrise must be the earliest and quickest club in the District. Breakfast starts at 6:30 a.m. (or before) and the final bell is rung at 7:30 a.m. Perfect for morning people. Not so perfect for those who’ve rarely seen a sun rise. 

So, instead of apologizing for our dawnly ways, we offer a B2B (Business-to-Business) networking opportunity the first Thursday of the month from 4:45 – 6 p.m. It’s open to anyone and serves as a make-up for Rotarians, to boot. The venue is always a Tulare restaurant that allows us to pull some tables together where we enjoy beverages (no host bar), snacks, and conversation. Around 5:20 p.m. or so, the invited guest from the Biz of the Month makes a short presentation about their company. All attendees also are encouraged to bring business card, brochures, sample products, etc. 

And this stuff works! At a recent meeting, our guest speaker picked up two new accounts and made contact with a third company who was interested in his services. 

B2B is easy to start. I pull about 100 people from my contacts list (including Tulare and Visalia Rotarians) and send an email one week before announcing the time, location, and speaker. Attendance has been as low as 7 or 8 and as high as 18. I also ask my members for new names from their contacts and everyone on the email blast is encouraged to bring a guest. It’s also a way to reach younger people with children at home. Mornings are too crazy for them to join an early club and God knows they need a drink before going home to the kids. Once we hit critical mass of attendees, this could become Tulare Sunset Rotary. That is the ultimate goal, by the way. 

B2B is very informal and non-threatening, unlike some of our meetings when a new person attends and several members pounce on him or her with membership papers in hand. We think that introducing someone to Rotary in this casual, after-work setting and extoling the virtues of membership over a beer is a way to open the door and knock down the barriers to joining “the crack o’ dawn Rotary club.” After all, if the organization is relevant to the community and the individual, it should sell itself. Besides, sunrises are way under-rated and more people should enjoy them on their way to a morning Rotary meeting.