Our Mission

We help business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals to thrive in any and every economy.

Every city has their own ecosystem with their own culture.

This organization has helped business owners to thrive through the ups and downs going on in their regional sectors as well as nationally and internationally. We have helped entrepreneurs to excel through the challenges of 2020 and today we continue to offer the connections, the training, and the strategies that will see you through whatever ebbs and flows that the market will bring.

Our Vision

We are a global movement designed to impact the world with a more modern form of networking that works better in today's environment.

Traditional networking was born out of the feudal system with the merchant guilds in Europe. The last invention enjoyed by networkers was the business card.

Today we have tools available to us as networkers that have never before been implemented on a communal level. CIBN Connect offers training, strategy and collaboration using a variety of tools such as LinkedIn, MEETN, Nolodex, Video Training, Apps, and our very own Chrome Extension.

We are to networking, what UBER has been to the world of taxis. This is modern networking with a purpose!

Our Core Values

Having core values helps us as a business to plan for the future and add team players that are in alignment with our vision. In no specific order, here are the 7 Core Values of CIBN Connect:

Relationships - Strong relationships are the building blocks of productive and winning communities.

Loyalty - People who work together and stay together have not only learned to "like" each other, they also "know" and "trust" each other and this is how referrals happen.

Value - Our team loves to add value to our network, so our members get MORE. This is also a technique that works for our members.

Happy Capitalism - Any economic system can be abused, but a "Happy Capitalist" is one who creates win/win/win situations to the benefit of all who are involved.

Integrity - Our word is our bond.

Excellence of service - We love to underpromise and overdeliver.

Communication - Responsiveness to our members and keeping members updated is a high priority.

FAQS & QUESTIONS

Why would I need networking?

Networking is the most cost effective method of marketing your business. While other forms of effective marketing cost thousands of dollars a month, a good network with multiple meetings to attend will generally be only a few thousand dollars a year. The return for a business owner who refines their networking skills will be between 3 to 10 times what they spent each year. They also received many other benefits of attending the groups. Friends were made, meals were enjoyed, skills were learned, money was saved on services bought through the network, and mistakes were missed because of knowledge that was gained. The value of these benefits outside of the sales made, can easily exceed $10,000 annually. It should also be noted that 80% of all businesses fail in their first 5 years and according to an article published in Forbes, 80% of new businesses also do zero networking. This is the missing key for many entrepreneurs.

Why would I choose networking vs other forms of marketing?

Marketing is a good thing to spend money on, however not all small businesses have a large enough marketing budget. Effective ad purchasing for example begins at a $3000 per month spend. If one needs to make a choice, networking wins hands down. It is not only low cost, all of the factors for your success are within your control. You can learn to deliver a better infomercial, you can control how many one-on-ones are booked and how many sales presentations are made. It is a scalable way to build a small to medium sized business with ease. Once we have built a funnel using a networking model the pieces of that funnel can be reproduced for other marketing funnels such as ad purchasing, social media marketing, or trade shows. Networking is a natural first step in building a business.

Why shouldn't I just go to free networking events?

Free events attract people who like to get things for free. Do you not need people to buy something from you? Wouldn't you rather belong to a group that weeds out the broke people?

You're welcome! At CIBN Connect we save you valuable time by weeding out those who cannot afford to pay, and those who are too cheap to pay.

Everyone in our membership is a paid member at some level. They have invested in their business and in our networking culture, so they are on common ground with you and they are serious about their businesses.

What is the difference between CIBN Connect and other in person networks?

Many business networks are started by someone who is trying to sell something to you. Perhaps they are an insurance agent, or a realtor, and they were rejected from one of our competitors, so they started a small group to get some business. Good for them! It is a smart idea. However, it is not their full-time gig, and when they get busy, the network will take the back seat. This is our main business at CIBN Connect. This is what we do. We are 100% committed to our network and to the success of our members.

Some large networking organizations have a lot of rules and very little fun. We are not that business network. CIBN Connect has very few rules and we attract positive people who share an abundance mentality and a winning attitude.

In person networks can also be costly and they still run on your volunteerism. We believe that volunteering should be saved for a cause that you love, like feeding the poor in your city. Volunteerism to run a business empire that belongs to someone else is a poor use of your personal resources. Time is just as important as money and at CIBN Connect we believe that your business, and your family deserve your time. We have a professional business network and we have the staff and the team to do the heavy lifting. You get to come and have fun and do business and spend your time talking about what you do.

We adopt existing networks and financially reward those who have established groups or who want to start a CIBN Connect group in their area. Reach out with your questions to [email protected]

What is the difference between CIBN Connect and other online networks?

We have been running a business network for 15 years and we have over 30 years experience in a membership/based business. This gives us a huge edge over many of our online competitors. In 2020 many people lost their jobs and they went looking for something to do, so they started a business network. We are not that network.

We are not guessing at what business owners need. We have been eating, sleeping and breathing networking for years. As a result we have not only developed very effective networking meetings, we have also built entire training programs on how to succeed as an entrepreneur. While these courses can be purchased individually off our websites (or from our competitors), they would add up to tens of thousands if they were bought that way. It makes a lot more sense to instead pick the membership level that includes these valuable courses and get everything that you need to build your business from one solid business organization. Membership starts at an affordable $27/mth so our pricing is not beyond the reach of anyone.

As a member, do I have to bring people to CIBN Connect?

Our members love to bring new members to CIBN Connect and we do have a reward system for those who want to invite their friends and their clients. However, you are not required to bring new members to us. You are generally busy running your business and you need to get your own clients. We have teams of people who are paid staff who know how to market our network online and in person. You can relax and focus on your own business.

Why would anyone need networking training?

Many people struggle to get leads through networking, however professional networkers can add $150,000 per year to the bottom line of their business through networking. If that is not yet happening for us, then perhaps some training would be appropriate. Let's start where we are and go up from there.

While we don't promise anyone that they will have these results in their first year, we have found that through hard work and strategic effort these are attainable goals that come through practice. Our LinkedIn Strategy and our Collaboration Strategy are just two of the many methods designed to add $150,000 per year that we offer in our member training portal. Members who utilize these methods do see significant results.

There is no reason to remain in the struggle. Networking works for those who work their nets. Join the network and let us help you do the work that works.

What does sales training have to do with networking?

Many business owners struggle to make a sale. Sometimes it is a fear of selling, or perhaps we are an introvert. Maybe we don't want to feel "salesy." Often though, people simply lack having a real sales process. This leads to winging it, but as our Founder Kerry George always says, "Winging it is for KFC. Winging it is not a sales process." We cannot tell what we did right when we get it right, and we can't tell what we need to improve if we are winging it.

No amount of leads will help you, if you cannot sell. Your networking will not work if you can't sell. You will go out of business, if you cannot sell.

Networking provides warmed up leads in the form of referrals, but if our ability to close a sale is wanting, then 100 leads will not help you. Many people are focusing social media campaigns or creating a lead funnels before they have created a sales process that closes deals. One marketing project after another will fail if the the business owner does not know how to sell. We need to focus on selling and fix the sales process first.

This is why CIBN Connect offers a very effective Sales Training Level of membership where Members can create scripts for their pitches, their one-on-ones, their sales presentations, and their follow-ups. They can practice on each other, set goals and work together to reach their objectives.

While many sales training courses start at $5000 you will find our very effective sales methods to also be very affordable. Starting at only $177/mth we often begin seeing results within three to six months depending on each Members ability to apply the information. Members can go up and down in their Membership at any time, just by giving us notice in advance of their next payment.