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Paul Hutchinson, Real Estate Opportunity Capital Fund
I have had many great experiences. One in particular was with Brad Mertz. Brad needed people to become members of the Wolverine club at UVU and also needed a financial sponsor of the Banquet for Ronnie Price's induction into the UVU Hall of Fame. I wanted to be introduced to some NBA players for the possibility of future investments into the Fund. I had the ROC fund sponsor the event and pay for a Wolverine membership. Brad made sure we were sitting at the tables with Deron Williams and Ronnie Price at the Banquet.
Then, Brad needed a keynote speaker for the UVU Leadership program. I wanted a closer relationship with the President of UVU - Matthew Holland. I arranged for the former head of Citi-Groups Financial Institution Group, Donaldson Hartman, to speak and was able to gain a great relationship with President Holland at the function. Because of the introduction to President Holland, we presented our fund to the UVU Foundation Finance committee and they have a strong interest to invest $2 – 3M with the ROC fund.
Gary Heaton, Valpak of SLC and Central Utah
In January Kurt Brown was on my team. He referred Blake Ballard from Spark Restaurant, and personally introduced Blake to me. Blake and I met for a few minutes at the end of the ConnectShare event and made an appointment to talk later. Blake signed up to use Valpak for one year in Utah County ($30k value). This will be a great benefit for both of our businesses as Valpak will help him get new customers and his ad will look great in our envelope. The consumers who use the Spark coupon will find great food, great service, and will have an experience like none other in Utah county. My wife and I look forward to taking friends there and having wonderful times at Spark.
Jeff Barrett, Northwestern Mutual
First. Before ConnectShare existed I met with a potential client at my office to see if we might be able to provide some of our services to his business. Turned out that we didn’t do business at the time because our timing just wasn’t quite right. I did however ask if there are people that he thought would benefit from meeting with us and using the services we provide. He couldn’t come up with any names specifically but promised to keep us in mind. This is often the case and it is simply part of doing business.
The second time I attended a Connect Share event Blake Ballard ended up providing me more leads (16) than any other single person I have met with. Additionally we determined that we could combine forces and put together co-sponsored events where we could both invite clients that would benefit us equally. I truly believe that the difference between the two experiences is simply that ConnectShare provides the perfect environment for people to think seriously about how they can help me and me them. Without CS I would never have been able to reconnect and have that experience.
My second experience is quite simple. I spend a lot of money and time to find medical and dental professionals in our area that can use our services. It is very difficult to arrange a meeting with them because they are busy and many people are competing for their attention. Ricky Haynie referred 8 doctors to me that are currently his clients. Not only did he share their information but he is willing to call them or meet with them individually and
make sure they find time to meet with me. This type of introduction is priceless. My entire year could be made simply by the introductions from one CS member that is willing to go out of his way for me.
Once again, the CS environment for making these types of connections is just right in my opinion and I am convinced that my business will double this year simply by the connections I have made from three months of CS meetings.
Lynn Markos, Noah’s
I am grateful for the opportunity always to connect with others, no matter how it looks and what the opportunity was to create the possibility.
This last month was my first month at ConnectShare. I was put at a table with 4 other people that I knew nothing about. I must add that our whole group was an amazing experience. I believe we all were able to serve each other in great ways and that we all took away from the group amazing results. I do know as well that even though we will be connected to different people going forth, that our group will still be connected, even if we pursue other jobs and adventures.
I had the opportunity to connect with Fritz Black from Cowboy Leaders. Fritz and I had an immediate synergy with our connection. It seemed that between us we could solve each others requests. I mentioned as a need that I wanted to pursue my massage career and begin to grow my massage business. Now, I attend ConnectShare on behalf of Noah's and every once in a while it comes up that I am a massage therapist. Fritz and I made arrangements to meet for breakfast to discuss what we were able to assist each other with. In our meeting Fritz asked if I was willing to come to Spanish Fork and perform massage for his clients. I could not believe what I was hearing. In a nutshell and the short story end of things....Fritz is putting together a spa and I will be running it. Fritz has been amazing in arranging for this to happen. He has made arrangements for me to stay in lodging so that I will not have to commute back and forth from Ogden to Spanish Fork. This has always been a dream of mine to run a spa and through ConnectShare it is about to happen.
Thank you thank you thank you for your contribution to the networking community.
Aparicio Goncalves, ZRG Partners
I have been trying to buy a house in this area for some time. My wife and I finally found the home of our dreams and were temporarily renting it while we worked out the purchase. April 20th was the deadline to have signed on a loan in order for us to stay in this home where we are both so happy.
I was in touch with a loan officer but was still having several issues closing the deal. I came to my first ConnectShare event in March where I met Aaron Drussel. I had never met him and would most likely never have met him if it was not for ConnectShare. I was inspired to ask him if he had experience with a situation like mine. It is such a good thing that I did ask him because he had recently worked on a deal just like it. He gave me the number of a loan officer to help me. Garrett saved the day! I signed the deal just in the nick of time.
Without ConnectShare I am sure that this connection would never have been realized and I would have had to find a new dream house!
Ryan Porter, Live View Technologies
My company provides live video camera feeds online for anyone who has a need to monitor a project, weather conditions, activity or special event. Live View Technologies began as Home View and specialized in providing live video camera feeds for construction projects to upper management located away from the project. However, when the construction industry began to wane, I was forced to investigate new uses for our services.
It has been quite some time since I’ve increased revenue on the construction side of my business. However, because of ConnectShare, I’ve been able to create a relationship with Big-D Construction, a company that I’ve been trying to do business with for a while. They now understand the cost savings that Live View Technologies can offer them and it is through the relationship I developed with them at ConnectShare events that I was able to demonstrate that cost savings.
We are installing cameras a several current project sites and intend to serve them well so that this activity will expand to all of their construction site.
Thank you ConnectShare for creating a unique environment where I could create a key relationship with such a large company in Utah.
Kris Sorensen, Presentall
My first month in ConnectShare, I was fortunate to sit at the table with Britt Mathwich, President of The Homestead Resort. Besides getting to know him and enjoy time spent together, we made a somewhat unique connection. One day, two months after that first meeting, I got a call from the Utah Hotel and Lodging Association (UHLA), asking for a meeting to talk about our Web Conferencing service. What is really strange about that request is that the travel industry, including the hotel and lodging industry is suffering economically from Creative Destruction, where industries are being changed because of new technologies. Their industry is suffering from the slow economy, and travel is being replaced by our technology, web conferencing.
I met with Michael Johnson, the Executive Director of UHLA to talk about our technology. In the meeting I found out that Britt had recommended us to them, saying that he thought there was benefit in forging a relationship with our company. As I talked with Michael, I could see some opportunities within the association where we could bring some benefit. Michael could also see benefits, so we decided to move forward.
Over the past months, the opportunity has grown into a full business relationship. We are now offering the solution to all of the association members, and are working with them to learn how to use the technology to benefit their bottom line. They decided to launch a series of educational webinars to the members put on by partner companies who serve the industry. We will be the first webinar talking about how the technology can be used to help them. We will, in that webinar, announce a contest that will run through the summer encouraging the members to come up with unique ways that our services can be used to solve problems and add to their bottom line. We anticipate this will generate interest and encourage innovation, and will help us learn how best to market to this industry worldwide. Michael has promised that when we are ready to go to the industry internationally, he will make the introductions necessary to help us.
Needless to say, this connection was not anticipated, but has been and will continue to be a great opportunity for PresentAll. I believe we will also be able to help this industry to use a technology that they might fear to their benefit. Special thanks to Britt for reaching out and helping connecting us with this group.