Krystal Kiser heads up the Rainmakers lunch event at the Club 55 Restaurant in Troy Ohio. Troy is about 20 minutes drive north of I-70 at the first Troy exit. Turn right and go about 1/4 mile and the restaurant is on the left back from the road. I met Krystal early on and she was determined to get things going in the Troy area. Really everything from Northern Dayton and from north of Troy too.

The last time I was at the Troy event it was an informational meeting of about 8-12 people meeting each week. Krystal planted the seeds and gathered a committed Action Board around her and when they were ready launched the lunch time hub. I heard that the first meeting was overwhelming (did I hear there were close to 100 people… maybe that was a rummer, I don’t know. Someone who was their can make a comment at the bottom of this post) and that they have been having between 40-60 people for each monthly event since. Way to go Action Board and way to go Krystal, the Action Board chairman.

Did I mention that Krystal is the rooky of the year for 2009 for exemplifying to actions and attitudes that make Rainmakers work so well.

I’ve been to several of the AM (meaning EARLY morning 7:30AM) meetings. And I have been to the after hours meeting at the BW3 in Town and Country Mall, but this was the first lunch meeting that I had been to. One aspect of the meeting that is slightly different is that getting your food and sitting down to eat gives the Action Board a little extra time to do some special things.

Action Board members for this hub greet people as they sign-in and arrive.

As everyone eats their lunch and networks at the tables Action board members walked around collecting forms and insisting that people fill them out while they are eating. Hun… what is this form. Okay, Okay, I filled it out. Then off they went with them. This is something that I had not seen at the morning Rainmakers events so I went to investigate leaving my wonderful chicken salad unattended for a few minutes.

So, at some point in the meeting Krystal explained what the slips of paper were for as she connected people who had similar target customers. If two people are seeking to meet the same persons within a business, but they are not in competition, they may be good strategic connections. They will be able to feed each other leads to the right kind of prospects helping each other get more business, help more customers and grow their businesses in the process. The first connection she made was to introduce me to the owner of the restaurant. After the meeting I arranged to meet with her to share with her how REACH magazine is helping other restaurants throughout the greater Dayton area.

After Krystal did her part with the slips of paper that everyone had filled out telling who would be a good connection or a good client, another board member introduced a topic of discussion for groups of 6-8 people around tables.

Before closing the meeting and sending people off to do more networking Nikki Lewallen from Rainmakers told us a short story illustrating the Rainmakers model. She used a real person who is using the Rainmakers model. (three video clips for this)

The meeting was dismissed and everyone was encouraged to continue networking and setting up their one-to-one appointments to strengthen their connections.

Overall it was a great meeting. I left with a presentation appointment and several cards of people I would like to follow up with for one-on-one appointments. Within an hour I had an email from another Rainmaker who wanted to meet up and have a one-on-one. Krystal exudes the “be more, do more” motto of Rainmakers suggesting that “We need more hubs for the north part of the Dayton market and offering her helping hand to anyone who would want to work on a hub for Huber Heights or Englewood or perhaps Vandalia. The entire Action Board was actively working throughout the event to make sure that people were welcomed and to facilitate connections. Way to go Troy Lunch Hub!