Are you building your retail and wholesale network?

 "Like most salespeople, I've spent a lifetime trying to build a network of customers and friends... . There are two ways to do it: retail and wholesale. Retail means the one-at-a-time kind of contacts that are built up through participation in community and social activities. Wholesale means the recognition, and acceptance, extended by people who don't know you personally but who have heard about you as a speaker, read your articles, or read about your civic activities in the paper." Swim with the sharks, Harvey Mackay

Inspiring words from Harvey Mackay.  Another fine book I recommend, I think we should have some type of column in our profile that lists everyones favorite top 10 books.  Anyway, this quote has allot of meaning to me today based on a number of experiences.

Since blogging on Active Rain, I noticed that at first I didn't get allot of calls begging me to help them with a loan.  In fact I received not one call or email until recently.  Now I'm getting one to two calls a week from other professionals from Active Rain.  Sometimes they are referrals, other times they are calls regarding questions from recent blogs.  I also noticed that my actual live sales calls and networking experiences have been a whole new experience as well.  

I've been an affiliate of an business in my city that has focused primarily on networking.  At first they grew from a small gathering of business owners, managers, consultants and independent agents, and now host daily lunches with over a 100 business people per lunch.  They focus on brining in guest speakers that are relevant to the community, they also encourage the owners to participate in the lunch in conversation and networking.  For those whom are not used to this activity it really pushes them to reach out beyond what they consider is the norm.  I've noticed that my sphere of influence has expanded considerably within the community.  So in respect to Harvey Mackay my RETAIL networking is going well.  I need to give this business prop's, if your in the Utah area you may want to look into joining this network or one like it..  CORPORATE ALLIANCE

So with Active Rain and with Corporate Alliance and the other marketing activities geared to produce long lasting relationships, I think I'm pretty well geared up for the future!