DATE: Monday, August 11, 1997               TAG: 9708090238
SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS 

        STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  108 lines

NETWORKING NOW BUSINESS CONTACTS EVOLVE BEYOND THE BOARDROOMS

The dark paneled walls and plush couches of Norfolk's Town Point Club evoke images of big wheeler-dealers, stogies and Scotch.

The group of CEOs who gather at the club on Thursday evenings usually bypass such perks, but they still take care of business. Many of them are the sole employees of their companies, this week ranging from Christian personal ads to specialty advertising. They swap investment tips and marketing strategies, exchange cards and funny stories, recommend friends and clients for services.

This is a meeting of the Hampton Roads Coalition for Equality Business Network, assembled by Walter Davis of Virginia Beach.

And this is the future of business, experts say. As more people opt to be their own bosses, business networking among the entrepreneurial ranks has boomed.

Debbie Lybrand is a member of this network, as well as president of her own, the Hampton Roads Women's Business Network. Attending network meetings sponsored by the coalition helps diversify her clientele, spreading her own business web.

``One thing I find in a lot of the networks I'm involved in is you see a lot of white faces,'' said Lybrand, who owns an Eastern Virginia Aloette Cosmetics franchise. ``Here I meet professional African Americans looking to network their business like I'm trying to network mine.''

It's not about how many sales are racked at the end of the session or how many cards are collected. Networking is learning about another business and making confident referrals based on that, Craig Bertanshaw said. A sales manager at Cavalier Ford, the Chesapeake man is a national speaker on building business through networks.

``I teach people that in order to get referrals, you have to give them first,'' Bertanshaw said. ``It is a sense of obligation, of commitment in turn. It's a `How can I help you this morning?' It's a very unique concept and produces phenomenal results.''

Darlene McClain first went to the Town Point Club meetings early this year, shortly after she launched her mail-order books and gifts business, Words of Wisdom.

She not only learned how to accept credit cards for sales, McClain also met someone who designed her Web site.

``I try to make all the meetings,'' the Norfolk entrepreneur said in between her networking. ``I'm not a member of the Chamber of Commerce, so I can't go to those meetings.''

This sort of information sharing levels the playing field for small business owners such as McClain and will continue as people launch their own enterprises, author Jessica Lipnack said. Besides writing three books on networking, including ``Age of the Network,'' Lipnack heads the Networking Institute, an international consulting firm based in Boston.

As of the latest tally, the U.S. Small Business Administration recorded 22.1 million small businesses operating in the country, based on tax receipts.

In Virginia, 98 percent of all full-time firms are designated as small businesses, employing 500 or fewer employees.

Businesses across the state employing less than 20 workers are reporting marked growth - a 10 percent boost from 1991 to 1995. Even higher gains have been recorded among Virginia firms owned by women, blacks and Latinos. Their growth has shot up about 47, 39 and 181 percent respectively.

Most of these firms can't afford the expertise that Fortune 500 companies can tap in seconds - legal affairs, technology, marketing and other departments. Business networks provide an opportunity to exchange that expertise - and sometimes wealth - at the grassroots.

The power of networking correlates with the power of small business, Lipnack said. Often companies will band together to buy equipment, services and even marketing strategies that they could not afford singularly.

The concept borrows from the community spirit of earlier immigrants and ethnic groups, when people pooled their resources out of necessity, she said. In came big business and out went community networking. The ledger is swinging back, though.

``Big mega-stores tried to take over and we have a natural resilience to large,'' Lipnack said. ``When things try to get too big, we try to get small again. Market forces have made it easier. Technology makes it easier. It's easier to work at a distance.''

The phenomenon is not limited to the United States, either, she said. Denmark reversed a 32-year negative trade balance with Germany through small businesses networking, she said.

Networking can begin at First Fridays meetings, where professional black people do meet-and-greets at local eateries. It could be at the library conference room. Or even on a back porch.

``It is quite spontaneous and people don't even realize they are part of a national movement'' Lipnack said.

Walter Davis, for one, realized the momentum of that movement when people began flocking to him with questions on how to get started in business, whom to call for service, where to find customers.

Instead of doling the information out in dribs and drabs, the active-duty Navy senior chief petty officer started pulling together speakers, ranging from psychologists to stockbrokers, to give presentations.

By the same token, Davis sees the total sphere in which business is a part. Proceeds from membership fees - $7 per meeting or $150 per year (increasing to $10 and $300 respectively in September) - covers costs for his non-profit company Marketing Strategies. Another segment goes to the New Life Development, a drug treatment and job training program for area homeless.

``We don't look at business as dumping money or making money only,'' he said. ``There are social, political and cultural aspects we have to look at if we're going to be successful in business.''

And success is on the minds of those who sit among the plush surroundings at the Town Point Club in the World Trade Center on Thursdays. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

PHILIP HOLMAN PHOTOS

Gerri Hollins..

Walter Davis...

Norfolk's Town Point Club... KEYWORDS: NETWORKING

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