Aggregate, Filter, Connect……in Person

Connecting with other business people in Foxburg

Business coaches and consultants tell business owners to “Aggregate, Filter, and Connect,”  to motivate them to move their companies forward to increased revenue streams. Others are telling newspapers, magazines and tv and radio stations they need to aggregate, filter and connect if they expect to survive.

Folks, this is nothing new.

As glenw and Tim Kastille and John Steen tell us (here and here, respectively), successful business people have been doing this for centuries. They’ve called it networking, building relationships, or just doing business.

Last Wednesday Foxburg hosted the second Cooperative Chamber of Commerce Mixer for the several regional Chambers of commerce: Armstrong, Butler, Clarion and Venango Counties as well as Franklin and Grove City.

More than 400 Chamber members attended, and the whole place was filled with “aggregating,” “filtering,” and “connecting.”

A little music for atmosphere
Outdoors, indoors, outdoors
Enjoying a beautiful summer evening in Foxburg
Chamber members at the mixer
Chamber leaders reading winning numbers at the raffle
Connecting with other business people in Foxburg
Sharing a glass of wine from the Foxburg Winery

Some folks were introduced for the first time to possible future business connections. Others renewed old acquaintances. Some met folks in person for the first time, even though they’ve done business together via phone, email, snail mail or the Internet.

The Internet has certainly changed some of the ways we do business. The consumer has more accessibility to goods and services. Businesses are able to reach prospects directly rather than through intermediaries such as newspapers and electronic media. The Internet encourages ongoing feedback while traditional media are basically one way pronouncements. Everyone can be a reporter and photographer today.

In a similar way, if we carry to the Internet our long-known attributes of aggregating (seeking contacts), filtering (qualifying or seeking common ground) and connecting (making calls and visits), we can be successful online too.

Business is still human relations and practice of the golden rule, regardless of the communications channel.