Join A Trade Association

As the old saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together”. Similarly, businesspeople in all industries tend to congregate with those most like them. Trade associations exist to facilitate this, and allow businesses to share information and discuss ways to address the challenges confronting their industries.

While this means that there is probably a trade association for your industry, it also means that there are also likely to be trade associations for each of your major customer groups. This presents a much greater opportunity for you in terms of lead generation.

Joining your customers’ trade associations puts you right in the thick of things, when it comes to getting your customers’ attention. There are many benefits. You get to know the main players in your target industries. You get an opportunity to network and bring attention to your business. And you get to learn about the full scope of challenges your customers face.

This last benefit is the most important. It is this deep level of awareness and understanding of customer problems that will set you apart from many of your competitors, equip you to answer customers’ chief concerns, and establish you in your customers’ eyes as someone who really has their interests at heart.

Don’t be surprised to find that some trade association membership rules prohibit non-industry members. Some industry groups have been inundated with imbedded “outsiders” in the past, and are more than a little hesitant to have their members affronted by deal-hungry salespeople at every industry event.