Consultants of all types talk about marketing efforts, about establishing their personal brand, about defining their niche, about refining their sales techniques. All these varied activities matter for one big reason: to get business.

For our December meeting, SPC is offering a panel discussion among three successful consultants: Eric Bloom, Jim Connell and Shelley Griffin,  each in a different area, who will share their best ideas for bringing in new business. Come join us to hear about:

• Growing your business through strategic alliances, business partnerships, and revenue sharing
• Working with professional associations to keep developing new nodes on your network, while taking care to keep your current customers happy
• Finding or making the time to continue marketing to feed your pipeline even as you’re busy doing your work
• Getting value from newsletters

About Our Panelists:

Eric Bloom is president of Manager Mechanics, a company specializing in leadership development in the information technology sector. Before launching his own company, he held senior IT leadership position at the Boston Company Asset Management, Monster Worldwide, Independence Investments, and Fidelity Investments. He’s also a nationally syndicated weekly columnist with GateHouse Media and is the creator of the ITMLP and ITMLE certifications for professional IT managers.

Jim Connell’s company, Custom Software, is dedicated to helping customers understand and manage their data. He began developing software in 1984. Working as a school psychologist he wrote code to help him interpret psychological testing results and write reports. Later, when he moved to the business world, he created database applications to manage financial assets and foreign exchange hedging at Fortune 500 corporations. He relies on his finance and psychology background to understand customer requirements and build robust systems

Shelley E. Griffin, CMM, is a meeting planner and the founder and president of Griffin Conference Group. She is a well-respected industry leader with over 20 years of experience. In 2009 she was one of 42 to earn Global Certification in Meeting Management (CMM), the most prestigious designation in the meetings and event industry. Before establishing GCG, Shelley spent 14 years with the Archaeological Institute of America. She has served on the board of Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Professional Convention Management Association, (PCMA), and the Society of Professional Consultants (SPC).