Page 5 - FDCC Flyer - Winter 2022

Officer Reports
FDCC and the level of referrals. Thirty-eight (38) respondents were members for over twenty years.
All but eight of those members reported substantial referrals. Of the eight exceptions, five had gone to fewer than 5 meetings during their long membership. One went to 5-10 meetings but as a vacation. By contrast, all of the thirty successful and more “seasoned” members had attended over twenty or thirty meetings.
One of the survey questions asked: “If you have been successful in developing business through your FDCC membership, what advice would you give to others to help them replicate that success?” There was a decided and consistent trend in the responses of those members who reported receiving over $1,000,000 in FDCC-related billings. Here is a sampling:
• Attending the meetings tells the other attendees that you, and your firm, are “players” in the defense business, and you have been vouched for by others. ... [I]t is the personal relationship you develop, and the expertise you demonstrate at FDCC meetings, that gets the attention of those who have matters to be addressed.
• Business comes directly from personal relationships built around non-business activities and fellowship. People like
to do business with friends.
The most effective marketing of professional services is developing and demonstrating expertise and building solid networks, especially amongst individuals in a position to refer business. There is no better place to do that than in the FDCC.
Make friends in the FDCC and business follows naturally.
• Attend meetings. Get involved in substantive sections and raise your hand to volunteer to speak and write. Get involved in administrative committees. Meet new people at every meeting.
• Come to the meetings. Engage in a committee, speak, and get to know people. Make sure that members know what you do and know you well enough to feel comfortable contacting you.
• The FDCC model works. The path for success, is clear and repeatable. Go to meetings. Get involved. Volunteer. Meet new people and make new connections. And the really great news is that there is no more welcoming, friendly, fun, and intellectually challenging place to do that than FDCC meetings.
That said, since COVID, we
have seen a decided drop-off in attendance at our meetings. In a world changed by COVID, remote working, generational issues, reduced marketing budgets,
etc., we want to ensure that the proven and inestimably value of FDCC networks and friendships continues. We want to remind members that no matter what other marketing choices they might make, attendance at FDCC meetings must be at the very top of their list.
Hence the creation of FedMEETS. We want to build meeting attendance to pre-COVID levels and beyond. The amazing meeting locations over the next few years
– including Nashville and the Broadmoor in 2023 – certainly will drive greater attendance. But we want to go even farther. We want to take a deep dive into how we can make our meetings the not-to-be-missed events on your busy calendar. We will look at
the structure and location of our meetings, the costs and finances, and the direction our members want to take those meetings.
And we will make them even more fun and professionally valuable than they already are.
Howard Merten is President of the FDCC. He is also a Partner with Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP in Providence, RI.
Contact him at: hmerten@psh.com.
www.thefederation.org
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