Networking Maryland, the Howard County Chapter of LeTip Celebrates 25th Anniversary as Maryland’s Premiere Business Network

Columbia, Maryland. Networking Maryland, the Howard County Chapter of LeTip and the oldest and most successful business networking group in Maryland, celebrates its 25th anniversary on April 26, 2019.

“In the last quarter of a century LeTip of Howard County has produced millions of dollars in new business for our members,” according to founder Brian Jolles of Jolles Insurance. “While many business networks just pass around glasses of wine and business cards,” he adds, “the LeTip system generates real business leads that produce profits for our member businesses.”

“We run Networking Maryland like a business,” says outgoing chapter president Ruy Garcia-Zamor, who owns a Howard County based Intellectual Property Law firm. “We have cultivated a welcoming environment in which members meet in a professional setting every week to pass leads and exchange business growth ideas.”

“I’ve never been a big fan of networking groups,” he adds. “Most are just social clubs that generate little or no business.”

The LeTip system is based on creating “warm” leads for business members. A warm lead is when one business member paves the way for another member by speaking with a potential client on their behalf.

“In the last 25 years, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten a lead from another member and then called the lead to discover that I’ve already landed the work,” Mr. Jolles says.

“That’s the real power of LeTip,” according to incoming president Mick Carbo of Carbo Business Coaching in Columbia. “We get to know each other’s businesses so well that when we introduce another member to one of our business contacts, we can endorse them as a trusted partner, qualified to do the work we’re recommending them for,” he adds.

“We like to say that the power is in the partnerships we form,” Carbo explains, “and the trust we build with each other.”

“We believe in giving first rather than looking only for what we can receive,” says Garcia-Zamor. “We teach our members the importance of becoming connectors between all businesses and to focus on helping all businesses grow.”

Reaching the 25 year mark as a chapter is an impressive milestone, according to Kim Marie Branch-Pettid, CEO of LeTip International, who will be visiting the local chapter on April 26th to mark the landmark achievement. “What an amazing group of professionals. Not only have they been networking together for twenty five years, they have built a true community of LeTip in Maryland,” she says. “They were the first chapter in Maryland, sharing with others what it takes to be successful and really care about each other. I am thrilled to be with them at their celebration.”

The Howard County Chapter of LeTip, is part of a national network of business professionals dedicated to building strong, sustainable, lead-driven networking relationships between businesses.

Founded in 1978, LeTip is the nation’s original business leads networking group and pioneered a program that embraced both businesswomen and businessmen.

LeTip International’s structured networking environment set the standard in the word-of-mouth referral industry. Members are known for their professionalism, dedication, and loyalty to one another, and to the LeTip Program.

Chapters meet weekly to exchange qualified leads, build solid business relationships, develop strong presentation skills and become proficient networkers. Only one representative of any given profession is accepted into a chapter, and members are chosen for their occupational expertise.