Making Global Connections Work 

by Dakota Drake

GrowGlobally_CollaborateWarmer business connections create customer and partner relationships that start better and have a greater chance of success, and yet those are more difficult to facilitate across borders. Greater distance and different cultures make starting and maintaining relationships more of a chore. But technology and the Global Chamber® make it easier in today’s world to create good global connections despite the challenges. Examples below illustrate how it works.

Cross-border Business: Dottie O’Carroll at Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation joined Global Chamber with one main connection on her mind: Japan. There is widespread interest and respect for Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in Japan, and better connections there could help the Foundation market and sell to customers in Japan more of the products inspired by his designs. Two weeks after she joined, the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles approached the Global Chamber to host Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki in Metro Phoenix. We designed a VIP event at Taliesin West, and great connections were made.

Access to CEOs: When Bill Papazian of Lightstone Solutions joined Global Chamber, he singled out Lee Benson of Able Aerospace — past Exporter of the Year — as a potential target for the company’s international investigative services. Lee is an enthusiastic member of the Global Chamber, and so the bridge to him was relatively easy since he is focused on finding best practices and new ways to help his business grow globally. But Lee is busy, and he can’t meet with everyone, so Bill used a neat technique to make the bridge to Lee, and got a lunch meeting. Success so far!

Access to the Community: We’re honored to have KJZZ, the NPR station for Phoenix, as a Diplomat Member of Global Chamber. The station supports the ground-breaking and award-winning Fronteras Desk, reporting on US-Mexico borderlands human interest stories. Now the station would like more business stories from along the border to include in its broadcasts. Global Chamber can help because many of our members do business along the border and know business leaders with great stories.

The conclusion? When you’re growing your business, creating key contacts will help. When those key contacts are made through warm connections, you’ll be more successful with the initial connection, and it will more easily form a basis of success for the future. Providing warm connections in 500 metro areas around the world, Global Chamber is here to open doors and support your cross-border growth.

Dakota Drake is the operations manager of Global Chamber® 

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