Once I discovered what the ratios meant and how my ratios worked, I began to investigate various methods in decreasing my ratios.
I began an elaborate tracking system using Excel spreadsheets. I keep up with the first few months trying to recognize patterns. Where did the leads from, how many people answer the phone, how many people were interested and how many actually showed up for the meetings.
I tracked how long it would take for them to show up and how many months it would take for some of the guests to actually join.
The patterns became very clear after awhile. For the phone calls I made to chamber members I had a ratio of 1 in 40 dials to a new member.
When I went to other organization meetings and met the most likely to join entrepreneurs, the ratios were one in 8.
When a member introduced me to someone they knew and they introduced me to them personally, the ratio was only one in 3. So obviously I began to rely more on the existing members to introduce me to others they knew.
I created a referral program that gave them a discount for each new member they referred. Then I asked them to meet me for coffee and we exchanged contact information from the business cards we had collected.
I was able to reduce the amount of phone calls by half to have the same results. It was a great discovery.