Business listing generates leads

Bill Kearney, a commercial real estate agent, had an idea about a year ago to generate some business.

It worked.

Boy, did it work.

Better yet, it generated a bunch of business for other businesses as well.

Kearney's idea was this: Put together a group of businesses keeping it exclusive, one participant from a business category.

Publish a listing of the businesses and distribute it to consumers.

Kearney, who figured he'd generate some leads from participating businesses, decided to finance the project out of his pocket.

Businesses don't pay anything to be listed with Premier Partners of Nevada.

The idea took off in a big way.

As of this month, 140 businesses ranging from a golf instructor to a furnace repair company to an employee benefits consultant are listed with Premier Partners.

About 30,000 copies of the Premier Partners brochure have been distributed around the Truckee Meadows.

Along with business listings, each brochure includes emergency telephone numbers in hopes that consumers will keep it close to the phone.

Kearney said a surprising offshoot of the business has been this: Participating business are enthusiastic about distributing the listings to their customers.

That means, in turn, that they're promoting the other 139 participants.

"You have 140 companies out there promoting you," he said.

Consumers, too, are paying attention as illustrated by the experience of one participant, a roofing company, last year.

The Premier Partners brochure listed a telephone company for the roofer that the company didn't use anywhere else.

After windstorms struck northern Nevada, the phone number listed in the brochure was ringing at the rate of once every six minutes.

Others are equally enthusiastic.

"It's been a great source of leads," said John Hollis of The Blind Man, a window- coverings service.

"It's designed to have business people help each other."

Hollis said he's long been a fan of distributing business cards for fellow business people, and the Premier Partners brochure brings more structure to his informal efforts.

Brad Becker, one of the owners of Reno Paint Mart, said it's difficult to track the leads generated by Premier Partners or any similar program.

"Any time you put your name out there, it helps," Becker said.

Said Emily Andrews, owner of Creative Sales Management: "It's a great place to network, exchange ideas and get information." Kearney, who invested his cash and energy in the project, said it's been helpful in generating leads for his work at Keller Realty Co.

in Reno.

"It's a lot of work, but it's effective," he said.

"It's been very worthwhile for me."

The next step for Premier Partners of Reno is strengthening its monthly meetings of participating businesses.

At the meetings, which are strictly limited to 90 minutes, participants introduce themselves and their businesses.

Several, meanwhile, provide short presentations on information useful to business people everything from a lawyer's discussion of changes in tax law to a data-processing expert's review of computer shortcuts.

"We've got a lot of expertise in that room, and we're using it," Kearney said.