Recruiting and Encouraging Christian Business Leaders

 
Becoming a C12 Area Chair can be a capstone for a Christian business leader’s career by capitalizing on God’s sovereign curriculum for their life (i.e., unique gifts, experiences and opportunities)…one which the Lord has designed for His purposes!  With relatively modest upfront expense and preparatory time, C12 Area Chairs have an opportunity to impact thousands in their community for Christ by joining the special band of those called to be C12 Chairs.  Depending on individual aspirations and territory size, a Chair has the opportunity to develop a dynamic and rewarding six or seven figure business with little fixed or working capital.
 
Using C12’s proven process and proprietary high-impact materials, they will come to enjoy special relationships with area business presidents and owners while seeing the fruit of their labors impacting their local community.  This special calling involves going deep (with Christ and your members), being stretched through continual learning (regarding ‘best practices’ and Scriptural application), and being amazed as a frequent eye-witness to God’s faithfulness.  As an ambassador for Christ who facilitates and disciples other Christian business leaders to view their roles in the same way, the work of a C12 Area Chair is always exciting!
 
In areas with sufficient market potential, it’s possible for a full-time independent C12 Chair to grow to the point of facilitating three full C12 Groups of 10-15 members, as well three to five support groups (Key Players, Alpha Group, Mentorees) by the end of a typical 18-30 month ramp-up period.  Our experience shows that a fully-utilized C12 Area Chair has the opportunity to impact thousands of  employees and hundreds of thousands of others (e.g., employee families, as well as current and prospective customers, suppliers, employees and competitors).  A C12 Chair also has the opportunity to develop a broader business with an organization dedicated to serve an entire region or metro area (e.g., Western PA, Metropolitan Houston, or Central Iowa).  This might involve overseeing one or more additional Area Chairs and administrative support. 
 
The process of building local C12 Groups involves personal direct selling to top decision-makers and Christian business Owners and typically includes the following elements:

• Identifying qualified prospects (i.e., those who are [1] progressive in terms of wanting to grow and improve their business, [2] Christian enough to think God cares how they do it, and [3] at the helm of a stable and substantial enough business to enable reliable participation)
• Pursuing networking referrals by establishing a database and weekly follow-up process (typically, new C12 Chairs begin with a personal circle of 10-20 relevant contacts which can be leveraged into 40-100 initial prospects…often enough to create the nucleus of the first group!)
• Researching local public prospect data (e.g., Christian ‘yellow pages’ or Shepherd’s Guide, Chamber of Commerce, sponsors/officers/members of major local Christian organizations, etc.)
• Launching targeted direct marketing (direct mail, local print, radio).  Typically, a well-conceived direct mail campaign, using C12’s turn-key program, is used to help launch a group by inviting prospects to an introductory event (i.e., breakfast, luncheon, seminar).  C12 provides co-op marketing subsidies to help fund these events.  C12 also engages in national/regional publicity and maintains a library of previously designed print, radio and web-based pieces.
• Inviting prospects to visit a local C12 Group meeting or event.  There is nothing like experiencing C12’s special environment of like-minded peers engaged in discussing challenging, application-oriented materials tailored to their business and life issues.  Prospects are given an opportunity to attend their initial C12 meeting as a complimentary guest participant.
• ‘Closing’ the new member in a one-on-one follow-up discussion aimed at satisfying any lingering questions and concerns.  This meeting will typically follow an initial ‘get acquainted’ meeting (perhaps a coffee or lunch with the referral source) and their visit to a C12 meeting or event.
• Healthy groups are self-sustaining (i.e., self-recruiting).  Generally, a mature C12 Group will seek to bring other Christian CEOs with complementary backgrounds and businesses into their group and be extremely helpful in promoting C12 to others in the community.

Although it may take talking to five or six prospects to find a truly ‘qualified’ CEO/Owner who has enough interest to visit a C12 meeting, more than half of those who visit choose to join!  Further, of those who join, more than half continue as members for many years.  This growing nucleus of engaged and equipped Christian business leaders can be used mightily by the Lord to transform local communities and turn countless people toward Christ.
 
C12 Chairs are sharpened in their tools and methods by participating in C12’s twice-a-year Chairs training seminars, where ‘best practices’ are shared along with testimonies, prayer, encouragement, on-going support and accountability.
 
As with any worthy Kingdom endeavor, the building of a healthy C12 presence requires dedication and perseverance on the part of those the Lord has called, abiding in Him.  The fruit on the other end is sweet indeed!
 
“They will be called oaks of righteousness...”   Isaiah 61:3