You don't know where you're going as a chapter unless you can track where you are and where you've been. ChapterTracker has given us an easy and quick method of measuring ourselves—which in turn gives us the tools we need to improve as a chapter. Impressive!

Joel Thain, CISSP, CCNA
IntegriCom, Inc. – Atlanta, GA

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3.1 Intro

One key feature of ChapterTracker is the automated emails that you will receive to remind you to report your networking activities. Please add our email address, customerservice@Refma.org, to your list of trusted contacts to make sure you don't miss out. These emails save your chapter leadership time and effort, and they keep you engaged with the program. (On a side note, there is no need to "opt out." If you leave your chapter, you will no longer receive weekly emails.)

3.2 Login
Your password is 4-10 characters, including at least one letter and one number. Your Admin does not have access to your password. If you forget your password, simply click the link in the login box to have your password emailed to the address you use to login.

Be aware that your ChapterTracker.com session will time-out after 45 minutes of non-use.

3.3 Definition of Referrals and Revenue
You could easily enter your revenue without reading further, but a few "ground rules" will help you get more meaning out of the numbers reported by ChapterTracker...and will help us remain consistent from chapter to chapter.

Referrals / Leads
One group may pass referrals. Another may pass leads. Our headings use the term "Referral" to cover all cases. After you pass your leads or referrals, your Chapter Administrator will enter who gave what referral to what member. Your organization's philosophy will guide your input...and your philosophy will be seen in comparison to other organizations, no matter the label applied to the data. We are measuring the results of your method, not teaching our own.

By definition, any lead or referral passed is "new." If you pass an old lead again, you're bringing down your Average Revenue per Referral. Your Chapter Administrator has the ability to delete such old leads, but he or she might miss it...so keep up with this yourself.

Revenue
YOU will be asked to report any Revenue generated for you through your Chapter. You are the only person who can determine the amount of Revenue you actually received. (See our Revenue Guidelines below for examples of how various occupations typically account for their revenue.)

Why is it important for you to enter Revenue?

  1. Putting up big Total Revenue numbers makes your chapter look good. If you look bad, who wants to join or visit?
  2. Entering your revenue also increases your (and your Chapter's) Average Revenue per Referral. This is a measure that says whether you are passing business or simply passing paper.
  3. Crediting a fellow member who generated revenue for you is a great way of thanking that member and increasing that member's value in the group. If you fail to thank the member by entering revenue, that member will be less likely to send new business your way.
  4. When you receive revenue, you gain credibility. Other members see that you must be performing your job properly.
  5. Tracking your numbers gives you a direct view of the return you receive on time and money invested in business networking.

You see that reporting your revenue is of great importance! So don't take your fellow members for granted...

After you submit your revenue for approval, your chapter Administrator will review your entries. Then the Admin may approve an entry, request clarification from you, or change or delete the entry. Only approved entries are counted in the database. The Admin may also change any entry in the database that needs to be corrected in the future.

If you leave your group, we encourage you to report any revenue you receive from members for another 4-6 months. Simply email your revenue to the Admin for entry into the database. This is an appropriate way to reward any members who put business in motion on your behalf while you were a member. Thank you for reporting!

Revenue Guidelines
To ensure consistent comparison across professions, chapters, and organizations, we suggest that you report the gross proceeds of the product or service that you sell.

For example:

  • Insurance agents will report the policy premium amount (not just the commission proceeds).
  • Investment advisors will report the total investment fees charged (not just the commission proceeds).
  • Real estate agents will report gross commissions generated (not just your share of the commission).
  • Service providers (Attorneys, CPAs, Consultants, etc.) will report gross fees charged.
  • A basket company will report gross sales of baskets.

Ultimately, you and your leadership determine what revenue you report. Obviously, you want to report as much revenue as possible without inflating your numbers. Please avoid chapter-skewing input such as a lender reporting the full loan amount; rather, the lender should report the lending institution's share.

Report any revenue that comes your way as a result of your chapter membership, no matter when that revenue stream originated. For example, you will report:

  • New business
  • Repeat business
  • Revenue from 2nd/3rd/4th generation referrals, and so on
  • Revenue from former members and their referrals
  • Revenue from visitors (which should probably be credited to the inviting members)

3.4 Site Navigation (Screen Choices)

3.5 Entry Screens

Main Entry Screen (the screen that appears when you login) Entry of your networking activity is easy! If you've met with a fellow member since the last time you entered data on this screen, simply scroll down the screen and click on the box next to that member's name. The exact date is not important...just the fact that you've met.

Please note that your name will not appear on this Member list...because you won't be receiving revenue from yourself. Also note that the entire screen scrolls AND the Member list inside the screen also scrolls. So keep scrolling down to find the bottom of the alphabet, Former Members, and Visitors.

If you've received revenue from a member (or visitor or former member), enter the amount of the revenue next to the member's name. If the revenue is repeat business, click the box under "Repeat Business." If the revenue was for the other member's business or family/personal use, click the box under "For Self."

The "Clients/Comments" space is a place for you to enter notes such as the customer name...not notes to other members. Please check section 2.3 of this Guide for client privacy issues.

Then click "Submit for Approval." Your entries will go to your Chapter Administrator for approval before being added to the chapter database. The information your chapter uses to measure its success is only as good as the information you enter. So please keep up with your efforts.

Revenue Request—If you KNOW you generated revenue for another member, AND that revenue has not been reported for some time, AND you have already asked that the revenue be reported, enter the amount and a comment here. The request will be visible to all chapter members. Obviously, if a particular member consistently fails to give credit to members who pass them business, then that member's lack of consideration will be evident.

If a Revenue Request appears at the top of your screen, this means that another member is anxiously waiting for you to report revenue that they generated on your behalf. We ask them to make such a request only if you are long delinquent in reporting...so the appearance of a request is an important matter. To accept a request, simply check the box to the right of the request and submit. The transaction will then go to your Admin for approval. To deny/clear a request, you still must check the box and submit...but contact your Admin and instruct them not to approve the transaction. You will also want to inform the member who made the request why you are denying their request.

Open Referrals
When the chapter Admin enters referrals (or leads) passed to you, they will appear on this screen. You will see who passed the referral and any comment/client name that was entered. If the Admin does not enter comment/client info, you may enter that information or make corrections. Referrals without comments obviously are very difficult to track. You will at least know the source of the referral, so do your best. (Referral "close ratios" are tracked independently from other key statistics in the program, so inaccuracies will not affect that other key data.)

As you follow up on the referral, you simply check the status boxes that apply: you Contacted the client, you Presented to the client, and the result was a Sale or No Sale. You may note that the referral was a Bad Lead, which also counts as No Sale.

When you click Sale, No Sale, or Bad Lead and then click "Submit," that particular referral moves to the Closed Referrals screen.

3.6 Your Data

Summary Your Summary screen displays your performance in two sections. The top section shows totals and averages. The bottom section is detailed information by member.

Number of Active Members Received From, Given To, and Met With are measures of your involvement with the group. You'd like to receive business from everyone and give business back...the first two numbers show how wide your base is. Met With shows how well you're getting to know each other. Visitors Brought is obviously a key measure of involvement.

One number that deserves a warning is the Give/Take ratio. Ideally, the ratio would equal 1.0, meaning that you give as much as you get. The ratio is a good way to recognize givers...but should not necessarily be used to penalize those who are getting. Some members may be easy to give to or may simply be "on a roll." Take this ratio with a grain of salt.

You may view a similar Summary for any member of your group. To view summaries of other members, simply click on the drop-down box and select the summary you desire. Remember to select the appropriate timeframe as well. Data is tracked on a calendar year basis.

Transaction History
This screen is useful for remembering what information you've already entered. Simply click the column heading on which you'd like to sort the information. You may review transactions for yourself or any other chapter member. If the box in the Approved column is not checked, then the Admin denied the entry or a recent entry is pending approval.

If a transaction needs to be changed/corrected, please contact your Admin. The Admin has the ability to search a similar screen and change the history.

Closed Referrals
Here you will see the history of referrals that used to be on your Open Referrals screen. You may search by date. Your referrals will be totaled, and a percentage shown for your results. Those same totals and percentages are illustrated as a classic "sales funnel."

Two sales funnels are displayed. The first is Without Bad Leads…which means that we calculate percentages as though the bad leads were never passed. Referrals that are still open are not counted. This funnel is a good representation of your sales ability when passed quality referrals. The second funnel, Including Bad Leads, represents both your sales ability AND the quality of leads your group is passing.

For suggestions on improving the flow of your sales funnel, contact your organizational leadership or read one of the many books available on the topic.

3.7 Your Chapter

Summary The Chapter Summary provides monthly and annual totals and averages. Your giving is pulled from your summary page so you can see your impact on the chapter. "Average Number of Active Members Given To and Received From" is an indication of how well the chapter is spreading the wealth. Compare this number to the related numbers on your Summary screen.

Charts provide several illustrations of the revenue generated by your chapter: Business "for self" versus business outside of your group (obviously, you'd like more introductions to people outside of your chapter); New business versus repeat business; and a sales funnel that shows your chapter's referral strength.

Sphere totals and averages are yet another way of viewing the chapter's strengths. You will also see the chapter's annual totals since inception.

Rankings
We will add more ranked categories over time. Those that we have selected initially are critical indicators of individual performance when viewed as a whole. Different members may contribute in different ways that are valuable. For example, one member might be struggling with passing revenue right now, but that same person is bringing numerous visitors. Those visitors may become new members or sources of revenue. The key is to keep all categories of participation in mind.

Caution: Don't be afraid to show that you are receiving a lot of revenue. Most members will understand that you may be easy to give to or that you have been in the group for a long time. Reporting revenue is good for the group and encourages those who give to you. Over time, maybe you can give as much as you get.

Average Revenue per Referral Given shows the strength of referrals passed by an individual (as well as the effect of longevity in the group). This concept is similar to a "close ratio" for referrals. Low average $ per referral means the referrals aren't turning into business, or in some instances that all the referrals passed are going to businesses with a low average sale price (for example, gift baskets).

New Member Rankings (Coming soon)
These rankings are the same as the Chapter Rankings, but only newer members (with Activation Date within the past four months) appear. New members should be recognized for their activity, and this screen keeps them from getting buried under the more established members.

Attendance
Your chapter is not required to track attendance to use ChapterTracker. However, we suggest you take advantage of this functionality. The Attendance screen lets all members clearly see where they stand in terms of this aspect of participation. You may review totals by date range.

Revenue Discrepancies
This screen is a list of all unresolved Revenue Requests. The primary value of this screen is the occasion when a specific member or two fail to report their revenue received for an extended period of time. Their delinquency will be visible to all members, and the group may act to ensure that credit is given where due.

Roster (Coming soon)
The Roster displays contact information in three sections: Active Members, Former Members, and Visitors. Never again will you need to answer an email or phone call asking for somebody's contact info or for a list of substitutes. It's all right here!

3.8 Other Chapters (Coming in a future release)

As more and more chapters and organizations utilize ChapterTracker.com, the history that we build together will enable more comparisons and insights. Over time, we will add screens that allow you to view:

  • Organizational summaries and rankings
  • Regional summaries and rankings
  • Comparisons and rankings versus other chapters (searchable by area)
  • Recognition for top individuals by profession (you may opt out)

...and MUCH MORE...

3.9 Maintenance

Change Profile Your chapter Admin was required to enter only minimal information about you in order to create the chapter account. The Admin can alter your profile when needed, but we expect most Admins to leave that task to you.

Please make sure your Profile is up to date. Any time you change your email address, phone number, etc., you will need to update your Profile. The contact information you provide is posted to your chapter roster and used by your fellow members and ChapterTracker to conduct business with you. You will also select your type of business, which will allow us (over time) to help you see how you are doing versus others in your category.

You will notice that we require you to enter your goals for the year. Don't worry...you can change them later, and you should if your goals were greatly under- or overstated. Ask your chapter leadership about setting goals, or follow this quick example:

  1. Revenue Received—How much revenue do you want to receive this year in order to make a sufficient return on your investment in this networking group? Don't aim too high (building business can take time) or too low.
  2. Referrals Received—Divide the revenue you want to receive by the average sales price for the products or services you intend to sell through your chapter. You need to receive that many leads or referrals to reach your revenue goal. If yours is a business with big price tags, then you will need fewer referrals to reach the same goal as someone who sells a high volume of low-priced items.
  3. Revenue Given—How much business can you pass? A good target is to give somewhere in the neighborhood of what you expect to receive. Be realistic, though. And don't wring your hands and leave this portion blank...choose a number and revise it when you see how things are going.
  4. Referrals Given—If your chapter has an established Average Revenue per Referral, you can divide the revenue you expect to give by that average number to get the number of referrals. Or simply pick another reasonable number.

Feel free to change your goals at any time. These are flexible goals!

You will be required to fill in all information marked with a * before leaving this screen. If a piece of information is incorrect, but you cannot change the item, you will need to notify your Chapter Administrator about the needed revision.

Change Password
Your initial password is generated randomly and emailed to you. You may change your password at any time. Please choose a password that you will remember. If you forget your password, click the link in the login box. Your current password will be emailed to you. Your chapter Admin is unable to view your password.

Email the Group (Coming Soon)
This function will place email addresses from ChapterTracker into an email generated by your computer's email program. You may select all Active Members, all Former Members, and/or all Visitors. Email to one, two, or all three of these groups. To email an individual, please use your email program as you normally do.

Now is a great time to update your profile.

Chapter Sign-up and Set-up Our General Approach Basic User (Most Chapter Members) Administrative User