PRO Founder, and Business Relationship Coach Mike Short, had a vision for connecting people.  An experienced networker, with over 10 years building businesses through networking, and 3 years mentoring individuals and organized groups on how to network successfully, Mike saw a need to create something different.  In 2006, he did just that when forming PRO.

What Mike found is that professionals want to be a part of a Team that not only has a goal to pass referrals, but truly wants to help fellow members face the challenges of day-to-day business.  He felt members could benefit from the opportunity to share other information regarding their businesses, not just business opportunities or target lists  with their Team Members.

Each PRO Team has a great amount of input into the way the organization functions.  Policies are established with input from an advisory board composed of active members on PRO Teams.  Each Team, while following the same meeting format, can choose to meet weekly, bi-weekly, or semi-monthly.  This offers a great amount of flexibility for members who can't commit to a weekly meeting.

PRO Teams also have the ability to control the direction of their particular group.  There are PRO Teams which have a specific focus (such as limiting membership to professionals selling only to businesses, not to individuals), and Teams made up exclusively of alumni from a particular college or university. 

If you are interested in visiting or starting your own Team, you can find meeting times and locations by visiting the About Our Teams page, send us a note through the Contact Us page, or call us at (804) 402-9926.

Philosophy

From the beginning, Mike had a different philosophy regarding networking groups than what he had experienced.  He developed a networking concept he called, "the power of one."  Utilizing this concept, individual professionals develop significant strategic partnerships one at a time.

No matter what organization an individual joins, they won't connect with everyone there.  This is true of the workplace, churches, sports teams, and networking groups.  PRO deliberately chose not to develop any policy restricting PRO Team Members from joining or participating with any other organization.  While other organizations view such a policy as ensuring "loyalty," the PRO Advisory Board feels very strongly that an organization has no place putting limits on where a busy professional can look to expand his or her business.

It was decided from the start that while membership on a PRO Team is exclusive to any particular industry, developing relationships with members of other Teams, and even other organizations would be encouraged.  PRO regularly holds regional events designed to allow members to meet and connect with members of other Teams.  Many of these events are also open to prospective members who are interested in informal networking opportunities.

Founder and Business Relationship Coach, Mike Short, is a highly sought after motivational speaker by business leaders throughout the United States.  If you would like to have Mike speak at your event on Networking, Developing Strategic Partnerships, Sales Skills, or Developing a  Successful Attitude, please send us a request on the Contact Us page, or call us at (804) 402-9926.