It may be more difficult for certified LGBT business enterprises to land a contract with large corporations in today's economy, but many of these small businesses have been able to use one another to continue thriving during the tough times.
In the final quarterly National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) supplier diversity teleconference of the year, owners of certified businesses with business-to-business (B2B) experience within the LGBT business community shared their success stories and offered insight on how other business owners can benefit from doing the same.
Moderated by Janice Mahlmann, president of LGBT-certified August eTech, the Dec. 2 teleconference call featured other certified business owners as panelists—including Mary Catona, president of Retriever Waste Management, Linda McDonald, owner of Bold Blue/McDonald and Associates, Noma Hanlon, principal at HB Design, and Gail Snow, senior account executive at HB Design—who shared their stories of how they made B2B connections within the LGBT business community, and why they will make a concerted effort to continue working with other LGBT businesses.
Due to the long timelines of larger corporations' procurement processes, the panelists agreed that in many cases it makes good business sense to seek out a B2B opportunity with other LGBT businesses.
"As small businesses, it's very challenging to get into some of the large corporations, and sometimes there's a very large timeline," Hanlon said. "So I think looking for other opportunities and ways to expand an offering or deepen our services [within the LGBT business community] certainly were beneficial."
For McDonald, the slow economy has allowed her to take advantage of B2B opportunities that she thinks will have a positive impact on the future of her business.
"Right now, it's very hard to acquire corporate contracts," McDonald said. "B2B is not only getting us through [the current economic slump], but it's also getting us ready for the next big gold rush of opportunity."
During the call, the panelists also discussed their inclination to look for B2B opportunities within the LGBT community first, and then if they do not find a good fit for their business, then many will move their search to other small business communities such as the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
"An extremely large part of my new clients are other LGBT-owned companies that I have met by being certified and being active as a part of the NGLCC's supplier diversity program," said Mahlmann.
"On a daily basis it's very important for me to reach out to smaller companies to partner with," Catona said. "I just want to keep it within our smaller community because we really just need to support one another."
The panelists agreed that the conferences and networking events put on by the NGLCC have provided them with invaluable opportunities to make LGBT B2B connections.
"Part of being in the NGLCC, it was drummed into us how important it is to look into the population of other potential [LGBT] suppliers that might be a good fit for us and for our clients," Snow said.
