A Hamilton County businessman is working to revolutionize business development and is starting a company that won’t make any widgets, but rather serves as a catalyst for creating personal relationships between business leaders.
“Can I start with sharing my greatest piece of advice … Build relationships for 30 years, not for 30 days,” Synergize Chief Relationship Officer Arron Stanton said. “We are more interested in your story, than your sales pitch. Any relationship can create a sale. The right relationships can build your legacy.”
Stanton, 30 years old with a marketing background, previously worked for OneZone. Arron’s success at OneZone didn’t come from just selling memberships, it came from taking the initiative to connect members together.
“Every business leader I met with was looking for the same thing, RELATIONSHIPS,” Stanton said. “It didn’t matter if they were just starting their business or running a $2.5 billion dollar operation. I realized that professionals don’t want to collect more business cards. They are trying to build a more intentional and much stronger professional network.”
Stanton put on his entrepreneurial hat and this year and launched a new business, Synergize. The website boasts that relationships are more important than anything else in business.
“Transactions should be a byproduct of a great relationship or friendship, not the other way around,” explained Stanton. “Synergize is the business community’s resource for identifying the right relationships and getting those relationships started. Today’s successful business professionals are focused on building great companies for our community and they don’t have time to fill the role of a professional coffee drinker. Synergize serves as the business community’s ‘professional coffee drinker’ and then matches the right people together for optimal success. What eHarmony did for the dating space, Synergize will do for the professional space.”
Synergize launched in Carmel’s Midtown in January with four core partners and three presenting sponsors. Partners include Axia Technology Partners, Ogle Design, The iTeam and My Turn Media Group. The sponsors include Current Publishing, Serendipity Labs and Bolt for the Heart.
“The creation of Synergize is a natural fit for a city with a thriving and growing business community. We’ve worked hard to ensure that Carmel is the first choice for entrepreneurs like Arron,” said Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard.
“Arron has already been instrumental in the growth of my business,” Thaddeus Rex, CEO of The iTeam (Think Tanks for CEOs) explains. “Dick Aderman, who is now our company President and COO was an introduction that came from Arron. The only way I can think to explain Arron, he just knows how to create successful and long-term relationships for people around him.”
“Arron has an unmatched ability to bring the right people to the table,” Jason Ulm, Vice President of AXIA TP said. “He is friends with everybody and some of my best relationships have already come from his ability to make things happen.”
In addition to learning businesses core products, Stanton pushes companies further by requiring members to fill out a legacy profile questionnaire.
“To understand what might be a mutually-beneficial relationship for years to come, you need to know more than just what someone is selling,” Stanton said. “You need know a person’s big audacious goals, passions, motivations and generally what makes their business tick.”
Memberships at Synergize begin at $1,000 and increase all the way up to $20,000 to become a partner level.
“I’m really excited to be a member of Synergize,” ALO Property Group’s Brian Bondus said. “Arron has this weird knack for connecting people and I know anyone he introduces me to is someone I should meet. He’s essentially become an extension of my business development efforts.”
To become a member or learn more about Synergize, you can visit the company’s website at synergizeindy.com. Stanton says he’s always open to grabbing a cup of coffee and hearing your story.