Melissa Lesniak

Founder, one more referral

By Carol Corbett

When Melissa Lesniak of Rollinsford, a Realtor at Keller Williams Coastal Realty, began networking to build her career in 2005, she started in the usual places.

She joined local chambers of commerce and other client expansion groups, but she didn’t quite find what she was looking for.

Lesniak had a desire to not only build her own business and help others build theirs, but also to give back to the community. She sat down with friends to brainstorm the idea. What was it they all wanted?

“If we could all get just one more referral…” she thought, and a new era in networking began.

The first One More Referral meetings took place in Dover and combined elements from other groups with community outreach flair.

Now there are five chapters, including Dover, Portsmouth, Rochester, York, Gilford and Hampton. A Manchester chapter will spring up this fall as the group celebrates its third anniversary with nearly 600 members.

The group at a given location changes weekly, but the atmosphere remains one of friendly chatter.

“It’s all about building respect and getting to know people and their businesses personally,” Lesniak said of the member-to-member mind-melding sessions she calls “schmoozes.”

At the core of each chapter is a community service partner for that year. Lesniak was adamant that this feature be central as she created a business infrastructure that gives back. Members volunteer for events such as road races, golf tournaments and blood drives while spreading the word about the nature of that nonprofit.

Recently, One More Referral was presented with the Fair Tide Community Service Award for 2009, due largely to Lesniak’s diligence in maintaining such high levels of activism.

When she isn’t schmoozing or working, Lesniak coaches girl’s volleyball in Somersworth. Even there, she encounters what she calls “small-world weird” as two out of 12 volleyball parents are members of One More Referral.

“People start to recognize who you are in the community,” Lesniak said. “Someone I don’t know will walk up to me and not only know my name, but also what I do.”

That’s just the sort of reach she had hoped for when she started networking, one that didn’t just advertise a business, but created a connection with the community. Currently, 94 percent of her realty referrals come through the group.

Lesniak doesn’t think of herself as an entrepreneur, but rather thanks other members of One More Referral as the group works more like a team.

“All ideas come from members,” she said. “I couldn’t do this without the other facilitators.”

And Lesniak doesn’t see the network slowing down; in fact, her sights are set on opening more chapters in places such as Concord, Nashua, Newburyport, Mass., and Portland, Maine.

Carol Corbett is a freelance writer who lives in Farmington.