A business networking group provides a community to share ideas, contacts and business referrals. It is essentially a unified sales team of members who are active in the marketplace and who source business development opportunities for other members. In my experience as a member of various networking groups over a span of nearly 30 years, the inherent value of such a group is tied to sound organizational controls and sustained membership quality. (Full disclosure: I wrote a book about starting a unique business development group and believe that a well-run group can help you grow your book of business exponentially, while a poorly run group will most likely yield few, if any, benefits.)