Common Networking Mistakes
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Common Networking Mistakes Networking is a term that didn’t exist (academically) until almost 40 years ago. It’s a word uttered in and around the business world every day, yet is unclear to most as to how it actually works. Still, it’s a fundamental tool to the success of any business. By definition, the term networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships. It’s not schmoozing; it’s not just handing out business cards, selling, marketing or small talk. Those activities are part of networking, but unfortunately, many people’s misunderstanding of the term causes them to network ineffectively. The following are some habits of unskilled networkers, and they can stand in the in your way of developing mutually valuable relationships. So, next time you attend your Chamber or Association meeting, keep these ideas in mind so you can offer the most value to your fellow networkers. Habit #1: Attitude Much like the development of any skill, networking begins with attitude. Unfortunately, unskilled networkers have the wrong attitude. If you’ve ever attended a networking function before, perhaps you’ve encountered businesspeople who act in the following ways: The hard sell – they believe networking is about one thing and one thing only: selling products and services to everyone in the room. Business only – they’re not there to make friends. They’re not there to have fun. And they’re certainly not interested in developing mutually valuable relationships. It’s all about me – they don’t take the time to help and share with others, but rather focus on their own needs. In other words, they can’t spell “N-E-T-W-O-R-K-I-N-G” without “I.” Attitude is fundamental to effective networking. In fact, it’s the most important habit to understand. Habit #2: Only Dig Your Well WHEN You’re Thirsty. The key to successful networking is making your friends, establishing contacts and developing relationships – before you need them. Getting what you want by helping others get what they want first. Networking should be a big part of your marketing plan! Enter the unskilled networkers, who only network because: a) They need new customers b) They have a new product or service to sell c) Their boss forced them to do so Take my friend Bill, for example. He’s quite successful in the insurance business; however he recently approached me about using networking to obtain some hot leads. “My numbers are down. My manager is on my back. I gotta get out there and start networking…or else! What do you suggest?” “Networking takes time,” I explained, “and you can’t expect to come into loads of business or dozens of potential clients without developing the relationships first.” As you already learned, networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships…over time. If you try to dig your well WHEN you’re thirsty, you may never find a drink. Habit #3: Dealing Out Business Cards is a terrible habit, and it happens all the time. Have you ever seen people distribute 173 of their business cards during the first 5 minutes of the event? They move as quickly as possible from one person to the next. They don’t make eye contact, they don’t ask to exchange cards – they just deal them out. This is guaranteed to make people feel puny and insignificant. Notice these unskilled networkers don’t spend time actually meeting and establishing rapport with new people; but rather concentrate on giving out as many cards as possible. Your business card has no value when they are dealt out without conversation. Habit #4: Unskilled networkers don’t wear professional looking name tags. When you wear a name tag it makes you much more approachable and helps people remember you and your name. Remember that when you wear a name tag you will always be able to measure the benefit by the conversation that results from people that approach you. When you don’t wear a name tag you will never know what you lost as a result of not being approachable! Habit #5: Unskilled networkers not only attend meetings with their friends and/or coworkers, but they talk and sit with them the entire time! These are people with whom they’ve worked 5 days a week, 8 hours a day for the past 3 years! This is not a good technique to maximize your company’s visibility. This habit creates an elitist, unfriendly attitude. And think how uncomfortable this makes the one or two people sitting at the table who don’t work for that company! It’s unfair to them because they’re unable to meet a diverse group of people with whom to develop mutually valuable relationships! Remember: If you’re sitting with YOUR company – you’re sitting with the WRONG company. Habit #6: Unskilled Networkers believe there is only one specific time and place for networking. It’s called “A Room with A Sign Posted Outside That Says So.” In other words, they only network when someone forces them to. They don’t believe networking opportunities in places like elevators, busses, supermarkets or parks. That’s it? A measly half hour for networking? Doesn’t give you much time, does it? The truth about networking is that it can happen anytime, anywhere. There is a time and a place for networking – it’s called ANY time, and ANY place. Network to win in 2010! |
Why Search Engine Optimization is a Great Investment For Any Company
How much money do you pay to have a sales person sell your services or products? How many hours does that sales person work each day/week/month? Did you know that your website is a sales person that works for you 24/7? Having an optimized website is the single most powerful marketing tool that every company should be aware of and implement into their business.
Here are 5 reasons why SEO should be implemented into your marketing strategy before your competition beats you out.
Absence of risk
Search engine optimization is free of any risk. In many cases, paid advertising (banner ads, pay-per-click) is subject to click fraud risk. There are people that that use software to click on their competitors ads, which cost you money each time it is clicked. Google AdWords has protection against this, but it isn’t 100%. Nothing can stop a competitor from clicking your link a few times, costing you money.
Reliability
Banner ads and pay-per-click campaigns work great until the marketing budget for these campaigns depletes for the month. When this happens, your website is no longer listed and customers can’t find you anymore. SEO obtains an organic listing and your company’s website will always be found by your customers. Consumers are more likely to purchase from a site ranked high in the search engine results rather than from a pay-per-click ad.
Brand Awareness
A website that is ranked high means that more people will see the name of your company and become familiar with it and it’s products or services, even if they haven’t made a purchase. Consumers recognize businesses ranked in the top 3 in search engine results compared to those appearing in banner ads. With so many people using pop-up blockers and banner blockers, many people don’t even see the banner ads that are being displayed.
Targeted Traffic
SEO brings those paying customers to you. When a consumer is looking for a specific product or service and you rank high, they will enter the key words/phrases that they are looking for. When they find your site, they are a target lead and more likely to purchase from you. How much money do you spend on sales people getting you targeted leads and sales?
Affordability
In comparison to banner ads and pay-per-click advertising, SEO is a much more affordable service. With banner ads and pay-per-click, you set a budget and when that budget is met, the ads are gone. This could happen a week into your campaign. This means you would go three weeks before your ads appear again. With SEO, your website will stay listed on the search engines and won’t drop off.
As you should be able to see, search engine optimization is vital to your business. If you have a website and people can’t find it when entering keywords of the products or services that you sell, then why did you pay all of that money to have the website built? Remember, your website is a sales person that works day and night and has a global territory. Can you afford to pay your sales person to work day and night?
Bass Ackwards Business
Living & Working Bass-Ackwards!
Living & Working Bass – Ackwards!
A book review accents use of FORM acronym & value of the Golden Rule
David Greene of Greene & Greene, Inc., in Atlanta, sent me Steve Beecham’s book, Bass – Ackward Business: ‘ The Power of Helping Without Hustling’, published in 2009 by Home Town Publishing. I didn’t get many pages into it before recalling similar personal and business relationship cultivating (as in ‘promote the growth of’) styles learned and lived over the years.
“My helping without hustling strategy is bass – ackwards when you compare it to everything I’ve been taught about building a business” – “it’s not about you or your sales; it’s about helping others.” Pp. 9 & 14. (Emphasis added. GFA)
Beecham quickly identifies three components to implementing the bass – ackward ‘helping without hustling’ mindset:
1. Get out of the office
2. Focus on relationships
3. Find a way to help people p.24
And through these steps, Steve emphasizes ‘discovering the person and not the business’, earning – by – serving, rather than expecting or demanding, ‘the right to sell’.
No further into the book than that, I reflected on how some of his principles applied – or should apply, to the way I’m ‘doing business’. That thought stirred the memory of cleaning out a vacant office, 30 years ago, and finding a set of AMWAY cassette training tapes. As I listened to them while driving, I learned the FORM acronym, an effective personal networking guide. Letters were for Family, Occupation, Recreation, & Message; or, a reminder to set a date for next Meeting. How’s it work? Simple. Walk up to someone, anyone, – in this case in a group setting, and introduce yourself, with a Smile on your face and a friendly, but not fierce or wimpy, handshake. Then, after exchanging names, strike up a conversation, by asking about Family (may be single, married, whatever). After talking ‘families’ for awhile, segue to Occupation. Might be a student, stay at home parent, or otherwise. By now, both parties should be fairly comfortable conversing, so ask about Recreation – what do you do ‘for fun’? Then, near the end of the conversation, and depending on what seems appropriate, decide on when to next Meet and continue the friendly conversation; or, if fitting, ease into one’s Message. I’ve been using the FORM technique ever since – and it works! *1
Gotta admit, there’re a couple things in Bass – Ackward Business that gave me pause, since I hadn’t run into them before; like this piece non – footnoted advice @ p.39
“Look people in the EYE. Yeah, and by ‘eye’, I mean their left eye. Typically, when you’re talking to someone about serious matters or business affairs, you look into their right eye. Looking into their left eye communicates sincerity – they feel like you care.”
My immediate reaction: “Who sez?” But, until I can ask the author that question while looking him in the right eye, I think I’ll give it a try next time I’m in conversation with a friend or associate! Hmm. Maybe it’s because the left eye is closer to one’s heart…
Then there’s the Ritz –Carlton illustration. After a few superb guest service experiences during a second visit to a hotel in that chain, Steve asked the front desk receptionist what she thought made the Ritz so special. Her response? “We have a card we all carry in our pocket when working that reminds us, ‘We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen’. Now that’s pretty nifty. In fact, it reminds me of a similar experience YOU too can have, by dialing (941) 721-0046. The phone will be answered every time, usually on the second ring, by someone ‘with a Smile on their face’, offering this Greeting after Thanking You for calling, then identifying their firm: “How may I Serve You?” Seriously. Place the call to prove it to yourself; better yet, think how You might implement the Ritz-Carlton & Newby Management’s superb customer service techniques as part of your firm’s resident relations program!*2
As I continued to read Bass – Ackward Business, my thoughts turned, time and again, to this writer’s practical application of the Golden Rule, being ‘Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You!’, to the way we ‘do business’. Frankly, too many firms focus on the antithesis Gold Rule; you know, the one that goes like this: ‘He or she who has the gold, makes the rules!’ Sorry to say, we can probably identify more contemporary businesses that appear to ascribe to that scheme (e.g. Predatory lending and Ponzi schemes are just two of society’s present day poster children for that selfish and greedy mindset) than those practicing the Golden Rule in personal relationships and during business dealings. To underscore this truth, the author cites a fairly well known reminder to ‘Use things and love people, not love things and use people!’ Amen.
OK, so how do you get your copy of this pithy little book (97 pages)? Contact Steve Beecham directly at 11855 Haynes Bridge Road, Alpharetta, GA. 30009 or via steve@hometownmoney.com or via www.bassackwardsbusiness.com
Attitude
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of Attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the Attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string, we have, and that is our Attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our ATTITUDES.
Author of “ATTITUDE” Chuck Swindoll
Reasons to Keep Your online photos up to date
Reasons to keep your online photo presence professional and up to date
Posted by photographeratl on December 17, 2009
Dec 1, 2009, Atlanta, GA—On Time Photos is pleased to announce an added convenience for its customers, on-site photography for corporate headshots.
This “Professional Picture Day” allows business people to update their head shots for their business cards, print materials, and website profiles. “The advantages,” says On Time Photos owner Jerry Morris, “are the overall cost savings for the individuals and less time away from work to update their portraits.”
Today, business photos are more necessary than ever due to business’s increasing utilization of social media and website advertising. “Businesses have burst onto online forums such as LinkedIn and Facebook. You simply cannot leave the online profile photo blank and be taken seriously,” Morris explains.
Indeed, studies indicate that consumers find a business person more trustworthy and likable when they see who is serving them, and out of touch or irrelevant in the competitive marketplace when their photo is severely dated.
To maintain a professional image, Morris suggests that professionals update their photos every three years or anytime they experience a noticeable change in appearance such as hair color or style.
The idea to hold “Professional Picture Day” for organizations came as one of necessity when individuals would pull Morris aside during companies’ group photo sessions and ask for individual photo sessions after the shoot.
Morris says there are certain things people should be mindful of in their business photo. “Keep styles basic and classic,” he says. “A head and shoulders shot is appropriate for business cards and printed materials, while a closer shot works well for an online profile photo.”
On Time Photos also offers a great solution for corporate gifting: gift certificates for a family portrait. Morris photographs family and corporate events, weddings, holidays, maternity poses, and tasteful intimate portraits to gift that special someone.
Networking Comfort Zones
The temptation in this atmosphere is to get very close to another person so they can hear you and you them. This can result in being too close to another person sometimes making them very uncomfortable. This discomfort is heightened when we have been consuming alcohol and the person we are talking to have not.
Each of us has our own comfort zone boundary. This is a space around us that when another person enters we begin to feel uncomfortable. A good way to relate to this is to remember if you have ever had an argument where someone got right up in your face and possibly even pointed their finger very near to it. Remember how that made you feel? In most cases it makes a person feel more angry.
In a networking environment it is important to maintain a distance from a person that you are talking to. This distance should be almost an arms length. Most peoples comfort boundary is about the length of their arm. If you find yourself getting very close to someone in conversation, imagine if you raised your arm and that is the distance that you should be from the other person. If they move closer to you in the course of conversation, it is acceptable to them to be closer. If it is acceptable to you then continue with the conversation at that distance.
You can sometimes tell if you are standing too close to someone if they seem to be moving back while you are talking to them. If they appear to be getting further away from you, do not move to be closer to them. They will stop when they reach the distance that they are comfortable with. If they turn and walk away of course it is time to find someone else to talk to.
To be most effective in your attempts to build relationships with others, it is most important to keep these things in mind. Remember that it makes no difference what you say to a person if they are not engaged in the conversation. Good observance of boundaries can give you the edge you need to make networking work.
Choices
Think about that. One choice, just one, can change your life forever. Simply put, your life today is what your choices have made it, but with new choices, you can change directions this very moment. For me, that idea alone is highly motivational because it offers tremendous hope, regardless of circumstances, for a better tomorrow.
Your life-changing choice may be to switch careers, to leave an abusive relationship, to go back to school, to stop drinking, to adopt a child, to start a business, to lose weight, to start a charity…to name a few. If you have the courage to do so, you could make any one of those choices, or others, today. And you would change your life.
Sometimes it’s a different kind of choice. It can be to not quit, to not giving up in the face of adversity. We’ve all been there.
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen received 77 rejections for their idea Chicken Soup for the Soul. They had to make a decision each time…should they throw in the towel and say enough is enough, or should they keep trying to pursue their dreams? You know the rest of the story. The 78th publisher said “Yes” and they went on to sell over 100 million books.
So never forget that you are only one choice away from changing your life. Do you have the courage to make it?
How long does it take to build good relationships
Have you ever heard that it takes at least seven points of contact before someone will consider doing business with you? I have heard this many times and I believe that it is true that it takes many points of contact, tho I am not sure that it has to be seven.
The fact is that usually we will not do business with someone we do not know. Of course the exceptions to this rule come in the form of shopping for personal or home items when we go to the mall, or we stop to get a burger for lunch. I am sure you do not really know the person that you bought your washer and dryer from , or do you?
Buying decisions for the most part are made up from collective experiences. We might decide to buy from a particular store because we have shopped there a lot and had a good experience with it. We might decide to visit that store on the recommendation of a friend. Sometimes just plain old advertising draws us in and out of curiosity we find a new favorite place to shop.
In most of the businesses we encounter in networking, we want to know more about the business before we make a buying decision. In particular, we want to know more about the person who is talking to us. We want to be able to trust this person before we buy from them. Why is this? In some cases the product or service that a person is selling does not cost much, yet we need to feel comfortable in making a buying decision.
In order for someone to trust you enough to buy from you, you have to be able to let them get to know you. You can accomplish this by making contact many times and being a real person when you do. If you frequent many meetings a month, you should always take the time to say hello to people whom with you have previously met. Ask them how things are going for them on a more personal level than just asking, “how’s it goin?”.
Show genuine concern for their answer by listening. Listening and responding will help develop a deeper relationship. Be more than a passing face in the crowd and you will build deeper more valuable relationships with people.
The biggest mistake that we can make in networking is to be superficial. If we do not let people know more about us than our name and what we do, we will never be as effective as we can be. As people get to know you, they can make a decision to buy from you or not. In this realm, price and features have no meaning. It is you that makes your product better.
They may say that seven points of contact are required to make the sale, but the quality of that contact determines the outcome. Be sure to be yourself when you are out there, be genuine, be concerned, be human, and most of all be comfortable with it. This will help you to generate success that you never thought was possible.
What is Search Engine Optimization and Why Do I Need It?
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and do I need it?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of analyzing and enhancing your website to help potential customers find it on Google, Yahoo! and other search engines. In today’s competitive environment, proper SEO is critical to the success of any business website. It can help you gain visibility, get your site found, and increase traffic to your website.
What is a search engine?
A search engine is a website that people use to search the Internet for products, services and information. The three primary search engines are Google, Yahoo!, and Bing which account for nearly 90% of all Internet search traffic. Other search engines include Ask.com, Lycos, AOL and AltaVista.
What is search engine optimization?
Search Engine Optimization is the process of analyzing and enhancing your website so that it’s easier for potential customers to find your site from a search engine.
Do I need SEO?
YES, and here’s why:
You may have a great website, but if nobody sees it, your business is not going to be successful.
SEO can help you tap into the vast market of potential customers who are out there right now searching on Google and other search engines.
Proper SEO can help you gain a competitive advantage by helping your site get seen before your competitors’.
What’s involved in optimizing my site for search engines?
Although it may sound complicated, optimizing your site is a fairly straightforward process. Anyone can do it – it doesn’t take any special technical skill or knowledge – it just takes a little time and some dedication to improving your business. Keep in mind, though, that even the most serious SEO efforts can take several weeks to take effect. If you are committed and willing to manage your website’s SEO on an on-going basis, you will likely see your results increase steadily over time. As a general rule, the more dedicated and persistent you are with site optimization, the better your results will be.
What are keywords?
Keywords are terms that people use to search the web. For instance, if someone wanted search on Google for a doctor in the Atlanta area, they might enter “Atlanta Doctor” in the search field – these would be the keywords for that particular search. A critical part of the SEO process is deciding which keywords are the most valuable for your business. Obviously a doctor in Atlanta would want to optimize their site for “Atlanta Doctor”. If the same doctor also specialized in pediatrics, they would want to optimize their site to perform well for the keywords “pediatric specialist”, and so on. The keywords you choose and how well your site is optimized for those keywords can make all difference in getting qualified traffic to your site.
What are search engine rankings?
Your site’s “ranking” is where your site appears in a list of search results returned by a search engine. The higher your ranking (position #1 is the highest ranking) the more visibility you’ll get and the more traffic you are likely to bring to your site.
What are meta-tags?
Meta-tags are part of your website’s HTML code that search engines use to help rank your site. The three primary meta-tags are the title tag, header tag and keyword tag. An important part of SEO is to optimize these tags so that search engines can more easily evaluate your site and rank you higher in search results.
What are site links and why are they important?
When search engines evaluate your site for rankings, an important factor is how you use links on your site, as well as how many other websites link to your site.
What’s a search engine spider?
A spider is an automatic indexing tool – or robot – used by search engines. Spiders continually “crawl” the web evaluating websites for content, html tags, etc. With proper SEO in place, your site can be more easily and completely indexed by spiders, which can help improve rankings.
What is search engine submission?
Submitting your site to a search engine is a way to help your site get indexed and ranked – so that your listing will appear in that engine’s search results.
Advertising: Interruption Based or Permission Based
Let’s take a look at several different types of advertising that you may be using for your business…
- TV: Advertising interrupts the program.
- Radio: Advertising interrupts the music or talk show.
- Magazines: Advertising interrupts the articles.
- Newspapers: Advertising interrupts the articles.
- Spam Email: Advertising interrupts the recipient.
- Website Pop-Ups: Advertising interrupts the user
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These traditional forms of advertising are Interruption Based. This usually causes the consumer to flip the channel, change the station, flip through the pages, delete the email, or exit the website.
So what is a business to do?
I suggest concentrating your marketing efforts and dollars on Permission Based forms of Advertising. Here are some examples…
- Website: User-Friendly with Fresh, Relevant Content
- Web Video
- Facebook Business Page
- YouTube
- Blog
- Email Newsletter
- Flickr
These are all places where people have to OPT-IN to receive your messages. That means they are giving you Permission to educate them and market to them. Therefore they will not see your messages as an interruption or annoyance.
The cool thing is that Permission Based Advertising is usually more affordable and effective than Interruption Based Advertising.
Take the time to get educated on these new forms of advertising. Look for a professional that will explain it to you in simple terms instead of industry jargon.
Special thanks to Michael Clay for introducing this concept.
