Network? My computers are linked and talking to each other so, yeah, I guess my network is working.
Nahhhhhhh, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m asking you about your business contacts and the way you get clients to use your company. One of the first people to coin the phrase as Dr. Ivan Misner, the creator of Business Network International; what he meant by this term was a way that people connect to each other and send out referrals or recommendations. It is believed that each person, between family, friends and business colleagues, has at least a minimum of 200 contacts. When you share those contacts with one other person, and his or her 200 contacts, you’ve just multiplied the number of people who you have in your contact list. The idea spreads out from there.
The idea of networking then is taking this concept and applying it at a much smaller level. When you form relationships with people that include feelings of trust and consideration, you have the start of a good network.
If you check out Google, you will see hundreds of items that pertain to business networking and the various groups that are out there – they range from Chamber of Commerce after hours meetings, organizations such as Kiwanis, Rotary, and other of this type of group, to formal sit down groups that meet each week with the specific goal of finding and referring business to the other members.
Even if you’ve never heard of business networking, I can guarantee that you are a networker. You have contacts that you talk to about your product or service. You have customers. You have colleagues and even competitors. How do you put these networks into play? First, I would suggest that it is better to give than to receive. Put yourself in the place of your potential “partners”. Don’t you feel good when they provide you with a referral to someone that wants to provide you with business? Sure you do. Doesn’t it then make you want to give something back? The same is true with networking. The recent movie, Paying It Forward, says it all. If you do something good, they will try to give you something back. It’s much better than if you’re always telling everybody what you want, and never asking them about their needs or goals, isn’t it?
Finally, once you’ve started to develop these relationships, I would suggest that you find, build and maintain about 6 relationships with people who are at the same or higher competency level as you. These people become your informal board of advisors and will be able to work with you when you need outside opinions and support. Never forget however, that you need to be there for them as well. The “Give to Get” concept is one that works when you use it in an honest, creative way. Try it and see where you get!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Cleaning House
There are two times a year when I get very productive – bustling around making my “nest” (or office as most people call them) all neat and clean: fall and spring. Since our neighborhood kids are now back in school, it’s officially fall at The Work Place, and time for me to start knuckling down, getting back to work.
If you’re like me, you’ve spent time over the summer months, relaxing a bit – maybe taking time off from work to enjoy being with the family or just slowing the pace down a bit. But now that there’s a briskness to the air in the mornings, I know I need to get my mind and body remotivated and ready to start marketing my services.
But how do you even begin to start? I want people to call my phone and tell me they’ve got work for me. But how do I get them to do that? But what is marketing anyway? Is it your business card? Your logo? An ad in the newspaper? It’s all those things. Marketing is whatever you do that convinces someone to buy what you’re selling. That includes things like the look of your store, or office; the way you dress when you’re working (image); your business card; your ads; your logo – anything that tells the potential customer that what you have is what they want. Marketing includes PR and sales as well. It’s a big pot isn’t it?
Make sense? Sure it does. Think about how you buy things. For instance, you want to buy some groceries. You go into a grocery store and it’s really old and dirty. There’s broken glass lying on the floor and food that’s rotted. Bugs are flying around it and a bad smell is floating in the air. Are you going to buy the groceries you came in for? I sure wouldn’t. I’d get out of there as fast as I could. Wouldn’t you? They’re not doing a very good job of marketing are they? Now, you go into a grocery store that is shiny and new. The smells are of fresh baked bread and meats cooking on a grill. The lighting is muted and the shelves are decorated nicely with the boxes and cans stacked in interesting ways. You’d probably feel pretty good about buying here, right?
Ok, here’s another scenario. You go to a meeting with some of the people that you’d like to do business with. You come to the meeting dressed in ragged blue jeans and an old stained t-shirt. During the meeting, your phone keeps ringing and you keep answering it. You’re not paying attention to what’s being said in the meeting are you? When you’re not talking on the phone, you’re doodling. Again, you’re not really paying attention are you? What about if you go to that same meeting dressed in a suit, your hair combed neatly and your attention level at full force. You listen to everything that the potential clients tell you and you ask them questions about what they’re saying. Which “you” is the client going to hire?
Are you getting the picture? These are all part of marketing. Here’s another one. You want to do a direct mail piece that you’re sending to 100 people. You’ve gotten the letter designed, typeset and you’re ready to go. Each letter is personally addressed to the person it’s being sent to. This letter then gets put into a hand addressed envelope. What happens if you give this work to your 10 year old son, who stuffs them while watching TV? They get folded awkwardly, put into the wrong envelope, and thoroughly messed up. Is that good for business? Is the client going to want to hire you? I’m betting not.
As I’ve said before, you can make the best widget in the world, but if your potential customers don’t see it as having value, it’s not going to sell and you’re soon to be out of business. Image, attitude, and professionalism – they all make the company. And when you think about getting out there and “selling” your wares, stop and think about what the customer sees, as well as what they get in the end. It could make a lot of difference!
If you’re like me, you’ve spent time over the summer months, relaxing a bit – maybe taking time off from work to enjoy being with the family or just slowing the pace down a bit. But now that there’s a briskness to the air in the mornings, I know I need to get my mind and body remotivated and ready to start marketing my services.
But how do you even begin to start? I want people to call my phone and tell me they’ve got work for me. But how do I get them to do that? But what is marketing anyway? Is it your business card? Your logo? An ad in the newspaper? It’s all those things. Marketing is whatever you do that convinces someone to buy what you’re selling. That includes things like the look of your store, or office; the way you dress when you’re working (image); your business card; your ads; your logo – anything that tells the potential customer that what you have is what they want. Marketing includes PR and sales as well. It’s a big pot isn’t it?
Make sense? Sure it does. Think about how you buy things. For instance, you want to buy some groceries. You go into a grocery store and it’s really old and dirty. There’s broken glass lying on the floor and food that’s rotted. Bugs are flying around it and a bad smell is floating in the air. Are you going to buy the groceries you came in for? I sure wouldn’t. I’d get out of there as fast as I could. Wouldn’t you? They’re not doing a very good job of marketing are they? Now, you go into a grocery store that is shiny and new. The smells are of fresh baked bread and meats cooking on a grill. The lighting is muted and the shelves are decorated nicely with the boxes and cans stacked in interesting ways. You’d probably feel pretty good about buying here, right?
Ok, here’s another scenario. You go to a meeting with some of the people that you’d like to do business with. You come to the meeting dressed in ragged blue jeans and an old stained t-shirt. During the meeting, your phone keeps ringing and you keep answering it. You’re not paying attention to what’s being said in the meeting are you? When you’re not talking on the phone, you’re doodling. Again, you’re not really paying attention are you? What about if you go to that same meeting dressed in a suit, your hair combed neatly and your attention level at full force. You listen to everything that the potential clients tell you and you ask them questions about what they’re saying. Which “you” is the client going to hire?
Are you getting the picture? These are all part of marketing. Here’s another one. You want to do a direct mail piece that you’re sending to 100 people. You’ve gotten the letter designed, typeset and you’re ready to go. Each letter is personally addressed to the person it’s being sent to. This letter then gets put into a hand addressed envelope. What happens if you give this work to your 10 year old son, who stuffs them while watching TV? They get folded awkwardly, put into the wrong envelope, and thoroughly messed up. Is that good for business? Is the client going to want to hire you? I’m betting not.
As I’ve said before, you can make the best widget in the world, but if your potential customers don’t see it as having value, it’s not going to sell and you’re soon to be out of business. Image, attitude, and professionalism – they all make the company. And when you think about getting out there and “selling” your wares, stop and think about what the customer sees, as well as what they get in the end. It could make a lot of difference!
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