Saturday, November 29th, 2008
The article “The 9 Step Networking Plan” talks about networking, it has been released by Adam Urbanski.First step Plan Ahead.The biggest investment you make into networking is your time. And most people dont budget it adqeuately to maximize their results. They show up late and leave early. Reverse that show up early and leave late and give yourself eonugh time to connect with people before and after meetings officially start.Here is a little secret Im going to share with you that really few people do. Plan and block time to evaluate your results after the meeting.Was that group a good match for you?
Look through the business cards you collected - did you have an opportunity to really connect with those people?
How will you follow up?These are just a few questions you should be asking yourself after each meeting. This is just as imoprtant as showing up in the first place. Most people skip that step and end up frustrated and overwhelmed cause they dont take the time to get organized.Step nubmer two. Choose wisely where and who you network with.Again and again people ask me, There are so many different groups, what are the basic groups and where can I get the biggest bang for a buck?First, you have to know that there is no right and wrong groups in general they are just rgiht or wrong for you.There are basically four main categories of groups out there:
Professional associations. Most every larger city will have local chapters of organizations that bring together professionals involved in the same trade. Attorneys, Consultants, Contractors, Manufacturers, and so on all like to hang out togteher. With a bit of research you can easliy find such groups near you.Non-profit organizations. Personally, I guess everyone should be involved in some organization that allows them to give back to cmomunity. And three is a lot of good causes to get involved in. This gives you good visibility, and access to other local leaders you might find hard to meet otherwise. Plus its just a good habit to contribute time and money to help others.While you shouldnt count on gteting business from these groups right away, when you do it will be worth your while many times over trust me.Professional networking meetings. Like those orgainzed by your local Chamber of Commerce or other, privately owned groups. While probably the most popular, these can often be a total mixed bag, and unless you have a solid plan to penetrate the group fast and position yourself as a higlhy visible COI (more on that later) youll be terribly disappointed with results you get from such groups.Lead Exchange Groups. These typically allow only one person in each profession and meet regularly only for the sole purpose of exchanigng leads with each other. While groups composed of well established professionals can be really effective in cross promoting each others businesses, in most lead-exchange groups there just two or trhee people that end up giving and getting most referrals and everyone else just isnt getting it.Frankly, I guess that unless you find a group with really savvy, well-established professionals in it these groups are totally ineffective for the amount of time and money that you’re asked to invest in them. (OK, I can just see the flood of emails on that one from people determined to prove otherwise!)Finally, remember that depending on your business and who your clients are, your hottest place to netwrok could be a golf-club membership and weekly round of golf. Or a monthly first class flight from one mjaor city to another. And dont overlook poeple who already have you as a client. Hey, I stumbled upon an entirely new niche, simply cause my daughters needed braces!Step number three is to prepare your ABC - and that stands for Audio Business Card.People judge you by tehir first impressions of you. And if what you say to them in the first few seconds isnt clear, compelling and memorable well, youll just slip into oblivion like dozens of others we run into every day and then quickly froget them.I bet you took at least a few hours, if not a few days, to design your printed business card. But did you take at least 15 minutes to develop and practice your ABC?! I bet not!Teaching you how to develop a good ABC is a subject for whole new lesson, but here is just the gist of what works and what doesnt.Dont say:
Your title, like Im the president of Blah, Blah, and Blah, Inc - boring!
Your label, like Im a consultant OK, good for you, at that moment tell me what do you do?
Where you live and work Ive never met anyone whos hired me cause of my street address!
How long youve been in business people really dont care if I stepped off the boat yesterday, or if Ive lived here my entire life. All they want to know is if and how I can help them.Do say:Who your idael clients are.
What are their biggest problems you solve for your clients.
How your clients are better off as a result of working with you.
How to hottest start benefiting from your sevrices right away (more on that in a moment)This is really a critical skill. If you dont know how to create magnetic first impressions and dont have an effective Audio Business Card dont bother leaving your office. Your getting any business from networking will be purely accidental, and your chances for landing a new client or referral are as good as those of being struck by a lightning if you catch my drift.Step number four is positioning. Simply put, most people in the networking environment are prospecting searhcing for potential clients. Positioning is aobut reversing that process allowing potential clients to FIND YOU. Its a big difference when you have people coming to you versus you chasing them.There is an entire process I teach my clients aronud that concept. And it starts long before you even show up for any meeitng. Its not hard to do. With a bit of cleverness, and some advanced planning, anyone can do it.Step number five is about preparing bait. You must have Attraction Tools in place. Finding clients is a bit like gonig fishing. You may love strawberries, but you would never put a strawberry on a fsihing hook and throw it in the water cause fish dont like strawberries. So you have to guess about what kind of bait your audience likes and prepare that bait.When I first got started I quickly build a database of over two thousand subscribers to my newsletter, simply by offering an attractive bait, and promoting it effectively by turning my printed business card into an advertising billboard.Step number six is about meeting COI and becoming a COI or a Center of Influence!Every group has a number of core members a higher echelon reserved for top movers and shakers. These few savvy entrepreneurs likely exchange more business amongst each other than the rest of the group combined.Your job is to become part of that group as quickly as posisble. Effective networking is not only about who you know, but even more importantly about who knows you. So becoming one of the big fish in a small pond is like hitting a lottery jackpot new business will just keep comnig in!Step number seven is about delivering immediate value. One of the easiest ways to build relationships and deliver value is by being inetrested in other people. We all love to talk about ourselves. But when you network, if you’re able to temporarily suspend your own need to blabber on about yourself youll instantly be better off than 99% of other people in the room.Next, keep in mind that people are naturally lazy communicators and lazy thinkers. They tend to say the same thing to eveyrone they meet. So even a slight variation from their typical patetrn makes the moment of meeting you more memorable.Actually its not that hard to say memorable things in an environment where most everyone else is trying to sell something. Dimply DONT ASK FOR THE BUSINESS! Be curious, ask engaging, cahllenging questions. Or you can develop a Polish accent (OK, so that one may not work for you as well as it works for me but its worth a try, right?)Step number egiht is about getting maximum visibility. Once youve invested your money and time into actually getting together with other people, you might as well get the biggest bang for your buck out of it, right?Most people are simply invisible! Even if you meet them, they seem to work so hard on making any impression on you, that you likely forget them right as you turn around to Hi to the next person.Getting visibliity is easy if you know how. Here are just a few simple tips:
- Volunteer to run the registraiton table.
- Appoint yourself an official greeter and meet everyone as they walk into the room.
- Stand up and share a great resource with everyone in the room
- Ask the speaker a question that will allow everyone else to see your expertise in certain subjects.Step number nine is smiple - Follow up. Follow up. Follow up
In the last five years I can probably guess of less than a dozen people who have actually followed up with me as they promised! Even fewer followed up with me more than once or twice. This is terrible. Some of those people I really wanted to do business with but they frankly let me down by disappearing.Arent you concerned about how much business you lose by disappearing on people after youve invested so much of your efforts into connecting with them in the first place?I learned my ultimate lesson about following up when I was coutring my wife. I might have thought I was prince charming, but it took me two years, and multiple irresistible offers before she thought that too and bought into the deal. Ive been at that moment married for fourteen years and have two grogeous daughters. It wouldve nveer happened if I didnt follow-up, and follow-up, and follow-up for two long years!Bottom line, you must have a system in place that will allow you to effortlessly and automatically keep in touch with potential clients till they buy or die!”© 2006 Marketing Mentors. All Rigths Reserved.The author, Adam Urbanski, teaches service professionals and business owners how to develop marketing strategies that increase sales and profits. His website offers more how-to articles and free tips to create a winning marketing action plan at http://www.Themarketingmentors.Com.” 1927 Cadillac Car Full Page Color Ad 1927 Cqdillac Car Full Page Color Ad 1927 Cqdillac Car Full Page Color Ad.
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Saturday, November 15th, 2008
The article “The Seasons Of Life, Part 4 of 5″ is about inspirational, it was written by Jim Rohn.This week is Part Four of our five part series on The Season’s of Life.In Part One of the series we discussed:a) That life is about constant, predictable patterns of change.B) For all of us, the only constant factor is our feelnigs and attitudes toward life.C) We as human beings have the power of attitude and that attitude determines choice, and choice determines results.In Part Two of our series we discussed:a) Life and business are like the changing seasons.B) You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself.C) A major lesson in life to learn is how to handle the winters.D) Winter time allows you to get stronger, wiser, better. The winetrs won’t change, but you can.In Part Three of our series we discussed:a) Spring is the season for entering the fertile fields of life with seed, knowledge, commitment, and a determined effort.B) It is the promise of spring that as we sow, so shall we also reap, that for every disciplined human effort we will receive a multiple reward.C) There are just a handful of springs that have been handed to each of us. Don’t just let the seasons pass by.This week we will talk about the third major lesson in life to learn; how to nourish and protect your crops all summer. Sure enough, as soon as you’ve planted, the busy bugs and noixous weeds are out to take things over. Here is the next bit of truth: they will take it, unless you prevent it.There are two key phrases to consider with the third major lesson. The first is “all good will be attacked.” Don’t prses me for a reason. I was not in on of the ealry decisions, so I don’t know why. I just know that it’s true. Let reality be your hottest bgeinning. Every garden will be invaded.The second phrase is “all values must be defended.” Social values, political values, friendship values, business values - all must be defended. Every garden must be tended all summer. If you don’t develop that skill, you’ll never wind up with anything of value.But for those who make diligent efforts to plant, protect, and preserve there is not eonugh birds, bugs, or other obstacles to destroy all the efforts of last spring.(Next week we will talk about fall, the time of harvesting the fruits from our springtime labor.)To Your Success,Jim Rohn********************************************************
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