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Tag: networking

  • Is Your Business Card Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool?

    Is Your Business Card Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool?

    Think about it: Every meeting you attend outside your company, every business function you attend, every group you join, even casual encounters at sporting events, concerts, classes and athletic competitions like races and charity bike-a-thons, the one thing you can use to conveniently provide your contact info and your business “story”  to a new acquaintance is your business card. It carries your company brand, it carries your professional reputation, your phone number, e-mail address, website URL, physical address, even a level of achievement and professional status – that’s a lot of heavy lifting for a piece of card stock 2″ x 3.5″!

    For small businesses, the many choices made in creating a business card are each vitally important to be sure it can carry all that weight effectively. Nice layout but thin, flimsy stock says I’m just starting but don’t have the resources to spring for the good stuff (sending a subliminal message that maybe I’m not concerned with other details of my company’s image, either). Standard white with black type might send the message that basic is good enough, I don’t care enough about appearances to even pay attention to subtle design cues and engagement that some color can create. Way colorful and “cartoony” might make it difficult for the recipient to grant your firm the importance and weight of consideration it deserves. Lots of type and images of you might come off as narcissistic if over done. Too “designy” might reduce the impression of seriousness and business acumen that goes behind your creative decisions. Type too small to read, too much information packed in illogical order, funny, multiple or odd type faces that make it difficult to read or absorb quickly, are all poor choices, and we’ve seen them all at one time or another. All these choices are critical to convey the message in just the right way that really makes you memorable, carries your brand effectively, and connects that person who receives it with the way you can somehow help them achieve their goals, no matter what they are. Like I said, a lot of pressure for a small scrap of paper . . .

    With all that going on, it’s usually best to leave the design, layout, and production choices to a design professional who has a reasonable portfolio of business identity work. That doesn’t mean your new sister-in-law who just graduated from art school can’t take a crack at it, depending on what type of business you’re starting or promoting, but her input should be able to stand on it’s merits, not on her attendance at Thanksgiving dinner. There are basic design tenets that should be adhered to when crafting an effective business card (and other identity materials), but those tenets leave a huge margin open for creativity and ingenuity! Don’t feel boxed in by convention, just give due weight to the experience of those who are successful at creating these little buggers.

    For the money, business cards can be your most effective weapon in the battle for recognition, growth, brand awareness, new customer acquisition, and professional networking success. Its certainly the oldest, and most valuable dollar for dollar. Sure, digital elements are global, changeable, adaptable, mobile and modern, but the lowly business card travels further, gets kept longer, is more portable and shareable, carries more information and meta-information, more memorable tactility, and more engagement than a web banner ad URL could hope for on its best day!

    Next time someone hands you their business card (hopefully you asked for it first), take a moment and study it, feel it, read both sides, absorb it for a moment, then look up and connect all that information with the person in front of you. Does it all hang together, is it “as expected”, or is it in jarring contrast to the person, company or position you’ve encountered in the person you’ve been speaking with? That jarring disconnect is to be avoided at all cost, as it reduces that attachment, that engagement, that connection and memorability that are the card’s main job. If the card looks and feels just like you’d expect after speaking with the person for a few minutes, observing and listening to them, then its a winner, and carries that person’s brand, their status, their stature, their ethos and of course, the way to continue the conversation later, perfectly packaged in one small fragment of wood pulp. Not bad for a few bucks and some thought . . .

  • Sometimes, a Frontal Assault Loses The Sales Battle

    Sometimes, a Frontal Assault Loses The Sales Battle

    I was speaking with a top marketer and high-powered sales professional (yes, the two skills are not mutually exclusive), and the conversation drifted to how he made approaches to prospective clients and how HE liked to be approached. The two were the same, and clearly it’s lead him to experience fantastic success, based upon his story and current situation.

    He shared with me that “once I discovered this secret, I quit “selling” and just had a conversation.” He related how he had been approaching clients with qualifying questions, asking them about their business, and subsequently telling them and showing them how his expertise could provide solutions, how they had helped others in similar situations, and here were the reasons why. The is a common approach, one most sales people take to generated leads, warm calls, those they have no real personal relationship with prior to the initial conversation. It’s a frontal assault, based on the ABC (Always Be Closing) school of sales, which works great for high volume, turn-and-burn, broad-based consumer sales. It’s high-pressure, high speed, high-volume approach that will, with some minor tweaks, meet the numbers goal almost every time if enough approaches are made. But it doesn’t usually lead to the most loyal clients, or the most profitable, and certainly not the longest term clients, those who provide life-time value which is 10-20 times higher than the initial transaction value.

    For long-term, relationship-based, loyalty-rewarded business-to-business sales, this type of approach is less successful, and can be annoying and offensive to the executive to whom it is directed – it’s disrespectful to think that such an individual is going to make a quick, ill-considered purchasing decision, on his own, without due diligence, without internal consultation, right in front of the salesperson. Not happening.

    Sometimes a more subtle, staged approach is more appropriate – and more successful! This is not a style issue, it’s a functional reality. People want to do business with those they trust, and to come straight at someone without knowing anything substantive about them, and put pressure on them to make a purchasing decision, on what usually is a fairly high-ticket spend, does not inspire trust – someone worthy of my trust would know better . . .

    Now, for the secret my colleague imparted. His conversations don’t revolve around benefits, features, cost, product production schedules, arcane back-office technology, or even specific results. His conversations center around discovering the nature and often the source of the problem, the pain point the prospect is suffering from. Once that is established, no promises of a solution are made, but a commitment is asked of the prospect to explore a couple of ideas further, and see if the relationship is likely to work. That way they can both see that the steps recommended are sensible and effective, but also that each side has at least an emotional skin in the game, they’ve both committed to give TIME and EFFORT to solving the problem. Cost is not the central focus, indeed it may not even be mentioned.

    In a nutshell, the secret is to solve problems that both parties have agreed are problems and have agreed to work together to solve. It’s a common path, not a push-down strategy, and it works to “knock down walls” and reduce resistance, and craft a reasonable, fair and honest business relationship.

    Try this with your next solid prospect, and see what the results are. We all have to give to get, and with this simple secret, you get both.

  • Face-To-Face Works Best

    Face-To-Face Works Best

    If you’re a small business owner or manager, you’ve probably been focused on new customer acquisition for the last year or so, just trying to survive. You’ve probably tried and tested numerous methods of “getting the word out” in your local business community, using supposedly “tried and true” methods, like publication advertising, fliers in public places, trade shows, maybe e-mail campaigns, social media promotions, maybe some direct mail, coupon packs, maybe even radio or other types of mass media. If you’re like most we’ve worked with in this situation, the results from these efforts were mixed at best.

    What most of these types of promotions lack is brand recognition in the local community, and lack of focus, both geographically or psychographically, being off message or appearing in the wrong place to the wrong audience.

    Even in this day and age of technology and social networking, the most effective method we’ve found to initiate and foster working, professional relationships is fact-to-face networking. More information about you and your business, your integrity, your honestly, your competence and capability can be transmitted in a fifteen minute conversation at a business mixer than in a YouTube video, a Facebook profile, a LinkedIn resume, a brochure or direct mailer.

    Professional business networking is a conversation with a point. I’m not talking about those business card pass out fests, where you’re only goal is to gab and grab as many cards as you can and get out. I’m talking about educational, informative, honest conversations in a low-pressure, conducive environment, where real professionals can find out about each others’ businesses, get a sense of their goals, approach and vision, where you can gauge their position in the professional landscape, maybe meet some of their colleagues, watch how the interact with others.

    It’s an art form, and resembles dating in many ways. You’re looking for common ground, common experiences, common approaches or beliefs, that you can use to base an ongoing relationship upon. You’re looking for people to whom you’d trust your business, one you’ve worked hard to build, and you want to be careful with that particular property.

    Of course, there are limitations – you can only be in so many places at once, and you can only meet so many people in a given hour. But it’s not quantity you’re focused on here, it’s quality. There are some numbers involved, but they are less daunting than you might believe. For example, if you go to four events a month, one a week on average, you can probably meet 15-20 people a month. Of those, maybe 50% are worth keeping in touch with or fostering, for various reasons (competitor, never any need for your business, not senior enough to be decision maker yet, etc.). That’s 120 new people a year, each of whom represents a business, a circle of friends, associates, colleagues, family, neighbors and other relatives, who probably total approximately 50. That’s 6000 connections a year, every year, who now have access to you, if you’ve made the right impression on each of the initial contacts – meaning you haven’t talked their ear off, wasted their time, have expressed a sincere interest in their business, asked meaningful questions, haven’t said anything offensive, etc.

    If half of those connections actually investigate further, and elect to do business with you, that’s 3000 new customers a year. With an average order of $50, that’s $150,000 a year off single-transaction new business alone, let alone referrals, repeat business, upsell, and a host of other interactions. All for having a drink and a chat once a week. Not too shabby.

    Face-to-face interactions allow you to be you, and represent your business in a way that no other media or method allows. Making the connections is only half the battle, following up and nurturing those relationships, keeping them fresh and active is another story altogether.

    Go forth and network, and you don’t even need an Internet connection! Don’t forget to pick up your copy of “The Marketing Doctor’s Survival Notes”

  • Who Do You Seek Advice From?

    Who Do You Seek Advice From?

    Before all you English majors go off on me, I know the title is making use of poor grammar -but “From Whom Do You Seek Advice?” doesn’t really “sing” when used as a headline. Nuff’ said.

    The real question is, how do you select, solicit and filter advice on the topics in your life and work that matter? Most folks have an informal network of influencers and advisers, people they turn to when they have a question, want to validate a choice or point of view. Some have a small circle, some have a very large network of various family members with a range of levels of expertise. Sometimes its just that you want to hear another opinion, from someone who thinks like you do, who will dilute and sugar-coat their stance and feed your own back to you, just as a feel good.

    But sometimes, picking the right expert really matters. Sometimes its a case of hiring a professional who you happen to know under other circumstances. Selecting a realtor, picking a doctor or dentist, finding a tax preparer or accountant, an attorney for non-criminal work. Most of those selections are based on referrals or references from our known network of advisers. Sometimes the professional themselves is part of the network! But how do you really make the choice? Is it emotional, is it pragmatic, is it price sensitive, is it strictly relationship based?

    Studies have shown that reaching those influencers is the most powerful way to prompt word-of-mouth transference of brand and product information. But how do you find them and reach them? Most of the advisers who are non-family are close friends from various stages of our lives. College roommates, fraternity brothers or sorority sisters, high school buddies, team members from sports activities, vendors of various services we use routinely – familiar faces. To find these people and gather them as a list for someone else is virtually impossible – until now. Social media does exactly that and more. Those influencers and advisers are now called “friends”.

    That’s the real power of social media – reaching the influencers of your target audience. If you wanted to build the killer marketing app, it would be one that selects all the Facebook pages from people that fall into your target demographic based on data presented on the pages, and selects the five most prolific friend commentators that appear next to a question mark. You’ve asked the audience for help with a question, and those top advisers answer it. Select them and market to them socially, and they will bleed that influence into the key purchaser. We can only dream . . . so far.

    For now, we’ll have to settle for joining the online conversation in a corporate but personal way, and hope that those influencers see us, hear us, and most importantly, believe us, so that they pass along the attributes we offer to their list of “friends”.

    Keep at it, the tech geniuses will eventually create the key that unlocks the real monetary power of social media, and when they do, look out . . .

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  • Networking Events Can Produce Results, But Common Interest Cements Relationships

    Networking Events Can Produce Results, But Common Interest Cements Relationships

    We’ve all been there . . .

    You go to an event, be it a conference, a seminar session or annual meeting, and you meet different business people, discover some common ground outside the theme of the event, and you keep in touch for a while after the event, but unless you work at it and nurture it, that relationship fades into the background, not serving either party. Occasionally, you run into someone that really has a lot in common with you, has some business reason to stay in touch and that relationship grows and flowers and produces solid business gains for both sides and lasts years. What made the difference?

    I have a theory, and statistics gained in our work promoting events will back this assertion up to a certain degree: “The more closely aligned the business goals of the parties are, the less likely they are to form a longer-term relationship.” On the surface that may seem counter-intuitive, but keep reading.

    What drives business relationships is gain – profit, cash flow, commerce. Each side has to have a clearly defined role and those roles need to be complimentary, not unidirectional, for the relationship to be productive. Gains are made and money moved when something is sold or bought. Seven times out of ten, what drives that relationship is the desire to sell to the other guy! Two salesmen can get together and banter and share a beverage, but chances are that relationship will develop a competitive or adversarial nature. But if one is a salesman and the other is a mid-level executive in another role, something can be sold there, business moves, transactions done, and the relationship works for both.

    Two top executives can get together and share common issues, maybe even work on the same committee to solve an industry problem, and if there’s no chance of them being in a competitive situation, and with nothing personal underlying it – tough conditions to fill – that relationship might come in handy from time to time, but it probably will not be terribly productive. No chance to sell to the other one! No chance to beat the other one, either.

    Networking meetings in general have been overused and relationships forced upon business people for a long time, and they still serve a useful function, especially for those new to an area or industry. But without the quantity of time required to care for and nurture those relationships, and a good business reason to do so, in today’s superficial and time-starved environment, most are short-lived and unproductive. The way to get the most out of networking meetings is to introduce yourself to a few key people, or better yet, have someone else introduce you to a few key individuals, and take the time to investigate them further, see if they are worth pursuing, and take the lead in keeping them fresh and alive.

    If you meet ten people and stay in touch with just one really solid business individual and keep that relationship growing, you can consider that meeting a success. At that build ratio, you’ll need to attend a significant number of meetings to start a functioning network from scratch. But if you put in the time, make the investment in your own business future, you’ll find it pays off in spades over the years.

    The best technique that we’ve seen success with is to let such relationships develop naturally through outside interests other than business. That fellow soccer coach, that neighborhood association committee member, that dinner companion of a college friend, that last-minute fill-in in your golfing foursome, that guy who has season tickets right next to yours at the stadium or the theater – that’s how relationships get started, and have no surface business purpose, but after getting deeper into them, you find common business ground if you’re open to discovering it. It’s old-school, but it works! It’s less contrived, less forced, more comfortable for everyone, and you don’t have to go out of your way, or wear a name tag for them to be productive!

    Next time you’re at a networking function where the specific reason for attending is to meet other people to do business, think back to other similar situations and count the number of people you regularly do business with, and ask yourself how many of them you met at such an event. The answer will likely be Zero! Now examine those same people you regularly do good business with, and ask how you met them initially. The answer is usually that you were introduced by someone you both knew from somewhere else.

    Try this at your next social outing or sporting event: try and steer the conversation you’re having so that it includes no clue about what your job is or what business or industry you’re in. You’ll be amazed how difficult it is, and how intriguing it makes you to others. But think of the information you’ve gathered.

    Now you know more about them as people, and can make a more informed decision about whether to pursue that relationship further, and find some common business ground. My guess is that the resulting business relationship will be stronger and last longer than the one derived from the forced, contrived situation at the hotel.

    Write to me with your networking stories, we’ll compare notes . . .

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