Month: May 2012

Categories
Networking

6 Good Reasons To Join A BNI Group

Article Contributed by Suzen Pettit

Not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to join a BNI (Business Networking International) group in my neighborhood, other than the idea of a networking group based solely on the idea of giving and receiving referrals, with none of the froo- froo attached to it, none of the dancing around….seemed so appealing. If you read my last post about my networking group challenges you’ll get what I’m talking about. So when my “Computer Troubleshooter” Rick Van Akin suggested that if I wanted to grow my business I should come to his BNI meeting just to “check it out” I thought, why not?

Little did I know at the time, or perhaps I just wasn’t listening, that the meetings began at 7 AM. AM? I thought he’d said PM. AM??? AM it was, and when I emailed the president to see just how formally attired I needed to be at 7 AM I was bummed out to hear that yoga pants were really not an option, unless of course I was a yoga instructor. I briefly considered switching careers. So I’d be lying if I said that I was ecstatic about attending my first meeting. Grumbling under my breath, I made it to the first meeting with seconds to spare, leaving my daughter to figure out how to get herself dressed, fed and to the school  bus on her own. Third graders can do that in this country, can’t they? Kidding, she’s 11.  Kidding again- she’s a teenager. Much more dangerous than a third grader.

That being said, and much to my surprise, I was blown away by the meeting. Seriously. I filled out an application and interviewed for the group, after my second visit.  You’re only allowed 2 visits before having to decide, and even then there’s an application process.

Here’s my top 6 reasons why I joined the Super 7 BNI and you should join one too:

  1. They mean business. And I mean business. They aren’t kidding about giving and receiving referrals. At the end of each meeting members are expected to go around the tables and with everyone witnessing, either offer a testimonial, a referral or a thank you to at least 1 person in the group. No slouchers allowed. Our eyes are all upon you.
  2. You are held accountable- In a good way! Members are expected to make it to most of the weekly meetings- only 3 absences are allowed within a 6 month period without obtaining a substitute. It’s a structured group (although we do manage to have fun…). Commitment is expected of the group, and it pays off. If you are perceived as being serious about giving and receiving business referrals, and about satisfying customers that have been referred to you, business leads follow. Performing quality work is an expectation. After all, you need to look at these people in the eye at 7 AM each and every week. Therefore the weeding is taken care of, and a good group will end up with quality professionals who they can feel confident referring to their network. And parents.
  3. The motto, originated by BNI founder Ivan Misner is that “Givers Gain”. Who doesn’t love that? Instead of the typical networking and “salesy” philosophy of  “what can you do for me today”, in BNI we switch things up to a much more Buddhist way of thinking, in that if you are always thinking of ways, and of people to “give” business to,  eventually it will come around. And 9 out of 10 times it does. Truly. Try doing it in your own life outside of a BNI and you will prove this to yourself. Give selflessly. It’s Karma, baby.
  4. We get to hone our presentation skills: At every meeting folks get an opportunity to give a 60 second elevator speech (hate that term) about what a good lead would be for them that day, and at each meeting the members rotate an opportunity to give a “marketing minute” and a 10 minute presentation where they really get to present their “thang”. Why should someone hire this person? You’ll find out at the 10 minute presentation, and you’ll have a chance to really hone your delivery. Great presentation skill building. Who needs Toastmasters?
  5. Only one professional of each profession allowed per group. If you’re admitted into the group, you are the sole financial advisor, life insurance agent, realtor, etc., which obviously encourages referrals.  It’s easy to form strategic alliances and spheres of influences this way. Again, accountability is key however. We’re all counting on quality work being performed as it reflects back on us.
  6. We’re out by 8:30 AM with the day in front of us. The funny thing is, most of us have a lot to talk about after the meeting and don’t want to go. If you’re lucky you’ll get into a great group like ours, who really enjoy one another’s company and use the power of BNI to grow our businesses both on site and off.

I’m really happy this great group of professionals allowed me to grace them with my presence. I’ve never looked back,  gladly pay the dues, and in the one short year that I’ve been a member it has helped grow my business exponentially. Who couldn’t use that?

About the Author

Suzen Pettit blogs at http://omaginarium.com/blog/, a site that guides small businesses through the maze of technology to help them grow their online presence with successful SEO.

Categories
Entrepreneurship

The 9 Best Business Lessons From The Godfather

Article Contributed by OnlineBusinessDegree.org

Just what kind of business are you in that you want to model your professional actions after the greatest cinematic mob story of all time? Well, no matter. The Godfather is chock full of great advice, and there’s lots to learn from the themes of this classic film. Check out the nine best business lessons that we’ve learned from The Godfather, or you might be (metaphorically) sleeping with the fishes sooner than you thought.

Make Them An Offer They Can’t Refuse

Obviously. One of the best ways to get what you want in business is to tailor your product to your customer’s needs. And this works for managers, too. If you want to incentivize your employees, there’s often a way that you can make your request primarily beneficial to them and the company both. Barring using horse-headed death threats as a strategy, make sure that when you want a certain result, you make the incentive good enough to warrant it.

Trust No One

Whether you’re a bona fide wise guy or not, it’s wise to watch who you trust. That’s not to say that you should be suspicious of everyone all the time, it’s that the only person whose decisions and actions that you can safely rely on are your own. Even being in business with people for years doesn’t mean that you can trust them, but you can trust them to be themselves. And whether you’re running the underground or just the office, that’s another key lesson to learn.

Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer

Well, maybe not your enemies. More like your competitors. It’s important to have a good idea the landscape of your market competition, both larger and smaller than you. And when there’s an industry-wide issue that could improve your field, do yourself a favor and be the one to lead the charge to unity. You’ll stand out among your competitors while also improving things for all involved when you’re the one to get a group to band together faster than you can say “five families.”

Patience is a Virtue

Don’t expect for things to blow up for you overnight — it takes time to build a mafia empire strong business. And this advice goes for both rookies and veterans: quality comes from patience, planning, and having a great product.

Always Have A Plan

When you’re running an international crime syndicate, you’ve simply got to have a plan. It’s not profitable to do things willy-nilly, with no discussion or lack of a business model. It’s probably best to avoid a business plan that involves gunning people down in the street, but appropriate foresight, planning, and action can lead to, ahem, legitimate business success.

Learn from Your Failures

Failure happens. Even to mafiosos. Let this fact lead you, and give yourself permission to fail. But also let yourself learn from your missteps, as it’s possible to turn any short-term failure into long-time success. If you lose some guys in a gun battle, or lose money from a dirty double cross, you know how crucial it can be to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, regroup, and move forward. Also, what kind of job did you say you had, again?

Loyalty Matters

One of the most important lessons to take from the Don is that loyalty is key. In this day and age, economic security is a spectre — but it’s paramount to remember never to bite the hand that feeds you. Whether you have a boss or have to deal with distributors, it’s always best to be loyal to your higher-ups and those who depend on you. It’s as simple as this: the better everyone does, the better everyone does.

Respect Must Be Earned

While loyalty is important, respect must be earned. Make sure that you’re commanding respect, and not just because of your great work product. If you act with dignity and put integrity first on your value list, you’ll see how easy it can be to build up mutual respect with co-workers, superiors, and those in other areas with whom you have to work. Additionally, take caution to respect respect: it’s easy to build up, takes time to cement, and can be gone forever in a flash.

Business Is Personal

Tom, don’t let anyone kid you. It’s all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of sh-t every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it’s personal as hell.And there you have it. Michael Corleone said it best, and it’s the honest truth: business is made up of people. People who care, people who create, people who perform, and everything in between. The great thing about a business is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but its parts are people — and those are pretty great, too.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

To Attend or Not to Attend — 3 Keys to Determine the Right Event for You

In case you haven’t been paying attention, there are more events out there then you can shake a stick at. And every time you turn around, even more events pop up.

For the most part, I’m glad there are so many events because there are many good reasons to attend them. The networking, the learning, the “getting out of your rut and exploring new ideas” and more. But the problem is, how do you decide which events are worth you spending your hard-earned money (not to mention your time) attending and which are the ones you should skip?

Well, I’ve put together 3 keys to helping you determine the right event for you.

1. First — ask yourself why you want to attend this event (or any event for that matter) in the first place. What do you hope to get out of it? Are you looking for business? Joint venture opportunities? To learn a new skill or strategy? To brainstorm some new ideas for your business? To just get away from your office and talk to people who “get it?”

Be very clear and very specific on what you want. Don’t be vague — if you’re vague you’re not going to have enough information to actually make the right decision.

2. Now, take a look at the event. If you’re looking for clients or joint venture partners, are those the people who will be attending? Will it be too small (or too big) for you to be able to do they type of networking you enjoy? If you want brainstorming or masterminding, will the right folks be there for that?

If you’re looking for education, is the event promise a good fit? Do you think you’ll actually walk away with the information you’re looking for?

3. Okay, so if you’ve gotten this far and the event appears to be a good fit, now I want you to take one final look to make sure attending this event is absolutely the right way to go.

If you’re looking just for information and have no big interest in the networking (or you don’t much like to network) is there a simulcast option or a home study course you could get instead? (You can also do quite a bit of networking on simulcast as well.) If you are interested in the networking, is this the absolute best event you should attend or if there a better option? And if this is the best option, should you simply be an attendee or would it be worth your while to upgrade your visibility to a sponsor package?

I’m not trying to talk you out of your decision with this third step, but what I AM trying to do is make sure you’ve thought this through so you aren’t disappointed. There’s nothing worse then spending all that time and money to show up at an event and realize either it’s not what you were looking for OR you should have made a different choice (for instance — you should have chosen a sponsorship option or a simulcast option).

So take a few extra minutes and just make sure this is the right decision for you.

And lastly (but probably most importantly) once you DO decide this is the right event for you, go buy your ticket and make your travel arrangements NOW. Don’t wait — get it done and move on to your next decision.

Categories
Customer Service

The Customer is Always Right (Especially When You Think They Aren’t!)

People buy from those they know and trust. Nowhere is this more true than on the Internet, where you may never even meet anyone in person. Establishing a trust relationship with your potential online clients takes time, but it is well worth the effort!

Think about the last time you bought a product or service online, that had a substantial positive impact on your work or life in some way. If you were spending a good chunk of change (and perhaps investing a good bit of your time) on that purchase, chances are you did some research first: reading online forums and reviews to see what others had to say about them; contacting them directly with questions and observing how quick and helpful (and polite) their response was; maybe even buying a smaller product or service from them first. All to determine if you could trust this online business to deliver what they promise.

Your potential online clients are no different! They are going to want to know if they can trust you to deliver, too. Here are three specific ways you can work on building trust relationships online, and how each will help your business:

1.     Get to know your customers. 

This helps you more deeply understand what it is they need – making it a lot easier to tell them how what you are selling is going to meet their needs. Find out where they “hang” out, on discussion forums, social networks, etc., and get involved. Don’t just schmooze or try to sell your product right then and there — instead, add value to the conversation. If you are doing it right, you’ll be doing a whole lot more listening than talking.

2.     Connect with your customer on a personal level. 

Let them see you as a person, one who has some things in common with them. People will trust you, and ultimately buy from you, if they feel you are like them. This means being sincere and transparent – not pretending or making something up. If you can’t make that trust connection with one particular person, don’t force it – move on to someone else.

3.     Keep up the trust relationship. 

The relationship doesn’t stop after the sale! Clients who know and like you, and have benefited from what you have sold them, will tell others about you! It will be easy for them to recommend you because they are recommending a trusted vendor, not an impersonal business or product. If you’ve done a good job of providing them with something that makes their job or life easier, they won’t be able to wait to tell someone else!

Categories
Operations

5-Step Checklist for Sending Out Email Broadcasts

Being consistent in your business is one of the critical factors for ensuring long-term growth, and one of the ways to ensure consistency is to create systems. Everything you do in your business, from responding to emails to working with clients, needs to be systemized and documented, so that it’s very easy to create a repeatable process in your business.

This consistency is what builds the like, know, and trust factor with your clients, and so ensures that you continue to build your client base.

When you don’t have proper and well-thought out systems in your business, mistakes happen. One of the areas where I see this happening is in sending out your email broadcasts, whether you’re a do-it-yourself business owner, or whether you have a virtual assistant doing this for you.

Just some of the mistakes that can happen are:

  • Bad links in emails – they go to the wrong page, or they don’t work.
  • The wrong email template being used.
  • Emails going out at the wrong time.

If you’ve experienced these, or any other mistakes, in your email broadcasts you know just how frustrating that can be. And once that email has gone out, there’s no getting it back!

So, to avoid these mistakes happening in the future, create a checklist for what needs to happen when sending out an email broadcast. Here are five areas where you can create a checklist and so ensure that when your broadcast does get sent, it does so with the RIGHT information:

1. The Content. Who is writing the content? What is the content going to be about? Who needs to receive the content (team member)? When do they need to receive the content in order to prepare the broadcast in time? These are just some of the critical areas you need to be aware of, and be clear on, so that the right information gets sent out at the right time.

2. Look and Feel. Some people have a different HTML template for their solo broadcasts than they do their newsletter. So specify which HTML template is to be used for which broadcast. And in some cases, a simple Text-only broadcast is relevant. With all of the list management services you have the option of sending out your broadcasts in either HTML, Plain Text, or MIME (a technical term that stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) and basically this means sending out your broadcast in both HTML and Plain Text versions. I always recommend using the MIME format – yes it’s more work – but it means your email has a higher chance of being delivered and is less likely to be classed as spam, because you’ve taken the time to create both formats.

3. Check Any Links and Other Relevant Information. If the broadcast is for a teleclass or other event, are the telephone numbers listed correct? If it’s your ezine or other broadcast, are all links correct? There’s nothing worse than sending out a broadcast with an incorrect phone number or bad link and then having to resend it again because you made a mistake the first time. It doesn’t look good for your business.

4. Proof Read. If you’re handing your broadcast over to a team member, ask them to proof read it too for any spelling or grammatical errors. If you’re doing it yourself, ask a family member or friend to proof read for you. A fresh pair of eyes can spot any mistakes that you’ve overlooked.

5. Send a Test. Many of the list management services give you the option of sending a test broadcast beforehand. This is a great way to check layout, formatting, links, and other relevant information. So ensure that sending a test broadcast is part of your system.

Creating a broadcast checklist is just one of the ways you can start to systemize your business, and so begin to build that all-important Standard Operations Procedure (SOP).