Better Business Blog

7 Tips for Networking

Networking goes hand in hand with running a successful business.

But many of us dread walking into a room and introducing ourselves to a bunch of strangers.

I've been asked to share my best networking tips at a meeting today of the National Association of Women Business Owners in Philadelphia. Here are the most valuable tips I've come across – and put to work myself – over the years:

1. Resist the urge to arrive late. It's almost counter-intuitive, but showing up early at a networking event is a much better strategy than getting there on the later side. As a first attendee, you'll notice that it's calmer and quieter – and people won't have settled into groups yet. It's easier to find other people who don't have conversation partners yet.

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The 7 Pillars of Connecting With Absolutely Anyone

 

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

I don’t care what your goals, industry or interests are, there’s no getting around it: Personal relationships run the world. But why is it that some people seem to build instant rapport with most anyone they come across, while others are left with a network of one?

Over the past few years, I’ve conducted a study of exactly what sets these people apart. Turns out, the results are more simple, and more powerful, than you’d think. And they led me to interactions and connections with world-class CEOs, best-selling authors, professional athletes and other seemingly untouchable folks, including Tony Robbins and Warren Buffett.

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When It Comes to Networking, Farmers Will Always Beat Hunters

Has a complete stranger ever solicited you for a referral or business? I call this “premature solicitation.”

I’ve been its victim many times. I was recently speaking at a networking event, and before my presentation, a man came up to me and said, “Hi, it is a real pleasure to meet you. I understand you know Richard Branson. I offer specialized marketing services and I am sure his Virgin enterprises could benefit from what I provide. Could you please introduce me to him so that I can show him how this would assist his companies?”

Here’s what was going on inside my head: “Are you completely insane? I’m going to introduce you, someone I don’t know and don’t have any relationship with, to Sir Richard, whom I’ve only met a few times, so that you can proceed to attempt to sell him a product or service that I don’t know anything about and haven’t used myself? Yeah, right. That’s never going to happen.”

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Learning to Network: Organized Study vs. Winging It

My colleagues and I, as co-authors of the new book Business Networking and Sex – Not What You Think, thought it would be interesting to see if men and women acquire networking skills in different ways. So in one of our surveys, we asked participants how they learned to network.

Most respondents--both men and women--cited multiple ways. More than one-fourth said they had been mentored, which is widely considered one of the most effective ways to learn anything. Almost half said they had learned on their own, but many of them also participated in networking groups or read books and articles. In fact, more than three-quarters of respondents cited their use of networking groups. Which isn't surprising. Such groups often provide training programs and materials. Their popularity also illustrates the old wisdom of learning by doing. Many people learn fastest by watching others, making mistakes and correcting them.

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35 Ways to Make Your Business Look Bigger

If you're going to compete with the big dogs, you've got to dress the part. Look more professional with these essential apps.

Current lack of budget, manpower, and resources aside, you know your bedroom start-up has what it takes to compete with industry leaders. But do your customers know that?

If you're not doing it already, it's time to start dressing the part.

What follows is a list of cost-effective tech tools that will help you look bigger and more professional—without the crippling overhead.

Read More: 35 Ways to Make Your Business Look Bigger

Connecting Minority-Owned Businesses to Corporate and Government Money

When it comes to running a small business, experts say that nothing replaces hard work, dedication and a smart idea at the core of things. But for business owners in a minority demographic, there's some extra leverage that can come with certification.

The advantage, according to certificate-supplying organizations such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council, is that Asian, black, Hispanic and Native American business owners can be matched with services, programs, and sources of work and revenue.

"Certification can provide entrée to the corporate supply chain that MBEs otherwise would not have," said Joset B. Wright, the Council's president. "For example, last year we introduced the Biz-Fit Challenge, a free online assessment tool to help certified MBEs diagnose the financial health of their companies."

Read More: Connecting Minority-Owned Businesses to Corporate and Government Money

How To Build a Rockin’ LinkedIn Presence

Let’s face it: Too many of us spend a lot of time actively ignoring LinkedIn. We don’t intend to, it’s just not as flashy as some of the other social networks. But if you haven’t checked out the business social networking site lately, it’s time to stop ignoring LinkedIn and go back. Because the site has added a host of new features in recent months that have helped transform it from a static resume site to a full-blown business networking site that SMBs will want to take advantage of.

One feature small business owners want to specifically be aware of is the ability to create company profiles on the site. By claiming and building out your profile, SMBs will be able to increase your company’s prominence on the site, help prospective employees find you, and use it as your own personal recruiting network. If you’ve ever had to hire locally, you know important this is.

Read More: How To Build a Rockin’ LinkedIn Presence

6 Emotions That Make Customers Buy

Customers make purchasing decisions because they have carefully considered a set of good information, right?

Wrong.

Buying decisions are always the result of a change in the customer's emotional state. While information may help change that emotional state, it's the emotion that's important, not the information.

All buying decisions stem from the interplay of the following six emotions:

1. Greed. "If I make a decision now, I will be rewarded."

2. Fear. "If I don't make a decision now, I'm toast."

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What Zappos Can Teach You About Becoming Irresistible to Customers

What can a well-run shoe store teach you about your own online business?

Well, everything.

If you’ve ever bought anything from the mega online shoe store Zappos, or if you’ve so much as heard them mentioned, the word that comes to mind is probably service.

But there’s more to the Zappo’s secret sauce than free shipping and some nice people on the phone.

They embody three important lessons that any blogger, online marketer, or small business owner can learn … and start finding customers that don’t just like you, they love you.

Read More: What Zappos Can Teach You About Becoming Irresistible to Customers

6 Ways to Give Your App a Leg Up on the Competition

Paul Baldwin is the chief marketing officer of Outfit7 Inc., a subsidiary of Out Fit 7 Ltd, the leading entertainment app developer. Paul has more than 17 years of experience developing, marketing and monetizing digital entertainment content.

Spend a few minutes browsing through both the Android and Apple app stores and it’s easy to see the fierce competition for user attention. The number of apps has grown to more than 1 million, each vying for downloads and market share.

The app development world is still very top-heavy, with a very small percentage of developers controlling the majority of downloads and revenue. But that in no way means that a newcomer can’t build a successful app that captures the hearts and minds of consumers, and becomes the next big thing.

Since the app stores themselves control which apps are elevated and highlighted, how can you ensure your app gets time in the spotlight and the attention it deserves? Here are six tips drawn from experience

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Incorporating your business? Here’s what you need to know

You’ve launched a startup or are in the planning phases. You understand your market, your customers, and your competition. But just how much do you know when it comes to incorporating your business?

For most new entrepreneurs, the process of incorporating (forming an LLC) is an unfamiliar road to navigate. When you’re burning the candle at both ends to get a beta released or website launched, legal paperwork isn’t necessarily high on your priority list.

Yet, you’ve got to give serious consideration to your business structure…and the sooner you address the question, the better. To that end, here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions faced during the process.

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How're We Doing? No, Really

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely business, so it's important to get lots of feedback from customers and employees. But what kind of feedback do you really want, and how do you get it?

I was recently asked to help get effective, casual, and simply more feedback into the daily rhythm of a fast-growing technology company. This is a timely question: With the start of a new year, organizations are conducting annual reviews, which are generally the big kahuna of feedback. Too often, these reviews are the only substantive feedback most employees receive.

But no one gets it right the first time, all the time, which is why the process of giving and receiving feedback needs to be embedded in the practice of leadership—and to be more than a once-a-year event.  Unfortunately, giving and receiving feedback can be tough for many leaders. Some of the reasons for this include:

• Reluctance to criticize another person, or to be seen as doing so
• The emotional vulnerability that accompanies an openness to feedback
• The power dynamic of a boss evaluating a subordinate, or even of peers evaluating each other
• The politics of saying that one perspective is ‘right’ and another ‘wrong.’

In order to influence the process, and to make feedback a healthy part of a functioning organization, a leader must first ask a series of questions.

Read More: How're We Doing? No, Really

5 Online CRM Platforms That Go Beyond Basics

CRM tools have been around forever. But the tools are evolving rapidly and in many ways redefining the boundaries of what CRM is. The latest market changes require a much broader community approach to building relationships with clients.

Today’s CRM tools are online and they include social data as standard aspects of every record. They also include a comprehensive view of the client relationship, including project management, collaboration and even billing.

My dad had a file box full of handwritten ledgers detailing everything he knew about his biggest customers, including when they ordered. That was his CRM tool, and it worked.

Read More:5 Online CRM Platforms That Go Beyond Basics

10 Tips for Building a Strong Online Community Around Your Startup

Building a community around your startup can be one of the cheapest ways to create momentum for your product. A community is much more than a one-time marketing campaign, and can help you throughout your company’s life cycle if you take the time to grow it right.

Here are 10 tips for getting started.

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1. Look Before You Leap

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First, take stock of who is already talking about your product or industry and where they’re doing it. Mike Handy, a community consultant, suggests you seek out “pockets of users who are excited about your product or service.” If users are already talking about your product on Twitter, for instance, that’s a good place to start building.

Sumaya Kazi, CEO of Sumazi, recommends “It’s best to focus on one to two communities to begin with, and really focus your efforts to grow a community one at a time.” Take stock of where your efforts will be most useful and narrow in on those areas.

Read More: 10 Tips for Building a Strong Online Community Around Your Startup

The Shady Practice Of Spinning Articles To Avoid Duplicate Content Penalties

If you've been walking on the sunny side of a clean street on your Search Marketing journey, hopefully you've skipped right past that dark and narrow alleyway in which lurks the spin monster. The practice of 'spinning' articles for directory submission isn't new, but it has come to my notice that marketing firms are currently utilizing this as a post-Panda effort for avoiding the dread Google duplicate content label, and I'm writing this article today to describe what the process is. If you're about to hire a marketer/SEO whose methods of promotion include submitting 'spun' articles to content sites, read this first before you sign that contract.

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A Guide to Small Business Survival

Small business ownership can be a challenge, especially in the beginning. The rewards can be great but you may need a survival guide to get you through the tough parts or just to provide that simple advice that seems so elusive when the pressure is on. We hope the links below will help, and don’t forget to enjoy the journey.

Basic Resources

Small business blogger survival guide. A big part of surviving as a small business blogger involves being a social animal. Here David Leonhardt gives every small business blogger some great resources to keep you, your business, and your blog alive. ProBlogger

Tax tips for business. How you manage money once your business makes it can sometimes be as critical as your business model. Here are some basic deductions you must take to be sure you are saving all that you can. The One of a Kind Preneur

 

Read More: A Guide to Small Business Survival

Which Way Is Best: Relationships First or Business First?

Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Business Networking and Sex (Not What You Think) (Entrepreneur Press, 2012) by Ivan Misner, Hazel M. Walker and Frank J. De Raffele Jr. The book parses data from a survey of more than 12,000 businesspeople that focused on gender differences in networking to understand communication roadblocks between women and men and to provide breakthroughs that can help improve results.

Related: Networking With the Opposite Sex by Hazel M. Walker

It's no amazing revelation to say that the first priority for women is relationships, and for men, getting business. DNA evidence and the roles men still play in our society support that fact. Men have been the hunters, protectors and providers of our clans since the beginning of time. This is not to say female breadwinners are not increasing in number every day as the sole supporters of their families, because they are. But let's go back to who we are at a primal level.

As the provider, I feel it is my responsibility to bring home the bacon, steak, buffalo -- or squirrel, if it has been a very bad day. When I'm bringing that catch home, I'm not trying to build a forever relationship with that meal that I'm hunting. I need to catch it, prepare it for my family and get it home, just like the sales and deals I go after in today's world.

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How to Raise Prices Without Hurting Your Business

With prices for all kinds of essentials going up — gas, heating oil, health insurance — it may be time to consider raising your company’s rates or profit margins in 2012. Customers often bristle at paying more for goods and services when they’re accustomed to a specific amount, but you can raise prices without hurting your business if you’re careful. Here’s how.

• Don’t be afraid to lose the cheapskates. Let’s say you’re still giving a heavy discount to a client who supported you in the early days. If the relationship is important to you, it may be worth maintaining some type of price break. However, if the client now takes you for granted or you don’t find the work rewarding, don’t hesitate to send a letter stating your new rates. If you lose the client, so be it — you’ll build a more profitable business by finding a higher-paying replacement.

Read More: How to Raise Prices Without Hurting Your Business

Who Are You Talking To?

Is there anyone outside of your company challenging you to grow yourself and your business?

The "Master Mind Group" I am in is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. This group of business owners and CXOs has been a source of incredible wisdom, insight, painful accountability and great personal growth.

I honestly wonder how anyone goes through the struggle of owning and running a business without one. My strong suggestion is that you don't.

A Master Mind Group is another name for a peer group that works together to better each member. In business, user groups and associations often provide some of this collaboration. But that said, I have always gotten great benefit from business leaders not in my industry from their diverse experiences and often-complementary thinking.

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How to Disagree At Meetings in a Positive and Productive Way

How many times have you sat in a meeting thinking, "This is all wrong"? How many times have you disagreed with something, but not spoken up, for fear of making waves, rocking the boat, holding things up or being viewed as the naysayer? How many times have you wanted to disagree but were afraid to in front of others? And how many times have you left the meeting upset at yourself for not speaking your mind?

Are there ways to disagree at meetings in a positive and productive way?

Joel Garfinkle, one of the top 50 executive coaches in the U.S., has something to say about it in his book Getting Ahead: Three Steps To Take Your Career To The Next Level.

Read More: How to Disagree At Meetings in a Positive and Productive Way

You're One Of These 5 Types Of Influencers, And This Has A Huge Impact On Your Career

Effective leadership today relies more than ever on influencing others — impacting their ideas, opinions, and actions. While influence has always been a valuable managerial skill, today's highly collaborative organizations make it essential.

Consider how often you have to influence people who don't even report to you in order to accomplish your objectives. Success depends on your ability to effectively influence both your direct reports and the people over whom you have no direct authority.

Have you ever thought about how you influence others? The tactics you use? We are all aware that people use different influencing tactics, but did you realize that we each naturally default to the same tactics every time? Or that the tactics we default to are also the ones to which we are most receptive when being influenced?

Read More: You're One Of These 5 Types Of Influencers, And This Has A Huge Impact On Your Career

11 useful tips for marketing your brand on LinkedIn

With over 135 million users, 59% of which are located outside of the United States and with 75 of the Fortune 100 companies using the network for marketing and recruiting purposes, LinkedIn has become a critical platform for building, connecting with, and growing your personal and professional networks.

As the leading business social network, LinkedIn offers the chance to connect with professionals all around the world and from all industry backgrounds. But how do you convert networks into customers, and ‘likes’ into sales?

1. Learn from your peers

Successful marketing is all about listening to what your market needs. The LinkedIn Groups feature provides a space where you can discuss issues with others in your industry and learn from their advice. You can bounce ideas off industry experts and stay informed on new developments. You also have an opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in a certain industry/area allowing you to build relationships with current and prospective customers in a more organic and credible fashion.

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10 Easy Customer Engagement Ideas for Small Business

Business and technology writer Efraim Turban defines customer service as “a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction — that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”

While customer experience means different things to different people, it is generally about the sum of all the interaction a customer has with a brand or company. That’s a significant difference from customer service, which generally focuses on a single transaction.

All of which begs the question, how do you create a customer experience that sets you apart from the competition and keeps customers coming back? Luckily for you, I recently asked a group of successful young entrepreneurs those very questions.

Read More: 10 Easy Customer Engagement Ideas for Small Business

You Can Get Richer Pinching Pennies Like Warren Buffett

Many people have tried to emulate Warren Buffett’s investment style. More may attempt it as they search for the best investing ideas for 2012. But here’s a more attainable goal: Pinch pennies like the Oracle of Omaha. This might turn out to be a New Year’s resolution you can actually keep. And you’ll be richer for it.

When his first child was born, the famously frugal Buffett turned a dresser drawer into a bassinet. For the second one, he borrowed a crib. While in New York signing up clients to invest six-figure sums with him during the 1960s, he reportedly phoned a friend from New York’s Plaza Hotel to bring over a six-pack of Pepsi so he wouldn’t have to pay for room service. He drove a Volkswagen until his wife decided it was bad for his image and upgraded him to a Cadillac.

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The Single Greates Factor of Success in Business

There are so many important ideas and concepts in business. Things like strategy, purpose, and passion are integral to success, but none of it really matters without one ingredient – and that’s clarity.

Clarity is that strong and unwavering sense that our daily choices are grounded in an authentic sense of purpose. Clarity is how we create a sketch of something worth asking others to complete. Clarity forces us to form the right questions.

Without clarity everything we do is either an attempt to gain it or a stab at the hope that we are moving in the right direction.

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