Small Acorns

Words: 423
Reading time: 1 min 25 secs

The small business that begins with one individual using a particular technical skill, be it plumbing, printing, legal, web design, or any one of a host of other talents will eventually reach a sales and profit plateau unless something changes.

What may not be obvious is that if potential new customers are not signing up they are telling you they are unhappy and it means that the business needs to do something about it. That’s a valuable lesson, because it will probably apply equally to your existing customers who have refrained from complaining with typical British reticence. You, as the astute small business owner, need to pick up on the language of silence.

Before launching into an expensive (and possibly fruitless) campaign to find fresh fields to harvest, have a look at the ground you are already ploughing.

Your current customers provide your current revenue and they need to be cared for first. And your best customers should receive most of your attention. If you want your customers to stay with you then they are deserving of some special treatment even if it results in being slightly unfair to newer, smaller customers.

This may seem obvious but many businesses just take their present customers for granted. A moment’s reflection will probably reveal that your relationship with your customers is the often only thing stopping them switching to another firm. Such relationships need worked to keep them fresh and constantly renewed. That need not be particularly expensive, or time consuming – but it is invaluable.

Being a great plumber is only part of making a living in a plumbing business. Marketing and sales skills are also needed, as are finance and self-motivation. Without those skills being appropriately exercised customers will neither be recruited, nor will they stay and the technical skill, whatever it is, will be destined to waste away from lack of use.

If you have had the nerve and the self-belief to set out in business for yourself the need to learn more about how that is done successfully will come as no surprise. These are not natural, instinctive skills and few of us have the time or the money to make all the mistakes required to learn by trial and error.
It is demonstrably easier and cheaper to learn from those who already have the proven skills and are willing to share them through seminars, like those provided by H&H Business, to add the missing ingredients of success. They are a shortcut to early success and save an awful lot of time.

Business Fundamentals

Words: 420

Reading Time: 1 min 24 secs

The vast majority of businesses begin small. Most begin with one individual using a particular technical skill, be it plumbing, printing, legal, web design, or any one of a host of other talents. Sometimes the enterprise is helped by the offer of work from a former employer, but when that dries up the business must compete in the marketplace with everyone else.

It is at this point that the single-skill approach suffers. Being a great plumber is only part of making a living in a plumbing business. Some of the other skills needed include marketing, sales, finance and self-motivation. Without those skills being appropriately exercised customers will not come and the technical skill, whatever it is, is destined to waste away from lack of use.

Now, being a great plumber, printer, solicitor or whatever is no guarantee that you will be equally talented where marketing, sales, finance and self-motivation are concerned. Some dabbling may yield partial results, but those will necessarily be limited and the enterprise will quickly hit a ceiling. Indeed, it is almost guaranteed that all or most of this skill set will not be available to you, because you have not had the opportunity to acquire and practice the necessary techniques.

However, all is not lost. Having a particular technical skill proves you have the ability to learn and master certain methods and systems in one area that can be mapped across into other functions. We all have multiple abilities that seemed tough to learn at the outset, but we now take for granted, like walking, talking, swimming and driving in most cases.

If you have the nerve and the self-belief to set out in business for yourself the need to learn more about how that is done successfully will come as no surprise. These are not natural, instinctive skills, but they can be learned by trial and error. Yet few of us have the time or the money to make all the mistakes required for such a long and wasteful study.

Despite that fact, judging by the number of businesses that are struggling at any one time, many still take that route even though it is demonstrably easier and cheaper to learn from those who already have the proven skills and are willing to share them.

More savvy members of the business community make use of workshops and seminars, like those provided by H&H Business, to add the missing ingredients of success. They are a shortcut to early success and save an awful lot of time.

The power of other people

Words: 399
Reading Time: 1 minute 20 seconds

Out of the blue I was recommended and signed up 25% of the people present as a result.

I was one of a small group of people – all looking to sell their services, all looking to make connections with other businesses. The organizer commended my 60 seconds of introduction and suggested that, if others had problems with speaking, then I was the person to talk to. I was part of the international speaking group, Toastmasters, and I could certainly help.

When the meeting broke up I was handed business cards by people requesting details of when and where the next meeting of Toastmasters would be and enquiring about how it all worked.

I mention this as a concrete example of the selling power of 3rd party testimonials. This one was unsolicited, but solicited or unsolicited they are astonishing in their persuasive powers. And when the 3rd party knows and trusts the person offering the endorsement, it is even more effective in promoting patronage.

So often it is not just who you know, but who is known by the people you know.

Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of talking to an Event Organizer. She had noticed that the money she spent on press advertising and direct mail was returning very little. She said her main route to market was recommendations from satisfied clients.

I asked how she went about encouraging such recommendations. She looked puzzled.

Well, did she provide commission payments where appropriate; did she buy them a case of wine, a bottle of decent champagne, or a large bouquet; did she at least send a thank you note?

Er…no.

I left her with the thought that some of that unproductive advertising spend could usefully be diverted towards a form of marketing that was actually working for her.

Will she make the change? I don’t know, but the seed has been planted.

Business suggestions:
1) When marketing, discover which channels work;
2) Divert money from non-productive to productive channels;
3) Explore other, new and different channels with the rest of the money;
4) Recognize and reward – where appropriate – recommendations that generate business;
5) Your best customers are your best (payment-by-results) sales force;
6) Ask for testimonials at every opportunity; they are rarely refused;
7) Make sure that the testimonials are heard and seen by as many other people as possible;
8) Endorsements are good for the ego.

The value of a free gift

Words: 295
Reading Time: 0 minute 59 seconds

To be of value a free gift need not cost you very much, or anything at all, but it must have some value to the recipient. If it does not have this quality then it will be seen as worthless – or worse – whatever it may have cost you.

A very knight of this soft and sea-girt isle is seeking to develop some land close to where I live. As part of the “planning gain” he is obliged to offer he proposes donating land to the local primary school. However, the amount of extra land the school gets will still leave it below the minimum area deemed necessary for a school of that size.

From the school’s viewpoint the offer is seen as minimalist and mean-spirited. Moreover, it undermines their case with the local education authority for greater facilities, because their shortfall would be marginally less. If they accepted the gift they would actually be worse off.

This is clearly a case where the giver of the gift has completely failed to see it from the other side of the table. The gift is a poisoned chalice. It neither recognizes, nor solves the school’s problem.

And the giver has also damaged his own image instead of enhancing it. Rather than painting a picture of someone generous, open-handed and willing to contribute to village life, he comes across as a typical Scrooge; self-interested and miserly.

It’s marketing myopia all over again.

Business suggestions, for him as well as others:
1) Find out what the recipients value, do not just assume;
2) Connect the dots by showing how it feeds their dreams;
3) Make it freely available; do not impose pre-conditions;
4) The gift will change the relationship, make sure it’s to your benefit;
5) Go the extra mile; it’s not that far.

Tomorrow is another country

Words: 217
Reading Time: 0 minute 43 seconds

All around me are preparations for the first England match in the World Cup. Whatever you may think of football – or of the England team - enormous enthusiasm is being exhibited nationwide. When we consider the record of the England team delivering against such expectations, I begin to wonder why such raving fans exist.

I believe the most likely explanation is that – once again – they have been sold, not the reality of past results, but the dream of future glory. This is not the past all-over-again; this is new territory, the dynamics are different; the possibility exists. It is hope-against-hope time and an excuse, among some, for a party.

And then there is the loyal cognoscenti who would enthuse whatever the circumstances – either for football in general, or for the England team in particular – although they are probably a minority.

What are the implications for business?

I would suggest the following lessons:
1) Don’t ignore your loyal fan base, they will keep you going through tough times;
2) Find out why your prospective supporters should care;
3) Sell the future for your customers, not the products' past;
4) Dreams overpower reality.

If business recognized and realized the way their potential supporters think, they would have many more enthusiastic aficionados and a very different tomorrow. Computer firm Apple is the classic example.

Marketing aspects of the grocery hunt

Words: 445
Reading Time: 1 minute 29 seconds

Suddenly you can’t find your favoured brand of breakfast muesli? Of course not; it’s deliberately been moved to confuse you. The conventional wisdom used by the non-thinkers that run supermarkets is that moving products around to confuse customers has a tendency to increase sales.

Thus it is that eventually I found cling film with the pet food this week; kitchen towels in the “seasonal” aisle and chilled puff pastry next to the butter. Where else?

The trouble with the way this rule has evolved is that there is no effective control group. It is impossible to have two stores on the same site at the same time, one relocating goods, the other not, to give any true comparison.

So sales go up on the confusingly located product, or the one that took its place – would they have done so anyway? There is no way of knowing. And what about related products sales; how have they been affected? Brainless in marketing has no idea because what constitutes a related product is peculiar to each shopper.

This received dogma, this unexamined conformance to an out-of-date rule ignores some basic commonsense contrary indicators:
1) If this rule is so great at increasing sales, why are all the soup tins together? Why not put some with the cereals, some with the cakes and some with the soap powders? Why not simply throw all the products onto the shelves in a totally random and haphazard manner? That would really bump up the volumes – not.
2) Familiarity increases spending. I personally spend more in stores where I feel more comfortable and less threatened by the child-level psychology in use and for which, I suppose, the retailer pays handsomely.
3) Confused customers become frustrated customers. They will take out their aggression on your staff, leading to higher staff turnover. Confused customers will also give up the hunt, even abandoning goods they have already put into the trolley, and go elsewhere. Total sales go down.

Sometimes stuff has to be moved around for good reasons of space and changes in product mix. We know that. In which case:
1) Provided handy, current, printed store guides at the entrances, so that we can still find stuff;
2) Make the aisle signs reflect what is on the shelves – or simply take them down;
3) Place a bright, eye-catching (you know how to do that) re-direct label on the shelf-edge at the old location, directing us to the new location.

Isn’t it about time our retailers stopped treating us – their customers – as dim-witted cattle and accorded us a little respect?

It would certainly improve their image among the general population.

What would that do for sales?

Packaging should be a pushover

Words: 420
Reading Time: 1 minute 24 seconds

Blister packaging, particularly around small products like pills, is a frequently recurring source of exasperation to me. I am glad to find I am not alone.

According to a British study, over 60,000 people receive hospital treatment each year due to injuries from opening food packaging. When you add in similar injuries from opening packages on products other than food – including medicines themselves – then the cost to the British taxpayer is staggering.

In 2003 the Daily Telegraph coined the term “wrap rage” for this ingredient of consumer anger and disgust, but the march to encase everything on the planet in plastic seems relentless.

Sometimes regulations dictate that some OTC drugs have tamper resistance to deter people opening them in the shop; other regulations are aimed at child-resistance as an adjunct to health and safety. But these are a minority of cases.

Frequently packages are intentionally made difficult to open to reduce pilfering and shoplifting. Hard plastic clamshell packs also protect products while they are being shipped. This is more about saving the retailer and the manufacturer money. There is no element of either healthy and safety, or consumer interest.

There are many possible solutions to allow easy access to package contents and many products that simply do not warrant blister packs. Pills where there is no place for day-labelling is a good example. If vitamins can come in a single, tamper-proof pot, why not these too?

However, this relies entirely on the goodwill and commercial interests of manufacturers and retailers. I cannot recall a single instance of a product moving from blister packaging to some other form of container.

And how many service companies also make product-access equally difficult in less obvious, but equally deleterious ways? Unanswered calls, limited availability, poor tenders, untailored offerings – the list goes on.

In many cases use of blister packs is a result of a we’re-here-because-we’re-here-because-we’re here mentality. Everybody does it in this industry. It’s standard practice.

The sound of minds clanging shut is deafening.

Why change? Here are three good reasons:
1) The first in any product field to break ranks and make life easier for consumers will clean the plates of their competitors;
2) An increasing percentage of the population is among those who have great purchasing power, but suffer disproportionately from this problem – the grey vote;
3) Not removing an adverse experience at the point of consumption, when there is ample opportunity and advantage in doing so, is simply bad for business – and you are supposed to be in business, aren’t you?

Getting better & better – not

Words: 449 Reading Time: 1 minute 30 seconds

My nearest Sainsbury’s has a number of large, temporary signs outside proudly declaring that “We are improving your car park”. Let me disabuse them.

It is true that various pieces of construction and earth-moving equipment are trundling about, making an uncommon mess and changing the car park’s configuration. But it is not my car park. It is their car park and they would not be “improving” it if they did not expect solid payback as a result.

Of all the things I would have changed about this Sainsbury’s, it would not have been the car park.

1. The store is quite small, so I would have made it larger.

2. I have yet to see all checkouts staffed all at the same time – even the busiest of times – so I would have changed that.

3. And they are routinely out of routine items, so I would have worked on “improving” that.

None of this has been done.

I am a regular shopper at this site. Was I ever asked what I would like “improved”; even once?

Umm, no.

This is Sainsbury’s idea, so naturally the improvement is angled towards their priorities, rather than mine. It does not seem to have occurred to them that by addressing what the customers want their expected return might be even bigger that the one they have calculated.

Sadly, Sainsbury’s are not alone in this propensity by the big battalions to portray their selfish decisions as being in “our” interests by deliberately false or misleading statements.

1. The repeated message put out by the BBC (taxpayers’ money!) that DAB is wonderful and will make life better for everyone has long been discredited, but they continue to pump out the propaganda at everyone else’s expense.

2. ‘Because you’re worth it’ – which, if the company really believed its own publicity, would result in them giving you the product without charge.

3. And ‘Delays Possible’ before major motorway works that run for miles without a sign of any activity by man or machine. The arbitrarily imposed lower speed limit means that delays are not just possible, they are inevitable, because whatever hour of the day or night I pass through I cannot drive at the speed customary for that stretch of road.

The less sceptical among us may be drawn in by these blatant falsehoods; the rest of us grow weary as our delicious language is hijacked in the service of mammon.

With our words we tell our stories and through our stories we sell ourselves and what we offer. How are we to do that if the words no longer say what they mean? We cannot mangle the moving parts and still expect a functioning mechanism.

Lessons from the Life of Plants

Words: 830. Reading time 2 minutes 46 seconds

At this time of year most of the plants in my garden are working hard to produce the seeds of future flowers. Nature has them all focused on just one thing – reproduction: leaving enough of themselves to ensure that future generations survive.

And to us thinking, sentient human beings nature appears to be profligate.

The humble dandelion produces between 54 and 172 seeds per head and a single dandelion can produce more than 2000 seeds. Some estimates suggest that annually dandelions produce more than 240 million seeds per acre.

A typical sunflower will have between 260 and 800 seeds per flower head, depending on the growing conditions and a typical geranium will have about 5 seeds per flower and between 40 and 100 flowers per plant.

So, how come we are not knee-deep in dandelions, sunflowers and geraniums? Because seeds are like our ideas, efforts, experiments, trials and initiatives – some are successful; many are not.

If you are not seeing failure, you are not trying hard enough
Obviously a certain proportion of the seeds will not survive the journey from parent plant to place of germination. Many will be broken, burnt, waterlogged, eaten, aged or decayed along the way.

Some seeds may not even be viable (have life in them) to begin with. This is why many plants invest a lot of energy into seed production - to produce many, so multiplying the chances for the few.

And we would do well to recognize that success to failure ratio in Mother Nature and be aware that we could do a lot worse than imitate some of her ways.

Just because we plan, develop a strategy, set SMART goals and visualize our outcomes does not mean that we will always succeed all of the time. As Dwight Eisenhower pointed out: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

Nature's manual for maximizing outcomes

Nature adopts a variety of strategies to improve the chances of successful germination. How many of these could we adapt to foster our own dreams and desires?

1. Plants have evolved -in most cases- methods of dispersing their seeds. This means transporting them to a place away from their parent, ensuring that some of them will find suitable conditions for growth elsewhere, where there is less chance of competing with their siblings for space (finding new markets).

2. Some seeds and seed-like fruits are carried by ocean currents. Such seeds are of the kind that can float for a long period without absorbing sea water and establish themselves finally in tidal mud or on beaches (waiting for favourable economic conditions to materialize).

3. Animals and birds disperse seeds, too. We often see them in late summer and early autumn with numerous seed-like fruits adhering to their hides or feathers (using a surrogate sales force and word-of-mouth marketing).

4. A variable proportion of seeds of many kinds of plants resist prompt germination. One example is the uneven ripening and shedding of the fruits of some grasses, such as the giant foxtail (test new ideas in series, rather than in parallel).

5. Many legumes, such as the clovers, produce a variable proportion of seeds with impermeable seed coats, which may resist germination for long periods (give ideas time to mature and develop, rather than getting carried away, releasing them before they are fully worked out).

6. Some species produce pods in which one segment remains indehiscent—closed—and the seed within it remains dormant for a long time, as in cocklebur (Xanthium), for example (where an idea has scope for variations and enhancements, start with the basic model instead of diluting the market and, possibly, increasing start-up costs).

Gardeners and nurserymen also give nature a hand by selecting for certain characteristics and using only seeds from plants that are seen to be disease and virus free. They also save only from straight varieties, in other words not from any hybrid varieties that have been crossed with other material.

The initiates we elect to trial should be similarly selected.

The story of Brython the Bean

The great thing about cultivating your own seed (ideas) is that you can actually improve your selection with a little bit of thought to what you are doing. The late Brython Stenner from Glamorgan, South Wales, even though only a keen amateur, quickly became a legend in his own life time. His thinking was that you should select only the strongest, healthiest plants, those that consistently produced the longest and most filled pods along the row. Does that sound obvious? It does now.

Because of one amateur’s dedication, the 'Stenner Strain’ bean is the only bean that is consistently winning on the show benches today. They not only look good, they taste good as well.

So, even with careful preparation and nurturing, be prepared for less than 100% germination with all your schemes.

Do not be hugely surprised if some things take longer to come to fruition than others.

And, as Robert Louis Stevenson remarked, “Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

People buy from people? Give me a break.

Words: 654 Reading time: 2 minutes 11 seconds

You may feel the same as me. When I find the tired, foot-sore and weary still being dragged from the back of some damped, dark cupboard, dusted off and pressed yet again into unconsidered service I have one of two reactions. Either I feel resigned (not again), or I feel exasperated (good grief).

As my previous posting was on the tired, foot-sore and weary idea of people staying in their comfort zones this posting will look at the equally drained, drawn and discredited idea that “people buy from people”.

Do they? Do they really? What, all the time? Every time? I don’t think so.

Let’s look at an entirely fictional, yet believable week for you and me.

On a Monday morning we leap out of bed at the first peep of the alarm clock ready and raring to go. Freeze frame…

That bed; do you know the people that constructed it? And your alarm clock; that was your local watchmaker, wasn’t it? What about the building you’re standing in; any idea who…?

Moving on, after your shower using the water provided by that nice man from the local reservoir, you tuck into your breakfast. Of course, you’re not really sure who made the bread for your toast and the cereal in your bowl, but hey, you’re only eating them after all; there’s nothing really important about buying from people here.

Then you get dressed (your personal tailor at M&S is so good) and head off safely in your car at 70 m.p.h. (built by Joe, the guy at the motor works on the corner) using the road constructed by the boys you always hang out with in the bar of The Pick & Shovel. You may smell the flowers in your front garden as you pass, the seeds all lovingly harvested and grown by Betty at the nursery in the next village.

At the office it’s lucky Mr Dell has already delivered your computer, together with a little note offering to meet you for coffee, because you can’t wait to log onto the internet provided for you by…well, you can’t quite remember them all. There were so many at the Christmas party last year; but nice people.

Are they nicer than the people who made the pen in your hand, or the paper you’re about to write on? You can’t quite decide as you take an aspirin, a drug made by people in Malaya who you have never met, are never likely to meet, and a drug the strength and constituent parts of which you haven’t checked and don’t know who might have done so on your behalf.

Let’s stop. It isn’t even ten o’clock on a Monday; how many people have you bought from that you actually know?

People buy from people? Give me a break.

People buy from supermarkets, from Amazon and EBay, from slot machines and petrol station forecourts, from serve-yourself tills and McDonald’s. Most people buy anonymously. They buy as much as they can, as often as they can, without having to interact with anybody. People scare them. A soap on the TV is about as close to real people as they want to be.

So, what is it people are buying, if it isn’t from other people?

People are buying minimum inconvenience and as much certainty as they can with as little precious cash as they can spare.

Now as a person you can supply some of that certainty by building empathy and giving reassurance. If you can convince the other party that you are a nice person, that you want to help them and are not trying to rip them off, then you might make some progress.

People only buy from people when they actually help to increase certainty. Thinking that people buy from people is like being fooled by a three-card trick. You’ve missed the essence of the transaction by concentrating too closely on the players involved.

Lessons in Staying Positive – #5

Words: 595. Reading time: 1 minute 59 seconds.

So many people read book after book on better management, leadership, engagement, marketing, even surviving the recession. Some will admit they are searching for the newest technique. Few recognize their hunt as a quest for the Holy Grail of enterprise.

They attend workshops and seminars and briefings believing that one day, if they attend enough, or just attend the right one, then all those things they struggle with will disappear – they’ll know all the answers.

Perhaps this fifth lesson will provide that answer: you will always have issues to solve. The fact is they signify that the business is in a rapid learning phase. And the more issues you have the more rapid the learning needs to be.

Faced with uncertainty your possible responses go beyond the simple alternatives of flight or fight. Psychologists now also recognize freeze (extreme vigilance while immobile), fright (“playing dead”) and faint. In business there is usually a sixth reaction – flap.

And flap is what we see and hear most. It emanates from people in both business and Government. It’s most avid propagators reside in the media where any event is expressed in whatever superlatives comes most readily to hand: biggest/lowest/deepest/highest…since…the war/the 1930s/this century/this year.

It’s interesting to note the more sober and considered findings from some times of previous panic.

A study conducted by McGraw-Hill of the relationship between marketing and sales in 143 companies during the severe 1974-75 downturn found that those companies that did not cut their marketing in either of the negative growth years had the highest growth in net income during both the recessionary years as well as in the two subsequent years.

And in a study of the 1981-82 recession McGraw-Hill found that companies that cut their marketing increased sales by only 19% between 1980 and 1985. However, those companies that continued their marketing during the downturn enjoyed a 275% sales increase over the same period.

So-called difficulties, like complaints, are a gift.

So-called difficulties will have some folks running for cover, unwilling to face their own fears and failings – always forgetting that failure is a sign we are growing.

But difficulties, once faced, are seldom as bad or overpowering as they first seem.

A story, adapted from Aesop, tells of a soldier on the way home alone from a glorious battle who meets a small, puny looking monster. Proud of his martial prowess the soldier beats the monster about the head. Soon the monster lies in a heap on the ground and the soldier strolls on.

Within minutes the monster is in front of him again, but now he looks somewhat bigger and somewhat less puny. Once more he batters the monster to the ground, but this time it takes a great deal more toil and trouble.

Finally victorious the soldier wearily continues along the path, only to find himself facing the monster for a third time. This time the monster is so much bigger and so much stronger that it is the soldier who is defeated and he runs away, back the way he came.

Meeting an old comrade the soldier urges him to help him defeat the monster. As they approach the place where the soldier first met the monster he sees it has returned to its small and puny size. His friend laughs and says:

“If you pick a quarrel with something unpleasant when you don’t really have to, then it simply grows more unpleasant. Let’s just leave the feeble little thing where it is.”

So they did. They simply brushed past it. And the monster never bothered them again.

Creative Marketing

As professionals we know we need to market ourselves and our businesses. However, for some of us marketing is, like Churchill’s Russia: a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

One simple definition of marketing might be “the techniques used to attract and persuade prospective clients”.

A more far reaching definition might be “the management process that anticipates and identifies customer requirements and devises an appropriate offering efficiently and profitably”.

Yet, whatever way one defines it, the whole process seems fraught with uncertainty while taking the spectral form of a bottomless pit for money and resources.

But, on second thoughts, does the gloom in this picture owe a large measure of its murkiness to the artificial separation of marketing’s black art from everything else we do?

Is marketing truly some arcane, ritualistic necromancy wholly divorced from the daily round?

Do its witches and warlocks have to conduct their cabalistic practices in dank and dingy corners for it to be fully effective?

Or can we bring some of its brighter, more benevolent aspects to our every day dealings?

In delivering services to our clients it is obviously impossible to separate us as a person from the product we provide. Thus the way that we interact with prospects, patrons and the public at large carries a marketing message.

Either we are smart and courteous, or shabby and slipshod.

Either we are calm and concerned, or we are distracted and dismissive.

Whatever our attitude it conveys a clear message, whether we wish it to, or not.

Since we are unavoidably committed, cross-examined and condemned to some form of marketing then it can only be beneficial to pay attention to the messages we send, lest by inattention we send the wrong ones.

It also gives us scope for inventiveness and having harmless fun while doing so. And, as Peter Drucker pointed out: "Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business has two basic functions: marketing and innovation” so we can legitimately and judiciously combine them.

Here is a simple story illustrating one woman’s lateral thinking when marketing her business:

Bernie was in New York on business. On his 3rd night, he went back to his hotel room feeling quite miserable. Although the trip was going well, business-wise, he was feeling very lonely and missing his wife Sarah.

He casually picked up the Gideon bible from his bedside table and opened it. On the first page, he read: -

"If you’re sick, read Psalm 18."

"If you’re troubled, read Psalm 45."

"If you’re lonely, read Psalm 92."

That’s it! He stopped there, immediately turned to Psalm 92 and started to read. How surprised he was, then, when he got to the end of the Psalm, to see someone has written: -

"If you’re still lonely, why don’t you call Fifi on 202-123-7659."

Well…"if you're not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing here?" (Robert Townsend).

10 Top Networking Tips

What makes a successful business? 99% of the time it is not a killer business idea. Those are as rare as hen’s teeth. 99% of the time it is determination, passion and commitment. These qualities work in any business and are quickly and easily communicated during networking.

Networking brings people together. And since people buy from people it is one of the most effective and direct ways of communicating your message.

Here are some additional tips to help you through the process:

1. 80% of life is showing up.
Woody Allen’s well-known quotation applies to networking just as much as it applies in the rest of life. Some of us find crowds oppressive and strangers intimidating so, for us, actually showing up at a network event is a real achievement. For others the network event comes at the beginning of a very full day or after hours of frustrating and exhausting toil. Do we really want extend our work-life any more?

Yes, we do, if we want to continue to build our business and ensure future orders arrive when needed. Showing up at a network event is a critical step in that process.

2. Being self-conscious is normal.
Having made the effort, now what do you say? Even if you have prepared and rehearsed that ‘elevator pitch’ (you did do that, didn’t you?) when you are face-to-face with a stranger, somehow it does not sound quite as good. This feeling gets worse as the noise levels in the room rise and your voice gets louder and louder. Fear not. Feeling awkward is normal. We’ve all been there. It’s even a place that some of us revisit from time to time as we experiment with different approaches. Remember two things:
a. Your companion has no idea what you were supposed to say, so they won’t know if you get it wrong;
b. Be yourself. If you are feeling nervous, lost for words or out of your depth – then say so. The person you are talking to will already have experienced the same thing. The only reactions you are likely to get are sympathy and support.

3. Now you’re here, you may as well have fun.
Networking is about business and it does form part of your marketing, but that is no reason to treat it as a sombre and solemn subject. You are among people with the same aims and aspirations as you have. You could learn something from them. They could even learn something from you.

It may be business, but it’s in a social setting so relax and enjoy it. Take a few deep, calming breathes and jump right in. You will come across more naturally and you will notice a lot more about other people once you overcome the initial jitters.

Forget about yourself, nobody cares anyway. They are all fully absorbed with their own worries – oh, yes they are. And you can help both of you by talking about them (it’s everyone’s favourite subject). Once you start to concentrate on what they are saying you will soon forget about yourself.

4. Be among the first to get here and the last to depart.
Networking events only last so long – usually around 2 hours. Together in one room, for just a short period of time, you have a group of people who are there with the specific intent of meeting you. Make the most of it. Speak to as many of them as possible and allow yourself the time to find out a little about them. Who are they? What do they do? What are their plans? What issues are they grappling with? Where could you help? If you spend as little as 10 minutes talking with each one, just 12 people will fill those two hours easily.

Where possible, position yourself to watch the door out of the corner of your eye. Is a previous contact arriving that you want to touch base with again? Or is an interesting prospect about to leave before you have had a chance to exchange a few words? If you arrive late or leave early you will miss those opportunities and others may then get in the queue ahead of you.

5. Telling isn’t selling.
If your conversations at a networking event consist mainly of you telling the other person what you do, how you do it, the prices you charge and the guarantees you give then you will part company knowing very little about them and nothing about how you might be able to help them. Working out how your business can best meet their needs is your responsibility, not theirs.

Selling consists of learning as much as possible about the other party and finding a way of being of service to them. Initially that may not equate to a sale. It may be a piece of information, a telephone number or a contact of yours capable of meeting their current need. That’s good. That gives you a common point of reference and the opportunity to follow up later to see how things have progressed.

Taking a (genuine) interest in your prospects will rank you ahead of most of the competition and keep you ‘on the radar’. Acquiring good customers takes time; be prepared to invest it.

6. Make friends when you don’t need them.
If you wait until you need someone’s help and then befriend them in order to obtain it you are likely to be found out. Out of desperation you are also likely to find yourself in a worse bargaining position and give away more than is necessary in order to relieve an emergency. Following this approach you will be entirely dependent on goodwill, rather than fair and equal reciprocity (a favour asked for a favour done).

Making genuine friendships, built on mutual interest and warm companionship with nothing at stake, is a much better reflection of the generous person that you are. Approaching another person in an open and honest manner gives you the freedom to be yourself. You carry no hidden agenda and are less likely to provoke the instinctive, defensive reaction: “What’s this person after?”

7. It is not about the business cards you give out.
If you attend a network meeting with the sole intention of giving out as many of your business cards as possible, even to people who do not request one, you may very well succeed. Then what?
a. Those that did not request your card are likely to file it or throw it, which will amount to much the same thing.
b. Those that did ask for your card without you taking any interest in them are probably being polite. The result will be the same.
c. Those in whom you did show some interest and who asked for a card will put it down meaning to call you; lose it under a pile of paper; find it three weeks later; spill tea on it and then sweep it into the rubbish by mistake.

Relying solely on the business cards you give out cedes control to the people who have them. They have busy lives too. It is more in your interest than theirs that they use the card – after all, you are not the only fish in the sea. That leads on to…

8. It is not about the business cards you collect.
Merely scooping up business cards from everyone else in the room will just add to your large and growing collection. I am sure it is a fascinating hobby, but is it taking your own business forward? Once you have someone’s business card…you have to put it to work. Now YOU are in control, so make good use of it.

Add the contact to your database (you do have…?) and programme in a series of appropriate follow-ups. The first need be little more than a ‘nice to meet you’ and a reference to something that came up in conversation between you. Subsequent ones at decently spaced intervals need to offer slightly more, or it just becomes spam. It’s your business, I will leave you to work out what you can offer.

9. Don’t end the evening wishing you had…
…done something, or said something, or met someone that was there. Opportunities in life can be fleeting. If you have spent the money to be here and taken the time and trouble to turn up, then you owe it to yourself and your business to make the most of it.

At a networking event that usually means taking ‘people risks’. It means stepping forward and introducing yourself to total strangers. But the magical thing about that is you need only do it once. After the first time the person concerned is no longer a stranger!

The other bonus is that people who attend networking events do so with the explicit intention of meeting strangers such as you. By stepping forward with a welcome of your own you are already helping them fulfil the purpose they had in coming here. How cool is that as an opening gambit with a potential customer?
10. What would you do next, if you knew you could not fail?

Life is full of surprises. The biggest surprise to me is the limits people impose on themselves. Too often the hobgoblins inside their heads whisper, “Who do you think you are?” and “You couldn’t possibly!” At that point self-doubt creeps in and many a wonderful adventure is stillborn before it begins.We all have wild and wacky ideas, many more than we ever feel happy disclosing. If networking is about getting noticed, if your future means being memorable, then a networking meeting is just the place to spread your wings and be eager to fly!