10 Strategies for Connecting

By Susan Regier

Who are the people you’d like to meet that could make things happen, and more importantly, make things happen for you. And how do you go about meeting them to make a good impression?

Everyone has a circle of influence. That can be your friends or coworkers, or maybe your employees. Think of the clubs that you belong to, your family, business associates, friends, and neighbours. Not all connections are powerful, nor will they necessarily lead to sales. They are simply connections.

Take some to time to create a list of all those you have connected with…call it List A. Beside each person’s name, jot down what they have done for you? Next, write down what you have done for them.

Now, make a second list…List B. This list will include all those people you want to meet – your wish list – and include what you want from them - and what you can offer them. Now cross reference List A and List B. Are there any connections? If not, figure out how you can create that connection within two to three calls.

It’s possible that your friend, Betty, from List A knows Janice from List B…and Janice is someone you definitely want to meet. But don’t act impulsively. Just because Janice discovers you both have Betty in common, that may not be enough to make this important connection. Instead, ask Betty to set up a three-way meeting, say over breakfast or lunch, where the three of you can meet. This can make a powerful connection, with your friend providing valid feedback and positive reinforcements.

What you need to do is to expose yourself to the marketplace in a valuable way… and give others a reason why they would want to connect to you. So here are my 10 Strategies for Connecting, which is the first step in making things happen.

Strategy #1: Be friendly. People do business with people they like and trust. People who smile are more attractive than people who don't. Smiling sets the tone for others. How often do you smile?

Strategy #2: Project a confident self image. The way you dress, and that’s everything from your hair to your shoes including your handshake, is an indicator of who you are. Your first impression is what sticks, and unfortunately, it's not always accurate.

Strategy #3: Eye contact. Look the other person in the eye as you speak. Eye contact needs to be steady without being too piercing or weak. Direct eye contact shows that you’re attentive, supportive, truthful, honest. A good rule is to maintain it at least 80% of the time. (There’s nothing worse at a networking event when you’re trying to talk with someone and he keeps looking over your shoulder at who else has entered the room. It does not lead to a good connection.)

Connecting Strategy #4: Maintain a Positive Mental Attitude. Do you look for the good in every situation? Do you think it’s partly sunny or partly cloudy? Your positive attitude will breed positive responses and positive results. Being positive will make you more enjoyable to be around.

Strategy #5: Make connections with a single focus – that of simply making the connection. Forget the agenda, whatever it may be. Your first step is always to seek friendship and acceptance… not on making a sale.

Strategy #6: Give value. The strength of relationships is built by giving value to others, not facts about you. Give leads, referrals, and connections that can lead business to others. And have answers. Be a resource for others, not just another salesperson.

Strategy #7: Be genuinely interested in others. Ask questions so you can get to know other people better. You're not just trying to qualify them for a sale, but you want to learn from them. Asking questions will give you a better understanding of who you're meeting with.

Strategy #8: Relax. Notice how you communicate with your good friends. Do you communicate differently with business people? You probably do. Pretend your customers are your best friends. Your conversation will be more relaxed, truthful, and less manipulative.

Strategy #9: Discover what you have in common quickly. Find common ground and you always have something to talk about. Think about the things you love to do, places you've traveled, where you went to school, and where you grew up. If you can find a link with the other person, you've turned a casual connection into a personal one.

Strategy #10: Stay in touch. This can have more impact and be more valuable than making the initial connection.

Most people attend networking events to better themselves in some way. But many people attend just to sell. You can stand apart… attend a networking event well-prepared to help someone else get better or to improve themselves.

Dale Carnegie said it best: "You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you."

If you can find common interests with the prospective connection, you can easily establish a business friendship, and people want to buy from a friend.

Networking is not a one night stand. Treat everyone who tries to make contact with you with respect and dignity. Never pre-judge others. And approach each person you meet as if you plan to keep in touch forever. Then do it.

Susan Regier is the publisher of www.NetworkingToday.ca, London’s online business resource, and head writer of Vantage One Writing, a professional writing service for businesses. 519.471.8726 Email: susan@vantageone.ca Web site: www.vantageone.ca

Published in Networking Today May 2008

Creating Conscious Values

By Brandon Klayman

Wealth, happiness, awareness, transparency, sustainability, oneness are all the conscious values of Conscious Commerce. Building a value system for your business is becoming more important than ever before in the world of commerce. Stockholders are looking for more integrity based businesses to invest in, employees resonate more to companies that maintain their code of ethics, and customers are becoming more conscious of who to do business with.

The conscious evolution of our economy is well underway. Think of your value system as the heart of your business, and that all experiences go through it. Here are some points to consider when creating a value system.

• Choose a value system that connects to all the aspects of your business on every level so that it can be expressed and experienced often.
  
  
• Develop the value system based on experiential knowledge, remember, your entire business is supported by it.
  
  
• Whatever value system you do create, honestly ask yourself this one question: "Am I really willing to deeply commit to these values for the long-term?"
  

If you want to practice business and commerce consciously, build your value system with honest and good intentions. It's not about looking good or sounding good anymore; it's really about feeling good.


Brandon Klayman, creator of Conscious Commerce, inspires wholeness for entrepreneurs, and their businesses. By facilitating companies through The ONE (Opportunity Now Emerging) Solution they discover and foster sustainable growth. For your ONE free question, contact Brandon Klayman at www.cc94.com or call 416.482.2900

Published in Netoworking Today, May 2009

Been There...Done That! or Or, Done That...Been There!

By Mark Vockentanz

Mindfulness...a state of heightened awareness. I prefer to use the term “SENSEfulness.” In other words, using all your senses in that moment. Throughout your day, you are given opportunities to either live in the moment or be completely oblivious to what is happening around you.

Have you ever driven to work, arrive unscathed, but think to yourself...I can’t even remember the ride over, let alone how I got here without getting into an accident? In other words, this trance-like state of SENSElessness has resulted in a complete lack of awareness for that period of time. You simply drove to work in a robotic fashion without the least bit of true SENSEfulness.

Granted, you recruited the necessary physical and mental functions to remain out of harm’s way, but what did you miss during this SENSEless state? Well, the looming question is what else do we miss when we are not present in the moment?

In this day and age of multi-tasking I would suspect that we miss lots. Because between checking umpteen emails, answering endless calls, emails and text messages on our data devices, juggling multiple projects at work, and being the perfect parent or spouse at home we are forced to filter out the apparently useless information so that we can remain focused on the important stuff. Or is it really that important?

I challenge you to spend a day truly present and SENSEful of each moment. Here’s a little exercise of SENSEfulness – get a piece of your favourite chocolate. Begin by rolling it in your fingers, feeling the texture and shape. Hold it to your nose and smell it. Slowly, place it on your tongue and savour its sweetness as it begins to melt. Begin chewing and be aware of what flavours interact with your taste buds. Engage all your senses during this process.

This is just a simple example, but can be translated into your everyday life. Tomorrow try being aware and present in each moment, fully experiencing it all.

Mark Vockentanz, BHK, CMTA, CHLC is a Wellness Coach and founder of V3 Life Transformations – for Vision, Vitality, Victory. With more than 20 years industry experience, Mark offers one-on-one coaching to help individuals find an alternative path to true health and vitality. Mark can be reached at 519.777.6811 or email v3lifetransformations@sympatico.ca. www.v3lifetransformations.

Published in Netoworking Today, May 2009

Show and Tell

By John Boe

One of the most critical yet overlooked principles in the selling process is the power of self-discovery through customer involvement. Regrettably, many salespeople use a show and tell presentation style and babble on hoping they might say something that will generate a sale.

When you show or tell your prospects about your product or service, they have a tendency to doubt the information and mentally disengage from your presentation. On the other hand, when they participate in the selling process and are guided to discover a feature or benefit on their own, they will be inclined to believe it!

Car salesmen truly understand the value of self-discovery and prospect participation. They'll be the first to tell you that it's the actual smell of the leather and the hands-on-the-wheel experience of the test-drive that sells the car, not the colorful brochure full of options and features.

Obviously, not every product or service lends itself to a hands-on demonstration; however, there are always ways to increase prospect involvement. Any time there is a choice between whether you or your prospect should do something – let them do it. For example, if you've got numbers to crunch, hand them the calculator and let them work the numbers. When it's time to demonstrate the benefits and features of your product don't just show them, find creative ways to keep them actively engaged during the entire selling process.

Recently, I heard an interesting story about a successful glass salesman named Bill Johnson. Bill was the top producer in his company and consistently outsold the other salespeople by a significant margin. After Bill set a new quarterly sales record, the company president called to congratulate him on his achievement. When asked what he felt was the secret of his success, Bill replied that he had recently added a minor change to his sales presentation that was making a major difference in his results. Bill stated that during his presentation he was now using a hammer to strike the safety glass several times to demonstrate its strength and durability. Excitedly, the president asked Bill if he would be willing to teach his hammer technique to the entire sales force at the next company-training meeting.

Several months after Bill's presentation, the company shattered its previous records for safety glass sales! The president was extremely pleased with the company-wide results, but was surprised that Bill's production was still significantly higher than the rest of the sales force. When he asked Bill if he had discovered any new techniques, Bill replied that he had recently made a subtle change in his presentation. "I still use the hammer technique," Bill said, "except now when I get to the part in my presentation where I demonstrate the strength of the safety glass, I hand the hammer to my customer and let them beat on the glass!"

By handing the hammer to his customer, Bill discovered the secret of successful selling. He took his sales career to the next level by finding a way to keep his customer actively engaged during his presentation. Are you keeping your prospects actively involved? If not, I encourage you to take a lesson from Bill and find a way to put the hammer in your prospect's hand.


John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. John is a nationally recognized sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an impeccable track record in the meeting industry. To have John speak at your next event, visit www.johnboe.com or call 877 725-3750.

Published Networking Today May 2008

Protect Your Business from Corporate Fraud

By Barbara Bartlein

In the aftermath of Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, many companies have taken steps to protect their businesses from fraud. They have initiated new accounting procedures, complied with the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation and conducted better screening of new employees. Yet there has not been any noticeable decrease in fraud overall according to a provocative new book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud. Written by fraud expert Tracy Coenen, who conducts fraud investigations for public and private companies, it presents an insiders look at corporate fraud.

“Corporate fraud causes losses to companies of between 5% and 6% of revenues every year. This level has not changed for the last twelve years,” according to Coenen. “When applied to the US gross domestic product, this would total about 660 billion per year.”

What has changed though is the employer’s perspective on fraud. A 2006 survey by Ernst and Young of more than 500 corporate leaders found that companies had increased their spending on assessing and improving corporate controls. As a result, the leaders believed that they made significant progress in detecting and preventing corporate fraud. Yet one out of five companies surveyed by Ernst and Young reported “significant fraudulent activity” within the last two years.

“Corporate executives think that their companies are doing better now than in the recent past when it comes to preventing fraud, but none of the hard data supports that assertion,” says Coenen. “That’s dangerous. Executives and managers may very well be caught off guard by a fraud while they hold on to this false sense of security.”

It is not easy to detect fraud as there is not a typical “profile” of a person who commits white collar crime. They are ordinary employees usually with no known history of fraud. Ninety two percent have no prior criminal charges or convictions related to fraud. Men and women commit a fairly equal number of frauds but those committed by men cost companies more than twice as much as the frauds committed by women.

The higher a person’s position in the company, the greater the fraud. Higher positions have greater access to people, data, and opportunities to commit fraud. There also may be less scrutiny and oversight of these positions.

The large frauds we all became familiar with (Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, etc.) were all financial statement fraud schemes whereby the executives created fictitious revenue and hid expenses to make the financial results look better.

Financial statement fraud generally involves manipulating the financial statements for some indirect benefit to the executives engaging in the fraud. This might mean an increased stock price, a larger year-end bonus, or meeting requirements for bank financing. Financial statement fraud is by far the most expensive type of fraud, costing companies, on average, $2 million per scheme. Yet it is also the least common type of fraud, present in only about 10% of all fraud schemes.

The most common type of fraud, occurring in 91% of all fraud schemes is asset misappropriation. These schemes include things like expense report fraud, inventory theft, cash receipts skimming, and theft of customer data. Often, the employee committing the theft has financial pressures due to life style and poor decisions. There is evidence that the proliferation of casinos and gambling has driven an increase in corporate fraud. High profile cases like Christopher Kelly, the former advisor on gambling to the Illinois Governor, are in the news on a daily basis. He used corporate funds to pay off millions in debts to a bookie in Chicago and casinos in Las Vegas, portraying them as legitimate business expenses. There is also an extensive study in Australia by KPMG that demonstrates an increase in white collar crime due to the expansion of casinos.

There are steps that employers can take to reduce the risk of white collar crime. Coenen recommends:

• Establishing an anonymous hotline for reporting. Anonymous hotlines cut fraud losses in half because it gives employees an opportunity to report without getting involved. Co-workers may spot a problem long before it is apparent to management.
  
  
• Making the ethics of the corporate culture clear. Values and ethics flow from the top down. Employees won’t follow the rules if their bosses are doing the same. Management should be modeling ethical behavior at all times.
  
  
• Creating a code of conduct for employees. The boundaries and rules should be clear and employees know what is expected. Don’t allow the “gray area” of having employees substitute their judgment for what is right and wrong.
  
  
• Implementing simple fraud prevention procedures. These include segregation of duties, random audits of records and monitoring access to assets and data. Establish levels of authority for financial transactions with multiple signatures.
  

For more information on corporate fraud and how you can protect your company, visit www.fraudessentials.com.

Barbara Bartlein is The People Pro and President of Great Lakes Consulting Group. She offers keynotes, seminars and consulting to help you build your business and balance your life. She can be reached at 888-747-9953, by email at barb@barbbartlein.com or visit her Web site at www.ThePeoplePro.com.

Are Conferences Worth It?

By Andrew Sobel

Is it useful to attend or speak at conferences? Can you really meet anyone of significance at them? Should going to conferences be part of your brand-building or relationship-building plan?

I’m occasionally asked about the value of conferences, and my own clients have had mixed results from them – some good, some bad. "They don't work for me," a partner at a leading professional services firm commented to me recently, adding, "I went to one last year and found myself presenting to a group of my competitors from other firms. It was a waste of time."

We can all probably remember a bad conference experience. Mine occurred nearly twenty years ago when I agreed to go to a financial services conference to present my firm's latest research on retail banking. I spoke after a very boozy dinner, by which point most of the participants were heavily inebriated. Halfway through my speech a loud crash and a shout reverberated throughout the conference hall – I thought a fight had broken out. In fact, one of the bankers in the audience had fallen asleep in his wooden chair, which was already tipped backwards on its rear legs, and it had flipped backwards, smashing into pieces!

That said, sometimes you can indeed make valuable connections at a conference and also build your public brand.

Whether or not a conference is useful for you will depend on:

1. The benefits you seek in the first place
2. The focus of the conference and the quality of the participants
   
3. How well you prepare for and take advantage of the actual event
   

Potential benefits can include:

• Meeting valuable contacts and extending your network.
• Learning, either from presenters or by developing your own ideas for a presentation.
• Building your personal brand by speaking or being part of a panel.
• Improving your confidence by getting out and mixing with other professionals.
• Being "seen" by high level prospects or thought leaders, which can contribute to a sense that you are "one of them."

Keep in mind that if you are a speaker, your bio and picture will undoubtedly be on the conference Web site, which will usually remain on the Web for years to come. This will raise your profile if a potential client looks your name up in a search engine. So even if the event is a dud, you will get some (albeit small) value out of an improved Google ranking.

Whether any major benefits accrue, however, will depend on who is there and how well you capitalize on the event.

Attractiveness of the Event
You have to ask yourself:

• Will there be buyers there? This is the key question: Will actual buyers of your services (or buying influences, or soon-to-be buyers) attend the event, will they hear you speak, and/or will you actually have the chance to meet them?
  
  
• Will there be others at the conference you would like to meet, for whatever reasons? (E.g., potential collaborators, key influencers, celebrities, thought leaders, etc.)
  
  
• Will it be valuable just to say you were there? (I cannot think of many conferences that would fit this criterion, except for perhaps the World Economic Forum at Davos or a Star Trek nostalgia event in Las Vegas.)
  
  
• Is it a sufficiently large event to make it worthwhile? While the most important factor is the quality of the attendees, it may be demoralizing to prepare for and speak at a conference where only twenty people show up, unless all twenty are CEOs.
  

Whom do you want to meet?
There are really three possible targets at a conference: The organizers, the other speakers, and the participants. In truth, the first two may be the most interesting, unless it's a high-level conference, which attracts c-level executives. The conference organizers may very well be able to make valuable introductions for you, and if you are a speaker, you earn a kind of peer relationship with the other speakers for the duration of the conference.

Preparation
Here are a few things to think about before attending any conference: · Always review the list of other speakers. Is there someone you'd like to get to know, or with whom you may have a common professional or personal interest?

• Ask the organizers for a participant list (tell them it's to focus your speech, which they will appreciate), and review it carefully.
  
  
• Show the list to your colleagues or other confidants and ask if they know anyone, or if they would like to connect with or deepen relationships with any individuals or firms who will be present.
  

Differentiating yourself
If you're a speaker or panelist, and you want to attract inquiries from potential clients or other important influencers, you've got to have a truly interesting, differentiated, and compelling message. I have seen many presenters get up and show one boring PowerPoint slide after another at conferences, slowly lulling the audience to sleep. I watch audience members as they use their Blackberries, shuffle out for coffee, and nod off. You need to follow the rules for any good speech, which are spelled out in a number of excellent books on this topic. My own suggestions:

• Develop a unique and possibly controversial point of view, which will differentiate you and grab people's attention. Don't just spew facts – create tension with an engaging perspective.
  
  
• Develop an opening hook to rivet the audience's attention in the first few minutes. This could be a surprising statistic, a provocative question, or a funny anecdote, which makes a useful point or highlights a controversy.
  
  
• Try to use few or no slides. Tell stories rather than read from bullet points.
  
  
• Do something memorable in your talk. Show a video clip, play music, interact with the audience, leave the podium and walk around the room, and so on.
  
  
• Never sell yourself or your firm in your speech or appear to be touting your credentials – it is a complete turn-off for the audience. You want to create potential buyers by earning the respect of the audience for your intellect and experience and by evoking their curiosity to meet you and hear more wisdom. (A friend of mine reported watching the CEO of a major technology company virtually booed off the stage at a major conference because he was overtly selling during his presentation!)
  
  
• Make sure your contact details are easily visible and available to participants; e.g., put your name, email, and phone number on every page of your presentation and in your bio sketch.
  

In mingling with other participants, follow common-sense rules for engaging with others:

• Don't be shy about going up to people and introducing yourself.
  
  
• Have a few, basic questions prepared to get the other person talking.
  Introduce yourself, and state succinctly who you are and what you do.
  
  
• If appropriate, ask for the other person's card and give them yours. Try to briefly connect, and then move on.
  

Think long and hard about why you're going and whether or not the conference makes sense given your goals. But keep in mind that most professionals are in the relationship marketing business, not the add-more-contacts-to-my-database business, and they often fail to invest in building relationships with valuable individuals they already know or can be easily introduced to by colleagues, clients, or friends.

It takes time to attend conferences, and doing so should supplement, not substitute for, your relationship building efforts with that core group of twenty or thirty people who represent your "critical few" relationships that will truly help you and your firm prosper.


Andrew Sobel is the leading authority on client relationships and the skills and strategies required to earn enduring client and customer loyalty. He is coauthor of Clients for Life: How Great Professionals Development Breakthrough Relationships (Simon & Schuster). He can be reached at (505) 982-0211 or by e-mail at andrew@andrewsobel.com www.andrewsobel.com


Published in Networking Today, May 2008

Ten Common Mistakes Companies Make in Pricing their Products or Services

By Per Sjofors

In the course of our engagements, we have seen examples of good and bad pricing policies. The following is a list of ten of the most common mistakes companies make when pricing their products and services.

Mistake #1: Companies base their prices on their costs, not their customers’ perceptions of value. Prices based on costs invariably lead to one of the following two scenarios:

1. if the price is higher than the customers’ perceived value the cost of sales goes up, discounting increases, sales cycles are prolonged and profits suffer;
   
   
2. if the price is lower, sales are brisk, but companies are leaving money on the table, and therefore are not maximizing their profit. Results: Higher cost, lower revenue, lower profits.
   

Mistake #2: Companies base their prices on “the marketplace.” The marketplace is often cited as the “wisdom of the crowds,” the collective judgment of the value of a product. But by resorting to “marketplace pricing,” companies accept the commoditization of their product or service. Instead, management teams must find ways to differentiate their products or services so as to create additional value for specific market segments.

• Results: Products sold on price alone leads to lower profits.

Mistake #3: Companies attempt to achieve the same profit margin across different product lines. Some financial strategies support a drive for uniformity, and companies try to achieve identical profit margins for disparate product lines. The iron law of pricing is that different customers will assign different values to identical products. For any single product, profit is optimized when the price reflects the customer’s willingness to pay.

• Results: Companies are unable to optimize its pricing, leading to lower profits.

Mistake #4: Companies fail to segment their customers. Customer segments are differentiated by the customers’ different requirements for your product. The value proposition for any product or service is different in different market segments, and the price strategy must reflect that difference. Your price realization strategy should include options that tailor your product, packaging, delivery options, marketing message and your pricing structure to particular customer segments, in order to capture the additional value created for these segments.

• Results: Companies fail to maximize its market potential leading to lower revenue and profits.

Mistake #5: Companies hold prices at the same level for too long, ignoring changes in costs, competitive environment and in customers’ preferences. Most companies fear the uproar of a price change and put it off as long as possible. Savvy companies accustom their customers and their sales forces to frequent price changes. The process of keeping customers informed of price changes can, in reality, be a component of good customer service.

• Results: Companies endures ever-reduced profits, and when they make a price change, it is large and they may loose their customers. Each is leading to lower revenues and lower profits.
  

Mistake #6: Companies often incentivize their salespeople on revenue generated, rather than on profits. Volume-based sales incentives create a drain on profits when salespeople are compensated to push volume at the lowest possible price. This mistake is especially costly when salespeople have the authority to negotiate discounts. Companies need to redefine the salesperson’s “job” as maximizing profitability, and incentivize profitability, while also providing the salespeople the necessary “tools” to do so.

• Results: Hager sales volume on lower cost products and overall lower profits.
  

Mistake #7: Companies change prices without forecasting competitors’ reactions. Any change in your prices will cause a reaction by your competitors. Smart companies know enough about their competitors to forecast their reactions, and prepare for them. This avoids costly price wars that can destroy the profitability of an entire industry.

• Results: Danger of costly non-profitable price wars
  

Mistake #8: Companies spend insufficient resources managing their pricing practices. Cost, sales volume and price are the three basic variables that drive profit. Most management teams are comfortable working on cost reduction initiatives, and they have some level of confidence in growing their sales volume. Many companies, however, only utilize simplistic price procedures.

• Results: Lower revenue and lower profits.
  

Mistake #9: Companies fail to establish internal procedures to optimize prices. In some companies, the hastily-called “price meeting” has become a regular occurrence—a last-minute meeting to set the final price for a new product or service. The attendees are often unprepared, and research is limited to a few salespeople’s anecdotes, perhaps a competitor’s last year’s price list, and a financial officer’s careful calculation of the product’s cost structure across a variety of assumptions.

• Results: Lower revenue and lower profits.
  

Mistake #10: Companies spend most of their time serving their least profitable customers. Most companies do not even know who their most profitable customers are. While 80% of a company’s profits generally come from 20% of its customers, failure to identify and focus on these 20% leave companies undefended against wilier competitors. Such failure also deprives the company of the loyalty that more attention and better service would provide.

• Results: Lower revenue and lower profits.
  

Conclusion: The optimization of pricing strategy is as important as the management of costs and the growth of sales volume. Since most companies have never done it, rigorous price optimization has emerged as an important source of competitive advantage and increased profitability.


Per Sjofors, Managing Partner, Atenga, Inc., is a highly sought–after speaker and has more than 20 years of executive management experience. He has built a number of successful, and very profitable, sales and marketing companies in Europe and in the US. Per also co-founded industry association G-SAM and has published a number of articles in industry press. www.atenga.com

Published Networking Today May 2008