Archive for the 'Networking' Category

Be a networking pro and get professional results

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on January 7, 2010
in Networking, Sales - Sales Management and Start-up
. 0 Comments

Are you a networking amateur or a pro?  Do you just show up at networking opportunities and wander around like you would at a high school reunion? Are you seeing any results from your networking activity? Just as in professional selling, there are networking tools and practices that you can learn and use that will help you become more professional and, therefore, more effective as a networker without being mechanical and manipulative.

Recently on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, the world’s #1 guru on networking, Ivan Misner, revealed some of these professional networking tips you can use to become a professional networker, including a networking checklist and how to get a huge discount on an online networking resource. Ivan is a long-time member of my Brain Trust, but his day-job is as founder and Chairman of Business Network International, BNI, and author of several books on networking. Take a few minutes to listen to our visit and leave your thoughts on lessons you’ve learned about networking. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Jim Blasingame’s 2010 crystal ball predictions

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on January 6, 2010
in Banking - Investors - Capital, Customer Care, Economy: National and Global, Future thinking, Presidential policies, Social Media and Universal health care
. 0 Comments

This year marks the 10th year of my Small Business Advocate Crystal Ball predictions. For the first nine years, my accuracy percentage has averaged 70%, including 13 for 16 in 2009. Take a look and see what you think about how I will do in 2010.

2010 Prediction: The fragile economic recovery will continue at a marathon pace with steady annual GDP growth of between 2% and 3%.

2010 Prediction: Surviving small businesses will have fewer competitors due to recession casualties and fewer start-ups.

2010 Prediction: Big business layoffs in 2008-09 will produce small business opportunity in two ways: less competition for customers and outsourced business from the big guys.

2010 Prediction: Reversing the 2009 trend, growing small business loan demand will signal Main Street recovery.

2010 Prediction: Improved balance sheets and TARP repayment won’t cause large banks to increase small business lending.

2010 Prediction: Community banks will continue to increase as the option-of-choice for small business growth capital.

2010 Prediction: The multifaceted challenges of the real estate triumvirate of housing, mortgages and commercial will continue to produce significant economic headwinds.

2010 Prediction: The second jobless recovery in a decade will result in unemployment above 9% at year-end.

2010 Prediction: Diminished consumer credit, combined with a new aversion to debt, will stunt economic growth.

2010 Prediction: U.S. stock markets ended 2009 flush due to earnings based on expense cuts, not revenue growth. This scenario will not repeat in 2010.

2010 Prediction: So called “health care reform” legislation will be signed into law along strict party lines.

2010 Prediction: Election-year realities will cause Democrats to forsake their leadership’s goals for pro-union and cap-and-trade legislation.

2010 Prediction: Republicans will increase seats in both houses without gaining control of either but will win a filibuster minority in the Senate.

2010 Prediction: The federal government will intervene to keep California out of bankruptcy. New York will follow.

2010 Prediction: Under pressure from within and without, a desperate Iranian government will take steps that disrupt geopolitics and global markets.

2010 Prediction: Recognizing the power of community building technologies and practices, small businesses will increasingly leverage these tools to find new competitive advantages.

2010 Prediction: With increased product information and user experiences available online, The Age of the Customer has begun. More customers will choose businesses offering online platforms that promote dialogue and deliver targeted information.

Finally, continue to expect a deliberate, marathon-like recovery.

I talked about these predictions in more detail recently on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show. Take a few minutes to listen and let me know what you think about my prophecies. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Social media viruses? What’s next?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on December 14, 2009
in Online technologies, Social Media and e-Business
. 1 Comment

Did you know you could get a dangerous computer virus as a result of using popular social media sites? Oy ve! Is nothing sacred?

Actually, just logging in to Twitter and doing regular stuff won’t cause you to become a victim of those malicious mavens of Moldavia who want to use your computer as a zombie for their dastardly deeds. BUT … if you get suckered into following something that you would recognize as phishing if it came in an email, and then you make two more clicks, they gotcha. Here’s what it might look like:

1. You get a post on Facebook, for example, from “someone” who claims to be a friend, or might even look exactly like a friend (more on that later).
2. The post says something like, “I can’t believe you were caught on this YouTube video.”
3. You can’t wait to see what this is all about and click on the link to what you think is YouTube.
4. But, instead of going to YouTube, you’re taken to a page that instructs you to download an “update” you will need to view the video.
5. STOP! You are now one tiny thumb-stroke away from being infected with a virus like Koobface, which is standing by, ready to wreak havoc on your IT system and all of your friends.

On that “friend” thing, the post might actually come from a real friend who, like a big dummy, did Step 5, got infected and thereby introduced you to the handy-work of mischievous Moldavians, or those crazy kids in the Ukraine.

Okay, I admit that most of us would not actually click all the way through to download at Step 5. But the news is that the virus vandals are out there, they know who you are, where you live, how you like to behave online and they want a piece of you – at least your computer. And now that we know they’ve entered the social networking universe, we also know they will get better at their dastardly deeds, which means we have to be more vigilant at intercepting and eradicating them.

Recently, on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I spoke with e-virus eradication expert, Chip Reaves, CEO of Computer Troubleshooters Global, LLC. Chip is also a member of my Brain Trust, and he provided more information on the social media virus issue, including how to protect yourself. Take a few minutes to listen to this interview and, as always, leave your own thoughts. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Executives are not confident of their social media activity

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on September 9, 2009
in Online strategy and Social Media
. Closed

How confident are you about your company’s social media strategy? That’s the question NFI Research asked thousands of corporate managers in a recent poll.  NFI’s president is Chuck Martin, who is also a member of my Brain Trust. 

The results of Chuck’s poll might shock you: Approximately two-thirds of the respondents were not confident about their company’s social media strategy, and only around 10% were in the confident category.

When you think about it, the response to Chuck’s question isn’t that surprising since we’re still basically on the threshold of the development of corporate social media strategies. And clearly, developing a social media plan for a business is a lot more complicated than creating a personal Facebook page or Twitter account. Plus, the larger the business the more complicated the process. So for a majority of executives to be less than confident about their foray into social media should actually not be a big shock.

But the primary reason for executive exasperation with social media is not just because it’s an emerging market discipline that most of us are just learning. Indeed, I predict that larger companies will still be unsettled about their social media strategies five years from now. I think the real reason is all about control – actually, the loss of control.

It’s in an executive’s DNA to control corporate messaging, whether PR about the company or their marketing messaging. But when a business launches into the social media universe it literally is an exercise in watching control evaporate. As I’ve said many times before, in the social media world, companies – large or small – cannot control conversations in online communities, they can only influence them. And influencing takes time and patience, the latter of which is not a natural by-product of the quarterly report mentality so prevalent among managers of big companies.

Small businesses don’t operate with a short-term attitude; our business decisions aren’t based on what analysts will think or how the stock price will be affected. We’re already comfortable with merely influencing community activity, and operate so close to customers that a two-way conversation has always been the norm for us.

Social media is nothing if not about connecting on a more personal level, which is good news for small businesses. Consequently, once social media has evolved to becoming just another tool – like websites, email and instant messaging, which will happen soon - small businesses will not only become confident in their social media activity, but will thrive with these tools to a much greater degree than the Big Boxes.

The advent and ultimate universal adoptions of social media practices (for businesses: creating online customer communities) is just more evidence of something I began predicting in 1999: The 21st century is the century of the entrepreneur.

Recently, Chuck Martin joined me on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, to talk about his research and our thoughts on it. Take a few minutes to listen to this conversation. And, of course, be sure to leave your thoughts. 

EVERYTHING your small business sells is a commodity!

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on August 18, 2009
in Customer Care, Sales - Sales Management and Social Media
. 1 Comment

Webster says a commodity is an item in demand in the marketplace but which is supplied without differentiation across a market. For example, a soybean in Shanghai is pretty much the same as the one you could buy in Sheboygan.

Here is some 21st century tough love: EVERYTHING your small business sells is a commodity, not just soybeans. Any questions?

That includes every product your customers can hold, carry, break, drive, wear, eat – you get the picture. It also includes things you can’t see, like service. That’s correct: From this day forward, even service is a commodity. The ONLY thing about the relationship between your business and its customers is the way they feel and think about the experience they have with you. That’s it! EVERYTHING else is a commodity.

Instead of spending the next week detailing why the last sentence is true, I’ll show mercy and merely ask you to look around at your own experiences in the marketplace. How many sources do you have for whatever you may need or want to buy? The answer is anywhere from many, in terms of your physical marketplace on Main Street, to practically infinite, in terms of the virtual marketplace on the Internet. And I’m sure you’ll agree that if the search is refined down to a handful, at least two will be in a virtual tie on price vs value, product array and quality service.

So, when your small business makes it to a customer’s final two, what makes them choose the winner? Here are some classic reasons. The winner’s employees remember the customer’s name, or remember what the customer likes, or smile more, or act like they appreciate the customer’s business and actually say so.

Now let’s look at some 21st century reasons: The small business winner has a website where prospects and customers can shop, or has a blog and/or email newsletter from which useful information is delivered, or allows customers to follow them on Twitter, or notifies customers electronically when new products and supplies are available, or allows customers to comment on a website or online community about their experiences, or anything that recognizes that customers are busy and helps them stay connected, even when – perhaps especially when – the customer isn’t buying.

It’s not easy for small business owners to think of their wonderful offerings as just another soybean. But get over yourself and start thinking about the only thing that will differentiate you from all the other competitors: the classic things customers have always wanted and those 21st century elements that are brand new, but no less compelling.

Recently, on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked about the commodity thing. Take a few minutes to listen, and be sure to leave your comments.

Find social media value through your community values

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on August 7, 2009
in Social Media
. 0 Comments

This is the second of two posts about how small businesses find and stay connected to customers as the marketplace continues to evolve in the 21st century. In the previous post, I talked about creating online communities as a way for small businesses to find relevance with social media.

Going forward, connecting with prospects and customers will be less about 20th century marketing strategies and more about having at least one type of online relationship with them, including information delivered in one of the online channels like email, texting, even Twitter. And you haven’t created a true online community until members can comment on every aspect of their experience with your business.

Increasingly, prospects will turn into customers more because they’re attracted to the values of your online community than because of what you sell. Your online community values should be comprised of these element:

1. Brand elements – brand promise and brand image.
2. Quality information delivered to the community.
3. The tone of connection the business wants to set with its community. Your “tone” is how brand messages are included in information you deliver to the community, and it can be anywhere from crassly commercial to so subtle it’s almost subliminal. The “volume” of your tone will depend on your ROI patience, which in the social media universe needs to be long.

Establishing community values is a critical element of community growth not only because that’s what attracts members to connect with you, but it also causes them to encourage members of other communities to which they belong to join them in your community. Indeed, the most viral element of any online community is the feeling members have for the community values, which could range from devotion to derision.

In order to foster community longevity and quality, a business should create its own social media platform and technologies, rather than counting on public sites, like Facebook or LinkedIn. Here are a few guidelines:

1. Establish compelling community values.
2. Create an environment where communities can flourish around these values.
3. Acquire the technology that makes online community building possible.
4. Protect community values and control how the community is served, while accepting that the community founder cannot control member activity.

Ultimately, as a result of their experiences with your online community, members will turn into customers and possibly your best salespeople.

Get connected - and stay connected - with customers through online communities.

Recently, I talked about the critical component of community values on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show. Take a few minutes to listen, and of course, be sure to leave your thoughts.