Constraint to Trade?

I read an interesting article recently by Una Coleman of Codega Consulting http://bloggertone.com/global/2009/11/09/know-local-country-data-protection-laws/ about the increasing restrictions to cold calling and outbound marketing being mandated by government bodies in Europe.

While I am a supporter of rights for consumers, completely support the right of people to remove themselves from lists and databases and absolute hate unsolicited irrelevant emails (and especially) faxes..it does pose the question that if business advisors cannot make outbound calls, send relevant and timely emails to stimulate interest then how do we otherwise open up the market place or identify likely customers and clients.

For larger firms they have the option of above the line marketing (press, ads, tv, radio) and for us smaller guys its social networking (LinkedIn and Facebook) and increasingly face to face networking. But I'd really be interested in learning how firms are planning to address this issue or indeed if firms are planning for this at all? Comments and thoughts most welcome.

Based on the feedback I'd plan on putting some short blogs up on effective networking strategies and tips as a means of professionally creating building business contacts.

Raise the Pain Position the Gain

I've been asked recently to contribute to a new book on how to market professional services. My contribution was around networking and some of the ideas that get us noticed in the very distracting, short-attention span, environment that can be a networking event.

Most people are familiar with the 'elevator pitches' or the 30 seconds in which we introduce ourselves to people when (and if) they ask what it is that we do. However I notice that people still tend to give their profession in the introduction - I'm an accountant or an engineer or a doctor or a (take your pick). Big problem with that is that the other person now has you stereotyped and 'in your box'.

At this point 'selective listening' kicks in as - given that they now have you in a box - they can assume that they can 'fill in' the conversation - or worse, move on.

To make your elevator pitch compelling and remarkable it must be of interest to the listener. So here's what I suggest: 'Raise the Pain and Position the Gain'

If you've chosen your networking arena you should have a pretty good idea of the things impacting on the majority of the people attending the event. With this in mind, research the big issues for these people - what's causing the pain in their market. Then when it comes to a question on what it is you do you just say 'You know the way (insert the pain) well, I (position yourself/company as the solution/gain)'.

Instant attention.

Networking ...no. Access....yes.

This is an interesting year. I am seeing a great demand in people looking to network, to connect and engage with others - both digitally and personally. There is a great upsurge in the interest in networking. Apart from the fact that this is in keeping with the values of the r'evolution that is now here, its also about seeking new opportunties for their career and businesses.

Yet, there is a corresponding fall in membership in business organisations, chambers of commerce and societies. Why?

People think that networking is about attending events in the vague hope that something might come from a chance meeting. It's not about that at all. It's about ACCESS. Meeting the right people, in the right environment, with the right introduction so that LATER they can either make a decision in your favour or you can provide a valued service to them or they can connect you with someone who can assist you.

Networking is fundamentally a mercenary activity. It is about being in an environment where you can actively target and access the right kind of people for your business. Any organisation or event that claims a benefit from networking once you are a member should actually clearly define who you have access to at the events. Without it...it's not worth the cost of membership.

It's not about the opportunity to network...it's about the opportunity to get access. This is the point that needs be clearly spelt out by organisations that trade on the strength of their membership and the opportunities to network.

Rebel Women 1

I am due to address a group of 120 female executives from the Dell Corporation shortly on the subject of networking. Actually, it's 60 executives from Dell who then bring in 60 more of their female colleagues in other businesses. An excellent idea and a reinforcement of the fact that women have an innate sense of the power and value of connection.

I truly believe that a shift is happening in business and that we are moving rapidly towards a more feminine energy model of doing business. The turmoil that we have faced in recent months and years has been due largely to an over-emphasis on masculine energy values such as profit at all cost. Such values are leading to the destruction of society and the global environment. An acceptance of a more feminine energy model which would emphasise nurture, community, co-operation, communication and connection is needed and is emerging.

However that does not mean that women have a natural edge in this new world. As long as women attempt to play the business game by adopting masculine values and pretending to be males they will not evolve past the 'glass ceiling'. By learning to embrace their natural powers and values while learning the skills sets of connecting, engaging, persuading however the 'ceiling' disappears as they create a new dynamic in business. They also have to become much more supportive of each other in the world of business.

For men, there is equally a need to recognise and embrace the feminine energy within themselves. The ability to listen instead of dictate, to collaborate and create something greater than compete over something smaller, to understand the power of leverage through networking.

It is truly a time of transformation and I look forward to opportunity of working with more women executives and entrepreneurs as the New Year dawns and helping to awaken their r'evolutionary selves to create a bright new future.

Authority - or Power?

A classic example of the 'old' age of business is the need to get a 'senior role' - to be recognised as a 'senior' person.  To get a 'position of authority'. By getting a 'position of authority' it is assumed that one will also have power. Not so.

Power today is not about position but about connection. It's about your networks, how you manage them and how you provide services and connection to others - thereby building a 'reciprocity reserve'.

A 'reciprocity reserve' is the creation of 'positive' indebtedness in others. Where you have willingly done something for someone else without fear or favour and as a result they have become a person who would willingly and happily return that favour once asked.  This is power. In the new age of business this kind of power alows us to leverage and change things that just having a position does not.

By using position to apply power, you are likely to be faced with rebellion. By using connections to apply power through leverage you are more likely to get compliance.

Networks are becoming more important in business - especially in more challenging times. My father once said that there are no 'little people' in business. Everyone counts.

Time Out

Just had the most amazing weather this bank holiday weekend here in Dublin and lots of time for family. Interesting how the sun has such an effect on our natures. The sunlight releases more seratonin for the brain and raises awareness levels - that's why it's such an important resource when conducting training sessions - the more sunlight the better. Seems my teachers had it right when they brought us out onto the football pitches to do lessons on good days.

Time for family - to catch up, to laugh, to heal. Sunlight for the soul.

It's no surprise then that people who take regular breaks are the most successful in business. They give their minds space and time to reflect and create, their bodies time to repair and their souls the chance to integrate.

Ready for the coming week!

Selling Smarter 6 - It's the WORLD Wide Web Stupid!

Welcome to the digital age - the evolutionary age - the age which sees the rise of a new set of values and a new type of energy. Communication, collaboration, synergies, networks - it's all about co-creation and the fabric of this new age is built on the Net.

The Internet has been with us so long now and it's so engrained in the fabric of our lives that to conceive of a time when it wasn't here is difficult. Our children are digital natives - they have grown up with technology and it infuses how they engage with each other and learn.

Many businesses have had websites for a long time - but they still remain brochure sites. Us talking at the customer.

My friend, Net visionary and one-time mentor Dr. Denis Waitley said that 'you can't afford to be road kill on the information superhighway' and yet many of us are still only at half-speed on that highway and the juggernaut of the next generation is catching up on us.

Your website today can potentially reach a global audience and with the advances of technology in this space allows us to do many more things than were possible even 3 years ago. We need to be using the Web to have a dialogue with our customers and not just a monologue.

We need to review our businesses to see what aspects of them can be done on-line - both to increase the speed and quality of our services and reduce our costs. We need to look at collecting lists of new potential clients (ethically) and then using the technology to take most of the work out of initial prospecting for us. We should look at creating 'client communities' through social networks that help us become facilitators and the network hub for our client and customer needs.

We have a responsibility to inform ourselves as to the technology and the potential that the Web and increased speeds of access to it can provide for us. The Web has gone mobile too adding an additional dynamic. This is not an option - this is a fundamental need to remain business critical.

Selling Smarter 4 - Sell Holistically Not Sequentially

What do I mean by this?

Simply that too many sales professionals have a single product or service focus. They think and act sequentially - in a series of singular steps.

If we are committed to 'service' being the root of selling then we should consider developing more holistic attitudes to our clients. Who else is involved in the business and needs to know that I'm servicing the business with an existing solution but can provide others? Have I had my existing contact draw a map or flowchart of the firm indicating where everyone is and who other potential decision-makers might be?

What am I doing about working as an advocate for my client - a true business partner? When did I last refer business to him/her? When did I last do something that made them look good in the eyes of their company or clients?

Am I the 'networking point' for their business needs? Just because I can't provide the solution shouldn't mean that I don't maintain a database of other (non-competing and quality-focused) service providers and then I suddenly become the peson who always gets the first phone call when there's a need - because I have become the '(wo)man who can' for their business.

Think about it. Sell holistically and add more value to your (and their) bottom-line.

Selling Smarter 2

The conference in Galway this week went tremendously well and I had the honour of sharing the platform with some other 'rebels in business suits' David McWilliams the author and broadcaster with his own unique and very funny style of presenting, the branding specialist Brendan Buckley of Impact Media - who left a very comfortable job in Dublin to go West and establish his own unique business and Nicky Deasy an ex-associate director of KPMG Corporate Finance who walked away and now devotes her life to working in the charity she founded supporting children in Nepal.

Onto our second step for Selling Smarter which is about Understanding the 'New' Model of Selling. This new model of selling promotes the very real concept that all selling must be collaborative. It must be a partnership between the sales professional and the client.

There are 4 steps to this. Firstly, create rapport or a powerful state of trust and acceptance between you and the client - when rapport is present the 'threat-level' decreases for the client and they are more comfortable in your space.

Secondly, remove ambiguity as to the client's real needs through effective questioning. Not identifying the clear needs of the client leaves both them and us at a distinct disadvantage. The client by virtue of the fact that we may end up wasting their time by not having an effective solution for them - in which case we should have walked away in the first place - and ourselves by wasting time and effort on pitching to the wrong prospect. Effective uncovering of real needs then allows us to complete the remaining two stages - presentation and closing more elegantly.

Thirdly - we make an effective 'pitch' or presentation by relating what our services/products can do to meet their real needs and if we have done the 'matching' process successfully then the fourth part - closing the deal - becomes simply a matter of assumption. After all, if we have met all their needs we don't need any 'closing techniques' we simply suggest that we move forward to provide their solution.

Rebel Island Gets a Mention

Was very pleasantly surprised yesterday when I attended an Irish Internet Association workshop on social networks in Dublin.

As I sat in the audience I was amazed to see the presenter show examples of four SNs and who was the fourth but our own Rebel Island. I was so surprised I laughed out loud.   Nice to see us starting to make a name for ourselves - and we are just beginning!

The Power of Two

Business is a dynamic. You can never sit still as a critical part of business is continuing to develop and enhance relationships for growth.

When I started out in selling I was a great cold-caller - I would cold-call all day just to get that appointment. However, as one gets smarter with experience, I realised that the most powerful business tool today is the ability to network.

We live in a connected world - everyone can reach anyone with just a mobile call or text - you just need the permission to do so. Permission selling - just like permission marketing on the Net - is about having a person willing enough to meet with you with a view to seeing where the value might lie, for them, in spending some time with you and seeing what it is you can do for them. Networking is always about the other person and never about us.

The value of that 'permission-based' meeting is either to identify areas where you can specifically help that person or where they can help you with a referral to, not one, but two other people.

Getting referrals in 'twos' from everyone you meet creates a 'living' network - one that is far more dynamic than just getting a single referral. It has both width - and if you get two referrals from each of the people you were referred to - it has depth. This is what can build powerful foundations to a career or a business.

Tehran Day 4

The second-last day here now and I have being enjoying the indoor pool (the outdoor pool is part of a building site and is frozen solid anyhow) and the hotel facilities today while also working on completing the the new book 'Rebel in a Business Suit - A Handbook for R-Evolutionaries' which has an April deadline. (read some on-line here).

The great thing about working with other speakers is that we are an enthusiastic and creative lot - who often work alone - so the chance to meet up with other speakers and share some insights and energy has been great this week.

I have a great chance to chat with the other guys and we are looking at some joint-venture projects now. Speakers and trainers are in the information business and like the Web it benefits not from competition but from sharing and synergy.

The plans for Rebel Island is to use this as a foundation for greater sharing between information specialists and using the benefits of the social networks and the virtual Rebel Island on Second Life as a means of reaching wider and more diverse audiences and creating a evolutionary synergy in business, sales and leadership that could truly be radical.

Tribal Thoughts

Tribe is a powerful word. It conveys community, something shared - how we survive by virtue of the fact that we associate with each other, and share with each other. A way of perceiving the world that you have in common with others.

This weekend I am with my 'tribe' as I attend the Professional Speakers Association annual conference in London. Yesterday, I shared a speaking platform with other members of the tribe from all over the world at the Authentic Leadership - A Global Perspective conference held in the Ironmongers Hall in the City of London. Some fantastic speakers with powerful messages gave their best to an invited audience. There also, I launched the new revolution and the start of the Rebel Island project and community.

This weekend as I sit and share and learn from my 'tribe', I look forward to the growth of a new one. A sense of belonging somewhere and to something is important for us humans for we are social creatures.

Who's your tribe? Who makes you strong, helps you grow and accepts you for who your are? Cherish them, for they shape you.

Busy Week

This week's a busy one for me.

I have just completed filming a piece for an new internet TV channel for sales and small business professionals and then this evening I am presenting in front of a 100 sales people at an event called The Closers Club at Dublin's Westbury Hotel.

There I'm discussing the '6 Secrets of Networking' and hoping to present the message about how networking is the professional business development tool of the 21st century. It reduces time wasted on cold calling, allows you to target qualified prospects and allows you to build rapport and trust with them in a relaxed surroundings - all of which is a great start to looking for a meeting at a later point when you can make any formal business pitch. Check out the practice website for more articles on networking in the sales section.

Tomorrow I am meeting the Private Secretary to the President of Ireland for lunch to discuss networking on a more global scale - the network of the Irish disapora - and I am also scheduled to be profiled for the Rebel project in the careers sections of The Times (of London).

Finally, I make my debut singing Sinatra at a charity event for cancer on Friday with a 25-piece big band at Ireland's largest sports stadium Croke Park.

Then to bed for the weekend......

Networking

Networking has been the predominant theme for me this week.

Starting with a 'tekkie brekkie' for engineers in a Dublin hotel with Engineers Ireland, where I endeavoured to educate professional engineers into the secrets of networking, to attending a high-energy meeting of the May Street Economic Forum in Belfast yesterday.

Professionals of all kinds need to understand that networking is the business tool of the 21st century. For sales and business development people it's a powerful tool for sales growth and for professionals, their own career growth. It allows you to expand your networks of influence far and wide, increasing your personal power, brand and opportunities - and all of it without having to pick up a phone and calling someone you have never met.

There is a whole psychology to networking within a room and none of it has to do with the traditional stereotype of the 'brass-necked conversation hijacker' who launches themselves into the middle of other people's conversations. Networking can be learnt - check out my Eagles of Selling programme.

The secret to networking is that its always about the other person - your interest is in them, not you. People like to be listened to, it helps them relax and feel valued and it positions the listener in a very positive frame with those to whom they listen. If you can get permission to engage, you get permission to develop a powerful future relationship. It's a social skill too - many's the time I've had men and women come up to me afterwards saying that they wished they'd learnt these skills prior to getting married...!

Your own networks can also be highly diverse - as I said, networking brought me from a room of professional engineers in Dublin to Belfast business people looking to revitalise the city's community and economic spirit after decades of conflict and then to connecting with colleagues in New York through the e-networking medium Skype.

Reach out - see where it takes you.