Tag : networking

  • Is There Such A Thing As Competition?

    Posted Sep 10th, 2010 By in Business With | 4 Comments

    As you may recall, I wrote two posts about competition not too long ago:  3 Major Reasons You Shouldn’t Ignore Competitors on Social Networking Sites and 3 Undeniable Ways to Turn Competitors into Enemies on Social Media Sites.  I think Ivan Misner’s Philosophy below really complements these posts well.  Enjoy!

    My philosophy about competition is best summed up by Henry Ford, who once said, “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.”

    In my business organization, BNI, members or directors often express concern about other competitive networking groups that are forming and bad-mouthing our company or attacking our program in some way. I tell my team that if they feel like someone is biting at our backsides, it’s because we’re out in front. Success in business is about constantly improving your product or service and making it better all the time. The process is a journey, not a destination. However, if you are constantly working to improve the system, improve the product, improve the culture and improve the team, you will also improve your position in the marketplace.

    Almost 10 years ago I had a particularly aggressive competitor publicly state that he was going to bury our organization. Since then we’ve grown by almost 400 percent. I haven’t heard about his company in years. I’m not sure whether it’s still in business. Ford got it right. Keep making your business better, and you’ll have no need to fear your competitors–your business will be the one competitors fear the most.

    Guest Author: Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI the world’s largest business organization. His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com. You can also read more of his valuable information on the Neworking Now Blog.

  • Is Social Media a ‘Get Rich’ Scheme or Competition?

    Posted Sep 8th, 2010 By in Social Media, Social Networking, Viral Marketing With | 7 Comments

    Do you want THOUSANDS of friends/followers within days/weeks?

    Please become a liker of my Facebook page because I need to reach 1000 likers!

    Make money FAST using social media…

    Let me show you how I made $100K in one day using social media…

    Learn how to grow followers FAST on Twitter…

    Anyone can make money using Twitter…Learn how NOW!
    Any of these sound familiar? I have lost count of how many of these messages I receive per day. I am sure you have too. Tired of them yet? I know I am!

    If you spend any time on any social media site, you will find that there appears to be a race to see who can have the most friends/followers or who can find the quickest and easiest way to get rich using social media. There are schemes that can help you get thousands of new people to follow you on sites like Twitter.

    There are even sites that sell friends by the thousands. If any of these come across your e-mail or your social media accounts, please IGNORE them. Two words: “Buyer Beware!” And, if you are sending out these messages, please STOP!

    Social media is not for people who want to get rich fast nor is it a competition. There is no short cut to using social media. Social media is another powerful tool to help you build genuine, quality, and long-term relationships. It is NOT about the quantity of friends or likers you have. If you are using social networking sites to increase the visibility of your business, the concept is very simple. Think of it as taking your offline networking online.

    When you are at a networking event, you connect with people and try to build relationships. Then once you establish credibility, you may try to introduce people to your products and services. And, if you have given enough value, you will automatically attract your ideal clients. Well, the same rules apply to social networking. It is truly as simple as that! No need to reinvent the wheel.

    When trying to build your likers and followers on social networking sites, you must think about your target audience and not how many followers you are going to have by the end of the month. For example, imagine you sell steaks. They might be the juiciest, tastiest steaks in the world, but if you try to sell them at a raw food convention where there are thousands of people, guess what? No one will buy! That’s what it’s like when you gather 20,000 people through random methods just to get followers on whatever social network you are targeting. I guarantee that this approach will not get you the results you are looking for and will not increase your business in any shape or form.

    Now, imagine you take these amazing steaks to a meat-lovers convention. Do you think these people might be interested in your food? I bet you’d sell out in no time! Keep this in mind when you are finding followers on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon or any other social network. You need to focus on targeted followers — the ones who appreciate the value you provide and are interested in what you have to offer.

    In summary, social media isn’t a competition to see how popular you are . . . unless that happens to be your sole purpose (But, why would it be?). However, if you are there to increase the visibility of your business, you need to start looking at things differently. Quality follower or likers will make all the difference in your bottom line!

    Follow these 12 social media tips and see the difference it makes in your business:

    1. Have a strategy
    2. Use listening skills
    3. Provide value
    4. Build credibility/rapport
    5. Be genuine/honest
    6. Be conversational
    7. Be interesting/amusing
    8. Be creative (think outside the box)
    9. Be consistent
    10. Use proper etiquette
    11. Be patient
    12. Most importantly, have fun!

    Am I missing any schemes?  Please list any hype that you have seen or received in the comments section below .  This will help educate others and prevent them from making costly mistakes.

  • Are You Engaged?

    Posted Aug 18th, 2010 By in Business, Social Media, Social Networking With | 2 Comments

    This is a guest post by Dr. Ivan Misner (Bio is below).

    In engaged in the conversation, that is! OK, OK . . . now that I have your attention, let me explain.

    In my book Truth or Delusion I bring up the point that word-of-mouth marketing is always working, it just may not be working in your favor. Believe it or not, you’re getting word of mouth every day. It just may not be the kind you’re thinking of–the good kind. The thing is, negative word of mouth has legs and the average dissatisfied customer gripes to 11 people about his experience, and these 11 in turn tell five others apiece.

    Therefore, you need to get engaged in the networking process and the resulting conversation by formulating a strategic plan to control what’s being said about you. Among other things, this is done by focusing on good customer service to reduce negative word-of-mouth and ensuring that your marketing message is conveyed accurately so your prospects know what to expect.

    It’s especially important to be engaged in the conversation when it comes to online networking. Take the headline of this blog, for example. Say somebody were to see it, not read the rest of the blog, and then begin posting comments on blogs and social networking sites all over the web claiming that “Ivan Misner has a new blog urging people everywhere to get married!”

    You may be laughing, but occurrences like I just described happen all the time. And guess what? If you’re one of those people who refuses to get involved in “that online/social networking stuff,” then you aren’t engaged in the conversations that are being had about you online. And when somebody says something negative or incorrect about you or your business, you can’t redirect the conversation in a positive direction to save face or correct what’s been wrongly stated about you.

    Whether networking online or face-to-face, the dialogue is going to happen with or without you. The basic point is, if you don’t participate in the conversation, you’re not in control whatsoever. If you do participate, then you can publicly say who you are and steer the conversation in a positive way.

    Check out this blog entry by my friend Dave Goetz, “They are Laughing at You.” It’s a perfect illustration of everything I’ve talked about in this blog and it tells a GREAT story about a college professor who refused to engage his students in any way as he endlessly lectured to them for hours. It’s no surprise that the students found a way to engage each other in conversation during class but the professor lost all control of what topics were being focused on as well as what was being said . . . Like I said, the dialogue will happen with or without you.

    Guest Author: Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI the world’s largest business organization. His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com. You can also read more of his valuable information on the Neworking Now Blog.

  • Aligning Offline & Online Networking

    Posted Aug 28th, 2009 By in Social Media, Social Networking With | No Comments

    I recently did a two part podcast on BNI Podcast.com with Dr. Ivan Misner, the Father of Modern Networking and NY Times Bestselling author. We discussed aligning offline and online networking, both of which I consider to be very important for business. While I suggest you pop over to listen to the podcasts, here are the main points for those of you in a hurry.
    In the podcasts, Ivan and I discussed the fact that you can keep track of and stay in touch with offline business contacts through LinkedIn and other social media networks. It works the other way around, as well. Often you get a chance to meet people that you know from online and this can be a great way to really cement the rapport you have from Facebook or Twitter. There is no reason why online and offline networking need to be two separate things . . . in fact, they work best together.
    Many people are anxious about social media not because of the networking, but because of the technology side of things. They simply don’t feel comfortable with it, but the fact of the matter is, networking is networking, no matter where you do it. The same rules apply in both mediums and you’ll find that if you forget about the technology for a minute and focus on building relationships with the people you meet, you’ll be just fine.
    A few of the networking rules that people tend to forget when forging relationships online include:
    Listening – you can’t build a relationship without paying attention to other people, but there are a lot of people who simply don’t understand this and just blast their information and links out there without ever stopping to listen to what others are saying.
    Planning – if you don’t know where you’re going, it’s going to be pretty difficult to get there! That means you need to think things through and lay out a plan that you can follow, with concrete goals. I actually discuss this in more detail on the podcast.
    Interacting – you can’t jump into social media and then have nothing to do with anyone else. It’s not going to work! You need to be listening (first rule here) and then responding to what other people are saying. This is very important if you want to be successful.
    We went over several other rules that you should be following if you are looking to be successful at networking, both online and off. There are many ways to break into social media networking and start building up relationships. Be consistent, listen to what everyone else is talking about and join them in conversation. Also, have a plan and follow it to really be successful.
    And, don’t forget the VCP (Visibility – Credibility – Profitability) process that Ivan discusses! This definitely applies to all kinds of networking.

    You can listen to the podcasts here, and I would love to hear what you think:
    Offline & Online Networking – Part One
    Offline & Online Networking – Part Two

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