SME Academy, London | Advice, Tips and training for business owners » Networking

Bribery & Corruption

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:50:43 +0000

Having a mailing list for your business is incredibly important as it allows you to keep in contact with your potential customers and let them know about your business. Newsletters are so effective however that now everyone is offering them – so how do you get people to sign up to your offering? With a little bit of modern day bribery and corruption.

In this Video Tip I discuss how you cost effective and attractive things you can offer to entice people to sign up to your mailing list.

www.GetMoreClientsMakeMoreMoney.co.uk

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[Video Tip] Networking Corporate Style

Hannah McNamara — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:43:44 +0000

Hannah McNamara from SME Academy (http://www.smeacademy.co.uk) talks about ways that you can network your way into corporate contracts.

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Transcript

If you have attended a few networking events you might have noticed that they are mainly populated by independent coaches, consultants and small business owners. This is perfect if that’s the market you are hoping to promote your services to, but what if you want to build your network of contacts in the corporate world?

Let’s face it – most of the people you want to connect with are employees of a larger organisation. This is the case whether you are looking for senior executives, training managers or any other member of staff.

Employees think differently from self-employed people and business owners when it comes to networking. They have a job to do and probably don’t have enough time to do it, so networking is not high on their priority list unless they are thinking about making a career move.

These people have a corporate marketing department working hard to build the profile of the organisation, so unless they are working in the Sales or Business Development functions, they won’t be networking for leads in the same way that you might be.

They spend most days fielding incoming calls and sorting through sales letter and promotional emails from people and organisations trying to promote their businesses, so they’re not likely to think, “I could do with meeting some prospective suppliers – I’ll go to this networking event.”

So if they’re not approaching networking in the same way as you, how do you get in front of these people?

Most people working in large organisations don’t go to ‘networking events’ unless they are looking for a job. Networking happens at industry conferences, seminars and training courses. People are introduced to one another at awards dinners, press launches and social events.

If you are looking to network your way into larger organisations adjust your strategy. Start to think like them. Position yourself so that you are invited to the same events that they attend.

Work your existing contacts and ask for specific introductions to a particular person in an organisation – websites like LinkedIn are useful for finding out who knows who. Be clear about what you want them to say when they make the introduction. Seek out the people you know who work with larger organisations and get to know them. Find out more about what they do and see if you can help them first, before asking whether they might be willing to consider you when they are looking for what your company does.

Above all, understand that it can take time even when you’ve been introduced to the right person. You do need to network in a slightly different way and have a longer-term strategy in mind, but if you start with the end in mind and are clear about what you are setting out to achieve you’ll have a much greater level of success.

For more video tips and articles go to: www.smeacademy.co.uk

[END TRANSCRIPTION – 00:02:52]

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[Video Tip] Using Twitter to get your business in the public eye

Hannah McNamara — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:45:42 +0000

Hannah McNamara from SME Academy (http://www.smeacademy.co.uk) gives an overview of how social networking tool and microblogging site Twitter can be used to network and build your business.

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Transcript

The whole world’s a-Twitter or so it would seem. Every day there’s a news story in the paper about a celebrity who uses it or about how twitterers have spread the news about an event.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t really get it. It looked like the biggest waste of time ever when I first saw is and after all, did I really want to know what someone had for breakfast or read details of their latest bowel movement? That was until I actually tried Twitter.

Micro-blogging. That’s what it’s called. You update your profile throughout the day with the answer to a straightforward question, “What are you doing?” You can post details of what you’re up to, links to the articles you’ve written, or share links to funny stories or interesting news and put just about anything on there. But that’s not really the point. The real power of Twitter is in the networking. It gives you direct access to people who might not otherwise return your email or have a PA send you a standard response.

When I started out on Twitter I added a few people I knew and then looked at who they knew and I was actually quite surprised that a lot of the people I knew, knew each other. I could see who knew who and who chatted to who. It seemed more instant and more interactive than Facebook.

From what I can see, if you’re thinking about using Twitter for your business it’s a great way of building your network and chatting to other people who serve the same sort of market with a view to collaboration, joint marketing, cross-promotion or joint ventures. Don’t treat your Twitter ‘followers’ as newsletter subscribers. If you do, you’ll come across as spammy and self-centred. Instead get to know them, share stories, comment on their status and generally just get involved.

One way to do this is to keep any eye on what other people are posting on Twitter and when you spot something interesting that you’d like to share with other people ‘Retweet’ it. That means you put the letters RT, then the person’s username in front of the post that they’ve just written and everyone who follows you will see what you’ve retweeted and where it came from.

If you’re not already on Twitter, it’s worth getting yourself on there – even if it’s just so you have a profile listed and nobody else registers your name or company name.

There are lots of useful applications set up to help you manage your Twitter account and if you’re already on Facebook, you can set things up so that your Twitter updates feed into your Facebook status so you’re not creating more work for yourself.

Happy Tweeting!

For more video tips and articles go to: www.smeacademy.co.uk

[END TRANSCRIPTION – 00:02:39]

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Twitter and Social Networking

Hannah McNamara — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:06:04 +0000

The whole world’s a-Twitter or so it would seem. Every day there’s a news story in the paper about a celebrity who uses it or about how twitterers have spread the news about an event.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t get it. It looked like the biggest waste of time ever. After all, did I really want to know what someone had for breakfast or read details of their latest bowel movement? That was until I actually tried it.

Micro-blogging. That’s what it’s called. You update your profile throughout the day with the answer to a straightforward question, “What are you doing?” You can post details of what you’re up to, links to the articles you’ve written, share links to funny stories or interesting news and put just about anything on there. But that’s not really the point. The real power of Twitter is in the networking. It gives you direct access to people who might not otherwise return your email or have a PA send you a standard response.

When I started out on Twitter I added a few people I knew and then looked at who they knew. I was quite surprised that a lot of the people I knew, knew each other. I could see who knew who and who chatted to who. It seemed more instant and more interactive than Facebook.

From what I can see, if you’re thinking about using Twitter for your business it’s a great way of building your network and chatting to other people who serve the same market with a view to collaboration, joint marketing, cross-promotion or joint ventures. Don’t treat your Twitter ‘followers’ as newsletter subscribers. If you do, you’ll come across as spammy and self-centred. Instead get to know them, share stories, comment on their status and generally get involved.

If you’re not already on Twitter, it’s worth getting yourself on there – even if it’s just so you have a profile listed and nobody else registers your name or company name.

To get you started, here are some people who I suggest you start following once you’ve activated your account:

Yanik Silver @yaniksilver
Alex Mandossian @alexmandossian
Bernadette Doyle @bernadettedoyle
Krishna De @krishnade
Karen Skidmore @candocanbe
Sandra de Freitas @techcoach
Biana Babinsky @bianababinsky
Hannah McNamara @hannahmcnamara – me!

All of the people above publish information, products and services on marketing yourself – all are suitable for coaches, trainers and consultants. Of course there are many, many more people who I could mention, but half the fun of Twitter is discovering them yourself!

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Networking at Exhibitions and Trade Shows

Hannah McNamara — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:00:18 +0000

Exhibitions can be a great place for you to pick up useful contacts leading to business relationships. The reason is that the organisers have brought a large number of people together who have the same interests.

Most people see exhibitions as an opportunity to collect leads, meet prospects and maybe, just maybe, make a sale or two on the day. Many business owners overlook the fact that exhibitions can be a great place to meet other companies who are operating in the same marketplace, but are offering products and services that complement yours.

To make the most of an exhibition, you really do not need to go to the cost and time investment of booking and staffing a stand. It’s very easy to attend as a delegate and talk to the other exhibitors with a view to networking. In fact, many exhibitors meet for drinks after the event has closed for the evening and business relationships established over a beer or a glass of wine.

Before setting off for the exhibition, check the event’s website to see if there is an exhibitors list. Identify the companies that you would most like to speak to and seek them out. You could speak to them to find out more about how they work, the type of customers they deal with and whether there might be scope for you to work together.

A word of caution, the exhibitors are there to talk to prospective customers and clients, so they have to come first. If you attend at the beginning or end of the day when the stands are quieter, you will have more of an opportunity to speak at length than at the lunchtime rush.

Get their contact details and cards and do your best to follow up with them after the event.

Many exhibitions have seminars or workshops as part of the event programme. If you are a confident speaker with something interesting and relevant to say, get in touch with the organisers several months beforehand to offer your services as a speaker. You may be asked to exhibit at the event in order to be considered, so weight up the value of the exposure being an expert speaker will give you against the cost of the stand.

Finally, if you know someone else who’s thinking about exhibiting, but is working on a tight budget and unable to pay staff to join them, you could come to an arrangement where you help out on their stand in exchange for being able to promote your services.

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