Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket to Communicate With Your Network

by (0) Comments

Don't put all your eggs in one basket for communicating with your network
 
Here's a good example of leveraging social media. I call this approach "Not putting all your eggs in one basket to communicate with your network."

I have an article I wrote a few months ago called "The Top Ten Hiring Mistakes". In the last few days, I RE-PURPOSED that content and very quickly boosted my exposure, PR, branding, interest, and engagement with my network.

I created a short slide show in Powerpoint with the same title. I then did a voice-over narration reading the blog post and syncing the slides - not the very best quality - but it was my first cut at creating a voice-over narration. I converted the narrated slideshow into a video and uploaded it as a new blog post to our website, the 50 LinkedIn discussion groups I belong to, my entire network, my LinkedIn Profile, all my Google Plus Circles, Twitter, Facebook, my listing for IMPACT Hiring Solutions on iTunes, and my YouTube Channel.

I also stripped off the audio from the narration and am uploading that to my iTunes Audio Channel, in addition to distributing it to other podcast directories.

One little article that initially took me an hour to write for my blog now has morphed into slide presentations, video, and audio formats and reached a larger share of my network and my network's connections.

Re-Purposing Content allows you to take original content and multiply or amplify it across new channels, groups, forums with additional formats. Some folks in your network might like to read your content, while others want to view it or listen to it.

You can do this too! These techniques and steps are part of the final phase of the coaching project over 60 chairs are now participating in which involves 9-12 personal hour long coaching sessions on how to establish an infrastructure for using social media (like LinkedIn) to find and attract CEOs for your group.

 
If you would like to take advantage of this complimentary coaching program for the Chair community, please send me an email or a note through LinkedIn.
 
Barry Deutsch
 

Myths About CEOs NOT Using Social Media

by (0) Comments

Content Marketing Institute

Joe Pulizzi wrote a blog post about the myths of CEOs not using social media. A lot of CEOs in small businesses and entrepreneurial companies use these myths as rationalizations and justification for why they shouldn’t get involved in social because their peers are not involved.

If you believe that to be to true, then prepare to be trailing everyone else in your marketplace. The very best companies are beginning to move up the learning curve of leveraging social media – and it starts at the top of the pyramid. If the CEO is not engaged, why should anyone else care?

Joe made the following comment in his blog article:

 

Myth #1: My clients don’t consume online content

We hear this all the time. Some senior marketers say that they target CEOs, who don’t use search engines or social media. Recent Google research tells us that the average consumer engages in over 10 sources of information before making a buying decision. Also, according to research from Doremus and the Financial Times, over 60 percent of senior executives read blogs, watch online video, view webcasts, and use professional networking sites like LinkedIn.

 

We’re seeing examples multiply daily of CEOs using LinkedIn, Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook – not only to engage with their peers, but also with customers, vendors, suppliers, and channel partners.

Numerous case studies indicate that social media is NOT a passing Fad. It’s here to stay. These case studies, research projects, polls, whitepapers, and practical examples extend across every imaginable industry segment and include applications for customer service, retention, hiring and recruiting, lead generation and nurturing, marketing, PR, branding, and employee engagement to name a few.

I tell my high school girl’s basketball team that we never want to be in a position of chasing the other team, following their lead, or scrambling after someone else. We want to be the group that makes everyone chase after us.

Where would you like to be positioned on the court of competition? Leading by example or chasing the best companies?

After having just responded to a member request on the Vistage Village for examples of where companies are implementing social media, I realized that there is an enormous gap between what big-mid companies are doing and what small businesses and entrepreneurial companies are not doing. Stay tuned for this blog article in the next week or two.

If you would like to read the full article, please click the link below:

Selling the C-Level: 7 Marketing Myths Debunked

Barry Deutsch

Who Is In Your Network of Personal Service Providers?

by (0) Comments

Blogging Tips Blog

Are you building out a part of your referral network to include subject matter experts or real trusted advisers/trusted authorities?

The distinction is critical. One you’ll rarely ever see referrals from, and one you’ll see an abundance of referrals.

I was reminded of this distinction in reading a blog post from Patti Stafford on the Blogging Tips blog.

 

First, you have to have competence in what you do. Experts don’t always have the competence or the confidence in the beginning to claim the title of “authority” but they work towards it.

The second thing you need to be the authority figure is to be committed to helping others, have a passion for helping those people. Often times, the expert wants to help others, but it’s not their driving force. Their driving force is to be the expert. The trusted authority moves past that and their goals focus on helping others.

The trusted advisers/trusted influencers/trusted authority figures have a level of respect with their clients and network that moves far beyond the influence of an expert. Remember the old EF Hutton commercials when the broker from EF Hutton spoke, a hushed silence occurred and everyone leaned in to hear what was being said. If your an expert, you’re contacts, connections, and relationships will view you simply as a subject matter expert – that’s the narrow light they see you in. When you’re a trusted adviser or authority, your network seeks your advice and takes action based on your advice.

Allow me to share an example. I have an extensive network of subject matter experts. I hope that these folks hear about executive search opportunities with their clients when they are working on projects in their area of expertise – benefit plan changes, legal issues, strategic planning, marketing programs, etc. Unfortunately, it’s usually wishful thinking. These subject matter experts are not “privy” to anything going on at their clients beyond the narrow scope of their expert-related project.

Now let’s look at the trusted adviser or trusted authority. This person is involved in counseling their CEOs on a wide range of subjects, including who to choose as a consultant for work that has nothing to do with their subject matter expertise. They are invited into their client’s confidence, brought to the table for advice, and trusted for their recommendations. My clients know that when i make a recommendation, it’s from my heart as a well-meaning attempt to give them value and help them succeed. My clients have to be guarded – fearing some hidden agenda or ulterior motive.

A few days ago, I was on a phone call discussing a project with a potential client, who had been referred to me by one of her trusted advisers. At the end of our conversation, the client said, “If Julie trusts and believes in you –that’s good enough for me. Send me over your contract and I’ll sign it.” How many of the subject matter experts in your network have that level of influence and authority with their clients?

How does this work for a Chair seeking CEO members. When a trusted adviser makes a referral, you can be assured it’s set-up, ready for you to take to the signing level. If that trusted adviser said you’re a good person and TEC/Vistage is the route to go, you don’t have to worry about closing. Are you working too hard on trying to close referrals from subject matter experts that just don’t have enough “juice” or influence to steer their CEO clients toward TEC/Vistage membership.

Who’s in your network – experts or trusted advisers?

One of the key elements we’re focusing on in the Chair Coaching Program for Leveraging Social Media is how to find and engage with true trusted advisers – real authority figures – who are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in providing referrals of their CEOs to you. Have you signed up for this FREE program yet? I’ll bet you get few to none referrals from your network of subject matter experts.

Ask me to show you how in just a short 15 minute conversation how to determine if a network contact is worth nurturing based on being a trusted adviser vs. a subject matter expert.

If you would like to read the complete article by Patti Stafford, click the link below:

Expert or Trusted Authority: Which is Better?

Barry Deutsch

Small Business and Blogging Should be Linked Together

by (0) Comments

Build a Better Blog

I've been preaching this message for the past 2 years to individual consultants, advisers, speakers, and business owners. There is no better vehicle by which to drive your social media activities than your blog.  Denise Wakeman, one of my favorite blogging experts at Build a Better Blog, summed it up in one of her blog posts, where she said:

 

If you’re a small business owner here’s good news: social media has helped to level the playing field. In the past, smaller companies couldn’t compete with big companies and their megabuck advertising budgets to reach customers and prospects.

Now you can by going directly to your target audience with a blog as the centerpiece of your social media strategy. Think of your blog as your home base. It’s important to get runners on first, second and third base but they need to cross home plate for you to win.

From your home base, you can feed important information directly to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other social media sites where your customers are forming communities. Push the “publish” button and your article is immediately distributed to sites of your choice with a link back to your blog – think runners crossing home plate when visitors come to your site.

 

Are you publishing a blog yet? With the technology available today, nothing could be more simple. What's the fear or technological hurdle holding you back. Blogging - creating a platform for engaging with your network - is one of the 4 major topic areas we're covering in the current Chair Coaching Program to Leverage Social Media. Are you participating in this FREE one-on-one personalized coaching program? To learn more about the coaching program, check it out on the LinkedIn Discussion Group. Click here to go to the Discussion Group where hundreds of chairs are taking the best tips, hints, practices and applying them to find and nurture relationships with potential CEOs for their groups.

 

To read the full article  by Denise Wakeman, click the link below:

Why Every Small Business Owner Should Have a Blog

Barry Deutsch

Can You Build Trust Through Social Media

by (1) Comments

Personal Branding Blog

Kyle Lacy, one of my favorite blog authors, wrote a guest post on the Personal Branding Blog about how to build trust through social media/digital marketing. He gave 40 examples of how to do it. I focus on a few of these in my Chair Coaching Program on how to leverage social media to find new members. Kyle does a great job presenting a "holistic" approach to using social media. Even if you pick up one or two interesting ideas from this article, it's probably worth reading.

Here is his number one recommendation and the one thing I can attest to that has lead to my success in using social media. I can't emphasize enough the importance of having a content-driven marketing approach to social media.

In the new economy there is one major truth that stands above the rest. Trust equals revenue. If you are a small to mid-sized business or organization, it is the amount of trust you can build between people that strengthens your brand. Whether we are talking about donors or customers,  it is about building trust that filters into an integrated marketing system with digital and traditional tools. THAT is where the true success is found within the marketing world.

With trust comes happy people, and with happy people come referrals, or what we call advocacy at MindFrame. Trust is a fundamental block of building your brand. Marketing is built under the assumption that stories can create an emotional bond between a consumer and a brand… a client and a service. Can you tell a story… create a service and/or an experience that builds trust?

1. Content

Content is the number one way you can build trust with potential clients. By creating meaningful and thought provoking content you are building a bridge to later sell that person on your services.

 

Do you have a content marketing plan to generate leads with CEOs for your group and nurture those leads to convert them from prospects to members? Are you building a bridge for future interactions, or a cliff where if your prospects don't immediately sign up, they fall out of your sight?

To read the full article, click the link below:

40 Ways to Build Trust in Your Personal Brand on Social Media

Barry Deutsch

Are You Nurturing Your Prospects?

by (0) Comments

HubSpot Inbound Marketing Blog

Not everyone signs up after the first telling session or after a visit to your group. Do you effectively "nurture" your leads to convert them into prospects when they are resistant initially to becoming a member? If not, you might be leaving a tremendous number of prospects "on the table".

The subject of lead generation and lead nurturing has become a focal point for me - especially in our executive search practice and in attracting top talent for open positions.

Ellie Mirman, writing on the HubSpot Blog identified a series of reasons for creating a lead nurturing program to convert leads (prospects) into customers (members).  She identified 9 different items, but two that caught my eye were:

 

Build Thought Leadership - People do business with businesses they know and trust. The first time someone converts on your website, the likelihood that they really know who you are or understand why they should do business with you is pretty slim. Lead nurturing is an opportunity to show that you are an expert in your field.

Identify Interest or Pain - Lead nurturing emails are a great way to learn more about your leads - what challenges are they facing? What features or products are they interested in? By presenting different questions or types of content and seeing who responds to what, you can qualify your leads and set yourself up for warmer sales conversations.

 

What's your lead nurturing program look like - what type of messages do you send - either through email or social media to continue to communicate, engage, excite, and nurture?

Is any of this communication automated OR do you create each individual message to each individual person on your list?

If you looked back over the past 2 years, how many potential members initially said NO, that you subsequently signed up as a member?

Is it time to start exploring the basic elements of putting an effective nurturing program together. This is the stuff I remember Jim Cecil talking about back in the early 90s in my TEC Group - at that time he called he drip nurturing. Today you can automate this nurturing and come at your prospects from both traditional email and social media.

If you would like to read the full article, click the link below:

The 9 Benefits of Lead Nurturing

Barry Deutsch

 

Are You Turning Off Your Network From Referring You?

by (0) Comments

Andy Lopata Networking Blog

Do you "un-inspire" your network to refer you?

When was the last time you kept a referral source updated on the progress of their referral? When you did you thank them for the referral? Did you ask for their assistance in building the relationship with the person they referred?

Most referrers want to be intimately involved in the process of helping you with the referral - why do most people resist this and try to go it alone?

If you looked at all your referrals right now - let's pretend it's 20 referrals you're currently working on - when was the last time you touched based with the person who referred them? How often do you stay in touch with the person who referred them?

I've made numerous referrals to chairs over the years through my network and I am stunned at the number of times I don't get a call for months - if at all - on the referral status. Getting thank yous, being asked to help with the initial introduction, and being kept constantly alerted to the status of the referral are so basic to networking and referrals that I'm shocked most people don't do it. Why does that happen?

The problem is that if you screw this up with your referral source - they'll stop making referrals - you'll wonder why that well dried up. They'll never tell you. They'll just start giving referrals to your competitors.

What's your track record of communicating with your referral sources?

Here's what one of my favorite blog authors, Andy Lopato, on networking and referrals, had to say about this issue:

 

I was out with friends last week. I knew that they had referred some very good business to a mutual contact of ours, and he had gone on to win the contract. I mentioned that I had spoken to our mutual contact the week before and helped him with some introductions which would help him deliver to his new client.

My friends were disappointed when I told them this. They had helped him by referring the business, why had he not approached them for help with the connections? In fact, as the initial referral was their client, they would have expected him to keep them involved throughout. 

Not only had he not kept them informed and involved. He hadn't even thanked them properly.

 

How often do you think these conversations occur behind your back about you?

To read Andy's full article, click the link below:

How To Lose Referrals With Ease

Barry Deutsch

Why Do I Struggle with LinkedIn Introduction Requests?

by (0) Comments

I'm on LinkedIn - Now What Blog

One of the most common frustrations I hear from Chairs is regarding the uncomfortable subject of inviting someone on LinkedIn to connect with them, or asking a member of their network for an introduction.

Jason Alba, who write the book, I'm on LinkedIn - Now What, has a blog supporting his book. In an article on his blog, Jason listed some "scripts" you might consider for direct introduction and asking for introductions through others. He shared what are good examples of introduction/invite requests, and some "hall-of-shame" examples.

Here's a couple from the Blog. I've used a few of these myself over the past year with a few minor modifications to be focused on my specific business or executive search recruiting.

 

>> I came to you in a round about way from a comment you made on BNET to Steve Tobak…

Very nice – this shows me what you read and who else you read… so I can somehow gauge what level of professional you are (or, where you are at professionally).

>> and so I am asking Jason Alba, who I admire and respect as well to introduce me to you!

I am sincerely flattered to have you put that sentence in, but this is a second degree connection of mine and I doubt Dan really knows who I am.  I’m flattered but personally I’d recommend you keep this out until I have achieved fame :p

This is where it breaks down… so you are asking for an introduction from me, but what does that mean to Dan?  How is he supposed to respond to this?  It’s as if you are missing the last line… which would be something like:

I would like to [chat with you/email you/meet you for coffee/etc.]

 

What's your favorite introduction/invite request?

What's your number one script for asking for an introduction from someone in your network?

If you would like to read the full article by Jason Alba, click the link below:

Linkedin Introductions Request: Right and Wrong Way

Barry Deutsch

What's Your Track Record of Referring Others FIRST?

by (0) Comments

 Networking for Referrals

One of the most important lessons I've learned in networking and generating referrals is to be exceptional at referring others first.

I never ask for a referral until I've made at least a couple of referrals first. I want my referral sources to understand that I care about them deeply about them, and I want to help them succeed. Usually - probably 75% of time - I get a referral back within a very short time frame. Not only does this person whom I've referred feel obligated to return the favor, it becomes a mutual "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine" level of reciprocal referrals. The relationship is two-sided.

I constantly hear Chairs, Consultants, Coaches, and Sales Professionals lament the fact that they are not getting enough referrals from their network. Have you taken a hard look at whether your expectations are unrealistic given the fact that so many of your networking relationships  (referral sources) are one-sided? Perhaps, you only care whether you get a referral and you could care less whether your network contacts (referral sources) are successful?

When was the last time you started a conversation with a member of your network by asking "what can I do  for you?"

When was the last time you went above and beyond the call of duty to help a member of your network secure a piece of business?

If you're not willing to go above and beyond the call of duty for your network, why should they feel obliged to do it for you?

Here's a reality check:

Take the last 25 conversations you had with members of your network. Make a spreadsheet in Excel. List what each one needs/wants from you (hopefully you've asked this question before). List when you gave each of these network members a referral and whether the referral turned into a real piece of business. On the same row, indicate when that person gave you a warm/hot referral.

Once you start tracking your referral giving/taking from your network, it should become apparent that your best referrals are coming from those individuals to whom you make referrals. Once you begin to make referrals proactively, initially in new relationships, and without being prompted, you'll soon start to receive an abundance of great referrals.

What's the other option to not making referrals, proactively, and initially without being prompted? The other option is waiting for a gift to fall into your lap - more a function of hope and luck.

Which one would you select?

Barry Deutsch

 

Can You Be Bothered to Network Today?

by (0) Comments

Is your networking and referral strategy an integrated part of what you do every day or is something you do when you have time?

Do you put some rigor and discipline behind the process of networking and generating referrals OR is it more a function of hope and luck?

Worst of all, do you confuse the process of networking with "pitching" or "selling"?

Will Kintish, on his Kintished Blog, makes the following claim:

 

Some say networking is a core business skill. I see it as something we do every day. it is simply building new relationships or on existing ones. It is not just a skill for sales and marketing people but also a skill for everyone in whatever line of business they are in. Since it has become a 'must-do' part of business it has however been adopted by people who confuse it with 'selling'. They hand out their business card as though they are on a mission to beat a record they created at the previous event. A numbers game for many, 'networking' is now a functional task, something we can switch on or off…all so wrong.

 

Generating great referrals from networking is very easy when you put rigor and discipline behind it, AND you separate pitching/selling from networking. In your last 20 conversations with members of your network, whom you were not trying to close, how much of the conversation was "networking" vs. "pitching/selling"?

If you would like to read the full article on the Kintished Blog, click here:

I Can't Be Bothered to Network Today

Barry Deutsch

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Join our

LinkedIn

Discussion Group


Discuss with other Chairs How to Find Members

Back to Top