I’ve spoken about my admiration for Linkedin and how to use it as a development tool for business before. Linkedin groups are a wonderful way to market you and your business, make connections and have your questions about business answered. I am a member of many Linkedin groups and try to participate as much as possible. Here is a list of the top 30 Irish Linkedin groups by number of members. (more…)
When: Wednesday December 02, 2009, 06:00PM - 08.00PM GMT
Where: Hampton hotel, 4 Morehampton Rd, Dublin 4. http://www.hamptonhotel.ie
Price: 15 Euro on the day.
Zero to Hero
This SLI session will share with you some of the key strategies to help you get back on top in challenging times. Vincent Reynolds of Rapport Consulting will share the keys to working with C level executives and encouraging them to engage and buy high level solutions while Seán Weafer of Seán Weafer Consulting will reveal some of the secrets for ‘making the numbers’ and the challenging questions that every sales leader should be asking themselves to keep themselves ahead of the competition.
Speakers:
Seán Weafer is a top-level sales leadership consultant, who helps build alpha sales organisations by helping management ‘build trust and get things done’.
His clients develop practical, profitable and effective sales management solutions to their business challenges and how to continue to grow the bottom line even in tough times. His next book is ‘Rebel in a Business Suit - The Business 1%ers’ (due 2009) - outlines the emergence of a new breed of business professional who makes change rather than watches it change around them.
Rapport Consulting is led by Vincent Reynolds FCCA, an experienced senior manager with a background in consulting, corporate training and development, change management, finance and human resources.
Vincent started his career in general accounting practice before moving to a series of management and senior management roles with multinational companies.
He is a Chartered Certified Accountant, a former chairman of the Irish Association of Corporate Treasurers and a member of the Irish Institute of Training and Development. Vincent is also an accredited facilitator under the Irish Government’s Skillnets programme.
If you are involved with sales, you won’t want to miss it - reserve your seat here.
“Loopthing is a social networking platform which enables businesses to create and maintain win-win relationships with other businesses and individuals around the world”
I was delighted when they asked me to do an interview. Here’s that interview.
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Q. Can you tell us a little about your business and what you specialise in?
We help businesses to overcome sales performance issues and to better leverage their current environment to grow business. Sometimes this means management consulting, sometimes it means process management, sometimes it means sales programmes and very often it’s all three.
I endeavour to be an expert in “all things sales”. In the US, they would probably call me a sales guru, although I am not sure that would go down so well in Ireland.
Q. How many staff do you employee currently?
Two full time and two part-time.
Q. In your opinion, what are the biggest hurdles for businesses to overcome in the current global economy? As a result, what do you foresee for the future of your particular businesses sector?
Phew! To a large extent that depends on the particular business. However, let me a general observation about Irish businesses that want to operate globally.
We are an open economy, so recovery will always be heavily tied into our ability to export and sell our products and services internationally.
We continue to have a very high cost base, which in turn limits our competitiveness internationally. Now you don’t have to a rocket scientist to see that this is contradictory.
That being said, I believe that pretty much all obstacles are there to be overcome. The biggest obstacle in overcoming all other obstacles is fear itself. Fear leads to inaction and inaction is extremely bad for business.
In my sector, you already starting to see “a survival of the fittest taking place”. I will be one of “the fittest”.
Q. What are you doing to grow your business and services? Can you tell us about any new initiatives?
My blog is now performing very well and it brings a lot of new enquires. It has allowed me to become better known and I am gaining a lot of respect within the Irish business community and internationally. Our business is fundamentally based on our knowledge and reputation, in both respects – I believe we are making very good gains.
Earlier, this year I changed my payment terms to include an ROI option. This takes any perceived risk away and gives my clients the confidence that we deliver.
Q. Do you consider networking to be an important aspect of your business activity? Why?
Networking is hugely important to me. I am the one responsible for developing new customers. As a sales trainer, I know that sales are about building strong relationships.
It’s a pretty simple equation:
Networking + Relationships = Sales
Q. How does your business interact with the internet and social networking? What have your experiences been like so far?
I spoke about my blog, and recently I am having a lot of success with social media tools such as LinkedIn and Twitter. In fact, social networking is proving so successful that I rarely get the time to make cold calls etc any more.
I spend a lot of time reading and learning about these online tools, because I think this is key to ensuring that you use them well. So much so, that I am now getting approached more and more to coach others in how to use social media for business development.
As a salesperson, I realise that any tool that gives me an opportunity to listen, ask questions and start conversations is extremely valuable.
Q. Any words of advice for other businesses and entrepreneurs?
Thank you Donagh and Loopthing.
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In the News
“AN END to the recession is now “in sight”, after the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said that “a clear picture” was beginning to emerge of the likely extent of the economy’s troubles” From the Irish Times, full story here.
Very interesting post from Dave Brock on Twitter
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Over at TSE
Upcoming Masterclasses include:
Thursday July 16th 2009 : Achieve Real Results with CRM, Quickly and Affordably
Tuesday July 21st 2009 : The Best Damn Networking Process There Is
Thursday July 23rd 2009 : Turn Your Connections into Cash
Thursday July 30th 2009 : The Psychology of Selling
Tuesday August 4th 2009 : Make a Strong ROI in the Simplest Way
Thursday August 6th 2009 : Marketing Is All About Selling You
Tuesday August 11th 2009 : Sociable! — How to Profit from Social Media
Btb Guest Author
Miriam Ahern
Face-to-face business networking is a much cheaper way to promote your business than advertising or PR. It is a low-cost activity where the pressure is on your time rather than on your pocket. It’s more effective than on-line networking as you build important personal relationships more quickly.
Nevertheless, meeting someone just once is unlikely to bring you new business. The key lies in repeat-encounters. However, the old maxim still holds – time is money. Here’s how to spend that time wisely:
Step # 1 - Determine why you need to network and set clear networking objectives for yourself
Action - List the main (important and urgent) objectives for your networking activities for the next twelve months. These objectives might be aligned to a personal or business plan that you have developed. Be very specific in terms of what you need to
do and why and when you need to do it. Use the SMART principle so that your networking objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
Step # 2 - Audit your existing networks
Action - Make a ‘master list’ of your existing networks on one sheet of paper. Then, for each of those networks, take a blank sheet of paper and brain-storm that network. What you want to end up with is a set of individual lists of all of your active contacts within in each of your current networks. An active contact is someone with whom you have interacted during the last three months or so. If you are used to ‘mind-mapping’, that method makes this step really easy.
Step # 3 – Align your ‘master list’ to your new networking objectives
Action – Ask yourself this question. Are there other relevant groups of people that I need to network with to achieve my current networking objectives? If the answer is yes, your immediate mission is to identify, locate and engage with these new groups or individuals. Different networking objectives may require you to interact within different networking groups.
Step # 4 – Galvanise your existing networks into action
Action – In the context of your new networking objectives, review the names on each of the sheets that you have prepared for each of your networks. Are there other people available to you through those existing networks that you have not included in your list? For example, are there wider family members, ex-colleagues, or co-professionals with whom it would benefit you to acquaint yourself? Plan to connect with these additional people at your earliest opportunity.
Step # 5 –Re-educate your existing contacts
Action – Make sure that your introduction, or ‘elevator pitch’, is up to date. For many of us, the way in which we introduce ourselves may depend on which network we are interacting within. Make sure that if you have a ‘set’ of introductions that they are all freshly aligned to your networking goals. Do this in advance of any networking activities. Don’t get caught on the spot at events or meetings where you might get tangled in a long explanation about how or why you have changed your slant.
Step # 6 – Encourage your contacts to be your ambassadors and your sales reps!
Action – Make yourself memorable. One extremely good networker that I know carries a stunningly beautiful pair of diamond earrings in his pocket. Not so strange, really. He’s a master jeweller and a diamond grader. You should see people flocking around him when he’s in action. No-one ever forgets having met him either!
Use every available opportunity when you are networking to become involved in the event itself. Here are some suggestions:
Get to know your network organisers or facilitators
Volunteer to ‘buddy-up’ with newcomers at formal networking events
Become a connector, introduce your acquaintances to each-other
Offer to present a short talk on your subject(s) of expertise
Extend a special discount to fellow-networkers
Offer to be a table facilitator or host during round-table networking activities or exercises
Follow up a promising chance encounter with a one-to-one meeting over coffee or lunch
Relationships + Reputation = Referrals
Miriam Ahern is the founder and managing partner of Align Management Solutions – a consultancy specialising in organisational change and development. She also manages LINK! - Dublin City Enterprise Board’s Network for Start-up Businesses. Miriam is a regular contributor in the national media on issues relating to business management and human resources. She is a Certified Management Consultant and a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisers.
Mobile: + 353 86 234 2789
Office: + 353 1 412 5890
www.linkedIn.com/in/miriamahern
Over at TSE
I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s roundtable “Harness the Power of Referrals”
Do you know what it takes to build a referral business?
Join five Top Sales Experts share their techniques that turn up the heat in prospecting by harnessing the power of referrals.
Joanne Black, Jonathan Farrington, Paul McCord, Steve Martinez and Nancy D. Solomon present this 60-minute roundtable on Tuesday May 26th.
Your current clients are your most under-leveraged referral source. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Learn where traditional referral training falls short, why it is so essential to understand your ideal client profile and recognize your ideal referral source, how to overcome referral roadblocks and how to develop a process that does “what it takes” to build a referral business.
The investment? $25.00 or $99.50.
HUH? You can become a VIP member of Top Sales Experts (at $25.00 for the entire year) and the Roundtables are FREE. If you’re not ready to become a VIP member then they are $99.50.
