Friday, July 31, 2009

How to Make Money Out of Networking

Think about this:

At your local peer networking events you meet with self-employed consultants just like yourself.

You each have marketable skills, and seek a way to improve your business position by finding ways to sell your skills to paying clients.

We have already established that you’ll not get rich from folks who grudgingly pay $10 to get a cup of coffee and a chance to chat with you. Again.

Here are two events from yesterday:

I met with Rick Shea and we spent three hours coming up with an idea that we hope will launch his business into a revenue-maker, and will involve me in the back-end of the scheme. Together we make a very powerful business model out of a good but unsupported business.

I am not denigrating Rick. If you like, “I can help Rick by producing computer stuff that makes Rick’s package do-able”.

I chatted with Alison Silbert on the phone. We appear to be on the brink of a scheme that will marry my computer talents to her marketing skills. She will generate revenue from a service to business clients, and I will make revenue from streaming to her the information she needs to tap each client on the shoulder.

In both cases I am meeting with a fellow networker, and rather than taking money from them, I am making money with them.

In Rick’s case, we are “in it together”; we present a single face to the world, the Rick-and-Chris team that help you measure your impact.

In Alison’s case we operate as a chain that starts with a vast source of data, passes through me to produce information of value to Alison, and then passes through Alison to be of value to her clients.

I’m not taking money off Rick; I am taking money of Alison, but only the money that she is getting from her clients as a result of my efforts,.

Do you see the difference?

Thursday, July 30, 2009

How NOT to Make Money Out of Networking

Think about this:

At your local peer networking events you meet with self-employed consultants just like yourself.

Most of you are working out of the home office, eating rice, pasta, or whatever your situation is.

You are out there looking for business, and …

Business is the exchange of two pieces of paper, one of which must be a cheque.


Neither you nor I want to part with our money, we want to GET money, and since none of us wants to part with our money, spending time at, or after, a networking event trying to persuade a fellow consultant to part with money is a futile waste of time, and an insult to your joint intelligence.

Stop reading for a few seconds, and add up, roughly, how many thousands of dollars you have made from your peer networkers over the past year.

That was easy, wasn’t it?

And if you spent even one MINUTE trying to earn zero dollars, then by definition, that minute was a total waste of time.

Tomorrow: How to Make Money Out of Networking

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Why I Don’t Read the Newspapers

It has been many years since I bought a printed daily newspaper.

I am in the habit of scanning five daily newspapers via the web and reading some stories.

But since I started my automated scan of Canada News Wire I find I am less and lest interested in the muggings and house fires , and more interested in what’s going on in business.

I think that this is a good thing.

For starters, I probably ought not be skimming the local and international press during business hours when I could be phoning or meeting with people.

I don’t need any other reason than that, do I?

I understand more now the people reading The Financial Times on the subway. They aren’t poseurs at all. I should be meeting with them.

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Bootlegger

… is still with us.
I have formatted and encrypted Margaret’s new external drive; I have backed up her existing drive C: installation to a folder in the external drive; I have formatted drive C: and used the non-Microsoft Windows CD which she obtained by pestering the computer salesman.
But where is Microsoft Office?
Not on her laptop; because there is no CD in her kit; because the salesman didn’t supply one.
He dropped a mirror of an installation on her new laptop a year ago; she obtained the Windows XP CD by pestering him a fortnight ago, at my suggestion.
Now she faces a trip back to the store to pester him for the office CD.
Assuming he believes her when she says she paid for it.
Assuming she still has the invoice and it specifies that she purchased Office XP.
Otherwise Margaret is yet another victim of a scam whereby a store sells a laptop computer “With Windows and Microsoft Office installed”, but is not prepared to package the original or certified copies of the CDs.
I believe that the store bets that only 1 in 100 customers will ask for the masters; most customers will trash the laptop after three years and purchase a new one because “this laptop is too slow for today’s work” (rough translation: “I don’t believe in regular maintenance”).
Of those customers that return to the store to pay to have the computer fixed, most will be happy to get their computer back with the mirror reinstalled, their data gone, and their wallet $250 lighter.
Here comes the bottom line:
At 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon, there is no way Margaret can reach the store before it closes. The store is closed weekends. Monday morning is the earliest she can confront the guy, and even then he may weasel out of the deal.
Margaret has lost her weekend, that’s for sure!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Daisy Chain

More thoughts on networking: I attended another networking meeting this morning - a breakfast meeting, about 20 members and 20 visitors.
20 visitors is a captive audience.
I listened as each member stood up and gave their elevator speech (after which the visitors did likewise), and realized that one could put on quite a show if one daisy-chained the businesses.
For example, when buying/selling a house, finance is involved, also moving, then decorating, and so on.
The real estate guy could give the elevator speech, and then pass to the finance gal, who gives her elevator speech and passes to the house-moving and storage guy who hands off to the landscape gardener who hands off to the interior decorator who passes the baton to the housewarming party caterer, who … well, at this point you get the idea.
I pass it on to you.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Strike that Meeting?

· Yes, the strike is still on.
· Yes the networking group announced closures at three locations, but not the fourth.
· Yes, I went to the meeting at the fourth location.
· Yes it was closed.
· Yes I spent an hour traveling for nothing.
Whether you are for or against the strike, you are FOR the networking meeting.
Just because someone is on strike, we don’t let our business relationships slide into the pit.
I continue to be puzzled that the organizers of today’s (and tomorrow’s, and tomorrow’s …) meeting don’t post a contingency plan on the web site: “The meeting presentation will not take place, but you can still build relationships by making your way to Druxy’s Deli on the North side of the street”.
· Druxy’s will love the extra business.
· Networkers cherish a chance to build new business relationships.
· And the organization maintains momentum.
But sadly, today, they have not demonstrated “Improvise, Adapt and Overcome”.
Business have to if they are to survive.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

The Mountain and Mohammed

Two issues here
Issue One
I delivered two days training last week, and at the end of the course confirmed the spelling of the names of all attendees, printed the certificates and mailed them off.
Two days later an email from my client “You forgot to sign the certificates”.
She is right, I did.
I don’t feel like asking the client to expend resources on my mistake, so I have rented a car for Friday to drive 45 minutes west, sign 12 certificates with a regular ball-point pen, and that’s it.
An Eighty-Dollar mistake, and one I had better learn.
All is not lost.
I emailed a client on the OTHER side of town and set up a lunch date; they agreed. So I’ll get a bit more use out of the car rental - a face-to-face meeting with a client I would not otherwise meet.
Issue Two
I attended a seminar this week and exchanged business cards with about six attendees. One telephoned me today, “Let’s meet to let me show you what I have to offer. How is your schedule?”.
My schedule is free, but I don’t own a car (see “Issue One” above), and I don’t feel like spending an hour each way on Public Transit to have someone try to sell me something.
Since my potential supplier lives downtown and drives to work alongside a major highway, I suggested that she drive to me and I’d buy breakfast, lunch or an early supper. We could discuss business over a casual meal.
No go.
She doesn’t do business that way; it is “sit down with paper and pencil”, which is, coincidentally, how I like to do business.
After some cajoling I wheedled a concession from the person who’d like to take my money, that we might arrange a meal at some unspecified date in the future, when, if she is in the vicinity on other business, she could kill two birds with one stone.
And I’m paying for the meal. No problems there.
Conclusion
Whether they request it or not, it seems to me that is the seller’s responsibility to adapt to the buyer’s requirements.
If adaptation can not be achieved, then the two parties are probably too far apart to do business.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The World’s Best Support Line

Now this you HAVE to do:
Dial the free line to Hostgator.com (1-866-96-42867) during peak business hours and get put on hold!

Learn how to handle support calls.


I dialed at 11:28 a.m. this morning, chose Tech Support, and was rewarded with a recording that said “There are 16 callers ahead of you.”. Now normally that’s enough to make me postpone the call until, say, 3 a.m., but the music that clicked in was soft classical music, soothing to the worried brow.
And what a tension-wracked time this is - I need to transfer eight domains from scattered (and scatter-brained) servers across the face of the earth to one site. Not a task I perform regularly, and so a task in which I fear making any kind of mistake.
Less than a minute later the pleasant voice came on again this time to say “There are 14 callers ahead of you. Your estimated wait time is 10 minutes”.

Think about that!


I can leave the ‘phone on the desk and go pour myself a cup of coffee.
Less than a minute later the pleasant voice came on again this time to say “There are 12 callers ahead of you. Your estimated wait time is 10 minutes”.

Think about that!


If their previous experience is correct, I can leave the ‘phone on the desk and go pour myself a cup of coffee AND water the rhubarb on the balcony.
Less than a minute later the pleasant voice came on again this time to say “There are 12 callers ahead of you. Your estimated wait time is 9 minutes”.

Think about that!


HostGator is working WITH me to help me to get the most out of my day.
Time In line Wait (minutes)
11:28 16
11:29 14 10
11:30 12 10
11:31 12 9
11:32 11 9
11:33 10 9
11:33 9 8
11:33 8 8
11:34 7 7
11:34 6 7
11:35 5 6
11:35 4 5
11:36 3 4
11:36 2 4
11:37 1 NEXT
The table above logs the story.
I must tell you that around 11:35 when I was 5th in line, a frisson of excitement shot through me; I felt much as I did in high school at examination time when the examining teacher would announce “In two minutes time you may turn your papers over and start work”.
I was not under test, of course, but “the moment of truth” was drawing close.
If anyone from HostGator reads this, I’d appreciate it if you could track down the extremely patient and helpful “Barbara” who listened to me, and gave me the information I needed.

I was tempted to offer her a job in my office.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

After the Networking Meeting

It was a good meeting; I learned something from the speaker and exchanged a few business cards, had one inquiry about something I do. I came home, typed up my notes and now stare at a small stack of cards.
I will enter them into my contact list but then what?
The speaker talked about “getting people on your list”, and emailing them something of value.
What on earth do I have of value to these few people?
What do I have in common with them?
Well, we were all at the same meeting, so why don’t I email to them a copy of my notes?
They might appreciate some recorded ideas that they missed, or they might just appreciate getting something over and above the generic “It was good to meet you” text.

Monday, July 6, 2009

No Fixed Address

Do you do business with people who do not have a brick-and-mortar address?
I was about to add a recent contact to my contacts data base, name, phone, email, address - you know the drill - when I discovered that I could not locate their address.
I don’t mind that there is no address on the business card - after all, The Primary Purpose of a Business Card is to Get the Other Person to Phone You!
My contact has two major web sites, neither one of which offered an address, not even a post office box number.
I am aware that some of my contacts use a fake-office - the downtown address where calls can be taken, meeting space booked, and mail forwarded, but I figure even there, there is some sort of hard link to the real person, if only through the rental contract.
I’ve ignored contacts with flimsy cards, a cell phone number only, and a postal code that Google Maps says is a downtown hotel. I figure that’s a room rental for a few weeks to see if the business has potential before moving on to the next city.
My business is personal. I’m a very flexible hard-working one-man show.
My business relationships are based on me and another person, usually a representative of another company with an office site, warehouse, industrial facility or similarly visible structure.
Some of my contacts are just like me - one man shows operating electronically out of a home office. That’s OK too. I understand that. I live it!
I don’t need your home address; my business is not that personal, but somehow I feel I need to know that there is something to touch.
How about you?
Do you do business with people who do not have a brick-and-mortar address?