TURNING CONTACTS INTO RELATIONSHIPS: Business Cards and Little Rubber Bands

Turning Contacts into Relationships with Michelle Bergquist

How many business cards with little rubber bands wrapped around them do you have on your desk right now? If you're networking and making connections, you probably have a few stacks of business cards strewn about with rubber bands around them all over your desk and workstation, right?

Think about this. Business cards sitting on your desk provide no value to you if you aren't interacting and communicating with the contacts you've met via networking. If you're like most professionals, finding a way to get business cards of people you've met into a database or contact management system is a big, big challenge. The other challenge is, once you get your contacts into a database, how do you manage all those contacts and relationships? Below are three tips and suggestions to managing your contacts and relationships more effectively.

1) Get all your contacts into one central database or contact management system. Don't keep clients in one system and prospects in another. Get every single contact you have into one central hub or database. Whether you use Act!, Goldmine, Salesforce.com or some other database system, the first step to managing your contacts more effectively is to keep everyone you know or that you've met in one central system.

2) Give a "code name" to your contacts and relationships as you enter them into your database. From clients to prospects to referral sources, give contacts a title as to their relationship to you. Lumping everyone into one database does you no good if you can't tell what relationship a contact has to you and what potential they may have to you in the future. Coding also works to categorize other contacts such as former colleagues, co-workers, bosses, college buddies, business associates, vendor relationships, etc. Every contact you know should be given a "code name" as to who they are and their relationship to you.

3) Categorize how you met a contact or business relationship. If you network and generate leads from different sources, you need to know how you met a key contact or relationship. Have a separate field in your database to code how you met someone and how they came to know you. Whether you made contact at a specific networking function, trade show or event, coding how you met someone can be valuable to you in tracking where you met your best clients or referral sources over time.

Relationship management is just as important as financial management is to business and success. To be more effective and successful in our challenging business climate means taking a different approach to interacting with your best contacts and relationships. Having business cards sitting on your desk do nothing to provide opportunity unless you organize and manage your business relationships more effectively.

Go therefore and get those business cards off your desk and into a database system so you close more business, repeat business and referrals! Organize your contacts and relationships more effectively so you achieve better business results!
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Michelle Bergquist believes that when it comes to business and success, it's all about relationships! As business consultant, author, national speaker and corporate trainer to companies and associations throughout the United States, Bergquist entertains and educates small groups, conference attendees and large corporate audiences. Michelle's book, "How to Build a Million Dollar Database" is quickly becoming the expert authority on how to build a powerful database full of priceless connections and business relationships. Michelle's book is available online at http://www.michellebergquist.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/. If you're looking for a keynote speaker, workshop leader or emcee for your next meeting, conference or event, call 800-438-6132 or visit http://www.michellebergquist.com/.
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TURNING CONTACTS INTO RELATIONSHIPS: Business Cards and Little Rubber Bands

SALES AND MARKETING: Marketing is About The Relationship

Sales and Marketing with Bill Doerr

Bill's section is brought to you by qAlias

Marketing is, fundamentally, a discipline about a relationship. A symbiotic relationship between you and your customer. A relationship between two people. One who creates a profit and one who creates an expense for your business. Each person is essential to what the other needs from the relationship. So why do we do things that compromise rather than realize the potential of our business relationships? I'll share some thoughts -- and useful questions -- on that very issue in this article.

My inspiration for this month's article is Bruce Temkin. I just read an outstanding special report he wrote on this topic. It's called: The 6 Laws of Customer Experience. My advice . . . download it, devour it, embrace it. It's good stuff!

His message is inanely simple, full of common sense and difficult to challenge. But his message appears to be forgotten or ignored by a growing number of business owners lately. That saddens me because no business exists unless its customers want it to exist.

In challenging times, we should each be doing everything we can to attract and retain customers. Nothing less. So here's my thinking on what Bruce shared in his report.

I'm using Bruce's article as a starting point, adding in some comments and questions of my own which I hope you find useful for building better relationships with your customers.

1. Every Interaction Creates a Personal Reaction

Years ago I recall Jan Carlson, President of SAS calling these 'Moments-of-Truth'. Whether it's the way you answer your phone or acknowledge a customer's contribution to your bottom line . . . every contact . . . matters. Every contact draws your customer closer to you or it pushes your customer further away from you. In the end, the quality of your relationship with your customer reflects the cumulative 'score' of all the interactions you have together.

Q:

Are you making your marketing truly personal for each customer and every touchpoint or moment-of-truth?

Q:

Are you segmenting your customers so you can tailor their experience with you and cement their loyalty to you, as well?

Q:

Financial metrics are good for your financial advisor but are you also measuring the experience that attracts and keeps relationships with customers alive and well?

Q:

Are your employees empowered and encouraged to manage the interactions with customers so they'll be happy to spend their money with your business?

2. People are Instinctively Self-Centered

Maybe 'centered' isn't an accurate connotation. Aware. Self-AWARE is better. But the more we focus on ourselves, the less we see others perspective. It works both ways!

Q:

Are you taking the time and trouble to see your customer's point-of-view as it reflects their experience with your business?

Q:

Have you identified each 'moment-of-truth' your customer has with your business and taken steps to ensure they will be positive rather than something less desirable?

Q:

If asked, would your customers say your business was organized primarily for your convenience or theirs? Is that what you want?

3. Customer Familiarity Breeds Alignment

It's a fact that Fred Reicheld (The Loyalty Effect) noted years ago -- the better you know your customer, the easier it is to respond to their needs and create experiences that attract new ones and retain old ones. Writers know that to write well they must write to a (single!) reader. Hopefully, one they truly understand. Ideally, your staff performs well with customers for the same reason.

Q:

Does your business adapt to produce the experience your customer wants or, are you asking your customer to adapt to you for your convenience?

Q:

Do you have a mechanism for routinely sharing with your employees what anyone is learning 'works' for your customers . . . i.e. the 'winning' experiences . . . so everyone can leverage the lessons and successes of anyone else in your company?

Q:

If your customer is ever unhappy, do you honestly understand your customer's position well enough to know if the conflict reflects a misalignment on your part or the customer's?

4. Unengaged Employees Don't Create Engaged Customers

My friend, JoAnna Brandi, President of JoAnna Brandi & Company teaches her clients that happy employees create happy customers. When your employees feel you respect and regard them, they feel good about themselves. When they feel good about themselves, they become your best ambassadors of goodwill. So the key to having happy customers is to make sure your employees are too . . . first!

Q:

Do you have a plan to train your employees to turn their moments-of-truth with a customer into a moment-of-majesty . . . consistently and conscientiously?

Q:

Are you making it easy for your employees to create a WOW experience at every touchpoint they have with a customer?

Q:

Are you keeping your employees aware of how your business and your customers are doing by one another? Are these lessons being shared so all can profit by them?

Q:

Do you have -- and use -- a system for measuring and rewarding customer experiences that make them happy to spend their time and money . . . with your business?

5. Employees Do What Is Measured, Incented and Celebrated

Performance . . . comes from two things: 'Can Do' and 'Want To'. Skill and motivation. If you want your performers to perform so your customer is thrilled it's YOUR responsibility to see that a 'great' performance is documented, communicated, trained, supervised and rewarded. If not, it won't happen as often as you like or as well as you want.

Q:

Does your employee training address what it takes to create an engaged customer?

Q:

Have you clearly communicated what your employee must do (and, how well!) to create an engaged customer for your business?

Q:

Are you creating, by your management, an environment that consistently recognizes, measures and rewards the kind of customer experience you want or, not?

6. You Can't Fake It

I love to say, "What you DO speaks so loudly I can't hear what you SAY". Both your customers and employees learn more from your behavior than anything else you do with them. Whatever you recognize and reward or ignore and tolerate is the message they're getting from you . . . every time. Good or bad, that is the way it goes!

Q:

When it comes to making your customer happy, what is your #1 priority or focus? If your front-line employees were surveyed, would they know it, too? Would they agree?

Q:

If poorly conceived and executed initiatives communicate you're not serious about something, do your employees have evidence that you're serious about success?

A Final Thought

There's a saying, "The same wind blows some ships east and others west. It's not the wind but the set of the sail that makes all the difference". Today's economy is like the wind. We can't control it. But we can choose to use it. The current economy is like a strong storm. It makes boats go farther and faster than normal. It also makes them get into trouble faster and easier! In this economy, some businesses will succeed and others fail. It's my hope that addressing the questions I've posed here will help you be one of the winners when this storm blows over.

Bill Doerr, CCO of SellMore Marketing, LLC is the creator of The Preferral Prospecting System™ and The Ultimate Client Development System™. He is an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Coach and a licensed facilitator of Get Clients NOW!. Bill works with service providers to generate awareness, interest and response for their expertise. You can reach Bill by phone at: 860-798-6964, online at: www.sellmoremarketing.com, by email at: billd@sellmoremarketing.com or through the TNNW Blog: thenationalnetworker.blogspot.com

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SALES AND MARKETING: Marketing is About The Relationship

U.S., MID-ATLANTIC: Transforming Contacts into Leads and Clients

Bruce Newman

Mid-Atlantic Bureau Chief
(New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Washington, DC)

Networking is an ongoing process that transcends the common practice of merely attending an event and distributing (and receiving) business cards with little, if any, follow-up. While attending events and making personal contact is important, what is arguably the most important part is the next phase of the process: what to do with this list of contacts and how to turn them into potential clients and leads. One way of achieving this goal is through the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Contact Management (CM) software which are specifically designed for this task.

For this article, I posed a series of questions about CRM/CM software to LinkedIn users and to my personal networks outside of LinkedIn. I received many responses, the largest percentage (relative to the group size) being from ETP Network. The willingness of its members to respond speaks highly for that organization.

Depending on the size of the company, people handle their leads very differently. Although both groups frequently use their CM/CRM software throughout the day, larger organizations also use it for a wider variety of reasons, often integrating it into different departments including marketing, accounting and other areas. They also require significant report generation.

Most importantly, on a scale of 1 (most helpful) to 5 (no help) when assessing the importance of CM/CRM software, the average rating was 1.2 – most helpful. This acknowledged importance was across all respondents who almost unanimously rated this type of software as most helpful. Several people noted that they had unsuccessfully tried other methods – from notepads, to writing on cards to spreadsheets - prior to moving to this software solution. Respondents also expressed little concern about the amount of startup time required to learn how to use the software effectively – which varied from one to five days.

Just click on the Logo above for a no-strings TEST DRIVE

Key necessary features included: contact data storage, setting action items, target companies, and associated notes for both contacts and companies. The ability to document everything was also strongly noted. Facets of this documentation included: dates, notes from conversations, whole email text saving, calendar and reminders. The ability to form groups and sort by industry was also mentioned and strongly endorsed by several respondents.

Interestingly, some individuals and small businesses preferred hosted systems as opposed to programs they could load locally on their computer or server. The advantage of a hosted system is that someone handles all the dirty work for you including software updates, computer problems and backups. The disadvantage is the cost and the remote location of the data.

So, let’s summarize the key points of this ongoing networking process step:

• 1. A rating of 1.2 – most helpful; almost universal agreement among users of CM/CRM software.


• 2. If you’re not using software to track your contacts, companies, clients, and prospects, you’re probably working inefficiently and losing potential contacts and business.


• 3. Whatever system you do use should include the following basic functionality:




• a. Allow you to make notes


• b. Track all communications


• c. Provide a calendar and reminder system


• d. Offer the ability to form and sort by any number of groups

Remember, good networking is a process that needs to be effectively managed and nurtured. When successful, the results can be outstanding.

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Bruce Newman, a consultant guru is the Mid-Atlantic Bureau Chief for The National Networker and the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a 100% woman-owned company that matches the consulting needs of companies to the expertise of rated outstanding consultants. Finding consultants can be a very time consuming job and once you find one, how do you know how good they are? At The Productivity Institute, we do the work for you - at no cost to you! We find and constantly rate our consultants to ensure that their work remains outstanding.

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U.S., MID-ATLANTIC: Transforming Contacts into Leads and Clients

U.S., MID-ATLANTIC: How To Follow-Up Networking Leads

By Bruce Newman, U.S. Mid-Atlantic Bureau Chief (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington DC)

Successful networking requires a systematic process. No longer is it sufficient to merely scribble a note on the back of a business card and - possibly - make a single follow-up phone call.

In this constantly evolving social and event-driven networking age, merely collecting business cards and contact names is at best limiting and at worst, time consuming and unproductive. All too often at networking events, people have taken my business card – sometimes even making notes on it, and never followed up. I have even told salespeople that I am interested in their product or service and still, not received a follow up phone call – something I find infuriating. Why go to the trouble and expense of getting my attention, only to then ignore my potential business or importance as a networking contact?

For networking to be successful, networkers must realize that the initial meeting or contact period is only the first part of the networking process. What is needed is a comprehensive and useful system in which networking leads are methodically processed.

This is the function of contact management and customer relationship management (CRM) software which allow you to effectively manage your contacts, appointments, tasks and meetings (among other things). This software is essential for excellent networkers. By entering your contact information into the system, you automatically create a “working record” that allows you track all communications with each contact. Contact management software also allows contacts to be scaled, grouped, keyed, sorted, assessed or processed in any way that allows you to effectively access them – by group, if desired, and to easily generate informative reports.

I use my CRM system to track every one of my contacts including all my LinkedIn connections. This allows me to categorize them, apply several ranks to them (for my purposes) and track all my communications with them. This grouping and sorting is very important and compensates for one of the major failings of most social networking programs: the ability to rank contacts. A casual contact in my network should have a different rank than one with whom I am in constant contact. Similarly, a recruiter, writer and outstanding technical consultant should all be grouped in different occupation categories. By using these categories, I can send a message or an interesting article to all members of a specific occupation merely by using a few keystrokes.

Contact management software also allows you to schedule your follow-up phone calls and appointments – and to easily reschedule unsuccessful or non-responsive calls. I find that most contacts appreciate my (if necessary) repeated communication efforts.

An occasional email to a contact is also effective. It serves the dual purpose of enabling me to remain “in front” of the contact while also providing a point of reference when we speak. (Having a CRM system is helpful because if a contact calls me in reference to a particular email, I can easily retrieve it from within the contact’s record and knowledgeably discuss its content.)

Every successful networker requires a contact manager to continue and enhance the networking process. Without one, much networking effort is wasted and usually reduced to limited notes written on the back of business cards.

Please contact me if you want more information on networking as a process or on contact management and CRM systems.

Bruce Newman is a consulting guru and the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC (http://www.blogger.com/www.prodinst.com) which provides prodinst by matching the specific software products and services needs of companies to rated outstanding consultants who can meet those needs. Need consultants? Sign up for our free referral service and be contacted by up to five rated outstanding consultants. We do the searching and consultant evaluation for you. Also, subscribe to our free newsletter and read our blog and software product descriptions.

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U.S., MID-ATLANTIC: How To Follow-Up Networking Leads

Are You Working Way Too Hard for Far Too Little?

By Bill Doerr
Sales and Marketing Editor

Bill's section is brought to you by qAlias

15 Second Executive Speed Read

Marketing, like many things is something you either do by design or by default. And, if it’s ‘default’, it’s ‘de fault’ of you for not doing it ‘by design’.

In this article, you’ll learn some insights gleaned from some recent conversations I’ve had with people who are doing their marketing by design. And, as result, are doing it with much better results than those who aren’t.

THE BACKGROUND

I made two blog posts recently. In one I mentioned how I’ve been waiting for a contractor to get back to me on a project for my home. With fall setting in last year, he said, “Let me get back with you on this in the spring”. I said, “OK”. Well, spring came. And now it’s summer. I never heard from the contractor. And I have a check waiting for him to do this next little project. So now I’m talking with another contractor and the first guy’s lost a ‘low-hanging fruit’ opportunity.

A second post was about a certain business person – a realtor. This person is, on a personal level, a nice guy. Personable. Pleasant. I’m sure he’d do a great job for you if you asked. But as a marketer, he effectively cancels out his ‘strengths’ as a personable professional by being a marketing mess.

For example, he mails out ‘one-size-fits-all’ postcards addressed to ‘__________ or current resident’ (wow, super duper extra points for that one!) and often on topics that are of no interest, value or relevance to me or anyone else in my household. Consequently, his ‘intrusion’ marketing is amateurish and borderline offensive. In each piece he mails – and to his credit he does mail regularly – I can’t recall a distinct offer to contact him. Nor have I ever received a follow-up phone call asking what I think of his mailings or if I have any interest in knowing more about his services.

I guess he believes his recipients are psychic and will just ‘get’ that he wants you to call him. Must be he comes from the ‘Hey, look at me -- I’m on the moon’ school of marketing! And it seems he assumes that all he must do is ‘show up’ on my mental radar screen on a regular basis and if I need or want a realtor, then he’ll get my business. That may work for some people. But I doubt it works for most. And if this guy’s not careful, I’m betting a more thoughtful and intentional effort by an even less capable realtor will produce more transactional opportunities.

I don’t want to rip this guy a second you-know-what and I don’t know if he’s truly ignorant of how to cultivate a relationship properly or if he’s just afraid to engage with prospects in a forthright and deliberate manner or what.

Regardless, it’s definitely NOT the way you want to go about courting someone’s awareness and affection to develop a productive business relationship over time.

THE INSIGHT

If you buy (and I sincerely hope you do) the reality that most prospects for your services are likely to develop a recurring need or desire for the benefits your services offer . . . over time . . . (also known as the ‘lifetime’ value they offer a marketer like yourself) then it’s incumbent on you to find a way to ‘keep in touch’ and ‘stay in mind’ so that, when (not if!) the next ‘need-to-know’ occurs in a prospect for your services they will already:

1) know you (you’re a recognized ‘bogey’ on their radar screen),

2) like you on a personal basis (they find you to be an attractive personality)

3) trust you to have integrity (your words and deeds align), and

4) respect you as a professional (you’re seen as a credible expert in your field)

So, what you want your marketing to do then is make certain that these four outcomes occur for you better and more frequently than they do for your competitors. Fair?

THE OBSTACLE

All that’s well and good. But here’s the problem. It’s not easy to orchestrate all the myriad messages such as phone calls, mailings, emails, etc. that need to be planned, coordinated, implemented, and followed-up in a timely manner so that the lifetime value of your future prospects (which includes your existing clients!) will be realized by you and not some competitor.

While a ‘markitect’ (cute term . . . think about it!) can help you design a marketing follow-up campaign so you maintain a ‘top-of-mind’ awareness with your prospects, you’ll quickly realize that what keeps the potential value of such a plan from being realized is your ability to implement it correctly, consistently, efficiently, effectively and in a timely manner. That . . . is not easy. It’s probably where the saying, “It’s easier said than done” comes from, too!

THE SOLUTION

Fortunately, you CAN do something about this.

Planning is one thing. And, a very important thing. But DO-ing. Boy, that’s critical.

And doing a lot of things – messaging – with a lot of people – your prospective clients -- all the time (potential chaos!) is not a ‘walk in the park’.

As the number of people you’re trying to ‘keep in touch’ with grows, your ability to keep up with the monster of demand you’re creating . . . slows. Until one day you hit the proverbial marketing ‘wall’.

At that point, what will be of immense interest to you is what used to be called CRM.

Unfortunately, CRM has earned a bad reputation with many marketers because the ‘promise’ of what CRM is touted to do is often not realized by the companies that buy it.

Regardless why that is, the idea behind CRM is that you’ll be able to do the right thing with the right person at the right time for the right result you want . . . every time . . . by design, not accident.

Change ‘CRM’ to ‘Marketing Automation’. This term refers to a whole new class of software that’s accessed via the internet rather than an application that resides on your own PC or network.

This new class of software reduces the ‘workload’ of marketing your services and building relationships that, as a result, increases the likelihood of you going to the bank a little more often with a lot more money.

THE RECOMMENDATION

I urge you to learn more about this new kind of marketing automation software. More importantly, learn about what it can do for your revenues – THAT is why you should care.

Recently, I’ve spoken with a couple of leaders in this field and each would, I’m sure, welcome your interest in learning how their software can help you automate your marketing and, as a result, generate bigger and better revenues for your company.

Here are two of my ‘Top Picks’ for a smaller firm or solo-entrepreneur:

Infusionsoft -- by Infusion Software – Phoenix, AZ

Clate Mask, CEO is a highly educated and down-to-earth guy who used a customer-centered philosophy and his own software to become a member of the

INC. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America in 2007. While priced above many in this field, this marketing automation software incorporates many integrated features that others either don’t or you have to buy ‘a la carte’ for more expense.

As a one-stop-shop for improving your marketing, Infusion Software also hosts a monthly webinar with marketing gurus like John Jantsch, Michael Gerber, etc. for both their clients and prospects alike.

Office Autopilot -- by Moonray Software – Santa Barbara, CA

Landon Ray, CEO of Moonray is a personable individual who is also a private pilot – as am I. As such, he understands that a ‘complex cockpit’ isn’t the best way to help you get a productive result. “Simple” he said, “is what we know works best and ‘simple’ is what we deliver in our marketing automation software”. He does. And far better than do many higher priced alternatives. OfficeAutopilot is designed for 1) ease of use – even for a ‘solo’ pilot / entrepreneur and 2) for power – to easily plan, execute, maintain and measure any and all prospect contacts regardless of type – phone calls, emails, direct mails, website visits, etc. Definitely worth checking out!

What I like about each of these solutions is that they have done a better job than most of their competitors in ANTICIPATING what you, my dear reader, want from your marketing efforts (revenues, Duh!) and they’ve created a near custom-tailored solution of laser-focused capabilities in their software that delivers what you need . . . to get the revenues you want.

If there’s tweaking to be done, it’s relatively minor because the marketing tasks you want to do were the driving force behind what their software became . . . i.e. ‘form follows function’ is really true here. And, with OfficeAutoPilot . . . it’s extremely affordable for even a one person business.

While the pricing can vary with the capabilities desired and delivered, if you’re not checking out this kind of software solution to predictable marketing challenges be warned . . . I’ll bet your competitors will be soon -- if they aren’t doing so already!

Next month I’ll be reporting on another but very different solution to help you develop your clientele . . . by design, not accident.

Bill Doerr, CCO of SellMore Marketing, LLC is the creator of The Preferral Prospecting System™,

The Expert Directory™, The Client Machine™ and The Ultimate Client Development System™.

Bill uses these services to help service providers build their business by leveraging relationships and generating more introductions to new business. You can reach Bill by phone at: 860-798-6964, online: www.sellmoremarketing.com or http://www.getnewclientsnow.com/ by email: billd@sellmoremarketing.com or through the TNNW Blog: http://thenationalnetworker.blogspot.com

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Are You Working Way Too Hard for Far Too Little?