MEET THE PRESS AND PITCH YOUR BUSINESS DIRECTLY TO THEM

We are delighted to present this opportunity to our referron subscribers.

I am looking forward to spending 3 days with Kate Engler and 8 of the Country's top journalists next week.  This meet the press media experience will see you pitch your business to the countries top media outlets.

If you are ready for this level of media access and the media exposure that will result, you are invited to apply to be a part of this exclusive masterclass of 30 businesses. 

If you are serious about your business and are keen to get significant amounts of publicity, I would recommend that you invest your precious time into this masterclass - From Thursday 4 - Saturday 6 June. 

22 HAVE REGISTERED, SO THERE IS PLACE FOR 8 MORE BUSINESSES!! 

TO enable our interstate travellers to join us in Sydney, Kate has agreed to reimburse the cost of travel to Sydney (to a limit of $500).

Click here for more information and to apply

How does one recommend connection of one friend with another? Thanks heaps!

5 Steps to effectively network at events

By Michael Griffiths 

Business networking events can be for finding not only customers, but equally for finding strategic alliance partners, useful referrals for your clients and like-minded business owners who you can build a relationship with. Therefore getting yourself out there and booked into a local business networking events is something you should be doing and doing regularly to help your business grow.  

But attending the event itself and meeting people is not enough. On its own it's a couple of hours spent out of the office chatting to fellow business owners who you will most likely forget – and who will forget you – once everyone gets back to the busy office. Effectively following-up after a networking event is key to maximizing the benefits you get from attending business networking events.

Here are five ways to effectively getting great connections from a networking event:

1. Adjust your Attitude:
Rather than view networking as sucking up and shuffling business cards take the approach that it's about educating yourself about opportunities. That education could be in the form of meeting new people, learning a new idea, learning about new ways of connecting with people, getting company and industry information, and, of course, job leads. That attitude helps when you have to reach out to strangers for informational interviewing or are following up after a networking event, something I do on a regular basis. Networking also gives you the chance to practice self-marketing. You can tell right away if you're getting your message across.

2. Schedule a time to follow up with the business cards collected:
Whenever you schedule time in your diary to attend a networking event, make sure to schedule time in your diary (you should do this within 24 hours of the event itself) to input the business cards you've collected and follow-up.
Typically you'll only need 15-30 minutes to input a handful of business cards into your database. Make sure to note down in the contact record where and when you met the individual and why you connected at the event. You'll be grateful of these notes when you try to find that individual but can't remember his or her name 12 months down the road. 

3. Email or call 
Following up with an individual by e-mail or by telephone call is a must, if you want to build a relationship with the person you've met. But make sure to follow-up in the right way! Don't assume that the person you've met remembers you or indeed where you met – many business owners attend lots of networking events and meet dozens of people each week!
When you reach-out to the person you've met you should give them a gentle reminder of where and when you met, and ideally, what you spoke about during your conversation and any other memory hooks.

4. Share helpful content
If you've met somebody at a networking event and discussed a specific topic or a challenge they're currently having, look for an opportunity to follow-up by including content they'd find useful. This is not an opportunity to sell, but it can be an opportunity to share your own educational material – be they videos, blogs or articles. So a follow-up where you say "We can do that for you" is unlikely to work, but a follow-up where you say "Here's an article post I wrote on the subject" can work. Again, you're demonstrating that you're trying to help the person – not sell to them.

5. Connect on social media
Nearly all of us have a LinkedIn account, connecting with that person on LinkedIn helps expand your network. Once you're both connected on LinkedIn, don't make the second big mistake of not using that connection! Take a look at their profile – read about their background – see who they are connected to – and look for opportunities to continue the conversation. It may be that they have a connection to that business you've been desperate to talk to about your services! Remember look to see whether the person is on Twitter too – and if they are, give them a shout-out to say how much you enjoyed meeting them at the event! Everybody likes to be acknowledged and it's another way to stay front of mind.

5 tips on how to network

122 Gems of Effective Networking

The 5 Secrets of Networking from Angel L. Ramos, MBA

1. Prepare
2. Work The Room
3. Build Relationships
4. Focus on giving vs Receiving
5. Follow Up

How Deep are your networks and relationships

Networking is a big discussion topic as well as becoming big business as more networking groups appear online and offline.  Where I live it seems that at least each week a person is creating a new ‘meetup’ group for business networking (even if there are 10 already offered), or another breakfast, lunch or happy hour to meet and greet like-minded business people.  Attending networking functions in itself can be a full-time job.

And then there is LinkedIn (which I love by the way!).  LinkedIn was one of the first social media platforms that took professional networking online and still remains the leader in that space today (for B2B relationship building).  There are at least 2 million groups that one can join on LinkedIn to create discussions and expand one’s network.  In fact, 89.7% of users find LinkedIn moderately-extremely useful in growing their network and developing their business.

Networks are not only about numbers; more importantly it is about the relationships developed through the networks which then ‘deepens’ the network and increases the ‘net’s worth’.  Relationship building has become easier thorough technology yet I find that the face-to-face or phone call is still one of the best ways in establishing the foundation, building that trust and then solidifying the connection.  As we all know a lot can be sensed via verbal and non-verbal communication; so much can be misinterpreted through ‘text’ or email nowadays.

So the question arises and to reflect upon … Are my networks deep in numbers expanding the globe?  Are my networks deep in substance where the majority of people on my list know how I ‘do business’ and maybe a bit about me personally and vice versa? 

Networking is about ‘giving and take’ and ‘contributing and accepting’.  When we find out a little more about the PERSON than just surface stuff – e.g., what she does, how long he has been in business, etc. – we are then starting to form roots that can grow the value of that person within your network.  The ‘give and take’ is not just about sharing articles or referring people; it is also about giving a little bit of your ‘self’ to that person to become more connected with him or her.  By doing that (and with discernment of course), it can then increase their level of trust by revealing something about them, for example, being a keen landscape photographer. 

Never underestimate who is your biggest ‘fan’ in your network.  This is where, I believe, by getting into a more heart-to-heart and possibly philosophical conversation with colleagues, you find out who your truest allies are within your network.  Many times we don’t know who our biggest fans are especially in these days of social media with the many outlets we can use to make a difference in one’s life.  Just because someone ‘likes’ your post may not reflect their level of admiration (although ‘likes’ are always welcome).

True networks are priceless; like precious gems they must be taken care of to maintain and also increase their value.  By creating more ‘depth’ in substance, your ‘net’s worth’ will increase.