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.

Referrals ... A Gold Mine Gone Begging!

from a leading Accountannts coach:- 

Having worked with, consulted to and advised partners of accounting firms as well as countless owners of small to medium sized enterprises across Australia, New Zealand, North America and the United Kingdom, I discovered that without question – THE most wasted opportunity for all of those businesses  - accountants or otherwise was:

FAILING TO ACTIVELY ASK YOUR EXISTING CLIENTS FOR REFERRALS.

Ask any small business owner: “What’s your number one source of new business?”  The vast majority will tell you: “Word of mouth, referrals from our existing customers”.

Then ask the next and most critical question:  “Do you have a system for consistently generating referrals?”

The answer, almost 100% of the time, whether accounting firm or SME:

Nope.

Like those small businesses, accounting and professional services firms typically fail to create a system for generating referrals.  Many firms have systems for tracking where new clients come from and others have systems for thanking referrers however, ALL BUT NONE have a system for actually GENERATING referrals from your client base.

Let’s explore this HUGE opportunity for your firm, to do that, let’s start with a simple calculation ...

Make a note of your average annual fees per business client, for example, $3000 p.a., $5000 p.a., $8000 p.a., $12,000 p.a., $18000 p.a., $23,000 p.a. etc.

Now make a note of how long an average client stays with your firm, e.g. typically, 5 or 7 years.

Now calculate the two i.e. your average annual fees per year, per business client, multiplied by the number of years they stay with you.  For example: 

$7,000 x 7 Years = $49,000.

That means every business client is worth $49,000 in gross revenue to your firm over time.

Now ask yourself this question ... Would you say, that over those 7 years each client would refer to you at least one other business client?

If the answer is ‘yes’ which is the typical response from most firms, then in reality every client isn’t worth $49,000, in fact they’re worth $98,000.  They’re worth that via the value they add to your firm, by speaking positively about you to their colleagues and associates.

(If the answer is ‘no, we wouldn’t get 1 per client over time’ then frankly, you have some work to do within your operations.  When you offer quality products and services and high customer service, referrals come naturally.  Please note: your average fee per annum may be too low e.g. $3,000.  It’s very difficult to add real value to clients and go over and above ‘standard compliance’ servicing in that price range. To quote Tom Peters: ‘we are rewarded to the extent to which we add value’, you may need to rethink your average hourly rate/value pricing to be able to offer more value to clients AND therefore, have talking about you positively as a result.)

Given the enormous value of a client and their referrals to you and your firm, the key then is to spend some time developing a system that captures referrals rather than leaving it to chance. 

Just remember the three magic rs of referring

record, reward, remind

RECORD … the details of who has been referred when they make an initial seminar booking and when you enter their details into the database. That way you’ll know who is getting referred, who they are getting referred by and who is doing the most referring.

REWARD … referees generously and also make referred clients feel special because they have been referred by one of your top clients.

REMIND … clients regularly about referring people they know. It isn’t a case of sitting back and letting them come to you. It’s important to continue to maintain that WOW service experience and also to continually remind ‘A’ class clients about the need to refer.

The Birth of the referral economy

written by Steven Rosenbaum for Forbes in May 2014

Sometimes, it takes a series of events to turn a number of unrelated instances into a glimpse into the future.

The other day I was talking to a friend about hiring. It’s gotten hard, harder than ever. Not because the tools are hard, but in fact because they’re easy and cheap.

Anyone can post a craigslist ad. The most expensive ones cost $25. And anyone can respond to a craigslist ad, and they do. So a post the other day for a Senior Sales Manager resulted in resumes from an Undertaker, an IRS Agent, and a High School Student. Seriously. Hundreds of responses, few of them even remotely responsive;  SPAM resumes. Yes, I know -it’s my fault for using craigslist. Fine,  I also posted to LinkedIn LNKD -0.83%, and a number of other quality pubs. So far, no luck. 

But – the truth is – what I really want is a referral. Someone I know who can say “here’s the perfect person for you.”

That would be sweet. And, I’d pay them for the referral.
Chances are – we may be about to arrive there.

Marketers are calling this trend; the birth of the Referral Economy. It’s a self-help system where people share and monetize their social network. Because these recommendations happen between trusted friends, the customers trust referring users and the recommendation is inherently non-commercial.
In real estate, the potential to change the way apartments are listed and rented is huge.  The founders of a startup called Circumrent see their mission clearly.

“From being scammed by brokers to spending weeks trying to find the perfect no-fee apartment and save money, it’s safe to say that we’ve ran the gauntlet of renting an apartment in New York”,  writes 20-something founders Nikhil Gregg and Vamsi Katragadda. T

he way that Circumrent works, the current tenant shares his plans to move out with his or her social network. The result – qualified renters see the space first,  landlords and tenants are able to save broker fees, and the former tenant (the referrer   gets paid for sharing the apartment with his network.) Not only does it save costs and get qualified tenants,  Nikhil told me that New York apartments are vacant for 28 days on average, costing landlords money. So efficiently connecting tenants with rentals reduces vacancy rates as well.
Once you see the power of referrals, the impact easily spreads across sectors and markets. 

Danielle Morrill of Refer.ly told TechCrunch: ““The entire internet is monetized this way and people are often getting monetized without them even knowing it,” Morrill said. “Any site that has a ‘Buy’ button has an affiliate program. 

But it’s hard to become an affiliate. The process for signing up is pretty long.”At Refer.ly, you can create your own product links. If a product you suggest ends up with someone in your social network buying something, you get paid. The comissions are small, but heck, it’s the thought that counts. If you’re endorsing a product, why not get a bit of cash for helping the product along?

The “recommendation economy” is increasingly important as growing number of consumers are tuning out traditional advertising and relying instead on their peers’ recommendations according to Deloitte. Smart and, engaged consumers are sharing their interests and broadcasting their opinions about the products and services they like. Through posting on social networks, blogs, and community sites, they share their decisions  and why others should trust their experiences.  Says Deloitte; “A recent Nielsen study found that 84 percent of global respondents trust word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family—making it the most highly trusted among digital and traditional methods of receiving recommendations.”

There’s no doubt  - the power in marketing is moving from the brand with the largest checkbook,  to the consumer with the largest social network. 

 As this happens,  thought leaders and social ‘alpha’s’  are going to find their recommendations and leadership gives them a newfound economic value in the world.  Media noise is replaced by human recommendations - and that makes creates a new economy around the power of the Referral.
Bad landlords and bait-and-switch brands beware. The Referral Economy has arrived.