Geert Conard's Blog, page 12

Are you REALLY doing business at the golf club ?

Lots of businesspeople are joining golfclubs, businessclubs or serviceclubs with the idea in mind that it might have a positive return for their company.But how does this work ? Will you really get sales through your membership?



Earlier this month I read a great article with the subtitle "Why relationship building on the golf course may be as important as ever for business networking"

(Link to the article : http://www.inc.com/business-travel-2011/business-lessons-on-the-golf-course.html)



Basically this is very simple : People like to do business with people they know very well.

It's an easy way to avoid negative surprises.

When you are playing a round of golf with another businessman or –woman, you are out for at least four hours in a relaxing, quiet and natural environment in which often mobile phones aren't even allowed. This is a fantastic opportunity to get to know each other and watch with your own eyes how the other person is handling stress. A golfball won't always do what you want it to do and this may lead to an occasional explosion of emotions. Of course this never happens to you and it's strictly against the rules of golf etiquette ;-)



Networking is nothing more or less than building a database of high quality business contacts.

These are people you know very well professionally and they also know you very well.

Will you do business with these people? Will you sell your products and services to the other members of your club ?

This might happen occasionally, but it's not even the intention of business networking.

What we really want to happen is that people will remember you and actively refer others to you when they think you might be able to help them. When you are building a network in the proper way, you will create a network of active promoters for your business.

Will this lead to real business? Will this lead to sales? Absolutely !



Here we also come to the point where tax control services hit their golfballs into the woods. I have seen several examples where tax controllers demand a 100% evidence of sales directly linked to a membership of a golfclub, a businessclub or a serviceclub. That just isn't the way it works …



A few articles in dutch about these  cases :

http://www.bespaarbelastingen.be/algemeen/trek-het-lidgeld-van-je-golf-of-service-club-af/

http://www.dvvc.be/documents/news-items/20100913-lidgeld-van-golfclub-is-soms-welniet-aftrekbaar.xml?lang=nl

#TwunchQ 28/06/2011 - Economy and Social Media

Yesterday, June 28, Vincent Van Quickenborne organized the 4th #TwunchQ, a lunchtime networking event at the rooftop terrace of his official address in the heart of Brussels.

More or less 160 people had registered for this event (+75% showed up which is a record !). The concept is adapted from the original #Twunch formula where people just get together at lunchtime to catch up and eat something together. Mr. Q had a truckload of sandwiches prepared for us as well as a top level guest speaker : Economist Geert Noels.



What I will probably remember from this event is the fact that self-named economy nerds can also be very funny. Geert Noels knows his trade, but is also a gifted public speaker. Vincent Van Quickenborne is a Belgian Minister and speaks in public almost every day, but his charm is definitely his 'Tintin' like style. He loves to meet people and feel the pulse of society. The audience included Belgiums better bloggers, a few journalists and almost every early adopter of platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. A very exciting buzz was constantly present.



There were lots of opportunities to ask questions, live and via Twitter. I also got my 5 minutes of fame by asking Geert Noels if he could share a good Economy 2.0 tip for small business owners. The answer was more or less that small businessowners don't necessarily need to grow. You can be an exceptional baker or florist and the top of your trade in your region. Nothing is wrong with that. An economy of successful and high quality microbusinesses can be great too.



Mr. Q is closing up for the holidays, next #TwunchQ is scheduled for September. I'll be back !



Missed it ? The recorded Live stream is still available at http://www.vincentvanquickenborne.be/blog/2011/06/herbekijk-de-live-stream-van-4e-twunchq-met-geertnoels/

Privacy on Facebook - Problem of our generation ?

Privacy on Facebook is still a very popular topic. During each speech, presentation, panel discussion, interview or workshop I still get loads of questions on this tricky topic.
I already tackled this topic in an earlier blogpost :
http://geertconard.blogspot.com/2010/09/privacy-on-social-media-video.html


This is still a short summary of my vision :

Whenever you want to post something on Facebook, stop and think.
Is this something that anyone would be allowed to see ?
If yes, click the button
If no, think twice before posting !

Maybe you are not prepared to make this consideration each time you want to post something ? Facebook is a platform that allows you to configure what your friends can see. Make sure to do this !

Our friends from Talking Heads have written a great manual (blogpost) with tips on how to protect your privacy on Facebook (in dutch). Use this as a guideline and you can be sure that those wild or drunk pictures can only be seen by your drinking mates who were with you at that wild party.
Your boss or colleagues will NOT be able to see this photo album.

Another great blogpost (in english) on protecting your privacy on Facebook : http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-privacy-tips-2010-01

When looking at the angle of the questions I receive on this topic, it seems to me that this privacy problem is really a problem of my generation.
Young people have a very different way of handling this and are much more open toward each other. Mark Zuckerberg is also part of this young generation and in his vision it's very normal to share a lot of stuff with each other. If you don't want to do that, the necessary tools are available to protect whatever you want.

I also hear a lot of rants on how Mark Zuckerberg is abusing our privacy by selling our profile details to the highest bidding advertisers.
If you really think this through, this isn't so bad at all …
Facebook allows us to use this fantastic platform for free, while it costs millions to keep it running. Ads are one of the only ways to support these necessary investments.
Would you choose to see some ads of stuff that might interest you while using Facebook ?
Or would you rather see ads that are of no interest at all for you ?
Personally I'm joining forces with the younger generation and choose to see ads that might interest me.

When I was thinking about this blogpost, my thoughts drifted away to the memory of my grandparents. I remember from my childhood years, that at my grandparents' house the doors were always open. Through the backdoor of their house family, friends and neighbors were walking in and out all day long. I think they were much less concerned about their privacy than we are.
Maybe privacy is most of all a problem of our generation ?

Passive Networking doesn't work

In my workshop "Social Media for Business" I'm describing 5 Networking Types (Originally by B. Guldager). These 5 types of people are getting different results depending on the amount of time and energy invested in networking.

Today I want to focus on the first type, The Passive Networker, because there lies a very interesting networking tip in this description.

The Passive Networker is one of those people who doesn't want to spend any time on networking. They are never attending networking drinks or receptions, but also online they only post a very basic profile and don't take any other actions at all.
I'm sure you all know people like this. I call this man "The Guy at the Fitnessclub"

Imagine we are early January and the Christmas Holidays have just past. They are the main reason why you are not feeling in your best shape ever. The feasts and champagne have invaded your body.

Your most important New Year's resolution is to start with Fitness !
You walk into a fitnessclub and throw enough money on the table for a yearly subscription.
Like a maniac you start to fitness, at least 3 times a week. After a few weeks you have a meeting on one of those days. Soon you are dropping down to 2 times a week, once a week, a couple of times a month ... and after a few months we will hardly ever find you at the fitnessclub anymore.
When anyone would say to this person at the end of the year "I'm not feeling too well after all these parties, I'm thinking about joining a fitnessclub", he would probably get this reply :
"I have tried that, it doesn't work !"

Buying a membership card of a fitnessclub doesn't do anything for your health. You have to take action and work out to become results.

Buying a membership card of a businessclub won't do anything for your business. You have to attend the events and get to know people to get some results.

Posting a basic profile on a Social Network won't do anything for your business. You have to get active, get to know people, write and comment on blogs, go to events, ... to get results !

Which info is really important ?

You are an active user of most of the popular online networks and have configured your networks exactly the way you want.
By using tools as Tweetdeck or Ping you can send messages to your entire network in just one click. Imagine sending this message to your network : "Tonight I'll be at the M4M Networking event at Ter Elst congress center in Edegem. Looking forward to a great guestspeaker".
This message will be visible as your status message on all networks you are using.
On one of these networks, e.g. Facebook, someone is commenting to this status message : "Long time since I saw you. I might have a possible client for you. Can we meet in the bar of the congress center an hour before your event ?".
If you missed this comment, you have a problem !
The contact that wanted to refer this client to you won't try this again if you don't react. It is very important to configure your networks to bring important messages to you as fast as possible (e.g. an email on your Blackberry or iPhone). Non urgent messages should be avoided.
To make it simple :
- Comments to status updates might be important or at least interesting. You want to see these as fast as possible.
- Notifications of new messages in forums or groups you are following are less important. You don't need to see these as fast as possible, you can read them when you have time to spare.
Configuring your notifications correctly can save you a lot of time and will make you use your emails more efficient.
This is a very simple networking tip, but often I get very enthusiastic responses from people who ask themselves why they haven't done this before.

Elise

Monday afternoon Geert and Tineke became the proud parents of baby girl Elise.

Born 14/03/2011 - 13:09
50,5 cm - 3,320 kg

The Power of Storytelling for Business

Up until 10 years ago most sales- and business conversations were focusing on details. People wanted to know all specifications of a device before purchasing it. Smarter salespeople were already describing the experience of using the device. This became more and more important in the last decade. Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Let's get a bit deeper into the art of storytelling for business.
In these modern days business is very much driven by stories. Whether you are selling a car or computer, marketing your professional services or networking at a reception. It's all about the stories.
You better make sure to have a rock solid story to introduce yourself to other business people. People don't like to hear a boring "cv-style" introduction, but they really want to hear what drives your life. They want to hear the passion in what you do.
That same story can be told on your online Social Media profiles, and even more stories can be told in forum entries and blogposts, creating the canvas for your topic of choice. Creating a story will always make your topic more comprehendible. Drawing the bigger picture by creating a story around your statement will make it easy for everyone to understand and really "get it".
Hundreds of years ago storytellers travelled from village to village to tell their stories. In the next years professional storytellers will teach businesspeople how to create the stories they need to market and sell their products and services. User experiences, testimonials and all other available content can be combined into great and lively stories.
Storytelling is a topic that jumped into my eyesight several times in the last months. A few great examples of new professional services around this topic :
• Fortune/CNN : Article on TransMedia Storytelling : http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/09/why-storytelling-is-essential-for-business-leaders
• Corporate Storyteller Raf Stevens (http://www.corporatestoryteller.be/) came with a book-project on peer to peer storytelling (http://www.linkedstories.com/)
• Dirk Hermans starts with a one-stop-shop (Vertelpunt Uitgevers) where stories can be found in all possible formats : Newspapers and magazines can buy story-content, writers can publish their stories into books, organisations can hire a writer to bring his or her story live in front of an audience. (http://www.vertelpuntuitgevers.be/)
It is already more than clear to me that stories will be very important in the next years and this also relates in a new style of companies taking shape : Small but very active groups of people combining and concentrating on skills as copywriting, marketing, graphic design and communications. Communication Consultants like myself will have to concentrate on listening to people's stories and reshaping them into a successful format. Like stated in the Fortune article, it's not about creating hundreds of stories, it's about creating one fantastic story that gets told over and over again to hundreds of people !

I think this new development will be very exciting for everyone in this industry and everyone who is passionate by the written word. What's your story ?

Make a match. Risk-free !

This is a very simple but highly effective networking tip !
The more people you know, the more people you can actually help.
If one of your contacts is looking for someone to help him or her to get in touch with someone or something, don't hesitate to introduce this person to someone in your network who might be able to solve the problem.
If those two people have a successful match, your reputation and credibility will get a serious boost.

I often hear the fear for damaging your reputation if a match wouldn't be successful. I think you can perfectly get this under control. Let me show you with this example :
One of your contacts is looking for someone to help him with a task which needs very specific skills and knowledge.
First possibility :

You do know someone who can do this and this is someone you have known for ages.
You can highly recommend the services of this person. You would dare to say that this person is very accurate, professional and will probably be able to solve the problem.

Second possibility :

You don't have anyone in your direct network with the necessary skills for this job.
A few months ago you have briefly met someone at a networking event who claimed to have those skills. You still can make a successful match !

You have to tell your contact that this person is NOT a warm contact, but someone you have recently met on a networking event and possibly has the required skills and knowledge.

I usually advise to keep looking around for a warm recommendation, but if you come up empty please do contact this person because there is a good chance to a solution.

In both cases your reputation stays 100% intact and you have a chance to a serious reputation-boost if the match is successful !

A Spotlight on your networking contacts

We survived this years New Year's speeches and receptions and most companies are already back to normal speed. We do have the impression that the financial crisis is way behind us and this new year will bring many new opportunities.

Today I want to share the possibility to put a 'Spotlight' on some of your networking contacts. By doing this you will make a statement that these are very close and reliable contacts.
It might even bring them some new business !

On some business networks like Ecademy this is a feature which is included in the menu.
You will find 'Spotlight' in the submenu of your profile. To add someone to your 'Spotlight'-page, just visit the profile of this contact, click 'Spotlight' in the profile submenu followed by 'Add to my Spotlight'.

Because of the huge success of Facebook we often receive the question if there is also a 'Spotlight' feature on this popular network.

It is perfectly possible to gather specific friends in a list and display these in the left column of your Facebook profile. To do so, you can either create new lists or feature existing friend lists.
When you add someone to a featured list, they will receive a notification letting them know that you are featuring them on your profile.

To feature friends on your Facebook profile:

1. Click the "Edit Profile" button in the top-right corner of your profile.
2. Select "Featured People" from the left-hand menu.
3. Next to "Featured Friends" choose to add either an existing friends list or create a new one. 4. When you're done, click "Save Changes"

If you have selected multiple lists, you can change the order they appear on your profile.
To do this, simply drag each list to where you'd like to place it. Then, click "Save Changes".

Instream management for your networking group

Don't you just hate it ?
One of the very first blogs I have ever written was about the feelings I had when I had to attend events where I didn't know any of the other guests.
When attending receptions and events outside of my usual networking groups, I still spot the same behavior I wrote about many years ago.
People are automatically drawn towards those they already know. Pick any event you want and each and every time you will see this same behavior happening again. People greeting each other and gathering in small groups of 4 to 6 people, neglecting the other guests of the event.

I still think this is an important issue to be addressed by organisers as well as steady members of a networking or business group.
As organisers or members we mustn't forget that each year you have a natural outstream from your members group. Some people just got bored, others have moved away too far from the location, some people may have even passed away.

If you want your groups and events to stay successful in the future you need to pay enough attention to the instream of new members. In my opinion good instream management doesn't stop by selling a membership card or a ticket to one of your events. Excellent instream management also means making sure that new members get integrated in the group(s). In the same way a moderator tries to engage conversations online, the hosts of any event should ensure that nobody stays aside during his or her first events.

This is the only way to ensure that new members will also stay for many years, becoming the new steady members of your group.