Tuesday, December 30, 2008

I've been to China and back...what an experience

A different planet, well worth the 11 hour plane ride!
I am all fired up ready for a challenging year.I like challenges , I'm sure we'll come through.
As the year comes to an end we all look forward to next week, next month,next year.

BUT WHAT ABOUT NOW?

I get a newsletter from Dr Alan Zimmerman
and this article caught my eye.

Use it now.

I'm amazed at all the people who work hard to get some nice things ... things that would make their life more pleasant ... and then don't use those things. There's no better time to use those nice things than when times are tough ... because they'll lift your spirits.

Ann Wells wrote about that in the "Los Angeles Times." She wrote, "My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. 'This' he said, 'is not a slip. This is lingerie.' He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite: silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached.

Her brother-in-law continued, "Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well I guess this is the occasion." He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me.

"Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."

What about you? Are you using the special things in your life now? After that experience, Ann Wells is. She wrote, "I'm not 'saving' anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event -- such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom. I wear my good blazer to the market if I like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party-going friends. 'Someday' and 'one of these days' are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now."

I learned this lesson from my Grandpa John. On several occasions when we went to visit, he would pull out a special bottle of wine to share with us. Grandma Em would chide him and say, "John, we were saving that bottle for a special occasion." But Grandpa would remind her, "Em, what could be more special than spending time with our family?"


Who knows what's coming?
Enjoy 'the now'
Live in day-tight compartments and wear thos nice new clothes you may have just received for the holiday season

Monday, December 15, 2008

HOW TO DRIVE AWAY WEB TRAFFIC

My friend Alan Stevens, the Media Coach sent me this.
Take heed

Here are a few rules that you can implement if you want to keep those annoying visitors away from your website. After, all, they only send you pestering emails trying to buy things from you. It's a real nuisance. Even if you only follow one of these rules, you will be able to reduce the amount of inconvenient requests from potential customers by a huge amount. Ready?

Insist on customer registration before they can see all the pages
Keep popping up screens asking them if they want your newsletter, or would like to fill in a survey
Have text scrolling across the screen, like a neon sign
Give detailed information about the history of your organisation
Hide links under innocent-looking pictures
Use lots of flash, so that poorly-sighted people with screen readers can't make sense of the page
Include the phrase "Optimised for Internet Explorer"
Tell users that they have to download software to see the page properly
Use cheap clip art and standard images
Tell the visitor what their problem is
There, that should do it.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The third step in building relationships - TRUST



The start of any relationship is meeting someone and getting to know them.
The second step is to create some mutual liking. When we don't like someone we don't want to spend time with them. Whatever they do or say we will find fault and the relationship will end.You will see something negative in every aspect of their life. On the other hand when we do like people we forgive them everything.Think of the friends you have and their faults. When you like them you forgive them everything.You are tolerant of their weaknesses and even though they may let you down on occasions you forgive them. Why? Because you like them and sometimes you question why you like them. It's rapport, chemistry...who knows?

Trust

But for there to any meaningful long-term relationship there has to be trust. Check out the definitions on the web; there are lots of them. Emotions, relationships, confidence are included with lots of psychology thrown in for good measure.

But I see it all starts with reliability.

When you always do what you say you're going to do and do it when you say you're going to do it, for me, that goes well down the line of a great meaningful and long-lasting relationship.

How reliable or you? How true to your word are you? Can people trust those words which come out of your mouth? can you trust those words which come out of your mouth?!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

You are and do what you think Chapter 3

When you walk into that room to network, i.e. build new or on existing relationships please think the following

• “Yes I am a little nervous, but I guess so are most other people.”
• “I’m going to be friendly, courteous and polite; that way people will like me quickly.”
• “I’m going to smile, give good eye contact, shake hands and aim to remember people’s names. This will help me create a good first impression.”
• “If I pretend to act like a host, my confidence is going to build. For example, I’m going to talk to people who I see standing on their own and introduce them to others when it’s time to move on.”
• “It’s a business event so I suppose everyone is here to meet new contacts.”
• “I’m going to spend more time being interested by asking questions rather than talking too much about myself.”
• “I’m going to positively look for potential opportunities and follow them up.”
• “If at the end of the day all else fails, I’m just going to have to fake it ‘til I make it!”

But why should you fail? Fail at what exactly? It’s not an examination or you are the defendant in a trial being judged. It’s just a group of people, most of whom will be polite, friendly and welcoming. Focus on them and enjoy your networking.

You are and do what you think Chapter 2

Voices in our heads

When you walk into a room full of strangers, at the networking event, do you ever start off having ‘solo’ conversations which go something like this?

• “I don’t know enough about xxxx.”
• “How am I going to break the ice,’ because I don’t know anyone, do I?”
• “ I’m so nervous that I’m bound to forget the name of the host, not to mention other peoples’ names when I first meet them”
• “I’ve no right to be in front of all those people; I’m too junior to represent the firm.”
• “Nobody’s going to talk to me.”
• “What if I’m asked something and I don’t know the answer?”
• “I fell terrible! My hair’s a mess and my shoes look ridiculous.”
• “No doubt I’ll do something stupid like tripping up or knocking my glass of wine over fellow guests.”
• “People just aren’t going to take me seriously.”
• “People may laugh at me, not openly and when I feel that, what do I do?”

The majority of people have this conversation simply because we all have two key fears in our lives; fear of rejection and the fear of failure. Fear is a made-up word – it’s really an acronym F.E.A.R. It represents the phrase ‘false expectations appearing real’. These fears do represent false expectations as most people who attend business events are friendly, personable and welcoming. When have you been rejected at a business event? After all every one is there to spot opportunities, build or reinforce relationships. Yes, there will be a tiny proportion of rude people; those who decide you’re not important enough and start looking around the room for ‘more significant people than you.’ Don’t let this small minority get to you. They’re not worth giving a second thought to. You don’t want to be building relationships with these rude ignorant people anyway, so excuse yourself and go and find the ‘nice’ people who deserve your company.

When you walk into the room it’s time for a rethink.

You are and do what you think. Chapter 1



Worth 2 minutes of your time if you don't like business networking or following up opportunities

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Important words from the King of modern networking

It’s Called Networking for a Reason


By: Ivan Misner





It's not "net-SIT" or "net-EAT"-it's "network." Successful networking is about learning how to "work" the networking process-not just letting it happen.

In many ways, success at networking is the perfect example of the uncommon application of common knowledge. Most people understand that networking is important to their success-they just lack a step-by-step process to get the results they want. Almost no one really incorporates a comprehensive methodology that will build a business through networking. Thus, the need to network is "common knowledge," and the development of the methodology required to be successful at it is the "uncommon application."

The word networking has become so overused that some business professionals can no longer define it. Many people think that networking is attending social or business after-hour events, shaking a few hands, collecting a few cards, and, of course, giving away a few cards of their own. Sadly, they actually believe that's all there is to networking. To be fair, we could say they're engaging in social networking. That's never to be confused, however, with business networking.

I've found that businesspeople tend to fall into one of two groups when it comes to their views of networking. For many, the current mind-set is that networking is a passive business strategy, not a proactive marketing tool. This attitude results in a scattered, often ineffective networking approach that consequently wastes the business owner's time and money. Not surprisingly, when people feel they've been wasting their time and money on something, they're understandably not going to continue that activity.

On the other hand, some entrepreneurs do consider networking a proactive marketing tool for their business. How can you tell? They make it a significant part of their marketing and business plans. They have networking goals. They may even have a budget line item for networking. Most important, they practice it and live it every day.

If you share the first mind-set-the passive one-you're hoping that just showing up at meetings is enough. And therein lies the problem. You need to integrate networking into the way you do business on a weekly basis. This approach truly brings networking into your business as a proactive marketing tool. For examples of straightforward ways to do this, pick up a book that I co-authored with Michelle R. Donovan entitled The 29% Solution. In it, you will find 52 weekly strategies to quickly incorporate networking into your life.

Building these strategies into your life helps you maintain your focus on networking while you work to identify new revenue streams for your business. Before you know it, you'll be driven by the intention to get new business, and you'll have the networking tools to satisfy that drive, because-let's face it-if you have no new business, soon you will have no business at all.


About the Author:

Called the "Father of Modern Networking" by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI (www.bni.com), the world's largest business networking organization. His latest book, The 29% Solution can be viewed at The 29% Solution. Dr. Misner is also the Senior Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company (www.referralinstitute.com). He can be reached at misner@bni.com.