How’s your networking working? Better if you follow the rules.

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I went to a networking meeting last week hosted by a formal networking organization called Business Network International.

Many of you know this group. They have meetings all over the world. This particular chapter meeting was in New York City, and is populated by sophisticated business people who are on fire.

NOTE WELL: NYC business people, in general, take no prisoners. This BNI chapter takes no amateurs. And their meetings are exceptionally well structured.

I went as a guest – without an agenda – just to meet people and provide value.

HISTORY: I began my networking career more than 25 years ago, so I consider myself a relatively sophisticated meeting attendee. This particular meeting is a pure networking group, rather than a social networking event, like a Chamber of Commerce meeting or an association meting.

The group predominantly meets to give business and get business. My interest was to meet new people, and observe how the meeting was run.

Before we get too deep into BNI and the NYC group, I’d like to review some networking imperatives in case you’re about to go to one of these meetings.

NOTE WELL: Most people take networking for granted, and think of it more as a place to meet friends and clients rather than capture an opportunity. They also fail to realize that people, whether you know them or not, are cultivating an impression of you – not just about you look like, but also based on how you act and how you dress.

Your physical presence, your physiology, and your communication prowess can determine whether the outcome is business or no business.

These are my top 9.5 rules for achieving positive and profitable networking results:
1. I shake and look. When I shake someone’s hand, it’s a firm grasp and a direct look in the eye.
2. I smile. Even in New York City. I found that by giving smile, I get a smile.
3. I ask before I tell. Whether I ask for their name, or a simple “how are you?” I want to hear the other person before they hear me.
4. I give before I get. I have always tried to make connections for others before I ask for one myself.
5. I don’t make small talk. I make big talk. I don’t want to talk about the weather. I want to talk about life and business life.
6. I want to make certain that I take a ‘next step’ if the opportunity is there. Anything from a simple exchange of business cards, to a cup of coffee, to an office meeting, to an invite to a social event, I want to make sure that my objective is achieved before I leave to talk to the next person.
7. Known or unknown? That is the question. I prefer to invest the majority of my networking time with people that I do not know. The reason is that I tend to make small talk with people that I know, and bigger talk with people that I don’t know. My personal rule has always been, small talk leads to small business or no business, and big talk leads to big business, or the opportunity for big business.
8. I like everyone and qualify no one. If you like people, it’s likely they will like you back. If you try to qualify people (by asking them questions about money or circumstance), their guard will go up.
9. Every connection need not be a sale. Make friends, build rapport, and provide value to everyone without prejudging or qualifying them. I refer to it as: “the rule of you never know.” And “you never know” has no time limit. Sometimes “you never know” happens in a week, and sometimes it happens 5 years later. That’s why it’s called “you never know.”
9.5 I am brief. Time allocation at a networking event is not an option. If there are 60 people in the room and the meeting lasts for one hour, you have 1 minute per person if you want to meet everyone. If you take 5 minutes with each person, you can only meet 12 people. The choice is yours, but be aware of time.

I’ve just given you the parameters, the guidelines, and the rules that I have personally been following for 25 years. There are other rules and you can find them in my Little Black Book of Connections, but these are the major ones that will make connections, make appointments, build relationships, and ultimately make sales.

Next week I am going to talk about why the BNI meeting was incredible, and how you can learn from it. Stay tuned.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Take Charge of Your Meetings!

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Meetings are essential for any business. They give everyone an opportunity to share ideas and be kept up-to-date on important information. However, all too often, poor communication can turn a meeting into a drawn-out, ineffective waste of time. There are several techniques that you can master to transform your communication skills and conduct your meetings like the effective business leader you are. Here are five tips to help you transform your meetings from a waste of time to an effective meeting of the minds:

  1. Speech skills matter! It doesn’t matter how intelligent or innovative your ideas are if no one can understand you. Many people speak more quickly when they’re excited or nervous, which decreases the clarity of their speech. Keep tabs on your rate of speech and make sure you’re not running your words together. Also, enunciate all of the letters in each word, especially the sounds at the ends of words. Missing the final sound of a word can change the meaning entirely and cause confusion.
  2. Speak up: One of the biggest issues in a group setting is miscommunication. If you don’t fully understand someone’s point or miss part of what has been said, speak up and ask questions. Even if it doesn’t seem critical at the time, misunderstandings can be a big waste of time and energy in the long run, and odds are if you are confused, so is someone else. Asking questions and requesting clarification can go a long way towards avoiding long-term misunderstandings.
  3. Remember the two ‘C’s: When speaking in a business meeting, don’t forget to be clear and concise. Remember that the main point of a meeting is communicating information, not trying to impress your colleagues with your oratory skills or large vocabulary. Before you speak, think about what you are going to say and make sure you’re making your point in the shortest, most direct way possible.
  4. Make sure no one dominates the conversation: Everyone has different communication styles and different levels of comfort about talking in a meeting environment. Unfortunately, this can often lead to one or two outspoken individuals dominating the meeting, causing an imbalance in the conversation. While you don’t want to discourage open speech, it’s important to maintain some balance for an effective flow of communication and ideas. If you feel someone has dominated a topic, politely move the conversation along by saying something like, “It sounds like you have some great ideas, and I’d love to chat about them later, but unfortunately we’re a bit short on time right now so we need to move on.”
  5. Be a good listener: Often people are so focused on how they can contribute to the conversation and sound intelligent, they spend their time internally planning what they want to say instead of listening to the person who is actually speaking. This can result in missing key information and misunderstandings. Not only is it essential to really listen, but also to visually communicate to the speaker that you’re listening. Sit up straight, look directly at the speaker, and maintain eye contact. Never fiddle with your phone or check your e-mail or messages; this is not only rude, but gives the impression you’re mentally checked out of the meeting. Now and then, nod to show that you understand. These are all ways to let the speaker know that you are really listening. Remember, you listen with your whole body, not just your ears!

About the Author

Jayne LatzJayne Latz is an expert in communication and CEO of Corporate Speech Solutions, LLC. She has worked as a speech trainer, coach, professional speaker, and has co-authored two books titled, Talking Business: A Guide to Professional Communication and Talking Business: When English is Your Second Language. She was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal and on The TODAY Show.

If you are interested in learning more ways to improve your business communication skills, contact Jayne at [email protected] or visit www.corporatespeechsolutions.com.

Is your weight loss tied to your sales gain?

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Everyone knows that as a nation we are somewhere between overweight and obese. This is not good.

I tell my audiences, “we are so overweight as a country, if we were invaded by enemies, we couldn’t even run away.”

The reason I’m writing is not to tell you what I plan on doing, rather it is to tell you what I have done, what I’m doing about it, and how I will continue this process.

For the past five years I’ve weighed somewhere between 205 and 209 pounds. That’s not good for a kid who weighed 160 in college. Granted that was some time ago, but it’s no excuse to be 50 pounds over college weight.

Much like you, I lamented it instead of doing anything about it. I wrote about, and bragged that I was on my way to losing weight. I never did. I bragged that I was sick and tired of being overweight, and I was going to go on a major weight loss program. I never did.

Loyal readers sent me messages of encouragement, diet plans, MLM pill plans, chocolate plans, coffee plans, and assorted health options. I never did any of them.

But silently and secretly, I began losing weight. Now that I’m down below 190 (almost a 20 pound loss), I can come out of the closet (or should I say come off of the scale), and begin to talk about it.

Besides the weight loss, I firmly believe that sales and health go hand-in-hand. I believe that my physical well-being will improve my sales well-being, while enhancing my mental well-being.

I also found that losing weight is not just about watching what you eat. It’s a combination of thinking healthy, eating healthy, and exercise.

Here is what I have found to be true to lose the first 20 pounds:

Thinking: you have to have a DAILY mindset, and a mental awareness of what you’re doing at all times. Especially about what you eat. Two keywords are: eat less. Two more keywords are: eat healthy. And the final keywords are: weigh yourself. Thinking leads to shrinking.

Eating: No secret formula or diet or pills here. Here’s what I did: I’ve switched to club soda or water. No other drink. When I drink club soda, I add a squeeze of fresh lemon and lime. I eat as much raw fruits and vegetables as I can. I limit bread and all other empty carbohydrates. That’s it. I sacrifice very little. And if I occasionally feel like having some kind of pastry or candy, I eat it, or should I say, I eat half of it. I learned that moderation is the key to weight loss. If I order something at a restaurant, I eat half, and push the rest away.

Exercising: Enter CYBEX. More than an exercise machine, it’s a healthy alternative to being a couch potato. I have a Cybex machine in my home. Exercising for 20 to 30 minutes three or four times a week has made me feel fit and firm. No, I don’t have a lot of muscle, but I do have a good feeling every time I finish (even though there are many days when I’m reluctant to start). For me, exercise is a bigger discipline than diet, but now that I’m actually losing weight, the desire to keep up the habit is nearing the stage of compelling.

I should also add losing weight at my age (68) is a hell of a lot harder than it is if you’re in your 20’s, 30’s, or 40’s.

Okay so I’m down almost 20 pounds. I’m a little more than halfway home. I intend to drop down to somewhere between 170 and 175 pounds. I believe that’s my healthiest weight, and also my best selling weight. And as a public speaker I believe it will increase my credibility significantly.

This will be my first in a series of articles about the importance of mental success and physical success. Every person who has ever written about anything having to do with human success and all personal development books at their core, stress the need to combine mental health and physical health. I will be no exception.

With 20 less pounds on me, everything is a bit easier. Even the mundane things like putting on your socks and tying your shoes are noticeably easier.

But the best part about having a few less pounds is how I feel about myself when I look in the mirror in the morning. Okay, I’m not the prettiest specimen in the world, but I love my new look. I also love weighing myself.

Some mornings I can’t believe how far I’ve come, but my incentive is to keep going until I reach my desired outcome.

Yes I have a support system, and yes I have an exercise machine of my own, but the key to my success has been my own self-discipline and my own desire to keep my healthy process moving forward.

And please be aware, I’m not bragging about what I’ve done. Rather I’m sharing information about how to get and stay healthy, and hopefully inspire you to do the same. Odds are you have 10 or 20 extra pounds on you that you wish you didn’t have. And you can’t will it away.

Come on dude, wake up and smell the pop-tarts – just don’t eat them.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Are you the ‘Toast’ of your meetings?

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I’m giving a 10-minute talk at Toastmasters in NYC tomorrow night. Subject? Humor – what it is, how to create it, and how to use it.

I am challenged to help the club members (who all have humor as the basis of their speaking) find new ways and new ideas to make their audience laugh and engage.

MAJOR CLUE: At the end of humor is the height of listening. If you’re at a comedy club, and the comedian tells a joke, and you’re laughing so hard that your drink is coming out your nose, as soon as the comedian starts to talk again, you immediately stop laughing and start listening. You don’t want to miss what’s next. At the end of humor is the height of listening. Got it?

Presentation skills are one fifth of the sales process. The other four being your selling skills, your product knowledge, knowledge of the customer, and your attitude.

Most salespeople study presentation skills and positive attitude skills THE LEAST. When in fact, if you weigh the five elements, those two are at the top of the list. Why then are you not studying presentation skills?

If I ask everyone reading this column to put your hand in the air if you are a member of Toastmasters, not many hands would go up. (Yours included.)

Finding your voice, and combining it with your courage equals speaking in public. Speaking in public is arguably your best networking, notoriety, brand building, and confidence building opportunity in existence. And a great place to learn is Toastmasters.

Got speech?
Got courage?
Got (meaningful) subject matter?

If you’re in sales, speaking in public is critical to your success.

  • Learn the science of speaking and presenting.
  • Join and practice at Toastmasters.
  • Graduate to speaking at civic organizations.
  • THEN look for opportunities within your market.

Topics? Speak about something the audience will value and respect you for.

  • After ownership, how do I use…
  • Maximum productivity
  • Memorable service
  • New ideas
  • Morale in the workplace
  • Profit

BEWARE and be aware. The experts are not experts. Most “expert” advice about public speaking is weak and generalized. Here are a few examples (IN BOLD) of what NOT to do:

  • It’s ok to be nervous. If you go into a presentation and you’re nervous, in my book that’s NOT okay. You have to go into a presentation or sales presentation wreaking of confidence. The reason you’re nervous is because you’re unprepared. And being unprepared is one of the best ways to lose a sale or an audience.
  • You don’t need to be perfect. Really? When I see a rule like “don’t try to be perfect,” I always think to myself “exactly where would you like me to screw up?” When I am building rapport, when I am presenting my product, when I am trying to understand customer’s needs, when I am talking about my value proposition? Or maybe when I am trying to complete the transaction? (AKA: close the sale)
     
    NOTE WELL: Heck, if there is someone I want not to be perfect—it’s my competition. Let them screw up. Let them blow the sale.
  • Know your subject. DUH! When you’re giving a presentation ‘knowing your subject’ is a given. The rule should be “know what your audience doesn’t know, and talk about that.” What you need to know is how your customer uses, benefits from, and profits by owning your product.
  • Practice, practice, practice. When an expert tells me to ‘practice, practice, practice,’ the first question I want to know is, ‘practice what?’ What it should say is build your presentation skills daily by giving presentations and recording them. When you’ve done the recording, play it back immediately. If you’ve ever wanted a dose of reality, I promise you that playing back your presentation will be the funniest, most pathetic thing you have ever seen or heard. For most people, it’s the grimmest dose of reality.

THE VALUE OF RECORDING YOUR PRESENTATION: When you record yourself, it’s the exact evidence of what you said and how you said it. How impactful it was. How transferable it was. How persuasive it was. How convincing it was. And ultimately, how successful it was. Recording your presentation will reveal every blemish, every error, every weakness, and give you a report card on your effectiveness.

The average salesperson (not you of course) is presentation-weak. This is predominantly caused by lack of study, lack of creativity, lack of belief, lack of preparation, and lack of recording.

Wouldn’t you think with all this at stake, that presentation skills would be one of the highest priorities in a salesperson’s life? Well, luckily for you, the average sales person doesn’t feel that way. The average salesperson is home right after work hunting around for the TV remote instead of hunting up new facts for their presentation tomorrow. They’re hunting for a can of beer instead of hunting for a Toastmasters meeting.

Hunt for a speech. When you find it, there’s money attached.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The Big Picture of Business – Mentoring Guides Your Success

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Smart Leaders Don’t Have to Be Lonely at the Top

Professionals who succeed the most are the products of mentoring. The mentor is a resource for business trends, societal issues and opportunities. The mentor becomes a role model, offering insights about their own life-career. This reflection shows the mentee levels of thinking and perception which were not previously available. The mentor is an advocate for progress and change. Such work empowers the mentee to hear, accept, believe and get results. The sharing of trust and ideas leads to developing business philosophies.

The mentor endorses the mentee, messages ways to approach issues, helps draw distinctions and paints pictures of success. The mentor opens doors for the mentee. The mentor requests pro-active changes of mentee, evaluates realism of goals and offers truths about path to success and shortcomings of mentee’s approaches. This is a bonded collaboration toward each other’s success. The mentor stands for mentees throughout their careers and celebrates their successes. This is a lifelong dedication toward mentorship…in all aspects of one’s life.

The most significant lessons that I learned in my business life from mentors, verified with experience, are shared here:

  • You cannot go through life as a carbon copy of someone else.
  • You must establish your own identity, which is a long, exacting process.
  • As you establish a unique identity, others will criticize. Being different, you become a moving target.
  • People criticize you because of what you represent, not who you are. It is rarely personal against you. Your success may bring out insecurities within others. You might be what they cannot or are not willing to become.
  • If you cannot take the dirtiest job in any company and do it yourself, then you will never become ‘management.’
  • Approach your career as a body of work. This requires planning, purpose and commitment. It’s a career, not just a series of jobs.
  • The person who is only identified with one career accomplishment or by the identity of one company for whom he-she formerly worked is a one-hit wonder and, thus, has no body of work.
  • The management that takes steps to ‘fix themselves’ rather than always projecting
  • It’s not when you learn. It’s that you learn.
  • Many people do without the substantive insights into business because they have not really developed critical thinking skills.
  • Analytical and reasoning skills are extensions of critical thinking skills.
  • You perform your best work for free. How you fulfill commitments and pro-bono work speaks to the kind of professional that you are.
  • People worry so much what others think about them. If they knew how little others thought, they wouldn’t worry so much. This too is your challenge to frame how they see you and your company.
  • Fame is fleeting. The public is fickle and quick to jump on the newest flavor, without showing loyalty to the old ones, especially those who are truly original. Working in radio, I was taught, “They only care about you when you’re behind the microphone.”
  • The pioneer and ‘one of a kind’ professional has a tough lot in life. It is tough to be first or so far ahead of the curve that others cannot see it. Few will understand you. Others will attain success with portions of what you did, but none will do it as well.
  • Consumers are under-educated. Our society takes more to the copycats and latest fads. Only the pioneer knows and appreciates what he-she really accomplished. That reassurance will have to be enough.
  • Life and careers include peaks and valleys. It’s how one copes during the ‘down times’ that is the true measure of success.
  • Long-term success must be earned. It is not automatic and is worthless if ill-gotten. The more dues one pays, the more you must continue paying.
  • The next best achievement is the one you’re working on now, inspired by your body of knowledge to date.
  • The person who never has aggressively pursued a dream or mounted a series of achievements cannot understand the quest of one with a committed dream.
  • Much of the population does not achieve huge goals but still admires and learns from those who persevere and succeed. Achievers become life-long mentors to others.
  • Achievement is a continuum and must be benchmarked and enjoyed.

7 Levels at Which Mentors Are Utilized:

  1. Resource. Equipment, tools, materials, schedules.
  2. Skills and Tasks. Duties, activities, tasks, behaviors, attitudes, fulfillment.
  3. Role and Job. Responsibilities, functions, relationships, accountability.
  4. Systems, Processes, Structure. Control, work design, supervision, decisions.
  5. Strategy. Planning, tactics, organizational development.
  6. Culture and Mission. Values, customs, beliefs, goals, benchmarking.
  7. Philosophy. Organizational purpose, vision, ethics, long-term growth.

7 Levels of Mentoring:

  1. Conveying Information. The mentor is a resource for business trends, opportunities, an active listener and adviser on values, actions.
  2. Imparting Experiences. The mentor is a role model. Insight offered about own life-career. Reflection strengthens the mentor and shows levels of thinking and perception which were not previously available to the mentee.
  3. Encouraging Actions. The mentor advocates for progress, empowering the mentee to hear, accept, believe and get results. Sharing of feelings, trust, ideas, philosophies.
  4. Paving the Way. The mentor endorses the mentee, wanting his-her success. The mentor messages ways to approach issues, drawing distinctions and painting pictures of success.
  5. Wanting the Best. Continuing relationship between the mentor and mentee. Progress is visioned, contextualized, seeded, benchmarked.
  6. Advocating, Facilitating. The mentor opens doors for the mentee. The mentor requests pro-active changes of mentee, evaluates realism of goals, offers truths about path to success and shortcomings of mentee’s approaches. This is a bonded collaboration toward each other’s success.
  7. Sharing Profound Wisdom. The mentor stands for mentees throughout careers, celebrates successes. Energy coaching and love-respect for each other continues throughout the relationship.

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.