A rising tide lifts all ships. This is a mantra that we have inside The Business League.
In 2019 we organised a collaborative Brewers Lunch with three of the best breweries in Australia. These leaders from each brewery were all more than happy to get together and share what they were doing, how they were doing it with each other and share it with a group of 40-business owners. [Read more…]
Do you KISS with your networking?
No I don’t mean actual ???ing.
KISS is an acronym I grew up with in the Army, but it relates to networking.
I think you need to Keep Your Networking Simple.
I explain here…
Last week I asked you about what the ROI [Return on Investment] was you wanted from your business networking.
It’s an important question that I don’t think networkers understand enough.
You see the most common answer to the question “What do you want from your networking”
Is “MORE BUSINESS”.
And I think most people who have given this answer have missed the boat.
There is so much more to networking then getting more business. BUT until you are clear on what the ROI is you want, and explore all the options you will stay chasing more business.
Don’t get me wrong more business is a result you should expect from networking.
However, and here’s the kicker, if you go into networking just for ‘more business’, then you are going to become one of those networkers. Yes I’m talking about those people who only talk about themselves and always try and sell to you.
Don’t become that person.
As part of our Networking Events, we support business owners network. And I wanted to share a networking tactic that you can use immediately.
It’s about Paul.
Paul had been networking for years and thought himself a pretty good networker. To a certain degree he was. He got results. Networking was a valuable marketing tool for our business.
Anyway we had him complete an exercise as part of his involvement in The Business League. This was we asked him what his Ideal client was.
Paul’s answer got to the heart of the most common networking mistake we see.
Previously I have written about 2-mistakes that I witnessed in 2018.
This next one is critical and can be the difference between money and friends.
By friends I mean people you have relationship with, but don’t give you business.
By money I mean SALES, SALES, SALES.
In the past 12-months I know at least half a dozen Business Owners who have lost business or not won the business because of this mistake.
So I wanted to share it with you.
Mistake #3
I can list at least 6 sales that business owners didn’t get because of this mistake.
So here it is…
Last week I shared with you, as a direct result of talking to some of you, one of the major problems of business owners networking.
I now want to share with you the second mistake.
There are many variations to this challenge that business owners create for themselves, however at the core of it is this.
You are not clear on how you are creating value for your connections.
And NO I’m not talking about the widget you sell or the service you deliver. This isn’t the aim in creating value. This approach causes you problem and gets you into the ‘sleazy salesman’ reputation. You don’t want that.
Last week I asked you about your business networking goals for 2019. Many of you responded. And we’ve been able to help some of you already.
As a result of this though there were some key mistakes that jumped out at me that many of you were and are making. As a result of these mistakes I wanted to share with you what they are and how you can overcome them.
These are THREE REALLY, REALLY, IMPORTANT keys to your networking success in 2019. If you don’t get these right from the get-go, your results are going to be hard to come by this year.
I’m going to share the first one below and the next two in subsequent emails – keep an eye out.
Last week we celebrated our 10th birthday. During the breakfast our guest speaker was, my wife and TBL Co-Founder, Rebecca who shared her story about the Business League, Overcoming anxiety and some personal experiences that have shaped who she is today.
During the presentation, Bec cried, other guests cried. Bec was vulnerable and shared openly.
As a result Bec has been flooded with appreciation, gratitude, admiration and comments at the end of the breakfast, through texts, emails and public Facebook messages.
It was powerful.
You see, my wife and I have been at the helm of The Business League for nearly 6-years and the Business League is now nearly 10-years old.
So in the 6-years I’ve been running networking events, I think I’ve seen a thing or two, but before I give you the ‘BEST ADVICE EVER’, let me put it in context. I started networking over 10-years ago and whilst I didn’t mind it, I was CRAP at it.
You see I was naturally an introvert.
I didn’t want to be the centre of attention.
I wasn’t great at interrupting a conversation.
I would gravitate to people I knew.
I struggled to leave rubbish conversations.
I would get nervous when I had to stand up and talk about myself in front of 30-people (I used to give orders to 150-soldier… Go figure…
The Business League has a wealth of knowledge inside its community. This year, we’ll be sharing the biggest and most impacting tips and tactics from our senior leaders inside our membership. Today, our long-time member and international businessman Damian Papworth shares how your company can avoid the pitfalls of digital marketing.
Australian digital marketing agencies experience day-to-day frustrations in creating, managing and profiting from SEO practices for their clients. There are a number of reasons for this. Expensive local resources, lack of knowledge of the intricacies of SEO, the time it takes to effectively execute an SEO campaign. The list goes on.
