Tweet

Buying Your Way to the Top

Written by: Nancy Michaels

Article Overview: Here are some networking tips you can put to use in your own business right now that will help win the business

Buying Your Way to the Top

Networking has always been an effective tool for launching and growing a business. In a past issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, I was featured in an article on building effective business alliances. What’s the reason? I had bid on lunch with Bruce Nelson, former CEO of Office Depot, in order to win his trust and Office Depot’s business. All proceeds went to a charity I believe in, Count-Me-In, which champions the cause for women’s economic independence by providing access to business loans, consultation, and education, and my $1050 investment landed me my largest client to date. Sure, I could have invested in a jazzy new web site, a new brochure or newsletter, but I’ll guarantee you, I would have spent more money and might not have had the opportunity to get face-to-face with a CEO.

Here are some networking tips you can put to use in your own business right now that will help win the business.



1. Show up – See and be seen in places that make a difference



Woody Allen once said the key to success is in showing up. How true. If you go back and look at your biggest wins in business, I can guarantee you’ll track them to being at the right place at the right time and following up. It’s great to belong to professional organizations that give your moral support; however, if your client’s aren’t hanging out at these meetings, you might be better served joining your client’s professional organization and becoming actively involved. You’ll make a positive and memorable impression and your target market will begin to know and trust you.



2. Take a risk and ask someone to lunch



It makes sense to break bread with folks who you could benefit – an editor from your client’s industry trade journal to a potential client. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know. If all else fails, do what I do. Offer to donate $1000 to the charity of their choice for 90-minutes with you over lunch. That’s a much more difficult offer to turn down. It also shows you probably have something wonderful to share with them that will benefit their business.



3. Dine in the right spot



I recently had lunch in a New York City restaurant with Geraldine Laybourne, the CEO of Oxygen Media. The restaurant she chose was like sitting in a TV station lobby and watching as nearly every person came in to take their seat was a celebrity. I met Barbara Walters; saw the head of AOL, a writer for the New Yorker, etc. It was like participating in a who’s who of media. When I return to NYC, you can guarantee, I’ll be dining in the same place. I’ve got a good feeling, my lunch date will be happy to join me there.



4. Make a specific request



It’s always wise to ask an existing client out to lunch as well. I continue to make contact with my clients well into the relationship. At times I’ve asked them a specific favor, such as, would you be willing to send a referral letter to my prospects as I look to grow my business? Usually, I offer my advice and council on how they can improve their business. I want to be perceived as their trusted advisor and friend.



5. Always be willing to return the favor



Whenever you ask a client for a favor, make it clear that you’re willing to do the same for them – in whatever way they deem appropriate. After asking a client of mine to send a letter out to my prospect base that sang my praises, I offered to return the favor and he took me up on it. About a month after the letter went out, his assistant called me and said “it’s pay back time” and asked me to attend a fundraising breakfast for a local politician for $1000 contribution. It served to be an outstanding place to network and it showed that I could be trusted with my commitment to him to return the favor.



6. Use technology to help you along



Stay connected with your customer and prospect base by having the right technology tools available. Whether it’s a BlackBerry, your cell phone or a Palm Pilot, you need to make connections while on the road or simply away from your office. Updating your web site and utilizing e-mail (not as a replacement for face-to-face contact though) can help you stay connected.



7. Relationships take time



Remember that relationships take time. However, having that face-to face and frequent contact with a customer or prospect can set you apart from your competitors. Send articles, books, announcements that may be of interest to them. Remember their birthdays, their kids names, send them thank you notes, celebrate unexpected holidays and keep them in mind at all times when servicing them. Over time, you’ll build a life long relationship by showing your value and commitment to them.



8. Establish yourself as an expert



Keep them informed of your expertise in your field and in their industry. Again, send articles, announcements of your speaking engagements, testimonials, new client announcements, etc. Everyone likes working with someone they perceive to be a professional. They’re more likely to give your name to others if they feel like you’ve got the expertise and they hear from you often.



9. Keep in constant contact



You can’t maintain a marriage or partnership without communication. You can’t maintain client relationships by keeping your distance either. Keep in touch by the ways mentioned above and keep it simple. Perhaps you send a note out in January, an article out in February. You try to set up a lunch date with a client once per month. Make your goals doable and beneficial. Keep it simple so it’s easy to execute. Use a variety of different mediums to reach your audience – the phone, snail mail, e-mail and personal contact. Variety in contact can be the spice of life.



10. Create a raving fan list



Sit down and write out a list of players in each of your client’s industry – whether you know them or not. What’s your plan for contacting each and every one of them, so they can join your list of raving fans? Don’t forget elder leaders within your client’s industry, editors of trade journals, prospects you’d like to have, and other vendors or service providers that you can align yourself with. Why not initiate contact with this group of people and begin to develop relationships that could be important to your success within that industry?



The key to never making a cold call is in creating a method in which you draw people to you – it’s having charisma and notoriety that causes the phone to ring. Your job is to get out there and develop the relationships with key players in your client’s industry in order to attract those inbound calls and clients.

Related Articles
  How to Say Your Price Without Choking
  Buying a Business FAQs
  Sales Prospecting With Blogging for B2B Sales People
  Market First, Sell Second to Increase Sales in 2011
  Lease Equipment

Article Tags: brochure, bruce nelson, business alliances, business loans, ceo, charity, economic independence, entrepreneur magazine, growing a business, memorable impression, moral support, networking tips, office depot, own business, proceeds, professional organization, professional organizations, right place at the right time, target market, woody allen



Related Forum Posts
Re: Why Some Websites Sell and Others Don’t? - There is myth that if you build websites people will come. It is never through, you need to do a lot of things to make your website to work. You have many models of attracting traffics to your site. PPC Article Marketing SEO Press Release Banner Ads Forum Posting Classified Advertising Media Buying Solo Ads and a lot of more. If you are not doing any of the above your websites will just be one of the millions of the unknown sites in cyber space
building a list - Good advice Martin... I've traveled down this path and learned that once you get through that brief learning curve, you'll find that it's well worth it. As you build your highly targeted list, you can trickle in your new offerings over time via 'broadcasts'. I use Aweber too, they have excellent support and a great rep. Buying a list? I'm not so sure about that... You'd really have to do some research to find a quality list service. Whether you buy a list or not, I still think setting up a auto-responder should be a priority, your list will GROW.
Ways To Improve Your Alexa Ranking 11-15 - 11. Create a webmaster tools section on your website. This is a magnet for webmasters who will often revisit your website to gain access to the tools. Aaron Wall’s webpage on SEOTools is a very good example. 12. Get Dugg or Stumbled. This usually brings massive numbers of visitors to your website and the sheer amount will have a positive impact on your Alexa Rank. Naturally, you’ll need to develop link worthy material. 13. Use PayperClick Campaigns. Buying advertisements on search engines such as Google or Exact Seek will help bring in Traffic. Doubly useful when your ad is highly relevant to webmasters. 14. Create an Alexa category on your blog and use it to include any articles or news about Alexa. This acts as an easily accessible resource for webmasters or casual search visitors while helping you rank in the search engines. 15. Optimize your popular posts. Got a popular post that consistently receives traffic from the search engines? Include a widget/graph at the bottom of the post, link to your Alexa post or use Alexa redirection on your internal URLs.
Getting links from the giants - Hi Kevin - it's simple - what do you have to offer them? What kind of compelling reason can you give them to link to you? According to my Google Webmaster Central Tools I have a total of 15,937 links to my site. 4,523 of them go to my homepage while the remaining 11,414 go to various pages on my site. My last sitemap indicated that I have 34,789 pages of content on my website so, excluding the homepage, I have about one link for every three pages of content. I think it’s important to also note that I don’t do any link buying and never tell people what anchor text to use when they link to me. I always suggest that they use whatever text they feel best describes the page they are linking to on my site (if everyone links to you with the same anchor text you can get penalized from Google). Having great content is one way to build links but usually you also need to take an active approach to marketing yourself. Can you build a section on your shoe site along the lines of "The Tennis Player's Ultimate Guide To Buying Shoes" where you talk about all the different considerations someone needs to make before buying shoes - and then at the end recommend Nike? In return Nike links to the site because it's a 3rd party endorsement of their products. Many big companies have News sections on their sites and always love showing off good news - you just need to find a way to give them something worth showing off!
How Do I Start Franchise? - How do I start a franchise? Before one can start a franchise it is important that you do your homework and research your market thoroughly so that you know what you are getting into. To start a franchise, it is vital that you: First, investigate all the franchise opportunities available to you by visiting franchise trade shows or by contacting a franchise agent. Also talk to family, friends or relatives who have set up a franchise, or who know some one who has set up a franchise. It is good to get as much information as possible from fellow franchisees, as not all franchises are good investments Second, talk to franchise owners that are in a franchise similar in to the one you would like to invest in. Ask them if they are pleased they are with their decision, and how well their business is doing. Is it meeting their expectations? Also ask questions about the franchiser and how responsive it is. It is important to determine the integrity of the franchiser you are interested in doing business with. Third, consult any and all advisers. Have an accountant review the audited financial statements the franchiser presents you with, and bring in a lawyer to help review all the legal documents before you sing them. Fourth, thoroughly read the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular, which is a disclosure document in which the franchiser must release certain information such as, any and all administrative, criminal or civil litigation currently pending or completed against the franchiser involving allegations of fraud or misrepresentation. It is a recommendation of the FTC that all franchisers supply a UFOC to prospective franchisees. Also make sure to verify and confirm the UFOC facts. Do a background check on the history and experience of the franchise and its employees. Fifth, compare other franchises. Look for franchises similar to the one you are interested in investing in, and see how well they are managed and financed. Sixth, know and be fully aware of all the terms and conditions of the purchasing contract you are about to sign. Seventh, research as much as you can. Buying a franchise is a complex process and should be approached with caution. The more information you know, the better it is for you. Remember, only you can determine if owning a particular franchise is right for you. When starting a franchise it is key that you evaluate yourself and see if a franchise is the right business investment for you. Investing in a franchise should not be taken lightly as it can be a risky business. It is important that you consider all the facts before you make a decision to invest in a franchise.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

12 Principles to Spark Innovation

BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

Work at home Opportunities for the Disabled

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.