People always use the cliche phrase “No one ever said it would be easy”. I, for the most part, completely disagree with that as most things come easy to me but there is one thing it is holding true for and that Client Acquisition and Networking. I have been talking to people and reading books trying to figure out the “best way to do it” but the only thing I have figured out is that there is no best way. Sure there are strategies and great tips but you have to practice them and you have to make sure they work for you. The only way to actually do that is to go out and use them on real people.

Trial and error my friend

It’s the most nerve racking part of the whole process. You feel you have read and absorbed most of the information you have been seeking, it’s starting to repeat itself. So you figure, OK time to go to work and make this happen, you psych yourself up and say “OK I am ready” you get to your networking event or client meeting and you start talking. You can literally hear yourself breaking down and spewing out verbal diarrhea and it’s dripping down your face.

Terrible right? Well don’t feel bad because it happens to everyone. You feel like an idiot, yes, but it is not the be all end all. Just look at it as a learning experience you can now say that you have done it and move on to trying it again. The key here is repetition, you are going to hear NO alot and at first your are going to mess up a lot it takes time to craft your story and your pitch and your persona and so on. Eventually it will all come together.

A Numbers Game

Absolutely. The more people you go through the more clients you are going to get. There are some who argue that yes it is a numbers game but you can increase the number of sales you make. And I say to them how… It takes courage to just get on the phone unsolicited and call up a company and try to get them to switch to your services, it’s not for everyone but you should try it. The point is you have to go after a form of client acquisition that is for you and plays to your strengths.

Keep Your Head Up.

Think about it this way. Who else do you know that is trying to craft and carve a life for themselves? Probably not too many people. You are already ten steps a head of them because they have settled into a job. They are most likely not willing to step outside of their comfort zone and try to give it a go on their own. Simply by talking to people and making business calls you are improving yourself, a little social skydiving if you will.

Keep at it

The main thing is to keep at it. Sure it sucks being told no, or being hung up on, or not even getting a chance to talk to anyone, but that is just the nature of the game. By doing this over and over again you will get better at it and you will eventually get your first yes. Think of how great that will feel? I will leave you with this little tidbit that always inspires me. Colonel Sanders (yes the chicken guy) received 1,000 consecutive no’s before he made his first sale. 1000 in a row! How many of you would have even gone to 1000? What would have happened if he didn’t get the sale on the 1000th? He would have gone on until he got a yes. How awesome is that? It keeps me moving when I am feeling frustrated.

Please share any stories you have with us and maybe we can share tips and get a cool discussion going.

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Filed under: Business Functions, Networking by Dean Karasinski
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I really hope you’ve been working on your online persona lately, because it’s time to get networking! People want to know what you’re up to, and creating a well-rounded online profile is a big part of that. So if you thought you could just skate by on a few lines of text, you’d better reevaluate.

Ok, so we’ve talked about setting up a Facebook profile, right? You want to make sure you have one set up for you, the promoter, so you can create a Page about your business and/or products, but you also want to let your fans know a little something about you. It’s a lot easier to attract potential fans to your business if they can put a face with a name. The more accessible you are, the more likely you are to gain friends and fans with ease. Otherwise, you’re just that creepy stalker guy on Facebook that no one wants anything to do with. So get out there and let people know what you’re doing, what products your promoting, what sales you’re running, etc. Status updates are crazy important when it comes to Facebook because they run on your News Feed, which is the first thing people see when they sign into Facebook. A good Status Update can draw people to your Page, and the more people who see your Page, the more fans you can potentially get.

Facebook is pretty cool when it comes to making Pages because they operate pretty much like a standard profile page. You get a Wall that you and your fans can post on, Info to let your fans know about what you’re advertising, Photos, Discussions, and Links. As a Page admin, you can even add a Fan Box to your site so you can let your current loyal followers know about your Facebook Page. Facebook lets you suggest your Page to your friends so that they can become fans, which (as we’ve discussed) helps expand your advertising reach. If that approach is a little too laid back for you, Facebook also offers personalized paid ads that you can use to attract fans. Another admin perk is that you get access to a tracker like Google Analytics, called Insights, that allows you to see who is interacting with your Page. Fan interaction is broken down into many levels, including Sex, Country, Language, Post Quality, Reviews, etc.

In my opinion, the best part about setting up a Facebook Page for your business is that you can import an external blog to your page. Basically, you import your RSS feed through Facebook, so that every time you write a new post, it shows up as a Facebook Note. These Notes show up in the Facebook News Feed, which is visible to all your friends. Facebook just added a new feature that allows you to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Why is this relevant? You know how your Facebook Page automatically pulls your new posts from your blog? Well that wealth of information is now funneled through to Twitter. Just think of it as one less thing you have to worry about.

What’s my favorite thing about social marketing on Facebook? It’s FREE!

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Filed under: Networking, Social Marketing, Social Media by Caren Romanyschyn
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Most people think that Social Media has nothing to do with Social Marketing. I mean, why would you advertise your products or services on sites like MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter? Isn’t that just a waste of time? The answer is a resounding “NO!”

Sure, back in the day when Social Media was just beginning, there wasn’t much to it. MySpace was the reigning king and it was largely a popularity contest to see who could get the most friends. MySpace is still around and a lot of people still use it to advertise, just like a lot of people have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon (mostly a barrage of celebrities). But by and large, the users are congregating elsewhere: Facebook. Back in 2004, Facebook was originally only open to a select number of college students, those of which needed to have a valid college email address to access the site. Facebook started catching on though, and in 2005 it was open to high school students. By 2006, anybody over the age of 13 with a valid email address could join. Facebook started becoming less and less about a Who’s Who for students and more like an avenue for users to share anything and everything. Did you hear about that new band that played at the bar last night? Check out their Facebook page!  Companies can create fan pages and applications for their products and services, which have the ability to be viewed by Facebook’s 250 million users. With more than 8 million users becoming fans of pages daily, you’d be crazy not to jump on that gravy train!

Facebook isn’t just for the kids anymore. The number of adults on Facebook is steadily increasing: the fastest growing demographic is users 35 years of age and up. And you thought that this was just some silly little adolescent phase. Sure, young adults ages 18-25 still make up 43% of Facebook’s daily users, but that percentage is rapidly shifting. Because Facebook’s prime user ages span from 18-65, it is a prime candidate for Social Marketing. Where else are you going to find such a dynamic selection of potential consumers?

Maybe you think catering to the Facebook market sounds like a lot of work for very little ROI. Sure, you could go the direct route and throw some ads up on there, but that’s not how you’re going to reach your viewers. The interactive aspect of Facebook is without a doubt the basis of its appeal. You can figure out exactly what all your friends are doing at this exact moment with Status Updates, you can see what site they recently became a fan of, and you can see the pictures from their weekend out. All of this is clearly visible on the front page of the News Feed, which allows users to not only see what their friends have been up to, but let’s them explore new hobbies and interests as well. And with the rise of smartphones like the iPhone and Blackberry, people don’t have to wait until they get home to catch up. The truth is, people are tuning in to Facebook regardless of whether or not you’re advertising on there. And if you can get your company circulating around Facebook to even just a few viewers, that number can quickly multiply. Even if only one person becomes a fan of your page, your page will show up on that person’s News Feed. And then all of that person’s friends are easily exposed to your page, making it easier than ever for them to stumble across your products. Start using your Status Update to let users know about new products and specials, and your reach becomes even wider. Put simply: more viewers facilitates more traffic which can result in an increase in leads/sales.

So you tell me, who wouldn’t want to be on Facebook?

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Filed under: Networking, Social Marketing, Social Media by Caren Romanyschyn
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Having only lived in Los Angeles for about 7 months now I am trying to get out into the networking community. I was given a sweet little tip by Stewart Wolfe over at RMS Direct about the LA Mixer. I didn’t know what to expect so this is an account of my experience while I was there.

First, the venue. It took place at the Shrine Auditorium and I didn’t really get to see what it looked like until I was leaving, a very beautiful building

Next I went inside, I knew that there would be a lot of presenters but I was literally overwhelmed by two floors of this place just packed tight with business displays.

As I started making my way through I met some pretty cool companies, let’s take a look at some of our favorites.

First we have Cheeky Ads and in this picture we have Kristen and Liseth. The basic premise of Cheeky Ads is to show some skin with your ad on it! How can you ignore ads like these?

Another really cool company was Eticket Farm, basically what they do is to provide printable tickets for your events whether they are large or small to help you bypass all of those nasty taxes and fees from certain larger companies. They also had this sweet Michael Jordan jersey to win, I don’t think I won it.

Next we had K1 Speed, they are an awesome little kart racing company that gives you a true driving experience. Here we have Denise Tran talking to a prospective client.

Having lived in North Carolina there was absolutely no way I could pass up this guy, Berkeley, owner of Berkley’s Backyard BBQ, his sauce was good, as was the BBQ, who would have thought good BBQ would make it to the west coast?

Here we have a very tasty Acai Berry energy drink called efusjon it was very good and I hope they make it, as it seemed much healthier than most other energy drinks.

Overall this was a great first outing for me, really cool and a great chance to get to know a lot of the “local” LA Businesses, I want to get a booth next year so we can have the position of power and collect a lot of cards from all of the people going through the floor, what should be bring as a giveaway prize though? Any suggestions?

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Filed under: Networking by Dean Karasinski
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