Side view of a young boy using laptop isolated on white backgrouAssuming you’ve already defined your target market (the kind of customers/clients you want to do business with), then your first step on LinkedIn is to get yourself noticed by that target market. That means making your profile sticky and engaging.

Your next step is to build up your connections so you can communicate and be seen by that target audience. This involves joining groups, sending requests to connect and making yourself found so people want to connect with you. It’s no good playing a great game to an empty stadium! [click to continue…]

Your ideal referral

by Andy Lopata on May 10, 2013 · 0 comments

Networking GroupIn a previous blog, I talked about how to help people understand what you do in order to help you more effectively; making it easy for them to do so rather than antagonising them. 

Once your network understand what you want them to say about you, you then need to focus on who you want them to share your message with. If, for example, you are looking for contacts in the public sector, there is little advantage to be gained if your message is being shared with small start-up companies.  [click to continue…]

Digital Supply Chain

by Penny Power on May 7, 2013 · 0 comments

Side view of a young boy using laptop isolated on white backgrouRecently I made a pretty ground breaking decision which was a moment of realisation for me. I decided that I couldn’t do business with suppliers or colleagues, collaborate or belong to Discussion Groups unless the people I was connecting with we’re digitally savvy and could respond to email, Calendar Invitations and open documents fast. Of course, I have to accept that clients are not digitally savvy at all times, that is my marketplace.

My life now leads me into many exciting projects to help the digital economy, to grow the skills within the digital supply chain between companies and people. My love is Community building and helping people to become great Digital Citizens and sometime Great Digital LeadORS. I do this through the The Digital Business Campaign www.digitalbusinessbritain.com wotking with Digital Youth Academy, Frontier and leadORS. [click to continue…]

How to spot your next potential customer on LinkedIn?

by Linda Parkinson-Hardman on May 2, 2013 · 0 comments

excellenceMost of us, at some point in time, will have been part of a conversation where someone has said ‘I really need some help with x,y or z?’ Perhaps they’ve been explicit and told you that they need to find a bouncy castle by next Sunday for their daughter’s birthday party. The list of things we can be asked to help find by our friends, family and colleagues can be quite overwhelming sometimes and I know that occasionally I feel a bit like a telephone directory, doling out the contact details of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. [click to continue…]

Look after your advocates

April 29, 2013

I always say that one good advocate is worth ten clients. When networking I am normally looking for potential advocates rather than clients – people who can recommend me to their clients when a sales related problem arises. What gets exciting about having a network of advocates is that provided you look after your direct advocates then your reputation will start to grow through their networks. I am regularly amazed at how badly some people treat their advocates. I had one company who I had been advocating and had referred to them almost £50,000 of business over a couple of [...]

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Do I really want to connect with you?

April 25, 2013

I was chatting with a business owner the other day about online networking.  He said he was getting massively frustrated with Linked In – he understood that it was important that he had a presence on the network – but just found himself inundated with connection requests, and plenty of them were from people he didn’t know. I asked him what he did with all these requests – he replied that he simply clicked ‘ignore’. 

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The Starting Point for a Successful Networking Strategy?

April 22, 2013

What exactly is a networking strategy and why do you need one? Why can’t you just show up to networking events and win bucket-loads of business? A business networking strategy is essentially a marketing plan for your networking efforts. Like any good marketing plan it describes who you want to meet, how you’re going to meet them, how you’re going to help them and what you’re going to say/do when you get in front of them.

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The power of introducers

April 16, 2013

Just as you need to be very clear on who your ideal referrals are when speaking to your Champions, so it is important for you to think about how you can best help the people you want to refer. Whereas a referral to a prospective client may lead to just one transaction taking place, one to an introducer could lead to a number of transactions over a period of time, and to long-term partnerships. It may, therefore, be far more powerful for you to refer potential introducers to your network, rather than just clients.

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