Archive for September, 2007
new audio posted
event review: CAF Mixer
It was the big mixer between our two cities chambers AND they had really worked hard for this one. The past couple of years attendance had been dismal and discussions centered around whether the chambers were promoting it at all. This year’s was 100 times better than the past two years! Well attended, well orchestrated and well promoted all rolled into this year’s mixer - big growth from the past! This event will surely create buzz that the chambers do care about networking their members. My hope is that they’ll realize the greater importance of doing that CONSISTENTLY. If you want to “brand yourself” as the business advocate, then know that a big part of business is connecting with those who are your “suspects, prospects and clients” and events such as this give the businesses the much needed VISIBILITY and opportunity to create some connections and CREDIBILITY sampling.
What went right:
- The event was promoted to the membership. In year’s past, the promotion was minimal so the turn out was minimal. Kudos on the great turnout!
- Everyone had name tags! And, they did a great job in making sure they marked who was a chamber member in both cities.
- There was good food, beverages, a fan, lots of seating and great connections.
- There were great door prizes and lots of build up for this weekend’s airsho!
What went wrong:
- There are so many new staff members at both chambers that there wasn’t a strong “welcome to the event” greeting when you arrived nor did they know who was a member or who wasn’t. The first impression was a bit impersonal.
- Not everyone who entered was invited to put their name in the door prize drawing bowl.
- It was a great place to connect with “who you knew” already. There was nothing facilitating “new meetings”; “new connections” or “new introductions”. If you were new to the chamber, the event might be a little to “cliquish”.
- Parking was really limited so people were being parked in the tall, stickerbush filled, grass - just where ladies with high heels and hose LOVE to walk!
Overall, the event was a great success and a wonderful event! Not the best event for whipping out your business card but a fun, social gathering.
Brand Blunder: Of course, Kenny with the Odessa Chamber has to win the “Miss Manners” brand blunder act of the evening. Two chamber members are speaking to each other and connecting and he comes up, blatantly interrupts their conversation and asks one of the members why they didn’t rejoin the chamber. When the member replies that the membership is good to the end of the month (really because they don’t want to go into detail of how the chamber did not live up to some promises made at the beginning of the membership), he breaks out in “story” explaining why that’s “not true”. WOW! I would think, as a membership organization, and just good etiquette, he would not have done that to begin with or at least realized that this is not a path to venture in, in a “group setting” and said “would you please call me” or “can I call you tomorrow”.
So, the event gets a great heap of Buzz points and Kenny gets a great heaping of blundering! Remember, people don’t do business with organizations or companies - they do business with PEOPLE. And, people, quoting Maya Angelou, “may not remember what you said; they may not remember what you did; but they will ALWAYS remember how you made them FEEL.”
Good luck with that!
Buzz To Bucks Connection Alliance
Profitable Connections both personally & professionally through networking your brand.
Minority-based networking groups abound from face-to-face networks, alumni based organizations, faith based, industry based and even on-line. Each minority population (i.e. Hispanics, Asians, etc.), house a host of cultures. For example, Hispanics can include people whose nationality or lineage hail from Puerto Rico, Spain, Mexico, Central American, Cuba and Brazil, to name a few. You’ll find those who hail from the Philippines, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Guam and several other countries that consider themselves Asian within the Asian culture.
Jesus Arranza, president of the Federation of Philippine Industries, in a recent conversation, stated the importance of linking within your own country along with other associations that focus on the global economy. During his trip stateside, I visited with Mr. Arranza, and he shared how his association links closely with the Philippine government, industries, the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and even the World Trade Organization. “We’re more connected globally and that will only continue”, stated Arranza.
Read the rest of the article by going to The National NetWorker! (click here)
standing ovation!
It was my great honor to speak at the Hobbs Hispano Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet this weekend at the Black Gold Casino in Zia Park. It was their first formal banquet and a chance to celebrate the efforts and results of what a small group of committed and driven people can do. From a handful of people, this group shared their accomplishments and awards with over 200 people in attendance. I gave the keynote and received a standing ovation! To a speaker, that’s a great compliment and reward, to know that your message was not only well sent, it was received with the same passion and energy you sent it out with. Yet, the ULTIMATE compliment came from people in the audience who stopped to talk to me after the event and shared privately how my stories touched and moved their soul! Each one, individually shared, that they felt I was delivering a private message– just to them. And, they heard it loud and clear - it was something they really needed to hear.
Isn’t that the ultimate - when your message is sent and received? Many thanks to Sara Sanchez-Navarro, Alberto Caballero, Hector Baesa, Oscar Gonzalez, Joe Paloma, O.J. Jaquez, Gloria Munoz, Rose Scott, Andrea and Tony (with La Tienda).
How do you know when you’re message is received? Do you have methods to check in that your message was not only delivered - it was heard? Or, do you just “spit it out there” and hope it makes it? Is it the receiver’s job or the sender’s job to “connect those dots”? Is your radar well tuned?
How do you know when you’re message is received? And, what methods do you use to assess that?
Really, there’s only two things that make a significant impact in our lives and they both fall under the umbrella of COMMUNICATION. The two things are: Communication that we have with the outside world. And, the communication we have with the inside world (with ourselves).
Anxious to hear your insights -
People Are The Brand -
Maria Elena Duron AKA The Champion of Connections Coach
new audio posted
A new edition of the TWO MINUTE TIP has been posted. Click here and enjoy!
so much cooler on-line!
“I’m so much cooler on-line!” -country singer, Brad Paisley
Have you heard Brad’s newest hit?! I’m in Texas so of course I listen to a little country music and Brad Paisley’s newest hit talks about how he “grows a foot taller and drops some weight every time he logs in”.
It’s true - in the on-line world you may “never see” the person that you’re networking with, or linking with, or exchanging e-talk with, chatting with or in webinars with. So, you might be connecting with someone who isn’t really who they seem to be.
That’s why, just like in face to face networking, third party testimonials become even more important. Think of it! Someone who has a profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, or any other social networking site can create any kind of profile they want. Yet, look at their “recommendations” or their “referral rate” or their “BFF” (alright, I have to admit - even in grade school I was not one who was about the BFF) Look at those and then read the profiles of those people, too. Even on-line this old adage rings true “birds of a feather flock together”.
Now, look at your own profile. Who do you link with? Who has recommended you? Who has referred you? Who have you recommended? Who do you show some “link love”?
Remember, you are built by association - in either the analog or digital world. Make sure that you’ve got some good ones - ones that you would be proud to associate with - even face to face!
People Are The Brand -
Maria Elena Duron AKA The Champion of Connections Coach
“There’s a BMX biker with the same name as mine so someone has to scroll down all of his info before they can find me in Google. How do I get a higher ranking?”-Greg Morgan, Meteorologist, CBS
Hey, Greg! This is a great question and I commend you for wanting to take charge of where you who up on search engines.
First, you’re in the right space in “myspace” for entertainment focused networking. I know that you’re a weatherman AND a stand up comedian so that social networking site is a good one to be on. I suggest you use the “blog” feature of that site. I visited your space and noticed a couple of comments you posted yet you’re not fully using your blog. Do start using it if you’re serious about “upping” your Google ranking!
Next, think of become a part of LinkedIn - especially for your position as a meteorologist. It will professionally connect you with others and provide a place where you can pose professional questions and position yourself strongly as THE weather expert.
Then, start posting on other people’s blog. From LinkedIn and MySpace, you’ll find lots of fans and colleagues that have blogs that you can link to and make comments on. Show a little “link love” and it will post you higher.
Explore using Facebook — it’s more of the college crowd and recent college grads and will gather you a whole other network that you won’t connect with at the other two networking site.
Blog, Post & Link!
People Are The Brand -
Maria Elena Duron AKA The Champion of Connections Coach
list to last
Several clients of mine are in the real estate industry. There is a saying amongst Realtors which is you must “list to last”. For the real estate industry, it means that you must list houses, or operate as the seller’s agent, to make money. What’s nice is if you list a house then you have the chance to sell the seller a new home - so commission is made from listing and then from working with the seller who is now a “buyer”. The bread and butter earners in this industry are those who list the homes because of the likelihood of making more commission.
No matter what YOU do - you also must “list to last”. In this instance, what I’m referring to is having a good clean “list” of people you know. A good clean list consists of having their correct email address, mailing address, the correct spelling of their name (this is a biggie!), where they work, how many kids they have, what is of interest to them, who their spouse is, where they went to school and a host of another 23 different data points.
You see, once you get to a laser focus on what you provide, you can now communicate that with people. Yet, how can you communicate with them or make strategic decisions on the return of your social capital if you don’t even know how to connect with them?
Your social capital “inventory” helps you determine who to target, where to find them, how to meet them & how to follow up (the fortune is truly in the follow-up!)
It takes determining, who you want to move from visibility to credibility to profitability. Remember, visibility and credibility are great…however, they are the EXPENSE side of your business. Unless you drive the relationship to PROFITABILITY, you have wasted your time at the networking event, function, activity. Profitability is truly where you see your ROI (return on investment).
There will be people that become great referral sources; there are customers that can be advocates; there are clients you can enlist as raving fans….all of this is a part of “Networks that Impact Your Net-Worth.”
Each person has influence, on average, over 250 other people who know, like & trust them. Imagine if you could tap into that network, compel them to speak positively on your behalf & move, touch and inspire them to action to connect you with the people they know who need your service.
What a wonderful vision….and that is networking that impacts your net-worth?
My question to you now is…
what did you invest in your networks last week? What relationships are your driving…and to where? How many people are you profitable with? How many people do you have a 212 degree relationship that “steams and fuels your referral based marketing engine?”
People Are The Brand -
Maria Elena Duron AKA The Champion of Connections Coach
“The goal of any business is to make a profit” -Robert-ism
I teach seminars and some lunch and learns for our local college. It’s a great win/win/win opportunity for me, the college and the participants. I get a chance to expose what I do and my style; the college gets a great quality workshop for much, much less than they would pay; and the participants get access to this great quality at an affordable price to workshops they might never have any local access to.
Once a year we get together as instructors of the workshops and lunch and learns and brainstorm about classes, feedback and insights. Another “business” coach was participating in these meeting and he floored me when he said “he didn’t want to get paid for doing the classes - he wasn’t in this business to make money.”
OMG! What is a “business” coach coaching on if he himself doesn’t believe that a business exists to make money? I understand there are times when you volunteer and give your service and I do more than my fair share of giving and great corporate citizenship. Yet, I have to wonder about this statement from a business coach.
A business is about profits so I’ll leave you with this taken word for word from “The Business Coach” book. “A business is a commercial profitable enterprise that works without you.”
People Are The Brand -
Maria Elena Duron AKA The Champion of Connections Coach
How do you stack up against your competitors? Who are your competitors? What truly do you compete on specifically with a competitor?
What do you provide your clients….in BENEFIT LANGUAGE. So, you’ve been in banking for 18 years….what does that mean to me?
Know that every human being is tuned into the same radio station….WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). So, how do you address a client’s need? How do you benefit them?
If you’ve been in banking 18 years…you may say, I know the ins and outs of the banking sytem and can navigate those for you like an expert getting YOU exactly what YOU want.
What are your products and services? What’s the state of your industry? How do you stay at the “cutting edge” of your profession.
Being able to communicate all this is a part of networking.
Have you ever come across the “networking mongrel”? It’s the person who you come across at an event who hangs onto you and tells you more, and more, and even more about what they do; what they have; what they provide (it’s starting to sound like it’s all about them). You want to be all about your customer and not come across as a person that speaks “all about me.”
However, you have to know what you do and provide with such confidence and conviction that is truly inspires others. Passion is power and you can only be passionate about what you truly believe.
Remember, the first person you ever have to sell….is you.
People Are The Brand -
Maria Elena Duron AKA The Champion of Connections Coach
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