Author Archives Nadine Mullings

April
09 2013

5 Reasons Why Your Networking Should Be Organic

Image Source:  Boston North Business Association

I recently hosted a webinar for Independent Ladies Club entitled, “Master the Art of Successful Networking”, the speaker Erika Anderson talked about how networking should be organic and not forced, and we should think of networking as building friendships.  This made me think about the top 5 ways to network organically:

1.  Treat networking like dating–  When you meet someone at a networking event you shouldn’t think of them as someone who should be ready to purchase your product or service today, tomorrow, or even next week for that matter, but someone who you would like to get to know more about and to find out if there is a possible business connection.  Just like dating, successful networking takes time and effort to get to know someone on a deeper level.

2.  Listen more than you talk–  Communication is key with any type of relationship and is especially important when learning about someone at a networking event.  Some people have a habit of talking about how great their business is and what a great product they have, and they never take the time to truly listen and learn from the other person.  When you truly listen and understand, you get to know what the needs of an individual may be and you can think about how you can help him or her.

3. Make a connection on a personal level–  No matter how different we all are, there are usually key things that we can connect on, like hobbies, places we’ve lived, places we’ve traveled to, schools, sports, music, etc.  There is always something you can find in common with someone.  Try to connect on that personal level.

4.  Always think of someone in your network that would be a good referral or referral source for the other person–  When you listen carefully, you understand the needs or target market of the other person and  you can think about who you know that would be good to introduce them to or connect them with.  This is a great way to strengthen your connection with someone by showing you’re making an effort to help them out by introducing them to other people in your network.

5.  Strengthen the connection by connecting on social media-  more and more people find it acceptable to connect online for networking purposes.  If you meet someone at a networking event follow-up with them and deepen your connection by connecting online.  I recommend connecting on professional social networking sites like LinkedIn instead of more personal social networking sites like Facebook.  It’s a great way to keep the connection going long after the networking event has ended.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 5 Reasons Why Your Networking Should Be Organic  |  in Business, Business Development, Networking
March
08 2013

The Four Seasons in Business: What Season is Your Business In?

As most of us know there tends to be times in our business when we are super busy, and times in our business when we are not as busy.  I feel business goes in seasons.  Much like the quarterly weather seasons we experience, the business seasons are necessary for us to go through and appreciate.
  • Season 1 (Winter)-  This is the time when business is kind of “cold”.  We are not getting a lot of business, but we have enough business to keep us a float. We can use this time to make plans and work on building up our network.  Business plans are at the heart of our business and when things are slow we should review our plans, update our results, and plan on ways to improve.  Our networks also tend to be the source of our new business, so building our networks in the “cold” season will help us to get more business for our other seasons.
  • Season 2 (Spring)–  This is when we start to see the fruits of our labor.  We start to get phone calls from people who are interested in our business.  More people are interested in joining our team or partnering with us.  During this season we can say “Business is good”  because we are seeing results.  The goal in this season is to provide excellent customer service and exceed your customer’s expectation.  When we exceed our customer’s expectations and keep our customers happy, it will lead to referral business, which is one of the main ways to help grow your business.
  • Season 3 (Summer)–  This is the time when things are more relaxed and comfortable for your business.  You are getting a steady stream of business, but you are not overwhelmed.  This season is the ideal time to think about creating new products and services that you can offer your clients to enhance your business.  People always like new things, so it is important to consistently offer new products and services in your business.  This season is a great time to offer new products and services because you are able to manage your work load.
  • Season 4 (Autumn)-   During this season your business may experience a slight decrease as you are getting close to the “cold” season.  Don’t be alarmed, now is a great time to amp up the advertising and promotion of your business.  More advertising and promotion of your business during this season will help increase your sales volume due to the natural decline in sales volume you  may be in experiencing.  This season is also a great time to be sure to plant your seeds (follow-up phone calls, presentations, networking, etc.) so you can have a fruitful Spring!

Each season my vary in length and time, but most businesses experience all 4 seasons at some point in the life of their business.  The key is to stay focused and realize nothing lasts forever.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on The Four Seasons in Business: What Season is Your Business In?  |  in Business, Business Development, Business Planning
March
06 2013

Top 5 Mistakes People Make With Business Follow-up

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I recently hosted a tele-seminar for Independent Ladies Club called 12 Simple Follow-up Steps To Get More Business.  The speaker for the tele-seminar, Nancy Matthews, pointed out that  people are doing follow-up all wrong.  We have all heard the saying the Fortune is in the Follow-up, but how do we really capture the “fortune” or the “business” by following up? 

Here are 5 Mistakes most people make when following up to get business:

  1. Not concentrating on building a relationship.  I always mention that common saying that people do business with people they know, like and trust, because it is very true.  When you meet someone at a networking event your goal should not be to “sell” them your product or service, but to learn about them and build a relationship so they can also learn about you and what you do.  Once you have establish this relationship and build on this relationship, you are planting the seed that if the person is ever in need of your product or service, or knows someone in need of your product or service, you will be the first person that they think about because they “know” you.
  2. Not listening to people. It seems like a simple task, but most people don’t truly listen and show a genuine interest in what other people do.  When you listen you get to know a lot about a person and you can learn how your product or service can possibly be a solution for them.  The key however is listening and subtly telling them how your product or service can help them allowing you to plant a seed of how your product or service can be a solution without hammer your product or service benefits and features over their head.
  3. Selling and Not Sharing.  Every product or service is offering a solution to some type of problem, issue or concern.  Your goal as a business person should be to find out the needs of individuals and share how your product or service can help them.  People don’t want to be sold to, but they like when someone shares a solution to a problem they may have. 
  4. Not being consistent.  Most of the time you may meet someone at a networking event, you may even have an one-on-one with the individual to learn more about each others businesses, but then what?  Are you consistently following up with them to see how business is going and to continue building the business relationship?  Most business is actually made after the 5th to 12th contact, so just talking once or twice or meeting once or twice, really is not sufficient for your follow-up efforts in order to truly get the business.
  5. Not Connecting with People Both Online and Offline.  If you meet someone at a networking event, keep the conversation going by connecting with them online.  When you connect with people on some of the popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you can learn a lot more about the person and if they are connected to you, they will learn a lot more about you, helping you to build that “know” element that goes with the saying, “people do business with people they know, like and trust”.  It also works in reverse.  If you meet someone on a business networking site, invite them to connect offline, people like to meet people in person to know that they are real and to get a better feeling about a person, so reach out to some of your online connections, and offer to meet offline.

Want to learn how to follow-up effectively so you can get more business?  Check out the 12-Step Follow-up Program by Nancy Matthews and get $100 off the program cost!

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  3 Comments  |  in Uncategorized
February
07 2013

5 Ways to Propel Your Email Marketing

Do you stay connected to your customers and prospects on a regular basis?  Staying connected maintains your relationship and keeps your business top of mind.  A great way to do this is through Email Marketing.  Email marketing allows you to reach them in their email in-boxes on a regular basis.

Check out these tips below to propel your Email Marketing:

  • Build your Email List
    You can start by collecting email addresses from your customers, clients, and prospects.  You can use both online and offline techniques as an email address capture method. Online techniques include having an email sign-up form on your website and an email sign-up link on your outgoing email messages.  Offline techniques can include having a Quick Response (QR) Code on your brochures or business cards that links to your email sign-up form and collecting email addresses on your order forms, or when people request information about your business, be sure to get their email address.
  • Select an Email Service Provider (ESP)   
    An ESP will allow you to create professional emails that will be delivered  into your customers and prospects’ in-boxes and can be branded to the look and feel of your business .  Some popular ESPs are:

    Each one has its pros ands cons.  Some are FREE and others have FREE trial periods.  Do your research and select an EImageSP that works for you and your budget.  Check out my recent post, How to Pick an Email Marketing Service Provider to learn more.

  • Create a professional email with good content
    As the saying goes, Content is King!  What you say in your email is what is most important, but before people can read what you have to say, they have to open your email which is the first hurdle.  Making a good subject line so people will want to open your e-mail will get you over that first hurdle.  Keeping your content condensed, which should be 80% educational or informative, and only 20% promoting your product or service helps to keep people engaged with your email.
  • Analyze the results
    After you’ve grown your list and sent out some awesome emails with some great content, it is also important to check the numbers.  How many people actually opened your email, how many people actually clicked on the items in your email, etc.  Keeping track of these results are important so you know how you are doing and how to improve.
  • Consistently reach out to your customers, clients and prospects through email marketing.  A great way to stay top of mind is to send out a monthly e-zine or e-newsletter.

In summary, whether you are currently using email marketing for your business or you’re thinking about using it, the keys are to stay consistent and to provide useful content.

Download a FREE Checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from your Email Marketing!

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  1 Comment  |  in Email Marketing, Email Results, ESP, Marketing
January
06 2013

Is Your Business Social Enough?

Did you know some of the most powerful places to meet new prospects is on social media?  We’ve all heard the saying, people do business with people they know, like, and trust.  Well, social media actually gives you a platform for others to get to know you/your business, like you, and trust you, so let’s break it down on how social media activity allows people to know, like, and trust you.

KNOW

I recently ran into a Facebook friend at a coffee shop and I told her I haven’t seen you in years, but I feel like I know what’s going on with you all the time because of your Facebook posts.  Yes, some people over share, but for a small business the fact that people can get to know what your business is all about based on your posts on your Facebook page is priceless.  That means you are making deposits into the “Know’ account for all of your customers and prospects to get to know your business.

LIKE

One of the great things about social media is the ability for people to “like” and “share” the information that you post.  What that means to you as a business is that you can engage your customers and prospects with interesting content that is relevant to your business.  If people like your content, they even share the information with their network by “liking”, “sharing”, “retweeting”, “pinning”, etc. , so the key here is to provide content that your customers and prospects will “like” so that they can get to like your business and share your information with their network.

TRUST

Trust is a huge deal when it comes to business.  People want to do business with people who they trust.  How do you gain the trust of your customers and prospects?  By being consistent, by providing good information, by showing you care, by providing good service by doing these things, you are building your “trust’ account.

Some of the most popular social media platforms to build your business include:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

However, picking the right social media platform and having a plan on how to engage your audience so that they will know, like, and trust you will be key to your success on social media.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on Is Your Business Social Enough?  |  in Social Media