Feb 19, 2009
The Connect Effects is a straightforward book by Michael Dulworth about how to improve your networking skills, He bring the Networking Quotient (NQ) into the picture and defines it by four elements
Quantity: Size matters – you never know when an important connection will lead to a positive outcome.
Relationships: Networking is not a one way street – you have to give back to the realationship in some meaningful way and there has to be a real exchange og value.
Diversity in your network: learn new things, discover new opportunities, …
Quality of the connection: is the other person a strong networker, knowledge, a nice, … quantity is important but quality
If you want to have success you need a good IQ, EQ and NQ (is that a good way to define success?).
The four elements is a quit good way of measuring were you need to improve to get a better NQ. Currently I got a pretty big quantity of connections with a medium good diversity (could be better). My main focus now is to build quality relationsships with people in my network – thats the hard and time consuming part of the four elements but luckily is also the fun part.
The book sells for £10.55 at www.amazon.co.uk – thats a pretty good bargain for a book that gets you in the right direction if you are serious about networking.
Nov 15, 2008
In the book ‘The contrarian effect’ Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall writes about why It Pays (Big) to Take Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite.
The typical old sales tactics we’re all familiar with no longer work. Cold calling gets you nowhere, door-to-door selling is a nonstarter, and today’s consumers are too savvy for most traditional scripts and closing techniques. With those tactics, it takes more time and effort to reach fewer and fewer clients. If you’re still doing it the old-fashioned way, you’re probably barely keeping your career afloat.
High technology and instant communication have put customers firmly in control of the sales process. They don’t answer calls from unknown numbers; they demand honesty and transparency in the sales process; they are well informed about your product before they deal with you; and they have no patience for pressure tactics like closing questions. No wonder traditional sales methods no longer work.
The book ends with a contrarian primer with 9 ‘rules’ here are 4 of them:
- Build relationships and make connections.
Each potential customer is a human just like you. He is not a ‘prospect’, a ‘commodity, a ‘potential sale’, etc. Seek to understand their needs and make a sincere effort to connect with the person.
- Respect your customers and honor their wishes.
- Make relevant and timely offers.
When you listen to your target audience and understand their needs – you know what they want to buy and know what you sell – make the ends meet.
- Practice radical transparency.
Be honest!
Book idea! It could be fun to mix the contrarian approach with the ‘old school’ sales books like ‘Advanced Selling Strategies’ (Brian Tracy):
- Wear dark cloth (dark blue/black) vs. funky green t-shirt with the slogan ‘Anti Mistadobalina Mr. Bob Dobalina’
- No facial hair (hints that you want to hide something) vs. grow a beard like Santa Clause everyone need to believe in him with the bad stock market.
- …
Oct 10, 2008
Although I am still a young man I have seen companies collapse, been unemployed, been fired, been cheated etc. but I am still a ‘naive’ person that believes that people try to do their best.
It is easy to stand by your core values when the sun is shining and money stacks up on the bank account but when a financial crisis peaks it seems like peoples core values crack and some evil monster takes control and spits out actions that are misaligned to their core values.
About 11 years ago a fellow student at Aalborg University and former platoon commander in the Danish army told me that the big-bodybuilder-types soldiers were brave when the war was nowhere near them but when danger closed in on them other soldiers took the lead. This is in my opinion true to companies but the problem is when managers get crazy core values and tries to save their own ass and thereby taking the employees as hostages (they did not sign up for a manager with crazy core values).
Lars Kolind is pretty sure that a lot of the good leaders have been scout leaders. I think in some degree that he got a good point – a scout leader have learned that being a leader is about helping other people and getting people to work together as a team – the core values are not money but doing good stuff, being kind to others and to have a good time.
Maybe hard times splits the managers from the real leaders?
But why keep your core values and believes when the guy with the crazy core values wins? When people goes for short term gains and treats other people bad they are likely to lose on the long term!
Why? My take…
- I believe that is important to keep being yourself if you want people to trust you now and in the future.
- I probably got 30-35 years of work ahead and I will most certainly meet the people I trashed again in the near future and that may not be that fun
- I am an INFJ Meyer-briggs-type which makes core values very important for me. I get physical ill and my soul dies (the big questions arises, who am I, how could I do that, etc.) when I do not follow my core values. Just to clarify: an INFJ type can still be an asshole
Can/Do you keep your core values when the shit hits the fan?
Sep 28, 2008
The last 6 months I have been using different CRM systems on a daily basis and I must admit that I have a hard time seeing the benefit of using such a system if you are not a old school sales guy or want a complicated address book.
My believes in the world of sales:
- I believe that networking is the key.
- I do not think it is about selling but having the right product that people want to buy.
- I think it is about building a great/good quality company brand.
- I do not believe in bad old school sales tactics like cold calling etc.
- Surprise (in a good way) the buyer when reality kicks in.
- No bullshit.
Maybe the 6 bullet points can be summarized as TRUST!
Although the term Social Network Relationship Mangement (SNRM) do not have a clear definition it is definitely what I want
- I want to use LinkedIn, Plaxo, ecademy, facebook, twitter, etc to follow what is happening in my network.
- Having a large network I want to prioritize whom I want to follow, ie. I want to follow friends, current and old colleagues more closely than a guy I shared an e-mail with back in 2002.
- I don’t want to spend time updating people and company address records.
Taking the ‘everything has already been invented’ approach I did a quick google search and found almost nothing except for dex by Mercury Rising but I am not sure that the product fulfills my “ Social” requirement – being social by using the social LinkedIn, Plaxo, facebook, twitter, … I signed up for trial access of their software – now I only have to wait.
Should I start building a prototype? or can someone direct me to Social Network Relationship Management software?
