Business Development Blog

A good friend and colleague of mine, Michael Goodman, posted this question in LinkedIn Answers this week:

"Wtih all the social media available, including linked in, Blogs, twitter, plaxo, second life, et al, what is the best way to utilize all this stuff, stay ahead of the techno-bleeding edge, and really, just find another customer to tell my story to?

I can't keep up with all the social media, web 2.0 marketing movement. Really, all I want to do is find the next customer. I am hoping someone has figured out the magical answer to taking advantage of technology and simply find new people interested in what I have to offer. Anyone?"

Now what you need to understand is that Michael is a brilliant man.  In fact he's a fantastic resource for the Sales Community as founder of the International Sales Pros Association.

His question, I posit, goes to a fundamental misunderstanding of Social Media, Social Networking and its relationship to sales.

Remember, these tools are there to help you tell your story when you are NOT able to be in front of a prospect.  They help your potential prospects have somewhere to go to find out more about you than you will ever be able to disclose to them.  Social media tools are a way to "tell your story" not only to the prospects you do know, but the ones you'd never be able to get to in a million years of calling on people.

LinkedIn is especially valuable.  Because not only are you putting yourself out there and giving people a chance to check you out, but you have advanced search tools to do some serious targeted prospecting - AND finding a way into said prospect via referral or introduction.

Most sales people who use LinkedIn do not have any true understanding of this.  Precisely because they are focused on the next transaction.  I spoke about this in a different post.

Network Building, positioning, marketing, and such activities are not Sales.  But done well, they position us in front of our perfect client so our likelihood of having a sales conversation goes up dramatically.  And, again, when done well, it removes a lot of the barriers that sales people experience when they cold call.

Network development is a medium to long term strategy.  Prospecting for sales is something that MUST be done to meet quotas.  I don't argue that either is more or less important.

The important thing here is to have a keen understanding about what you are trying to accomplish with social media, and then go to work building that - via blog, twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

As a sales person, you will always need to tell your story to another potential client.  The point with social media is can they relate to you and interact with you both before and after the sale in a way that is meaningful to them.

That's the formula for a long-term clientele that grows virally!

Raymond Chip Lambert
Network2Networth

Deep Business Development

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Technorati Tags: Network 2 Networth,Linkedin,Michael Goodman,Social Media,Social Networking,Sales,Prospecting,Twitter,Facebook,Business Development,International Sales Pros Association

I am an avid reader of the My LinkedIn Power Forum on Yahoo! Groups and from time to time I interact with a post there.

One of the moderators and founders of the group, Vincent Wright posted this on the board this morning:

Many of us yearn for abundance, pray for abundance, align ourselves for abundance but, forget to prepare ourselves for abundance.

Now, some may think that aligning oneself with abundance is the same thing as preparing oneself for abundance. However, that's not necessarily the case any more than aligning your car with a
superhighway without making sure that it's prepared for the increased speeds of a superhighway.

The reason I ask this question is because I caught myself being
inundated with a multitude of good looking offers and while looking around my work space, I realized that I was not quite prepared to properly process the abundance of incoming offers.

(Of course, I can and will remedy this! :-))

So, are you prepared for the abundance you've been seeking?
--
Thanks,
Vincent Wright
www.VincentWright.com
www.TeachUsAbout.com
www.MyLinkedinPowerForum.com
www.MyLinkedinPowerForum.org
www.MyLinkedinPowerForum.net

Here was my response:

Vicent,

This is a great observation.  One which I share with my students in the Business Development Intensive.

In terms of Network Development and Resource Development, our current networks and resources are arranged and "trained" to deliver us exactly what we have.

To manage a breakthrough into abundance - meaning actually being able to hold it - on must consciously arrange our networks and resources to hold abundance.

Think about this - the wealthiest people I know work less than I do, physically "do" less than I do, and out produce me dramatically.  Why?

Because they have teams of people who help them produce their results.  They have structured their resources differently than I have, and they don't rely on their own "knowledge" to get them through.  In fact, the opposite is true.  They go to their networks to find what they need.

Think Ford.

I posit that a breakthrough into abundance has more to do with your relationship to the resources and people in your network than it does with anything else.

Of course - brilliance helps.

And you, my friend, have plenty of that.

Thanks for all you do.

Raymond "Chip" Lambert

Deep Business Development

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Technorati Tags: Abundance,My LinkedIn Power Forum,Vincent Wright,Network Development,Networking,Social networks,resource development

Looking at your networks newly unlocks the potential of the relationships you already have.

I recently listened to a podcast from Stan Relihan and Christian Mayaud (two big names in the Social Media space) and in their conversation, Christian talked about how he manages the contacts and relationships in his networks.  He shared his taxonomy - CAN (Currently Active Network), FAN (Formerly Active Network), and PAN (Potentially Active Network).

As I thought about this and the application to what we teach in network and business development, this struck me as especially powerful.  Think for a moment; You've got a new product, or market, or what not, and you do an audit of your network to see what resources you already have - CAN-FAN-PAN.  You see that you can reach into your networks and begin the planning of how you are going to position yourself and you have people who you already know who can help you.

With the power of LinkedIn, you can also quickly ascertain who you need to meet in the space, and you can look to see who you used to know.  You may need to do some work to rekindle or build some of those relationship, but you will not be needlessly wasting your valuable time and resources.

I recommend that you take a few moments now to do this exercise.  It will open your eyes to a whole new world. 

Build it deep and build it strong!

Raymond Chip Lambert
Network 2 Networth
Deep Business Development

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I was on the way home from a client meeting this morning, listening to talk radio and the announcer, Daryl Ankarlo, talk about the possibility that with gas at nearly $4 a gallon, the weak dollar, 500% increase in foreclosures, we are on the precipice of a recession.

It struck me that the people who really suffer in recessions are people who have not taken the time to build their networks.

I wrote about this in an earlier post.  Taking care of the relationships we have, while sometimes daunting, is critical.

This is especially true when things get scary or shaky.  If we have not taken the time to build and nurture our networks, we go it alone.

Who's there to help you when you fall down?  Who's there to help you build your business? Who's there to turn you onto new resources?  Who's there to help you find a new job? New clients? New sources?

If you haven't really begun the work in earnest - don't fret.

People are intrinsically generous.  Especially the ones we've made a difference with.  If you reach out now and begin to let the people in your life know what you need, know what you are working on, and offer to be a resource for them as well, they'll rise to the occasion.

AND THEY'LL BE THERE WHEN YOU NEED THEM MOST!

If you haven't taken the opportunity to do our LinkedIn Webinars, please consider doing that now.  Build it before you need it.

Raymond Chip Lambert
Network 2 Networth
Deep Business Development

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Technorati Tags: Relationship,recession,networks,social networks,generosity,ankarlo,linkedin training,linkedin

Last Tuesday I launched Integrated Alliances here in the Phoenix Market with a VIP, invite only event at Ruth's Chris Steak house.

With two colleagues, Bill Austin and Bob Denton, we generated 113 RSVPs and 86 VIPs in attendance - in 2 weeks.

I'm completely floored - even with all the training I have. And something even more interesting is happening - I am now perceived differently in the communities I already participate in.

Why am I sharing this with you? Well, it illustrates a few things.

1. The power of a network and a clear focus. With very little time and a clear outcome a great event was created. With it's focus around the LinkedIn Platform (a network), a few key individuals (a network), and a clear vision, mountains got moved.
2. Be a leader in your network and cause connections - real world connections - it alters how your network perceives you. I cannot even begin to describe the shift that has happened within the conversations I've had in the last week. It's surreal.

If you are in the Phoenix Metropolitan area, a high-level player, a reader of my blog, and a user of LinkedIn, I'd like to invite you to join our mailing list for the IA - Linkedin Live! Events. Go to www.integratedalliances.com/phoenix_events.php and join the list. We'd love to have you join us!

Here's to the power of networks, of people coming together around a common cause, and of the magic that gets created when they collide.

Raymond Chip Lambert
Network 2 Networth

Deep Business Development

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I had a conversation today with a colleague of mine, Bob Denton, from Prime Connexions.

We were talking about the value of LinkedIn and LinkedIn-Centric events and the potential for being perceived as a "threat" that established organizations could conceivably experience in relationship to those events.

It struck me that LinkedIn is one of those platforms that not only allows users to strategically build their own "personal" networks, but it allows them to really explore the organizations that they already belong to.

Take the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce for example. There are nearly 2000 members to the organization. Some participate at a very high level, some come to networking events, some participate only at special events. All in all - they have the potential to derive lots of value from their membership.

Now think about adding LinkedIn to the mix. Not only are they going to have the benefit of their Chamber membership, but they will also be able to connect with ALL the chamber members - even the ones who don't attend events. They can search that network to find connections within their current Chamber membership and further unlock the value of that network.

To me, that's a HUGE win. Think about it. Actually being able to get to know other Chamber members and to create relationships with people because of a third party platform.

Further, coming to a LinkedIn Centric event allows people to get access to the ENTIRE Chamber (tier 2 connections) even if they belong to say another organization. If that other organization doesn't have what the attendee needs, a quick invitation and a connection unlocks the door to quick and easy access to the needed resources.

It should work like this in real life - but unfortunately it doesn't, for the most part. People are busy. They need what they need when they need it. LinkedIn simply makes it easier - across networks - to find what they are looking for.

It's my intention to help educate all the networks in my community about LinkedIn and how it can truly unlock the value of the networks they maintain.

Raymond Chip Lambert
Network 2 Networth

Deep Business Development

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