Archive for the ‘Random Rants & Raves’ Category

A few weeks ago I was talking to a good friend and alliance partner who was organising a networking event. He said to me.. it’s not going to be one of your kind of events Brenda, it’s going to be full of everyone shoving business cards at each other because that way we get the best attendances.

Then yesterday I received an invitation to another networking event (different organiser).. It said “make sure you have your 30 second elevator pitch ready and bring hundreds of business cards”. Now I know this was sent with the best of intentions, by someone who genuinely believes in the power of small business owners working together. so I asked him why he worded his promotion that way when he knew that attendees wouldn't get the best results if they spent the morning spruiking their elevator pitches and shoving business cards at each other.

This is what he said

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  We saw it happen in the debate between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.The worm went up whenever either speaker presented a strong, well articulated policy direction and down every time they indulged in a bit of knocking the other side. Yet how many political adverts from both sides of the fence are full of what the other side has either done wrong or is going to do wrong?

Imagine if we did that in marketing? No accurate statements about what the product or service contains and will do for you, no benefit statements, no testimonials,   no really strong guarantees...  just a rant about how bad the competitions products and services are.  Oh and some bonuses thrown in.  but will you receive them or will they be out of stock by the time your products and services are delivered?  

Today I want to rave about all the fabulous business owners that I get to work with on a daily basis, my alliance partners. Some of them I have been working with for years, others I have only just started to form relationships with. A HUGE thankyou to all of you for your friendship, support, knowledge, ideas and generosity. My business is what it is thanks to all of you.  I hope that the benefits have been mutual.

So what are the benefits of having great alliance partners?

In no particular order…

1.    Sending endless streams of qualified leads and referrals my way
2.    Providing me with great rewards and host beneficiary gifts that I can give my loyal clients and prospective customers
3.    Bouncing ideas around with me when I’m looking for a sounding board
4.    Reviewing and providing feedback and endorsements for my new products or services, no matter how busy they are.
5.    Trusting in my ability and running with a crazy idea just because they trust me.
6.    Being honest and generous with rewarding me for helping them grow their business.
7.    Providing me cool new ideas and strategies I would never have thought of.
8.    Sharing their knowledge and wisdom and mentoring me when I need help
9.    Being there with a friendly smile, a word of encouragement and even a shoulder to cry on when times are tough
10.    Celebrating my successes with me and patting me on the back when I have earned it.

I’m sure there are heaps of other benefits but these are the main ones that sprang to mind for me.  What other benefits have you experienced from working with alliance partners?  Please share your thoughts and experiences.

It seems to me that the more ways we have to communicate, somehow the harder and the less effective communication becomes...

Once upon a time you answered the phone when it rang (without fear of being accosted by a pushy sales person), and you checked the letter box every day and you looked forward to birthday cards and Airmail letters from relative overseas and post cards from friends on holiday.  And very occasionally in an emergency or on a very special occasion you got a telegram.

Now you have emails, video emails, Facebook messages, tweets, forum posts, text messages, blog posts and your mobile phone is with you 24/7.  My fax messages come by email. We can share videos, photos, articles, and share what we're doing at any time of the day.

We're all madly trying to communicate with more people in every way and at every time that we can cram it into our increasingly busy lives.

As marketers we are constantly trying to find new and innovative ways of standing out above the noise, getting louder, more persistent, trying new ways, using multiple channels.

But how much longer can we keep that up?  Or is it time to start thinking in terms of less is more?  Is it time to start doing more listening and less shouting?

Just a couple of days ago I accepted a new friend on Facebook.

Next thing I know there is an email in my In Box..

"Thanks so much for connecting with me on Facebook.  (deleted bit which might identify sender)  Each month I provide clients, preferred clients and friends with a  e-news ezine about (deleted company name to protect the guilty).  If you do not wish to receive the ezine, please let me know and I will not add you to my list. "

How would you respond to this?
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Last week I did something really crazy! Well other people have told me it was crazy and it was VERY SCARY.  But I don’t think it was crazy and I am really excited about it..

So what did I do?
I stopped charging monthly memberships and gave all my wonderful loyal members lifetime memberships to the Strategic Alliance Success Club.

Now that was scary (and arguably crazy) because I just turned off my major income stream.  It certainly made my wonderful partner, Colin The Networking World Computer Geek, jump up from his keyboard in fright.

So why did I do it? What was I thinking? Or have I really lost the plot?

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Live Networking vs Social Media: Are you ready to Face(book) the facts!

 Not suggesting for a moment that you should stop attending live networking events, but for those of you who haven’t worked out the potential of social media yet I hope this provides some food for thought.

Hope you Digg It and Find it Del-icio-us enough to Tweet

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HELP! Let me out!

Just had an interesting experience with a business that will remain nameless.

I have been receiving their newsletter for a while. Quite a good newsletter, interesting content, well presented.

I decided to unsubscribe - not because I didn't like it but because I am trying to reduce the amount of emails I receive and theirs simply wasn't right on target for ME.  Doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend it to someone else.

That's when the fun began.

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