Articles discussing business marketing.
Business Support in London, UK
What are the 5 key traits to a business developer?
Active Listener
The absolute key train for any business developer would be, in my opinion of course, their ability to actively listen. We probably all think that we are great listeners but I would argue that over 90% of us need to work on our listening skills. We are so eager to talk ‘at’ people rather than having an actual two-way conversation. We love the sound of our own voices. We listen in order to react and show how clever we are.
However, getting our conversational counterpart to open up and discuss their pain points is key to any sales pitch of whatever kind. If we did more of that, we might be able to figure out how the partnership would work. What problems do we solve by connecting with the potential partner company? You may find that you thought the partnership would work for one reason, but with your super active listening skills, you soon discover that you actually solve other issues for them and the fit is even better than you thought!
How do you know you’re in active listening mode? Read this article on how to become a great listener.
Outgoing Personality
Having an outgoing personality is one of the key traits required if you are a great business developer. To create business, you need to contact businesses. If you’ve never been in contact with the business before, either on behalf of your own company, or someone else’s, it’s not easy if you find it hard to talk to people you’ve never met.
When you contact a business, you can assume that you are creating some form of interruption, whether you’re calling, emailing or contacting via a social media platform. Interruptions typically cause irritation. You therefore have a very short window within which to make an impression and convince that business to spend time with you to determine why they should do business with you.
Basically, you need to excel at sales pitches – but what are you selling? This is a bit different from selling a product per se – it’s more about why the business you are contacting should form a partnership with your business. It’s almost like getting married – the ‘fit’ needs to be on multiple levels.
Investigative Researcher
If there is one thing I absolutely abhor during my workday, it is being interrupted by a phone call where the caller asks to speak with ‘the person who deals with…’. Do your homework! With the Internet at your fingertips, there is really no excuse for not knowing who to talk to. There will be times where this is easy – for example, when the company’s ‘About Us’ page has information on the key team leaders.
But what if the information isn’t there? Well, you could be lazy and make a call similar to the one described above, or you could do some detective work. It’s actually easier than you might think! Companies House, for example, will show a list of company directors. Linkedin is another great source of information on the ‘Who’s Who’ of companies. Need to dig a bit deeper? Read news items on the company’s news page or in Google – you’ll soon start to form a picture of who you should be speaking with.
Tenaciousnous
So many of us are absolutely rubbish at following up. We send an email and think ‘job done’ – they’ll get back to us when they are good and ready. But what if they have a bereavement / holiday / sick dog / etc.? You actually don’t know what is going on in other people’s lives or how pressured they are at work. You don’t know how many emails flood their inbox every day and your email is soon out of view, lost in the avalanche and in the nether regions of seen in the once a year clean-up. Out of sight can often mean out of mind.
So what should you be doing? Gently follow-up without harassing your potential partner. If you’re following up by email, make a note in your CRM as to when to expect a reply and if it doesn’t arrive, call them. When they answer the phone, listen to the levels of stress in their voice and check if now is a good time to follow-up. But don’t never give up, to quote our wonderful go-getting Americans across the pond (yes! I am biased!).
Visionary
Our role is to help our company (or other companies) to grow. The more creative we are, within the company strategy, the more we will succeed and make our role exceedingly exciting. The thrill of doing deals and creating long-term relationships is addictive.
Partnerships can be obvious within the sector, but sometimes partners outside of our sector, with similar pain points, can also benefit from working with us. Partners can be complementary to what we are doing, even if there is slight overlap in other areas. Don’t be afraid to break boundaries – they’re artificial anyway. Lateral thinking is key – then, do your homework!
In Short
I’m sure there are additional key traits that a business development person would benefit from, where I have attempted to list the one’s I believe are imperative. Do let us know which one’s you believe are important.
About the author
Lesley Anne Rubenstein-Pessok, MD of LAR Consultancy Ltd, has spent her whole career in executive roles, working with and training start-ups and SME businesses, helping them to become more efficient, increase turnover, improve profitability, cost effectiveness and create strategies that pay off. She is an approved mentor for the London and Partners’ Business Growth Programme, as well as for other public funded programmes. Her client testimonials say it all.
Is the use of mind maps in business a ‘must have’ tool? We think so!
Why should we use mind maps in business?
My younger brother introduced me to mind mapping many years ago. At the time, he was using the tool to create ideas, headings, subheadings and content for articles for his blog, Gazettabyte. Even though I could see its many uses, for some reason I kept putting off using it. Lately, a day doesn’t go by without creating or amending a mind map.
So why do I use mind maps in business? Because mind maps help me think, capture my thoughts quickly and help me to visualise the big picture. When I ask my clients or business acquaintances if they use mind mapping tools, I’m given a mix of answers. Some say they do, but only for complex issues. Others say they use pen and paper to free-draw their ideas and don’t get on with computer software programmes.
Like many business tools, it’s not clear just how useful they are until you start using them. You have to push past the ‘pain point’ of learning a new software tool – believe me it’s well worth it.
In the last year I have become a ‘heavy user’ of mind maps, using them almost daily. Here’s what I use them for:
- Researching a new market
- Sharing Information
- Creating synergies
- Creating blog articles
- Strategy review
- Helping clients to resolve an issue
- Helping clients to think about an issue
- 1, 3, 5 10 year plans
- Life plans
- Goal setting
I could go on and on but don’t want to bore you. I’m going to assume your creative juices are flowing and you can figure out for yourselves how you would like to use this mapping tool in your business. I have included a few examples below for illustration purposes. Please treat them as a work in progress which is true for most mind maps.
Why prefer using a software programme over pen and paper, when creating your mind map?
Using a computer programme for mind maps in business, allows us to move our ‘thoughts’ around and grow the map quickly into a number of tiers. We can change our mind and add another tier or grouping of ideas as simply as ‘cut and paste’.
By colour coding we can connect ‘thoughts’/ideas/items and make them stand out. Colour coding helps us to visualise the big picture. Most programmes will allow you to add images, comments, icons and website links. See my example of a new food product development (please treat as a work in progress for illustration purposes only).
To view the map, you can press on the plus/minus buttons at the top left within the map which will allow you to zoom in and out. Or you can hold down your Ctrl key together with either the ‘+’ (zoom in) or ‘-‘ (zoom out). Alternatively, you can zoom in and out by holding down the Ctrl key and using the wheel on your mouse. To view different areas of the map, hold down the left click of the mouse to hold the cursor in place and move sideways, up and down, etc.
How to choose a mind mapping software programme
There are many mindmapping tools – try several and use the free trial to see which ones work for you. If you do not take to it naturally, stick with it for a bit and get past the uncomfortable stage as the tool is extremely useful in many situations.
Which programmes are intuitive? Which do you struggle with? Which has the functionality you are looking for? Which programmes are constantly developing and adding features?
I chose to develop my maps using MindMeister – it’s relatively easy to use, easy to download in various formats including pdf or as an image. MindMeister are constantly developing the functionality and enable a 30-day free trial.
From mind map to action plan
This is the second and probably the most important reason why I chose the MindMeister mind mapping tool over all other mind mapping tools – you can turn your mind map into an action plan as it works with their MeisterTask programme.
An information share mind map illustration
The following map shows how one can generate a map containing information useful for your clients, colleagues, partners, shareholders, etc. I chose to create a map for grant funding in the South East of England and UK region, as this is most beneficial for any of my clients who are based in the region or moving to the SE of England or to the UK. Each item is clickable, leading directly to the relevant website.
Mind maps aren’t just for business!
To ensure your work-life balance, and to make sure you life is enriched with activities and you meet your life-style requirements, why don’t you create your 10-year life plan. Because it’s computerised you can add, change, amend as time progresses. You can check it periodically to make sure you’re on track. You can even turn it into an action plan.
In summary
Mind maps are incredibly useful business tools and can be used to visualise issues, solve problems, create a plan of action, or a book, recipe, chapter, article – the list is probably endless. It’s only our imagination that stops us.
As I mentioned above, I use MindMeister because it’s relatively easy to use, the map can be shared, embeded into a website or blog article, as you can see, or downloaded in various formats. There are four levels, Basic (free), Personal ($50 per annum), Pro (£83 per annum) and Business (£126 per annum).
Why not start creating your first computerised mind map now via a 30-day free trial.
Share your creations with me in the comments section!
About the author
Lesley Anne Rubenstein-Pessok, MD of LAR Consultancy Ltd, has spent her whole career in executive roles, working with and training start-ups and SME businesses, helping them to become more efficient, increase turnover, improve profitability, cost effectiveness and create strategies that pay off. She is an approved mentor for the London and Partners’ Business Growth Programme, as well as for other public funded programmes. Her client testimonials say it all.
8 tips on how to research a new industrial sector
If you are looking to get into a new industrial sector, learn all you can about it first! This article will provide several tips and questions to help you to research a new industrial sector.
Questions you need to think about
Questions you might want to ask include who are the major, medium size and up-and-coming players? What are the industry trends? How fast is the marketplace growing? Who are the leaders? Who is influencing opinions? What academic research is being carried out? What patents are being registered? There are several ways to do this:
1. See which white papers and blogs come up in the search. Look at industrial survey results – who are the opinion leaders? Follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn etc.s?
2. Put industry keywords into Google and see which companies come up in the search. Learn all you can about them by going onto their websites, reading their About Us, News and Research/Technical sections in particular.
3. Find similar companies using tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter and zoominfo.com
4. Find out which companies have been acquired lately by the blue chips in the industry. What have they bought over the last three years and especially in the last six months. Try to figure out why they are buying these companies – what is the bigger picture?
5. Search to find out who are the key venture capital firms investing in this sector and which companies they have invested in, repeating the exercise for angel funding firms.
6. What exits have these VCs done in recent months – have the companies they’ve invested in been acquired? By whom? For how much?
7. Check the publications to which leading academics contribute and review them regularly. Implement intellectual property searches.
8. Go to events, exhibitions and conferences. What topics are prevalent? Who are the opinion leaders? What do they say about where the industry is going? What leading research/innovation going on in the industry? Are there technology disruptors?
All the market research you will be implementing in order to get answers to the questions above could help position your product or service, as well as uncover opportunities for your company. It may also uncover where your R&D department should be investing its time, what joint ventures you may want or need to put in place, and what unique selling points need to be emphasized in your marketing literature. These are just several tips on how to research a new industrial sector. Read our other articles for more tips and advice on other business-related topics.
About the author
Lesley Anne Rubenstein-Pessok, MD of LAR Consultancy Ltd, has spent her whole career in executive roles, working with and training start-ups and SME businesses, helping them to become more efficient, increase turnover, improve profitability, cost effectiveness and create strategies that pay off. She is an approved mentor for the London and Partners’ Business Growth Programme, as well as for other public funded programmes. Her client testimonials say it all.
Need to make a career move?
In these trying times, with the uncertainty of Covid-19, Brexit and the demise of high street retailers, many jobs are being threatened. More people out of work means less buying power in the market place and increased knock-on effects for the whole economy.
So, what should you do if you think your job may become redundant? How can you turn a potentially highly upsetting period in your life into making redundancy positive? Here are some suggestions, some of which are also relevant to those contemplating a career move as a preemptive strike or for other reasons:
Seek legal advice
Seek legal advice and make sure the proceedings are fair. You may be able to get free advice via your home insurance policy. This will ensure the proceedings are fair and will pay off most of the time.
Have someone accompany you to redundancy meetings
If you are allowed to have someone whose advice you trust, accompany you to relevant meetings, make sure you take advantage of the offer. This will be an emotive time for you and you may not be at your best.
Update your CV
Update your CV if you have not done this in a while, go online and look at the most recent formats (like fashion, CV styles change). Make sure every detail on your CV is accurate, without typos, and that your contact details are clearly shown. Do not add hobbies just because they look good on paper. You may have heard the same horror stories as me, such as the instance of the interviewer having an acoustic guitar in his office and asking the candidate (who had much embellished his strumming skills) to play him something. Similarly, do not exaggerate language abilities. Once it is in currently acceptable format, tailor your CV according to the particular job for which you are applying. Always read the specifications and requirements carefully and emphasize your relevant experience accordingly.
Check your financial outgoings
Look at your financial outgoings. What can you reduce or cancel? What are the ‘must haves’ versus the ‘nice to haves’? There are luxuries that you can probably do without, or ‘must haves’ that you can potentially re-negotiate. Mortgage lenders may be sympathetic and offer a holiday period of up to six months.
Pause for thought
Pause for thought. Is now the time to finally do what you have always wanted to but were too afraid to try? Trying to find a job can be extremely time-consuming and frustrating, and increasingly competitive, often with hundreds applying for the same role. It is also distracting. So what if you took the time to make your dreams turn into a reality?
Start-up a business
If you are thinking of setting up your own business, do an internet search to see what help could be available from the council or ask at your local Job Centre for more information. If you are not sure what business you would like to set up, think about your hobbies and interests that could potentially be turned into a business? Imagine doing something you love and making money doing it? Is there something that you would love to learn that would then give you the skill-set to set up a business in that arena, such as plumbing, interior design, beautician, electrician, etc.? Are you under 30 years of age? Have you checked out the Princes Trust?
Network
You cannot do too much of this in this particular period. Talk to your peers, family, friends, Rabbi/Pastor. Who do they know that could help? Maybe you just need someone to talk to. Networking can lead to your next job – or a list of clients! There are a plethora of networking groups including BNI, linkedin groups, etc. You might want to visit your local Chamber of Commerce, for example, the London Chamber of Commerce…. Read our article on 10 Quick Ways to Raise Your Profile.
Remember, every challenge we meet often makes us stronger and wiser.
Business & IP (Intellectual Property) Centre
If you have an idea that is technology or innovation-led that could be commercialized and turned into a start-up company, the British Library have a Business & IP (Intellectual Property) Centre with lots of help, events and advice for innovative and technology-led businesses.
Be kind to yourself and others
Above all, although tempting, do not take your stress, anger, frustration and bitterness that you may very well be experiencing, out on your nearest and dearest. It is not their fault, or yours for that matter and is counter-productive. Recognize that your self-esteem has probably taken a knock. Give yourself time to lick your wounds, regroup, and get back out there. Seek counselling if you think it will help you. Be positive. Think of everything you have done well in life and focus on those things.
Need help with your start-up? Need help to figure out your next move? Why not contact us to see how we can help you? View our mentoring and business workshops pages too!
Lesley Anne Rubenstein-Pessok, MD of LAR Consultancy Ltd, has spent her whole career in executive roles, working with and training start-ups and SME businesses, helping them to become more efficient, increase turnover, improve profitability, cost effectiveness and create strategies that pay off. Her client testimonials say it all.
Forming strategic partnerships
Forming strategic partnerships can result in many positive outcomes for a start-up, growing or mature company. Here’s a case-study to illustrate how the formation of several strategic alliances created significant value for one of our clients.
The challenges
Several years ago, an overseas FinTech client of mine had an idea for a novel payment platform in a niche retail sector. They were interested in setting up an operation in the United Kingdom. The problem was that the area was so new even the banking industry was unclear as to how to categorise their technology. In fact, even the powers-that-be did not understand how it needed to be regulated. The payment logistics were also unclear.
A separate challenge was to determine the quickest way to penetrate the market and build a solid foundation that would provide an edge over the competition that would surely arise soon after launching the technology.
We had two key choices: i) to go to market by selling directly into the retail sector, or ii) to go indirectly, by integrating into suitable retail software solutions and letting the Partners’ marketing and sales teams sell the client’s product.
As start-ups are typically overwhelmed with meeting development milestones, hiring staff, raising the next tranche of finance, etc. we had to make several crucial decisions relatively quickly.
Logistics
To determine a payment process that would suit the client, we implemented market research into how companies in other industrial fields were currently solving their online payment process. It was important that we found a reputable supplier with a solution that was fully scaleable, as the last thing we wanted to do was to solve the payment process for the first year or two and then have to change suppliers and systems in order to scale-up once the no. of transactions/day increased significantly.
By meeting with experts and suppliers in the payments industry and interrogating them, we secured a robust solution that would work at start-up, through to the client becoming a well-established operation.
Market penetration
The second key issue was to determine the best way to penetrate the market. We decided that integrating the client’s solution with other retail software solutions would be the best way forward. It would lead our client to capturing a significant share of the target market, as they would be able to utilise their Partners’ established sales and marketing teams to market their solution too. In some cases, where necessary, the client solution was marketed directly to the end-user (the retail market), with the result of creating new business for the client’s Partners so the alliance benefitted both sides.
Investment
An added bonus was that by forming these valuable relationships with strategic partners, the client company became attractive to venture and raised significant investment.
Tips
Bear in mind what problems you are looking to solve, and/or benefits you are hoping to create by forming strategic alliances. What type of partner would make most sense for your supply chain, your logistics, and/or for revenue gain. Think strategically about how your company can reduce risk and increase its chances of long term survival and growth. Forming strategic alliances can lead to cross-referrals and a ‘gestalt’ where the sum of the parts is more valuable that the value of each part alone.
Contact
Contact us to see how we can add value to your business by emailing info@larconsultancy.co.uk, calling +44 (0)20 8868 3163 or via our website by clicking here.
New Year resolutions for business
Make twelve new year resolutions for business, one for each month! By breaking them down into workable pieces, you’ll actually get them done:
Our local Bollywood-style keep-fit classes in my local area are led by Nikita, an instructor who has inspired me on more than one occasion. At our recent pre-Christmas dinner celebration, she surprised me with her response when I asked if she had made a New Year Resolution by answering ‘Actually I’ve made twelve!’
It turns out that in 2017, she implemented a different resolution every month. I found myself hanging on to her every word, relishing her answers, and inspired to the core at this extraordinary young woman. As I listened, I got excited thinking about the projects I had let slip and was yearning to get back to.
She told me that by having a new resolution each month, it ensured that they actually happened! They didn’t feel onerous! Better yet, she nipped procrastination in the metaphorical bud! More than that, she looked forward to the next one and planned how to execute it, as she basked in the rewards of completing the current one.
Naturally I became inspired to create my own projects, who wouldn’t? It didn’t take me long to start thinking how this idea could be applied to businesses. So here are some ideas that might suit your business. Feel free to change the order, implement some in parallel, fine-tune, add projects and rearrange to suit your particular business. Your New Year Resolutions for business or your personal life can be fun, and can help you to stop procrastinating!
Need a mentor to work with you to achieve your ambitions? Funnily enough, we’re just a phone call or email away so don’t be shy – call us!
January – Review Your Business Plan
So many companies create a business plan to raise funds, and once successful, put it in a back drawer or under a pile of pressing ‘to dos’. It gets forgotten. But if you really want to achieve your goals, monitoring the plan versus actual achievements is imperative. So you know what I’m going to write next: take a look at your original plan and ask yourself:
1) Is it still relevant or does it need updating?
2) Is the company on target?
3) Does it make sense?
4) What works and what doesn’t?
5) What parts of the business need more work or a revamp?
6) Do you need to raise finance? If so, what kinds of finance make sense for your particular business?
7) Can any part of the finance you require be in the form of a grant?
8) Talking of grants, if you implement R&D, are you getting all of the R&D tax credits your company is entitled to? Are you sure? Contact Linda if you would like to discuss further.
February – Mission Statement Review
When was the last time you looked at your company’s mission statement? Does it need updating?
1) Does the mission statement still articulate your company’s purpose?
2) Does it adequately describe what your company does?
3) Does it describe how your company does what it does?
4) Does it say why your company does what it does?
5) Does it fill you with excitement? Does it make you want to jump out of bed in the morning to fulfil your company’s ambition?
6) How do your senior staff feel about the mission statement? What about the rest of the company?
March – The Hook
Why do clients prefer your company to that of your competition? Why do they buy your services or products from you and not from someone else? Not sure? Ask them!
List your Unique Selling Points and get them confirmed by existing clients. Ask them what they like about your company and what they don’t like.
Make sure your USPs are communicated by sales and marketing staff and all media outlets.
Once you are clear about your USPs, do some market research:
1) How is the industry changing?
2) How is the market changing? What are the trends?
3) Are there obvious disrupters?
4) Which companies in the industry are buying other companies – what are they buying and why?
April – New Products / IP
Review your new products under development.
1) What Intellectual Property is being created and should be protected?
2) Talk to a patent attorney to make sure you understand what constitutes an ‘inventive step’.
3) Make sure relevant staff understand this concept too.
4) Make sure you are solving a problem that exists, that the market wants, and at the right price point. The last thing you want to do is to develop a product and then look for a solution. Implementing market research will answer these questions (see above).
May – Strategy
You have reviewed your business plan and your mission statement – basically you know what you want to do, you also know what’s working and what isn’t. You also know your company USPs. Now is the time to develop strategies to achieve your company’s business plan.
June – Review Your Business Model
1) Does your business model make sense?
2) Is it hampering or helping to grow your business?
3) Is there a better way of getting your product or service out there?
Note: You may need to do more market research to answer this question…
Read for another 6 New Year Resolutions for Business? Read on…
July – Staff Review
In an ideal world, staff are reviewed twice a year, or at the very least, once a year. In large organisations this is often a box-ticking exercise and of no real benefit to the manager or the employee. It can be a soul-destroying experience and do more harm than good.
Wouldn’t it be great, however, if each employee in your company was doing something she or he loves and has passion and energy for? Makes him/her jump out of bed in the morning?
What if you were to sit down with your underlings, and ask them:
1) What they love about their role, and what parts of their role they would prefer not to have to do. What part of their role excites them? What intimidates them? What do they find difficult? Why?
2) Reassess their skill sets. Are they being fully utilized in current role? What other roles would they prefer to do in the company, where their skillsets would be better utilized.
3) Where do they want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
4) What training do they require to implement their job better?
5) What part can they play in achieving the overall company strategy?
6) What would make them stay in the company long-term to achieve those goals?
7) What ideas do they have for the company?
8) Enrol all line managers to interview their team players in such a way as to empower them, ensuring they express themselves and are listened to, so they can grow in their roles, take on more responsibility and grow with the company.
If you are a small company, you should still implement this by getting to know your employees better. Even if the staff member will need to implement things they would prefer to have someone else do, it may be possible to outsource that part of their role, or make other changes that would improved that person’s role.
In short, you do not have to appear on ‘Undercover Boss’ to find out what’s going on in the company. These conversations will improve staff loyalty, reduce absenteeism and presenteeism, and improve company culture.
August – CPD (Continuing Professional Development)
Following staff interviews last month, develop a staff training plan to suit the individual employees in achieving their personal and company goals.
September – Costs Review
A periodic review of the cost of sales and expenses is imperative for keeping costs down.
Are there areas in which you can reduce the cost, and keep the same or even improve on the value?
Remember, your P&L improves not only by increasing revenue, but equally by improving margins, reducing overheads, and reducing the cost of sales.
October – Analyse Your Sales
1) Look at year-to-date, and compare with previous years.
2) What sectors produce the most profit?
3) Which clients contribute to most of the sales in that sector? Can you onboard similar clients?
4) Which clients should you be letting go? Which clients / sectors are the least profitable?
5) What other products/services could you develop/sell and add value to your most profitable clients?
6) Which clients are so difficult to work with, time-consuming and/or provide so little profit, you should be introducing to your competitors?
November – Request Testimonials / Referrals
1) Ask your best clients for testimonials (written or on video) to use in case studies, on your website, in brochures, etc.
2) Ask these same clients if they would be willing to refer/introduce you to other clients.
Note: The best time to ask this question, is when you have just completed a project for them and they are excited about the results.
December – Website
1) Take a long, hard and objective look at your website – is it up-to-date? The design of websites, like CVs, shop windows, fashion…change over time. What looked great a few months ago, may not look as good now.
2) Check what your competitors’ websites look like.
3) Look at websites in other industries for new ideas.
4) Check start-up company websites in your industry, as they will most likely have the newest websites.
5) Figure out how yours can be improved – then create a team to create a design brief and up-to-date content.
6) Make sure your other marketing tools are in line with any changes.
I hope you enjoyed this article and have given you ideas to improve and grow your company. I also trust that I have given you ideas, demonstrating that New Year Resolutions for business need not be onerous, and once turned into bite-size chunks, become very doable indeed!
Call us on 020 8868 3163, or contact us via email info@larconsultancy.com, to discuss how we can help you to achieve your growth goals. We would be more than delighted to work with you, after all, it’s what we do best!
10 quick ways to raise your profile
You are probably reading this article because you have realised the necessity to raise your profile. You are also probably aware that marketing has changed in recent years – big time! It’s all about who you are and why you are doing what you are doing. People want to know what’s your story! You need to realise that you are the brand! You are the broadcaster! You are the storyteller! You are the reason people will buy what you are selling, or not! And it doesn’t matter if you are selling services, products, yourself, or an investment opportunity. That being true, you need to raise your profile!
Now more than ever, credibility and your personal PR are important. You need to be found online easily, in the right places, and for the right reasons. So, what are the ‘right places’ and what are the ‘right reasons’?
The ‘right places’ depends on what you are selling. Are you selling your personal abilities and skillsets? Are you selling a line of medical devices? Are you selling B2B enterprise software? Whatever you are selling, you do not want to be found looking worse for wear during or after a hen night, because you forgot to change your privacy settings on FaceBook or Instragram or wherever else you post selfies! That would raise your profile for all the wrong reasons, and most likely cost you.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to google yourself every so often to see what appears, as well as checking your social media outlets via the ‘incognito’ chrome browser or equivalent in other browsers.
But I digress. Let’s assume your privacy settings are perfect or you never do or post anything your Mum would be ashamed of and let’s now go back to the original question of ‘what are the right places’? For example, if you are selling B2B enterprise software, where would I expect to find you to check out your ‘street cred’ in the field, so-to-speak:
First and foremost – Linkedin. It’s commonly known as the FB for business people although lately there have been arguments as to what is suitable for LI and what isn’t. People who still aren’t on LI shy away from it but for now, it’s not going away and a really important, and useful tool for checking people and companies. With that in mind, you really do need to figure out how to use Linkedin and the best way to do that, is to start using it! So, back to you – if I wanted to check you out, one of the first places I would go to is your LI profile and look at:
- Who you are connected to in the industry?
- Who has recommended you and what they are saying about you?
- Who have you recommended and what for?
- What groups are you a member of?
- What articles have you published?
- What skillsets have you been endorsed for?
Re the endorsements on LI, these are far less important than recommendations because anyone can endorse you and it’s very easy to do so. I’ve had people endorse me soon after linking in with me and they have never interacted with me in a sufficient manner as to be able to endorse me so anyone knowing LI will view your endorsements with a pinch of salt, unless you have a relatively high no. of endorsements for a particular skill-set. On the other hand, recommendations have a filter on where you have to declare how you know the person you are recommending, so while they could still be false, it is less likely. A great way to raise your profile is to have excellent recommendations on LI and the best time to ask for one, is after you have completed a great job for your client.
Next, I would visit the company website and look at the news section, the About Us, the Team Members, and see where you fit, and what is said about you.
At some point, sooner or later, I would google your name and if it’s a common name, the company you are associated with, to see what comes up.
Bearing all of above in mind, you need to think where you should put your precious online time raising your profile. Where do you want to be found? Where are people you respect in the industry found?
It is when you ask those questions, you will start to figure out the answers of where best to raise your profile. So here are some tips for you to think about:
- Complete your Linkedin profile to 100% by following their instructions
- Start discussions on Linkedin
- Join relevant Groups on Linkedin and join in discussions, aiming to get people reading your responses to check out who you are
- Connect with people in the industry on Linkedin
- Connect with people in the industry on Twitter and create relevant lists
- Create boards on Pinterest that would interest your target audience
- Blog at least twice a week
- Vlog as often as possible
- Start a discussion on quora.com or respond to relevant discussions
- Get speaking positions at relevant conferences and exhibitions
Business Workshops
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