Networking Checklist

’Tis the season for getting out!

Went to a great event last week organized by Andrew Meringoff at the Washington DC Connections LinkedIn Group. No matter how emailed, Web 2ed, blogged and phoned we get, face to face still does a lot of my work. I’ve been thinking about what I learned at the event, tried a number of writing approaches, and as my deadline went by what came out is my Networking Checklist.

Attitude Check –Networking is helping someone - Tom Peters

Time Check – Most golf matches are won before the first tee or after the eighteenth – Bill Van Dyke. I come early and leave late.

Name Tag - Bring your own. Make it work for you.

Purpose – Why am I going? What do I want to accomplish? “20 meetings a month” is my start, add to that.

So many targets, so little time! – I want to acknowledge everyone I already know as my first order of business. After that, I concentrate on having a complete conversation with each person I meet, resulting in a recommendation or commitment to action. That is usually more than twenty people per hour, and I have helped some people, met people, and I’m tired. What more should I want?

Offer – What am I offering? I rarely start a relationship and then close a transaction at a first meeting. This is the information age. I think a public group meeting is for establishing initial interest. An interesting handout centers the discussion and enables further inquiry. Explaining a handout usually creates a line of people listening and waiting to talk with me.

Of course, I also enjoy being the featured speaker whenever I can arrange that.

Positioning – I don’t move much. Once, a new acquaintance told me she was trying to get over to meet me and I disappeared. Other people are navigating their way through the group.

What is your guidance for open meeting networking?

Building Your Social Media Platform

Social Marketing is “The Next Big Thing!”
What is it?
How do I do it?
Is it for me?
Yes, it’s working!
Yes, it’s getting great results!
Yes, you should be using it!

“Markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can't be faked.” The ClueTrain Manifesto.

“I get more out of your shorter posts.” Comment from Joe Tedesco.

The core of internet marketing is getting audience focus. That takes conversation.

People aren’t sold. That’s arrogant. Sales managers talk that way. People buy.

Over time, buyers develop an appreciation for what they need…for what I offer.

Different people are ready to buy at different times. I want to be present to be considered when they are ready.

I have developed a process where I touch over 67,000 people twice a week. Takes about 30 minutes. Here is how I do that. (Click graphic to expand)



I started with Gmail on a Firefox Browser. That gives me access to Google Reader, where 50 bloggers share their posts. (You can see my blog roll at Through The Browser.)

Next I got on LinkedIn. Why? Someone asked. I had no idea how I would use it. We have grown together so it is my main outbound channel. The good news about LinkedIn is it has a community of 60 million. The bad news is I have to be linked to communicate with someone.

Twitter is a recent port from LinkedIn.

When I sold my software company, I knew I wanted another blog, so I built Through The Browser on Blogger.

“Dick, that was the greatest post about the internet on your blog! Can I steal it?” (High praise!) It's good to steal as long as you acknowledge where something is stolen from.

Finally Steve Dorfman wanted me to use “DickDavies.com” email, so I built a Google Apps Standard Edition Website over a weekend. That story is on my blog.

Your comments at http://throughthebrowser.blogspot.com/2009/11/building-your-social-media-platform-for.html will give future readers a better idea of how to build their social media platform.

Please comment. Thank you!

Presented by the:
Leadership Breakfast of Maryland
December 4, 2009
7:30 - 8:30 am

Sponsored by:
Paradigm Mortgage Services
Bill Van Dyke, Proprietor

Sales Lab Resumés - Easier, Faster, Better!

Most writing about resumés comes from people experienced in hiring, usually by creating a pool of qualified applicants and selecting the best from that pool. They have an interest in organizing to make their jobs easier. In the course of working with thousands of people changing jobs, we have found some things that don't necessarily help recruiters organize, but do help the people behind the resumés. Use what makes sense to you.

Here are five areas that professional resumé writers use to improve development speed and the results job seekers get from resumés. Figuring out the best way to present these five areas creates your best resumé.

Most amateur resumé writers use only two to three parts of this system. Download Handout

What most people include:

• Contact Information - Name, address and telephone. Recruiters find that many resumés have bad contact information. Tip-The telephone number on the resumé should call your answering machine.
  

• Chronology - Chronology demonstrates you can stick with an assignment.
  A second, minor benefit is showing where you developed your skills.
  The chronology line is: Dates, Title, Organization
  1. Dates - Just use years. Most recent date includes "present" if you write the resumé while you have any connection with your employer (including severance).
  2. Title - Since you can only use one title for each chronology entry (I say so), use the best one.
  3. Organization - I once consolidated three short positions over an18 month period when I discovered the person had stayed to complete one project which was being passed around three different contractors.
  Organize for your advantage.
  

• Tickets - Pick the degrees, certificates, memberships and personal information that are most likely to interest your reader. Use these to fill up the little space left at the bottom of the only page of your resumé.
  

What most people miss.

• Stories - Spewing facts and capabilities at people makes their eyes glaze. Tell them a story and they will see new applications for your skills. The bad news is that no matter how precise your story, people will not hear what you said. The good news is that they hear what they want to buy. Develop two to three stories that show your best achievements.
  

• Positioning - Taking a position at the top of the resumé helps the reader identify where you fit. Paragraphs with words like “challenge,” “diversified” and “energetic” don't get it. I consider three perspectives for developing an effective positioning.
  

1. Management Function-The four line functions are Research & Development, Production, Marketing and Finance. There are three staff functions, Human Resource Development, Secretarial and Legal (that's Corporate Secretary, not word processing), and External Affairs. In my experience, the best resumés have a functional positioning.

2. Skills and Experience-I once built a resumé for an "Orchestra Conductor." At the same time I also built a functional resumé for him that was positioned for Marketing/Fundraising/Public Relations. The Marketing resumé got him the job as an orchestra conductor.

3. Industry experience-There are industries that require experience specific to that particular industry. Industries where you start at the bottom and gain experience, like computer programmers, wildcatters, soldiers and sailors (staying in their field) can use an industry experience positioning.

Sample Positionings
Each of these went on a real resumé. Sometimes I use 2 lines for extra emphasis. (Second lines italicized)

General Management/Corporate Vision

Marketing/Enrollment/Fund-raising

General Management Executive
Marketing/Operations/Finance

Hospitality Management Executive
Assistant to a Senior Executive

Information Systems Management
Marketing/Finance/Computing Strategy

Applied Research-Product/Process Development

Sales/ Marketing Management
Direct Sales/Advertising/Promotion

Strategy Development & Execution...Team Building...Product Development Direct Sales . . . Sales Management

Account Development/Training/Promotion
ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT / ASSISTANT TO A SENIOR EXECUTIVE

Sales/Marketing Operations
Direct Sales/Training/Administrative Systems

TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
Assessment/Application/Commercialization

Computer Operations
Hardware Programs Networks
Macintosh, IBM PC's, DEC, Nova, Micos , IBM 4330, HP 3000 Novell, TOPS, AppleShare, 3Com

A top telemarketer and award winning programmer ...I use telephones and computers to uncover competitive information, feed reseller networks, and close key accounts better than direct sales forces.

COLLEGE ACE TURNS PROFESSIONAL
Deadline-Proven Writer/Editor Seeks Assignment

Other thoughts
A one-page resumé shows you understand what you are selling. Getting the right material on one page is difficult and requires thought. Experienced buyers appreciate the effort.

More than one page indicates your ego may be more important than your message. Or it may indicate a lack of focus. More than one page risks boring or confusing the reader. Don't make your buyers work any harder than you have to!

Times 12 is the best typeface for resumés because just about every computer can display and print it. Use italic or bold, but sparingly. If you need more space, shrink the side, bottom, and finally the top margins before you reduce the type size. As you get older, your arms get shorter, so small type is harder to read.

I dislike words like “resumé”, “objective” “work history”, and “education,” to identify your “resumé”, “objective” “work history”, and “education.”. If the reader can't tell what it is, write it better!
NOTE - “Objective” is what you think you want. What if they want you for something much better?

Using resumés
The best cover for a resumé is a thumb and forefinger. Your resumé is just a promotional brochure for your job search. You get your best results using it in person.

If you see a great blind employment advertisement that does not name the company, find the three best suspects and go talk to them all. Your chances are better at the two companies that didn't run the ad, because they aren't swamped with 500 resumés they have to read before they can hire someone.

Letters
If you really want to send a letter, use an opener that creates interest,

• include the story from your resumé that the interviewers like best, and
  

• ask them to call you.
  

Then go see 'em.

When you call, don't ask if they got your letter (the only sane response is "no"). Instead tell them you want to meet them, and when they ask why, tell them the story you sent in the letter.

I had one prospect who got my letter ask me if I had been on the Tonight Show. He knew the story, just didn't know why.

Download Handout

We would like to know about your experiences showing what works with resumés. Leave a comment below.

What is Web 2.0...And Why Should You Care?

Interested in a cool handout?
Two and a half years ago, I started giving talks about Web 20. I have spoken about:

• “How To Establish Your Web 2.0 Presence In Two Hours Or Less” to the Association for Information Technology Professionals,
• “Three Discriminators That Allow Companies To Grow To A Billion Dollars In Ten Years” to the Washington DC Harvard Business School Alumni, and
• “What Is The Value Of Technical Communication In A Time Of Blogging?” to the Society for Technical Communication.

Most recently I presented “What is Web 2.0...And Why Should You Care?” to the Capital Technology Management Hub, an offshoot of the George Mason University Technology Management Program. We covered the historical perspective, who was succeeding, innovative ways technology is being used, and what we are seeing about the shape of the future.
For the handout, I wanted a diagram suitable for hanging on the wall, and I am inordinately fond of this one. If you are interested you can get the brochure here.

Event Marketing - Why See People One-At-A-Time When You Can Sell Groups of Twenty?

Do you get enough direct mail?
Too much email pollution?
Is telephone tag an expensive part of your schedule?

Would you be interested in an inexpensive way to increase the time and attention available for educating prospects about your services?

Background Information
Since the 1970's I have been designing and producing events to teach groups of people new skills and information. I use events because they:

• are inexpensive, and
• satisfy the participants.

I have designed and led events that met weekly for over ten years, one-week events, two-day events, one-day events, half-day events and one-hour events. I have observed how an event can be a simple, effective, low-cost, selling tool.

This is about designing short shows that sell for you.

The First Step Is Setting A Date.

Second, Create A Great Title.
The title creates interest, so I spend half my development time playing with titles.

Some say that a negative is the strongest title, i.e. "How to stop getting caught making stupid mistakes!"

I like positive uplifting titles. For positive titles, the first criteria is the "WIIFM Test" for What's In It For Me? When prospects see a clear benefit from the title, they are more likely to attend…and are already considering your offer.

I also make claims about the value of the event. The audience creates the value of the performance. Coaching them on what to expect improves their response.

Creating the Audience
Many people would now spend time developing the presentation, which is exactly the wrong thing to do!

Your primary concern should be creating the audience! We can create the presentation in forty minutes, the day before the event.

Who are your best clients? Determine why they are your best clients and then identify other groups that have similar attributes.

Who do you already know? Ask them to fill the audience, by attending and bringing others. Provide tools to help them.

What could you offer your co-sponsors for helping? Access to people in the audience, the same thing you want!

I invite my clients to events to give them another opportunity to buy. Perhaps I haven't learned what other things they want and they haven't learned all I do.

How many people do you want in your audience? I always figure maximum occupancy, standing room only, sardine packed. More than that and I take everyone to a larger room, a corridor or outside. Encourage the audience to decide they are attending a popular event!

How To Market Your Event
My best channel for producing an audience is direct contact-Walking up to someone and asking them to attend. I print and distribute invitations. I also ask others to use the invitations to bring the audience.

I send out letters every month, which brings in some attendance, but chiefly creates an ongoing communication with the companies I am prospecting.

Finally, there are excellent free media opportunities. Find them and use them. Direct mail and advertising typically produce less than 10% of my audience.

Designing Your Event
This is for selling, not showing how smart you are.

• Make a list of twenty most-asked questions about your subject.
• Prioritize the questions.
• Define one or two physical exercises for your audience for every hour you will be working with them. People learn more when their learning is tied to physical activity.
• Create value-packed handouts.

For one of my favorite events, I show people a better way to introduce themselves and tell what they do for their customers.

I talk for less than 18 minutes setting up the exercises, each person in the room gets to talk for about five minutes. People in the audience buy from each other which makes me the “expert.”

Finally, finish on time. That is more important than finishing your presentation. Your prospects need to know that you keep your promises.