Had a great interview with two guys on business; talking about business cards, networking, QR codes, web video, cell phones and more. Tune in and check it out. Here.

I have been a long time proponent of using a business card whether you are looking for a job or looking for new clients and customers. I have also said that you can have more than one card if you want to share specific information with a specific audience. Well it seems that vistaprint agrees as I have noticed recently that they have a category called networking cards. They suggest you might want to add a photo of yourself, which I agree in this instance could be helpful, because it is a great reminder of who you are when the recipient looks at the card days or weeks after meeting you. Vistaprint also suggest that you can use the back of the card as a kind of a mini resume which is a particularly good idea if you are job hunting. So whether you’re looking for employment or customers get out and meet more people – - and don’t forget to seal the deal with a business (or networking) card.

For those of you looking for job here are a few interview tips.

While attending the North Park Art Walk on the northside of Chicago this weekend near NEIU, I ran across this interesting idea. One of the businesses hosting some of the artists had set up a business card tree in the entrance. This seemed to be fabricated using a kind of decorative wire tree form (I believe you could actually use a dry tree branch), upon which they affixed their business card to look like leaves. Each card was attached using a small piece of low tack tape that could be easily removed without damaging the business card. You might also be able to do this with paper clips or maybe small dots of hot glue. Anyway I thought it was an interesting way to promote their sign company and worthy of sharing. Let me know if you have any cool ways of distributing your business cards.

Introvert-itudes©: How to Get Noticed in Networking with Your Introvert Strengths by Guest Blogger Patricia Weber

Can you think of someone who you admire in business networking? How about three or four people? And, what characteristics do you find in them that they come to your top of mind? My guess is these better networkers are using some introverted tendencies along the way to the downplaying of some ineffectual extroverted behaviors. 

Beneficial 1: Introverts prefer to help, not always necessarily lead, and can make an advantage of helping by connecting. While my preference, INTJ, is to lead, many introverts like to remain behind the scenes. Everyone networks for similar reasons, to find  –prospective clients, connections to get clients, a job, and resources for work and even personal needs. By leaning into a preference to listen first, an introvert can find opportunities to help other people with the connections they want and any resources they need. 

Ineffectual 1: Few people have a tolerance for the person who wants to connect to always take. Takers range the whole continuum from introvert to extrovert. 

Beneficial 2: Introverts prefer to listen before they start talking and extroverts love talking about themselves anytime! Networking involves both talking and listening. The style of networking that most of us respond positively to is the kind where the other person takes interest in us before they start talking about themselves. Why? Think about it – we are all more interested in ourselves, so if we can make the other person feel important first, by listening to them, then we have better rapport. 

Ineffectual 2: Most of us want to run the other way from the business networker who starts and ends their conversation with you with I, me, my. Sorry but my extrovert friends, you know that is can too often be true for you. 

Beneficial 3: When someone is more introverted in networking, they have a vested interest in seeing that their every minute of networking is getting them closer to meeting both the people they can help and the people who can help them. Because 140 characters online are as draining as working a room in an hour, introverts more consciously discern who is best to further connect with. It’s the best use of time for the connection made. Some consider this knack working your network and people will take notice. 

Ineffectual 3: If all you do is network with 140 characters or work the room in an hour meeting, you’ll get noticed in a not so flattering light. 

Beneficial 4: The highest compliment in networking, when you know you have it right, is when someone gives you a referral. The introvert prefers to keep a relationship bond intact rather than chance an energy leak – having to make yet more connections. Some introverts may find their self-confidence lower than preferable to follow-up. Just realize this strengthens the relationship from the referrer and plan the next moves. Introverts excel at planning. Boost it up with confidence for momentum.

Ineffectual 4: Getting so busy with extroverting actions, like more and more networking, can cause a person to procrastinate on follow-up with referrals given and promises made.

Beneficial 5: Networking is about building, and maintaining, relationships. It takes fewer but deeper relationships to energize an introvert. While typically not into large groups, smaller groups that meet regularly with a focus and purpose in mind – sounds like some networking – are encouraging for an introvert to authentically talk and contribute ideas.

Ineffectual 5: Few people like the schmoozer and fast talker with mostly a self-serving intent.

Regardless of whether you are more introverted or extroverted, most of these beneficial actions or behaviors are more natural for the introvert. For whoever shows these in business networking, there is less of a gag-reflex response to the typical networking behavior, more of a relaxed and in control feeling and people will – take more notice.

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Patricia Weber, Guest Blogger

Patricia is America’s #1 Business Coach for Introverts and the author of the eBook, The Happy and Fulfilled Introvert. She blogs at http://www.patricia-weber.com

Have you ever been given a business card from someone in a bar or other situation who is specifically “coming on to you”?  Have you ever given someone a card under these circumstances?  Whether a giver or receiver, read about this poor business card idea for the socially challenged.

http://www.asylum.com/2010/07/23/cheekd-dating-business-card-website/

I recently found a nice article at OPENforum written by Erica Swallow ( Twitter @ericaswallow )  pertaining to the inclusion of social media links on your business card. This is a comprehensive article with a number of really good examples, so after you read my summary go ahead and check out the whole thing for yourself at http://bit.ly/aGRACQ .

Erica notes that more and more people are including social media links such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yotube and others on their business cards. After all in web 3 point oh we want to meet people where they are not force them to meet us at the place of our choosing. In other words simply directing people to your website might not be enough. Ask them to meet you where they like to hang out.

As I have said time and again your business card is simply a convenient way to communicate your contact information so include as many points of contacts as it makes sense to do. Do you have images to share? Maybe it makes sense to direct folks to your Flickr account. Showing videos? Maybe your YouTube channel is the place you want them to go.

Curious whether your business cards are driving traffic to your website? I have heard of some people using bit.ly tiny.url or unique domain names that identify the link as coming only from their business card – - interesting approach.

So don’t be anti-social invite your face-to-face contacts to meet you on the web wherever they are most comfortable. After all it is called “social networking”.

By D’vorah Lansky – Guest Blogger

Continuing on with our theme of in-person networking, today I am going to share with you three more tips for building relationships by attending in-person networking events.

1. Bring Friends, Colleagues, and Networking Buddies with You to Events and Introduce Them to Others
2. Develop a 30-60 Second Elevator Speech That Causes People to Say, “Tell Me More”
3. Get Together With People Over the Course of the Month

Bring Friends, Colleagues, and Networking Buddies with You to Events and Introduce Them to Others

Take someone from your BNI Chapter to your Chamber of Commerce meeting and introduce them to someone in their contact sphere or introduce them to people whom you feel would be a good connection for them.  This will again increase your value and your likeability factor as well as make you an invaluable member of the business community.  You will also be helping people at the Chamber of Commerce event to broaden their contact sphere as you help to connect them to people in your BNI Chapter, for example. 

Bring your Networking Buddies with you to events but don’t hang out with them the whole time.  Visit with them, introduce them to people and then go and mingle and encourage them to do the same. 

Previously I gave the example of making a simple introduction between a Realtor and mortgage loan office.  Following is an example of how to make a much warmer personal introduction. Let’s use the same example of a Realtor but this time, provide a warm introduction.

If you are speaking with a Professional Organizer and you know that her best referral source is Realtors. You may want to introduce her to one or more of the Realtors in the room.  A possible introduction could go like this, “Lisa, hi, I know that you are a Realtor specializing in selling homes in this area.  I’d like to introduce you to my good friend Donna.  Donna is a Professional Organizer and she specializes in helping to increase the value of homes with her Home Staging Services.  I thought that the two of you might enjoy meeting one another for a possible mutually beneficial relationship.”  This can increase the services that the Realtor offers to her clients and this can create a great alliance between these two professionals. 

Again, you increase your value and what you offer to the community and you are deepening your relationships.  As an additional benefit to you, you will become more easily referrable as you will be on their radar and thus you’ll be able to grow your business.

 Develop a 30-60 Second Elevator Speech That Causes People to Say, “Tell Me More”

Rather than saying, “Hi, my name is so and so and this is the name of of my business and I do this, that and the other thing and we have great stuff and you should go to our website and buy our stuff.”  First of all, people will tune you out.  This is a situation where the “less is more” factor comes into play.  Rather than telling them everything that you do, share with them something that causes them to say, “Tell me more”.

I’d like to share a story with you told to me by my very good friend Sasha.  She was at a luncheon for Financial Planners and being the conversationalist that she is, she turned to the person to the right of her and asked them, “what do you do?”  That person went on to tell her all about their financial planner services in great detail.  Next, Sasha turned to her left and asked, “what do you do?”  This person said, “I show people how to get their children to buy them an island”. 

Which person would you be more inclined to ask to tell you more?  So, what can you say to get people to ask you to tell them more?  You may want to practice on a few friends and let them know that you are working on your 30 second commercial and that your goal is to get people to ask you to tell them more.  Ask them if they would listen to what you’ve come up with and then give you their honest feedback.

  Get Together With People Over the Course of the Month

Select two or three people that you’d like to get to know better and schedule a time to meet with them over the next few weeks.  It’s a best practice to meet with at least one person a week, outside of networking events.  Some people make it a practice to meet with several people a week for coffee or over lunch.  People may not have their calendar with them, so set a tentative date and find out the best way to reach them to confirm that you both have the appointment in your calendars.  You don’t want to leave it up to chance with a note on the back of a business card as it might not make it into their calendar.  Ask them what the best way to reach them is.  You can say, “If I send you an emai confirming our appointment, will you be able to get back to me or would it be better if I call you? 

These days many people prefer email as they can get to it when they have a moment, it’s right there next to their calendar and it’s easy to reply back to you.  When you do go out with them, don’t use that time to give a sales pitch, use this as a time to get to know them and find out about their hobbies. This will strengthen that relationship.  This is also a great way for you to get ideas for who you can introduce them to in your network.  This increases your likeability factor and the value you are adding to the relationship.

I hope that the seven tips I shared over the course of this week, were helpful to you. Please feel free to leave a comment, share an idea or ask any questions. Consider taking one thing that you learned and putting into action within one week. I’d love to hear about your results.

Here’s to your success!  Happy Networing!

D’vorah Lansky – Guest Blogger

M.Ed and Relationship Marketing Wizard
www.RealtionshipMarketingCafe.com

A warm thank you to Reno for allowing me to be a guest blogger on your site this week. This is week two in my summer Blog World Tour and I am honored to be able to include Reno’s blog as a premier destination on this journey.

Earlier this week I shared with you a few tips regarding the power of utilizing your business card as a networking tool.  Today I would like to share three more in-person networking strategies with you.

1. Arrive Early and Stay Late
2. Mingle, Reach Out, and Circulate
3. Listen More Than You Speak

To develop a well-rounded networking strategy, you will want to participate in in-person networking. In-person networking allows you the opportunity to be able to quickly connect with people. I’d venture to say that you’ve heard it said, people want to do business with people whom they know, like and trust. Let’s explore a few effective strategies for developing your “know, like and trust”  factor through in person networking

 1. Arrive Early and Stay Late

Arriving early allows you to connect with the organizers, the movers and shakers and greet people as they come through the door. You become familiar to them, because if you do this over time, you will become a known entity and a familiar face to people. You will also be able to build relationships by helping others build relationships. As people arrive, since you know who is already there, you can help make introductions. Let’s say that a Realtor walks through the door and you know that there is already a mortgage loan officer in the room and you think that there might be some good synergy there. That could turn into a good alliance and both of these people will be grateful to you for making this connection.

The reason to stay late is that you’ll get to network with the people who stay late. You’ll also become known to the chamber of commerce officers or the hosting organization as a person who gives and a person who can be counted on. In time, they may want to feature you in their newsletter, ask you to serve on a committee, or even have you as a guest speaker, which will put you in front of even more people. You become known as a go-to person, a person who networks and a person who is serious about their business.

 2. Mingle, Reach Out, and Circulate

When you attend networking events, focus on networking, mingling, and getting to know people. What you don’t want to do is spend the bulk of the time sitting and chatting with people whom you work with. If you arrive at the event with colleagues, make a plan with them to get to know new people and compare notes afterwards. You are there to network and meet other people. If you find yourself squirreled up in the corner with people whom you know, find a way to extract yourself so that you can mingle and meet new people.

When you are networking with new people there are a few things to consider. It is best to connect with fewer people and go deeper than it is to connect with more people on a surface level.

If you find yourself speaking with someone and there seems to be a good connection and you get a sense that continuing the conversation would be a good use of time, spend more time with that person. However, you don’t want to keep him or her from connecting with other people. You may want to check in with this new contact to see if he or she would like to continue the conversation or would prefer to circulate and perhaps get together for lunch or coffee later in the week. At that time you can take the relationship to the next level.

If you are in a group of two or three people and they are gossiping or speaking negatively or for whatever reason you don’t feel that there is good synergy, find a reason to extract yourself. You can simply say, “I’ve enjoyed our conversation. I’m going to go mingle; let’s connect up later.”  Then just politely remove yourself and find another group to connect with.

 3. Listen More Than You Speak

When you connect with someone, you don’t want to start the conversation telling them all about you and your products and then give them your card and tell them to visit your Web site. That person will throw your card away. Instead, when you connect with someone, ask them to tell you about themselves. You can say, “So, tell me about your business? Have you been in town a long time? Aside from business, what do you enjoy doing? If you could do anything with your time, what would you do?”  Find out about them because you might be able to make a connection for them. If, for example, they tell you that they love boating or sky-diving and you know someone on the other side of the room that shares the same passion, you can make a wonderful introduction. Then you’ll become known as a connector and this will be another way for you to add value. This will also deepen your relationships with these people because they will realize that you are not all about business but that you are also very committed to building relationships. Increase your likeability factor and become known as a person of value before you try to “get” business from your network. It’s more important to sell your network on you than on your product.

 Stay tuned as later this week I share three more in-person networking tips. Thank you Reno for having me as a guest blogger on your site and for participating in the Blog World Tour.

D’vorah Lansky, M.Ed.
Relationship Marketing Wizard
Join us on the Blog World Tour at – www.BlogWorldTour.com/blog

One of the challenges of meeting a hundred new people and blogging about them is the time it takes to do the blogging, which I am bit behind on.  Today I would like to introduce you to Joe Baldwin who I met at a recent alternative transportation event at Uncommon Ground Restaurant on Devon in Chicago. Uncommon Ground has monthly ecofriendly events and great food. In 2009 I had the opportunity to present a networking presentation here to the Edgewater Chamber of Commerce.  A side bonus of attending this event was that I encountered and old friend (and his son), who I have not seen in about ten years. This is the other nice aspect of getting out and networking in person. You get a chance to meet new people and open yourself to the random possibility of reacquainting with lost contacts.

Joe Baldwin is an ecoartist working on his Master of Fine Art (MFA). His project is an artistic installation he has dubbed “mobile garden”. The realization is a garden on a flatbed elevated train car attached to a random train and pulled around the city. The idea is to bring joy and an element of spontaneity to Chicago rapid transit riders. Joe tells me that this project concept elicits a good deal of strong reaction, which is an essential element of any work of art. It’s whimsical but Joe hopes that the project will encourage people to think about nature in an urban environment. The CTA has approved the proposal under the condition that Joe’s 501( c)(3) organization “noisivelvet” raise the $400,000 necessary to make it happen. You can learn more about this project at www.noisivelvet.com .

 I would be remiss if I did not comment on Joe’s marketing postcard and business card. Joe has one of those 7mm by 3mm business cards that I am not very fond of. These are popular with those who want to make the statement “This is a new card for a new generation” or “I’m a unique trail blazer with a hip different kind of card” or “I’m a non conformist”. Any of which is fine with me but I maintain that a business card by definition is 2 inches by 3.5 inches. This is the space we must “conform” to. This is the challenge of business card design – - to be creative within a prescribed space. Why? Because it is practical. If people could start printing any size and call it a business card what would stop someone from printing an 8 by 10 inch business card? At this point they would become an impractical random lot of paper that would be hard to manage and they would loose their unique advantage of being uniform and convenient. IMO this is not the place to declare your individuality as you simply conform to a new proposed standard. Finally, sorry Joe but I must point out you are lacking a URL on your postcard. I think it is much more likely today that someone would go to your website and send a donation via paypal than send a check. I suggest you buy a nice ecofriendly rubberstamp and bottle of soy ink and rectify that situation ASAP!

Joe Baldwin person number 65 was fun, interesting and thought provoking. What do you think of this idea?

The surest way to grow your business is by expanding your network and improving your business relationships.

Expanding your network begins by simply meeting more people. In the broadest sense meeting anyone is better than not meeting any new people. Of course depending on your business you want to begin to refine your networking outreach so that you are maximizing your time investment by reaching higher value targets. Higher value targets are obviously those individuals with whom you have the potential to have a direct business relationship. But in the beginning go for quantity until you begin to understand how to find the quality contacts you require. 

If your business is broad such as providing self-improvement or personal services like a salon, spa, fitness center or food and entertainment services virtually everyone you meet is a potential client or in a position to recommend you to someone. Be sure all of your contacts understand what you have to offer and be sure they know how to contact you. Your business card is the best device to be sure that everyone you meet has your contact information. Likewise be sure to collect their contact information so that you can follow-up with them as well. Getting new business requires that you be proactive and reach out to your network on a regular periodic basis. People’s needs change. They may not require your product or service today but when the opportunity arises you want to be sure you are the person they perceive to be their solution provider. 

Put yourself in a position to meet as many new people as you can. There are plenty of ideas on this blog to help you find new ways to meet people. When you are beginning your networking campaign a broad approach is fine. As you network pay attention to what activities are yielding the best results and repeat or seek more of those activities. If your market is narrow a general business networking meeting may not yield the best return on time invested. You might be better off investing your time at industry specific or business to business events.  However action is always better than inaction because though you can try to make a good guess often it is very difficult to see where your next opportunity lies. 

Networking is not just about building one-to-one relationships. Networking also implies reaching into other people’s network. Imagine a spider web. There are many pathways available to reach any point on the web. In the same way a person you meet might be the person who is the conduit to where you are trying to get. Simply stated a personal introduction to the decision maker you are trying to reach by someone in your network is the fastest and most effective way to make a valuable contact. Take time to understand the people you know by trying to understand who they know. 

It’s impractical to ask everyone you meet for a list of people they know (though services like LinkedIn can be very helpful).  But by being sure new contacts understand what you have to offer then communicating to them that you are happy to have them pass the word or introduce you to someone they think might benefit from your product or service, you expand your reach significantly and immediately. Remember this is a two way street so be sure to do the same for them. In fact lead by example, when you see a good fit offer to help make a connection. 

Next week I’ll blog a little about the next step which is relationship building. For now just keep in mind you cannot build relationships until you have a network of people that you know. Knowing people is valuable. It is your social capital. Earn as much as you can then invest it wisely.