This week at our local networking meeting, I was discussing with some of members how quickly we have grown. Just a year ago, we were a regular group of about five members. Then we grew to fifteen and averaged to twenty for a few months straight. I predicted then, as the economy began to take a downward turn, that we would be growing immensley as more and more people would begin to realize the importance of doing something that made them stand out and creating realtionships to maximize their personal and business growth.
This past three weeks, we have grown again. We maintained an average of thirty regulars before the holidays. As the new year began, we are having numbers in excess of fifty regular attendees, and new members every week. In fact, we have grown so much, that we have to lock our door as fire regulations will not allow us to take anymore people. This has its pros and cons, of course. The pro's far outweigh the negatives.
Interestingly enough, we do not 'follow the rules' of the standard networking groups. We only recently adopted an agenda to accomodate the large numbers. Up until now, we have concentrated on unique ways for us to grow as individuals and in our businesses by putting each other first, and maintaining a sense of community and family. We do not pass out cards for leads and are done with it. We do have speakers each week, but they are our own members so that we learn more about each other on an personal basis. This one facet alone, has enabled each of us to make deeper relationships and referrals based on trust. In fact, most of us have used each others services and provide testimonials to each other through our personal experiences. After all, it is a lot easier to say, "I have a friend who I went to for ... and they were amazing!" than, "I have this guy I met at a meeting - I have his card". Which one would you pick? Thought so.
Anyway, apparently we are getting noticed. We have had local newspapers advertise and visit our group (secretly!), people talking about us on Facebook and other networking groups, etc. In fact, we even have some local celebrities talking about us in their blogs! The point is, if you want to bounce back from all this negative crap about the economy and how 'hard life is', and blah, blah, blah...get up and do something about it! Use your head and think, and then use your body and get out and move. If you don't, call us, we have some great referrals for business liquidators.
I leave you with a blog entry from Mary Gardner. Mary Gardner is the President and Founder of Lifestyles Communications, Inc. based in Winter Park , FL. She is a consultant and coach to leaders, executives, sales professionals and entrepreneurs from all over the country. Here's her post....
Marketing The NEW Way!
News Flash! Things are NOT business as usual!
My friends who go to networking events are sharing with me that their networking groups are up by a ton! My friend Tim who started COFFEEVENT on meetup.com, a networking group around Orlando told me that the numbers are up 55% since December. Wow! Way to go Tim! It’s a great service you’re providing.
People have obviously jumped in and are not taking the recession sitting down. They realize that their long time customers aren’t buying the volume that they were or have cut down entirely, and are now out looking for new customers. Many are adding new services or adding something new and unique to their offerings, and are putting in longer hours and offering better customer service than ever.
I read recently that if you want to be noticed, that your product or service really has to be something out of the ordinary, and do what others won’t. Businesses that are growing, are answering a need in the marketplace and not requiring their customers to buy in large quantities, and the old rules aren’t necessarily applying to today. Just take a trip to the mall and realize that so many businesses are going out of business so the ones that are surviving are doing something unique, new or different.
No one can afford to be the same as usual anymore.
Still, people are buying. If you take a trip out to Disney World or Universal, people are still partying and enjoying life. Perhaps many of the people pre-purchased these vacations like a lot of the experts said, or maybe they just needed a break from the constant stress that now surrounds each of us with the financial woes of our country.
Businesses are now spending more money on marketing and that’s where we are able to help. We’re now sending out mailings for numerous businesses and helping them be seen over all of the others.
Bartering is also a great new avenue that people are tapping into. Ask yourself, what services can you barter? This is the time to FIND something, because if things continue, it might come in handy to have something valuable to barter. Check out Craigs list to see the many people who are bartering services and products.
For those of you who are finding business in new and unique places.. way to go. Drop a note and let me know where you’re finding it and what you’re doing that’s new and unique.
Don’t take this recession sitting down. Don’t roll over and play dead! Get in the game, be seen and get excited. Our creativity can flow when we absolutely HAVE to come up with a new solution!
If you need a jump start on your creativity, a great book is Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Or check ezinearticles.com on how to jump start your creativity!
Get those juices flowing…and who knows.. you might strike gold!
Mary Gardner, Winter Park www.marygardner.com
Showing posts with label networking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label networking. Show all posts
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, September 29, 2008
Facebook = Business Growth = Law of Attraction
I have had so many comments about my last blog post on Facebook and my interviews, that I thought I would share some of my own ‘quantum leaps’ with regard to my business. I was sharing some of my stories last week at one my networking meetings, and I was surprised that so many small business owners do not use Facebook because they are ‘not comfortable’ with it, or don’t know how to use it for their business. Hence this post and my group presentation planned later this week in Oviedo. First, here is a stat that not everyone is aware of – there are over 80 million + users on Facebook. From a marketing perspective alone – even if you do not understand social networking – that’s huge! People all over the world can get to see who you are, what you stand for, and what your business/products are. That means, that if someone in the UK makes a connection with you by simply seeing you in a group or listed as a friend of one of their friends – you have increased your exposure. Business development is based upon exposure – but more importantly – it is about creating relationships, developing trust, creating lasting positive memories in the minds of others, and providing value for others. With social marketing, in particular, using Facebook, people can read all about you, see you and what you are interested in, see what you have to offer, and talk to you – all without getting out of their pj’s.
Being a coach, author and educator, I work and live the law of attraction or success principles everyday in every aspect of my life. Facebook is the law of attraction in action. I am member of various groups that are of importance to me, so people who are in the same groups want to connect to share ideas. I have clients and resources online that I could never build (ie: book distributors overseas) normally by working from home in such an easy manner. I shared this story last Wednesday with my networking group to show them the power behind social networking.
The previous Monday, I was on a teleconference about marketing. I am familiar with Facebook as I use it almost daily to talk with my family and friends back home in Canada. I used it to send messages about my first book launch to those who wanted to buy my book back home over a year ago. My friends list has constantly grown as people whom I’ve never met read my book and wanted to know more about me.
As the call continued, I was looking through Facebook at the same time. I recently had a woman befriend me who was a life coach. The new Facebook (just recently changed its look) does not always allow you to read someone’s profile until a friendship has been confirmed. As I was now taking the time to find out more about this woman, her friend’s list was on the page, and one particular pic stood out. The lady in the picture looked like Jennifer Anniston. I clicked on it ( I always trust my intuition) and I told her how I had found her picture and how she reminded me of Rachel from the TV show, Friends. She quickly emailed me back and said that she was a life coach too, and apologized for typos as she was holding her newborn in the other arm. I answered that I had written my first book the same way. We had an instant connection. The conversation continued, and after she asked about my book, she went to Amazon, ordered it, and offered to promote it on her e-zine. Then she added me to her friends list. Up until this point, I could not read anything about her, but we had a great time talking and I was tickled pink that she was interested in my book as well. When I did receive her friend confirmation and reviewed her profile, ‘Jeanna’ turned out to be ‘Jeanna Gabellini’ , one of the Best-Selling Authors of Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life, with Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Eva Gregory. What do you think of that? I had goose bumps for days. For me as an author, I was humbled, flattered, and unbelievably excited at the connection. But, that is what the law of attraction is about and that is what Facebook is about. Now, from a business perspective, what do you think Jeanna’s offer to help by putting my book in her e-zine means for my business? You do the math on that one – my head is still buzzing. The same thing happened two days later with another person…different circumstances and story – but another huge quantum leap. That is another blog post for another day.
The key of importance is to remember something about social networking sites – they are for social networking. I specialize in relationship marketing and my main tip and warning is always the same – people like people – not products. My experiences are amazing, but they happen because I practice etiquette online and offline. If the relationships and trust is there, then maybe I will mention what I do. You know what to say when you are a party to new people – remember the same guidelines online as well.
NOTE: if you are in Central Florida and want to know more about this…the presentation I referred to will be this Wednesday, October 1/08 at the Daily Grind Unwind Coffee shop on 3100 Alafaya Drive. Our networking group is known as COFFEEEVENT on Meetup.com. you are more than welcome to join us. We start at 9:10.
Being a coach, author and educator, I work and live the law of attraction or success principles everyday in every aspect of my life. Facebook is the law of attraction in action. I am member of various groups that are of importance to me, so people who are in the same groups want to connect to share ideas. I have clients and resources online that I could never build (ie: book distributors overseas) normally by working from home in such an easy manner. I shared this story last Wednesday with my networking group to show them the power behind social networking.
The previous Monday, I was on a teleconference about marketing. I am familiar with Facebook as I use it almost daily to talk with my family and friends back home in Canada. I used it to send messages about my first book launch to those who wanted to buy my book back home over a year ago. My friends list has constantly grown as people whom I’ve never met read my book and wanted to know more about me.
As the call continued, I was looking through Facebook at the same time. I recently had a woman befriend me who was a life coach. The new Facebook (just recently changed its look) does not always allow you to read someone’s profile until a friendship has been confirmed. As I was now taking the time to find out more about this woman, her friend’s list was on the page, and one particular pic stood out. The lady in the picture looked like Jennifer Anniston. I clicked on it ( I always trust my intuition) and I told her how I had found her picture and how she reminded me of Rachel from the TV show, Friends. She quickly emailed me back and said that she was a life coach too, and apologized for typos as she was holding her newborn in the other arm. I answered that I had written my first book the same way. We had an instant connection. The conversation continued, and after she asked about my book, she went to Amazon, ordered it, and offered to promote it on her e-zine. Then she added me to her friends list. Up until this point, I could not read anything about her, but we had a great time talking and I was tickled pink that she was interested in my book as well. When I did receive her friend confirmation and reviewed her profile, ‘Jeanna’ turned out to be ‘Jeanna Gabellini’ , one of the Best-Selling Authors of Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction: 7 Essential Ingredients for Living a Prosperous Life, with Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Eva Gregory. What do you think of that? I had goose bumps for days. For me as an author, I was humbled, flattered, and unbelievably excited at the connection. But, that is what the law of attraction is about and that is what Facebook is about. Now, from a business perspective, what do you think Jeanna’s offer to help by putting my book in her e-zine means for my business? You do the math on that one – my head is still buzzing. The same thing happened two days later with another person…different circumstances and story – but another huge quantum leap. That is another blog post for another day.
The key of importance is to remember something about social networking sites – they are for social networking. I specialize in relationship marketing and my main tip and warning is always the same – people like people – not products. My experiences are amazing, but they happen because I practice etiquette online and offline. If the relationships and trust is there, then maybe I will mention what I do. You know what to say when you are a party to new people – remember the same guidelines online as well.
NOTE: if you are in Central Florida and want to know more about this…the presentation I referred to will be this Wednesday, October 1/08 at the Daily Grind Unwind Coffee shop on 3100 Alafaya Drive. Our networking group is known as COFFEEEVENT on Meetup.com. you are more than welcome to join us. We start at 9:10.
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