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Two weeks ago I was at the Referral Institute International Coneference in Scottsdale, AZ.  It occurs to me that in addition to learning new stuff, revisiting stuff I already knew, and get motivated and re-energized, I also had a plain old good time.  Who doesn’t like to travel, hang out with old friends, and relax a bit?  Especially in a beautiful part of our great country.  And to do it AND make an investment in my personal and professional development is a real bonus.

I work with business owners and observe a reluctance in that community to invest in themselves.  Most do not have a budget of time and money for reading, seminars, and conferences.  We’re always too busy and have too many other projects to spend our money on. 

There’s really little need for a diatribe here.  We all pretty well know it’s wise to learn, get inspired, and associate with people in our business or similar circumstance.  So, it’s still early in the year.  Check your budget and calendar for opportunities to make that investment. 

I need to sit down and share a few of the ideas I picked up at the conference.  There were 21 authors on the topic of referral marketing and sales in attendance.  Think there was any hot scoop being passed?

Biznik has launch a new networking feature today: video profiles.

If you have been on my monthly technology webinar then you know we use EyeJot.com to instantly record and send video emails. Now Biznik has teamed up with Eyejot.com to offer Active and Supporting subscribers up to 5 minutes of video, all from within your profile on Biznik. No need for editing software. No need to shoot first and upload later. No need to cut and paste the link from Youtube. All you need is a computer with a video camera and they’ll take care of the rest.

Watch this two-minute video to see how it works:

Dan McComb, founder of Biznik says, “As far as I know, Biznik is the first online business networking community to include recordable video from within profiles. LinkedIn didn’t even give users the ability to upload photos to their profiles until last September, so don’t hold your breath on seeing video there any time soon.”

Stay tuned …

Congratulations to our friend and Referral Institute colleague Hazel Walker for being the second most popular profile on the BNI company profile on Linkedin.

If you haven’t heard about the new Company Profile feature on Linkedin - Click Here to read their blog.

Now back to Hazel. She has demonstrated the power of participation in Linkedin. Through her use of a well crafted profile, adding strategic connections and asking and answering questions in Linkedin Answers, she is living up to her title as Queen of Networking. Only Dr Ivan Misner, Founder and Chairman of BNI ranks as more popular.

Way to set the example Hazel!

I was thinking this morning that what the world needs is more Haiku. It’s just hard to find places where you can get a good dose of Haiku when you need it. So to help increase Haiku opportunities and fill a glaring void, I’d like to talk about the benefits of Haiku and, hopefully encourage you to access your inner self enough for you to express your thoughts and stimulate contemplation.

Actually, what set this all off was an article written by Chris Finney that appeared recently in the Non-Profit Quarterly, entitled “Mission Haiku: the Poetry of Mission Statements”. Before you check off the net, please stay with me a little longer.

We’ve all struggled with trying to create a mission and vision statement that didn’t sound trite, lame, wordy, and that expressed the passion we felt for our business. Usually, however, these statements come off as trite, lame, and wordy and we figure, “close enough”. I’ve worked with a few hundred folks (myself included) and getting something down that really hits the spot is not easy.

So Chris Finney comes up with the idea of doing your mission statement in Haiku. Read his article for more detail on the topic.

Basically, poetry is a form of communication that requires focus and concentrates thought into a few, well-considered words. That being true, Haiku ups the ante and only allows three lines of poetry and 17 syllables. Talk about having to be concise, clear, and to the point! Even if your Haiku isn’t world class (read on), it is a great exercise in condensing your mission into a few well-chosen words. You’ll come out with a few lines that express the essence of what you do.

Here are 2 attempts:

RPM Advisors-

Helping businesses

Identify and connect

With target markets

DISC-

Understanding self

Observing others

Paths to new relationships

Certainly not stuff that will bring tears or flashes of enlightenment. However, it made me consider the essence of my business, stripping away all the other “important” stuff I’m afraid to omit. The same stuff that confuses others (and myself) about the core of what I really do.

So give it a try. You may feel a little stretched by the exercise but that’s a good thing, isn’t it?

Some weeks ago I wrote about the idea of socially responsible business (SRB) as it pertains to small businesses.  I’d like to revisit that topic as well as the closely related idea of community responsible businesses (CRB). 

Recently, I became involved in the publication of a small advertising paper called Coffee News.  I got interested because I wanted to learn more about print advertising and how it fits into the media mix for small businesses.  I’ve learned a lot. 

 There are a number of schools of thought on ad copy and lay-out, particularly for small budget efforts.  (Bring up Glazer-Kennedy with folks in the advertising business and the fun begins.)  One thing most folks will tell you is that Coffee News breaks a lot of the rules when it comes to copy and design.  But being around for 20 years and publishing in 20 countries should put a lot of the controversy to bed.  Ranking 68 in the Entrepreneur Magazine Top 500 Franchises (number 1 in its category) ain’t bad either. 

But back to SRB/CRB’s.  I’ve been going around asking for permission to place CN in local businesses.  I have been surprised at the number of businesses, especially large franchise companies, that refuse to allow local papers and advertising publications in their establishments. 

Some of these large companies spend big parts of their budgets trying to position themselves as “your local …”.  Think about McDonald’s, Applebee’s, and the homey, friendly face other franchises try to paint on themselves.  Yet they won’t help their neighbors, who patronize them and bring traffic to the area, to advertise and promote their business. 

These local advertising publications are very geographically oriented, contributing to local commerce and creating local retail hubs around a strip mall or stretch of road.  As these mini-economies prosper, each of the members of the local business community prospers, as well. 

Starbucks recently recognized their role in the local community and how important is is for them to be seen as supporting local business.  President and Chief Executive Orin Smith emailed his employees “…that free publications are an important part of our coffeehouse culture and that they provide a connection to the communities in which we live and work.”  Having been attacked and criticized as the corporate giant driving out the Mom and Pop coffee shops,  positioning themselves as local-business-friendly through a gesture as simple as allowing local, independent publications to be placed in their shops seems like the proverbial no-brainer. 

Yet so many businesses miss the point.  For the sake of a pristine, corporate look, they forgo the benefits that attach to being seen as a part of the community and a friend to their neighbors. 

 Whatcha think?

Something looks surprisingly familiar here?

Social networking site Facebook appears to have had strong influence on the new Linkedin homepage. The new left sidebar and tabs along the top of the window are a reflection of the popular Facebook UI without all of the nonsense non-business clutter common to many most Facebook pages.

One update to the site is “status” messages to indicate current activity, similar to that found in Facebook. However, in an effort remain business-like, you can only set your status to “(Your name) is working on…,” “will be traveling to,” “is looking for advice on,” “is looking for a job,” or “is reading.” THese restrictions are designed to be informative without being whimsical.

Another welcomed addition are the customizable “modules” that gather information from your networks of contacts. There’s an “Answers” module to show what questions have been asked recently by your contacts, a “People” module to offer potential new contacts, and a “Jobs” module to show what opportunities are available in your network.

Finally, to view the official Linkedin presentation of these new features, click on over to the Linkedin Blog.

This weekend, Linkedin announced the Mobile version of their site. This will allow all mobile device users with internet browsers access to select features on LinkedIn. It is live now. Just go to http://m.linkedin.com/ on any mobile browser. Of course, if you have an iPhone, you will see a version optimized just for that device. The stripped-down site offers a search bar, and the ability to view contacts, updates, and your own profile. You can invite other members from your phone.

Why is this important to business networking?

Imagine you are at a Chamber of Commerce afterhours and meet someone with whom you want to build a relationship with. Now, instead of exchanging business cards and having to remember the following morning to invite them to connect with you via Linkedin, you can simply go to http://m.linkedin.com/, click on the “invite” link and key in their email address. Linkedin does the rest. The following morning they will have an email waiting for them to accept your invitation and you will receive one back after they have accepted. Elegant. Simple. Way Cool.

Linkedin CEO, Dan Nye, said in a statement that “many of these professionals are on the move, attending conferences, sales meetings and client events. Making LinkedIn available on mobile devices responds to both these business realities and will be great for our users.”

For more details, check out the Linkedin Corporate Blog or this YouTube video:

Last month’s question asked “Do you have a marketing budget?”  Over 60% answered that they did.  That’s good news.  Having a plan is an important first step to achieving your goals.   Reviewing your plan and making sure you are following it is the challenge.  What kind of accountability process do you use?  do you have a peer coach, a business coach, or do you track results regularly through a budget or tracking sheet?  What works for you? 

Are you in the 60% or the 40%? 

Here is another great post from our friend & referral partner Hazel Walker:

Have you updated your Referral Partners GAINS Profile for 2008? You may want to set that as a top priority for the first quarter. The G in GAINS stands for Goals, by now most people have their sales goals set. In my last Tip of the Week, I discussed setting your goals for your referral marketing plan. Now it’s time to share those goals with your Referral Partners and make a plan to help each other achieve those goals.

Action steps;
Set up one to ones with each of your Referral Partners. Remind them to bring their goals and their calendars with them.
Take your goals and your calendar with you to the meeting.
Share you goals with your Referral Partner
Find out their goals
Now, come up with one or two strategies that you can do to help each other achieve the goals that are most important.
Open your calendar and set dates for accomplishment of those strategies
Schedule your next follow up meeting.
Be consistent, check in with each other regularly, the more you help someone else get what they want the stronger you build the relationship that will get you want you want. “Givers Gain”

Hazel Walker is a Master Trainer for the Referral Institute, Executive Director for BNI Indiana, a member of the National Speakers Association, as well as a coach, mentor, and author. She can be reached at hazel@bni.com or 317-891-0355.

I picked up a book last week, The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott. It set my hair on fire! I’ll get on that topic another time, (not the hair, the book) but right now I want to comment on something that kept coming to mind while I was reading. That is, how people use the terms “word of mouth marketing”, “referral marketing”, and “networking” when talking about obtaining leads. I’ll add another that I like better, “relationship marketing”. (That may be redundant, because marketing is about creating and maintaining relationships.)

The term that kept coming to mind is “word of mouth”. The reason is, most of the business people I talk with seek the holy grail: referrals.

And so they “network”. They ask for referrals. They rely on “word of mouth”.

And this is where we are falling short.

Most of our word of mouth comes from our own mouths. There has been a lot written and said about developing referrals through building networks and developing relationships. Heck, that’s my specialty and I’ve learned from some of the best in the business, as well as through the school of hard knocks. But the old referral guru, Dr. Ivan Misner, said it a long time ago: word of mouth marketing. (He even created a marketing plan called the WOMBAT Plan.) But it was lost on me, like I suspect it is lost on most sales and business people. I got caught up in the tactics, the getting referrals.

Networking and building referral relationships are only one of the aspects of marketing by building word of mouth. Check out Dr. Misner’s World’s Best Known Marketing Secret and David Scott’s books and learn about creating WOM. Dr. Misner’s focused on the fundamentals of good, old fashioned, hit the streets WOM; and Scott’s high tech, changing everyday, got to keep up, cutting edge version. Both approaches valid, one a part of the other. The basic elements are the same: market, motivation, message. They just offer different media.