How to Network at Business Conferences - Some Tips to Get Your Company Started

We are about to embark on the peak conference season here in Boston with Inbound 2019, MarTech AI World, and various technology conferences invading our amazing city this fall.    Between all of the conferences and with the thousands of college students coming into town, Boston will be bustling!

So far, when we have provided business networking tips in our recent blogs, we have focused mostly on the attendees at networking events such as our own Mass Professional Networking events.  The way attendees go about networking at events versus companies networking at large conferences are similar but there are some differences.  The reason is at some conferences, your company may be netowrking a future client or business partner, but instead be networking with your competition.    From a 1-on-1 networking perspective, always remember that even if the person you are talking to may be your competitor, it is all about their connections, or in other words, the 2nd level connection.  Be open to discussion, be honest and up front, since you never know what the future may bring.

What I like to do now, is provide some tips for companies & sales personnel in particular on how to network at larger conferences.   The key is to engage in deep, meaningful discussions with executives from target accounts that lead to bonafide sales opportunities.

1)  Leverage Introductions from the Conference Hosts

Conference organizers maintain lists of attendees and speakers, however not all conference organizers share this information.   A way around this is to get on a sponsor list since the conference marketing personnel can introduce sponsors with attendees and you will have an easier time build your warm market and building your prospect's trust.

2)  Come Prepared - Bring the Right Stuff

Large conference offer companies in particular sponsors an opportunity to demonstrate their wares and how they can help attendees when intermingling at the networking event within the conference.   If you have access to any of your company's white papers, case studies or blogs, be ready to share with people you meet.    Don't wait to send that follow-up email.  Learn how to share information right from your device to someone on the spot.  It can open up discussion immediately.

3) Use All Networking Opportunities at the Conference

Do not retreat back to the hotel or some coffee shop to check emails during breaks or at the end of the conference day.   Depending on how the conference is organized, there are typically multiple opportunities for meeting and speaking with potential clients.  Some example of events are pre-event breakfasts, conference breaks, after conference mixers.  Some quick advice at the after conference mixer, go easy on the wine and beer, since you are setting an example of your company.

4) Utilize the Event's Mobile Application to Connect with Attendees

Most event organizers provide mobile apps for all sponsors and attendees to use to track the agenda, rate sessions, follow registered attendees on Linkedin and to see who is actively checked into the event.  This provides companies, in particularly sponsors another avenue to connect with and promote their brand to attendees and potential target accounts.

5)  Get Involved and Engage on the Keynote and Panel Topics

One of the best ways to break the ice with conference attendees and target accounts is by talking about aspects of keynote addresses or panel discussions given during the event.  It is a terrific way to make instant connections with attendees.   If you have a blog about the event or a particular session, promote it to the people you met at the event and offer your insight.  It builds trust with your new connection.

Finally, a bonus tip.  Smile and be friendly and put your phone down and be social.  That email can wait.   Networking is the #1 most effective sales tool today, so when you are at a conference, be visible, be helpful and most of all, have fun.

The Unfranchise Business System - What is it all about?

The Unfranchise Business is a SYSTEM.  It’s a system because the sum of it’s whole is much greater than the individual parts or components that make up the Unfranchise Business.  Now that may just sound like a “cliché”, but it is the way you need to consider the value of the business. 

It’s called a business, yet it’s really designed as a financial planning system to generate income and wealth, similar to more traditional financial plans like a 401k or stock/mutual fund investment.  Most people understand the concept of investing or saving for the future so when you stop working and earning money, you have a financial plan that will provide you with cash flow to live your life.  That’s the purpose for the Unfranchise Business System.

The difference between the Unfranchise Business System and the other Financial Planning Systems is the source of the funding that powers them.  With all the other financial plans, you must take any discretionary income (money left over after taxes – paying bills – spending money on “things) and investing your money in the financial plan of your choice.  The money other people invest in their own financial plans has no impact on your financial plan.  You often pay someone or a company to manage your invested money which reduces the returns and value of your investment .  You also are at the mercy of the ever-changing market fluctuations that cause the value of your hard-earned money to rise and fall without you controlling it.  The person “managing” your investment makes money just by you giving it to them to invest as a % of it’s value and when they buy or sell components of your portfolio.  They can make money whether your investment goes up or down – it’s based on transaction fees of buying and selling.

The Unfranchise Business System has a totally unique way to fund the financial growth and cash flow it generates.  We all spend money on the activities we do and the things we spend money on in order to survive.  This “spending” is the source of funding for the Unfranchise Business System.  To make the System even more powerful to create exponential growth without needing to make or spend more money yourself, the Unfranchise Business uses collaborative digital aggregation technology (think a Large Buying Group)  to combine the spending of other people together to be the source of the funding for this financial plan. 

It’s the most powerful System to grow an investment without needing large sums of discretionary income to create an ongoing residual income – the purpose of all the other financial plans we have discussed.  It’s available to everyone.  In fact, everyone is already doing what is required to make this Financial Planning System work – they spend money and know other people that do the same.  So why do some people struggle with this incredible concept?

There may be numerous reasons, but the one being highlighted in this document is simply how people think of this System compared to the other things they are more familiar with.  When people initially learn of something new, they usually try to compare it to something they already know and then assess the differences between them.  This seems rational and helps people to comprehend a new concept.  The issue is that the Unfranchise Business System is not like any other system that has ever been created or available to people.  BUT – it has components of it that are similar to other things people are familiar with.  This is what prevents some people from grasping the full value of the Unfranchise Business System.

The first thing this document presented was that the sum value of the Unfranchise Business System was greater than the individual components of the business.  If a person can’t or won’t come to trust and believe in this concept, they will struggle with understanding it and making it work for them.  It requires an open mind and willingness to learn something new – not always an easy thing.

Let’s take a look at the two most common components of the Unfranchise Business System that people usually compare to things they are familiar with:

1)    On-line Shopping

2)    Buying personal use & consumption products

Many people are now familiar with Amazon.com – the leader in on-line shopping.  Amazon.com has done a fantastic job of creating a method of shopping that people use for a variety of products.  They have a desirable delivery system, attractive pricing, and a large breadth of products to purchase. 

Shop.com is the On-line Shopping component of the Unfranchise Business System.  It has a large breadth of products to purchase, enables people to shop from the exact stores and brands they like, flexible delivery options from the stores, offers quick local pick-up, and includes deals on may things including travel -hotels - food, AND it pays customers Cashback on their purchases.  For Unfranchise Owners, it creates an income stream from these purchases based on a unique collaborative commission program.

So, what’s the issue?  First, we do not try to compare the Unfranchise Business System to Amazon.com.  They are totally different things for completely different purposes.  Amazon.com is a way to buy things.  Shop.com is one component of the Unfranchise Business System that creates an ongoing residual income – a financial plan.  Why would someone compare the two?  Because shopping online is something they are familiar with so it’s natural to focus on what they are comfortable with and avoid what they are not – the full concept of the Unfranchise Business System.  If all you are looking for is a well-known and efficient shopping site – Amazon.com is a great option.  It just will never create an ongoing income from the money you, or anyone else, spends buying things. Unless your Jeff Bezos.  He is the richest man in the world because he is working his business system for his personal financial gain from your spending.  The Unfranchise Business System puts you in a system that creates wealth for you.

As for the direct comparison between Amazon.com and Shop.com, I have found that sometimes Amazon.com has better pricing and delivery options on specific items and sometimes Shop.com has better pricing.  But that’s not the point.  That’s why we do not spend time trying to win this argument.  Amazon.com simply can not come close to what the Unfranchise Business System – with Shop.com as one component can provide people – Time & Financial Freedom.

The second main area people make a direct comparison is buying personal use & consumption products.  The Unfranchise Business System has a Product Brokerage component that offers Market America branded products in a variety of large personal use & consumption markets.  Most people already purchase products in these markets.  The make buying decisions based on a brand they like, pricing, or from recommendations they receive from other people.  They are very familiar with many of these products, so it is natural to want to compare the MA Branded products to the other ones they have can purchase.  This is another area where people may experience a challenge embracing the Unfranchise Business System.

A portion of the products that people by often are more of a commodity in nature.  It may be dish soap, hand soap, laundry detergent, cleaning solutions, toothpaste, deodorant, etc…  Ok – every brand and company do their absolute best to use effective Marketing to distinguish their specific product as superior to all others.  While I will admit there can be differences between these commodity-based products, for all intents and purposes – they are mostly very similar.  This includes the Market America branded products as well.  Yes, the MA branded products are designed with optimal formulations and ingredients.  In the end – it’s basically soap, detergent, cleaning solutions, toothpaste, and deodorant. 

The price of the MA branded products are often more expensive than other brands people can buy.  So, if these products we are discussing here (only a small subset of the total products available from Market America) are commodity based, pricing becomes an important factor in the buying decision.  Why should they be priced higher and why should anyone pay for more for them? 

For sake of argument, let’s assume that the MA Branded products are at least “acceptable” compared to other brands.  I’m not going to try and “sell” the advantages of these MA Branded products for a moment.  The reason that people should purchase these products is because they are part of the Unfranchise Business System that creates an ongoing residual income.  Buying these products is like taking discretionary income and putting it into your 401k or other financial plan.  They may cost more because the money you are spending is doing more than just getting you the product to use or consume.  The pricing level is built into the funding requirements for the Unfranchise Business financial planning System.  There needs to be enough profitability built into each products price to be able to fund your financial plan and all the other Unfranchise Owners you are digitally connected to.  You will make much more than the pricing differences.

When you really look at the issue from a financial planning perspective, the Unfranchise Business System has advantages that no other online shopping site, cheaper brands of products, or financial plan can come close to delivering.  No one creates wealth by buying products from Amazon.com – even if they are cheaper.  No one saves their way to Time & Financial Freedom by buying the cheapest products they can find.  You can’t save your way to residual income.  You need leverage and a financial system to create wealth.

The smallest weekly commission check an Unfranchise Owner gets paid is $300.  It is not very challenging to build your business to this level, as long as you actually follow the proven business System that has empowered thousands and thousands of people to earn this and considerably more for over 27 years.  It takes a different mindset.  It’s a new concept that must be embraced in order to make the System work for you.  If you try to take the individual components out of the Unfranchise Business System and make a direct comparison of only the parts individually and not the System as a whole, you are minimizing the value and capability of what the System provides. 

There is much more to the Unfranchise Business than discussed in this blog but without embracing the core concept for the business they won’t matter.  You must first understand and appreciate the whole System in order to develop the vision for how it is superior to all other “Systems” you’re familiar with.  Learn this System and you can create the Time & Financial Freedom you desire.

If interested in learning more, please contact us.

Business Networking 101 - How To Network At An Event

We didn't have "That Green Thing" Back in the Day, or Did We?

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a r azor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the"green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

Leadership. What happened to Leadership in the Corporate World?

There is a lot of talk today about the inequality between the rich and the poor especially in some of the large cities such as Boston, Miami or San Francisco.  The same concept can apply at the typical corporate company.  Corporate executives seem out of touch with their employees.  They are great at reading reports and look at their employees as numbers or even operational expenses versus investments in the future of their company. 

The "workabees", you know the ones that do the day-to-day work, trudge through their day with no inspiration to work hard.  Typically, they would have to look outside of their jobs for inspiration whether it is reading a great book from Tony Robbins or attending an event with entrepreneurs or even through their church.

The problem today is that most executives are simply not exciting.  They wear a suit, drive a BMW, and have no idea what their teams do.   This is a fact.  It hurts and it is blunt, but it is true.  What do you think the problem is?  Do you think they are too busy thinking about EBITDA and not about inspiring their team to be ambitious, think outside of the box and participate in helping their company succeed?   If you said yes, you are right.

There are leaders that set great examples, are extroverts, and are regularly seen "in the trenches" with their team.   The leaders that led those companies experience much higher retention and success in their field.  These leaders write books, network at events and are interested in people, not balance sheets.  They walk the floor and are able to have conversations with anyone on their team and know a thing or two about them outside of work.   This type of relationship goes a long way since the employee feels valued and will do anything for their leader.    Unfortunately,  real leaders are few and far between.

So what do you think the problem is?   Are leaders trained to be authoritative? or to be mentors?  Are they trained to be anything at all?  The missing link is that most executives are simply lacking the communication skills to be able to motivate and adapt to the teams that they run.  These same executives are also run companies that are hurting, going out of business or are getting bought.  There is always constant change, and not for the better.    Talk about no motivation.

As someone that is looking to always be inspired, I suggest using tools like LinkedIn or Glassdoor to see what people are saying about the leadership at their company.  If they feel inspired and valued, then you know it may have something to do with the leadership at that company.   Always remember, a company's success always starts at the top.  Don't waste your time at any company run by out of touch executives.   Make the most of your career with real leaders guided your way to success.

15 Business Networking Tips for Entrepreneurs and Your Career

15 Networking Tips for Entrepreneurs and Your Career

I was not a born business networking professional. But in 2007, after working at Staples in IT for 8 years, I started thinking about my next move. After meeting entrepreneurs at Northeastern University Alumni Networking events, I became interesting in networking and helping others and then became inspired to start my own business.

What I learned is that all entrepreneurs have to network to build their client base.   There is only so much you can do online, so it is time to go offline and get out there.

Here are tips to help you get the most from business networking events.

1 Think of networking as a means of making friends. Your mission is to forge human connections. Some of my best friends today are people I’ve met through networking.

2 Be there to help others. Think about what you can offer in the way of solutions to someone else’s problem. In my health and wellness business, I wait for someone to say, “I feel tired all the time” or “I wish I could lose 10 pounds” before describing my business.

3 Have a plan before you arrive. Note who’s registered online to attend, and read a little about them to grease the conversation. Look for interests you can talk about—sports, current events, their college, where they were born. Steer clear of politics and money. Stay positive. Don’t bring up the latest airline crash or global warming doom and gloom.

4 Craft a 30-second elevator pitch, but never offer it unless you’re asked about what you do. I like to say ‘I do a lot of things. I’m an IT director. I’m also an entrepreneur who oversees social media anddigital marketing for small businesses. I’m a health and wellness coach, too. I do three jobs. I don’t get much sleep!’”

5. Focus on others. I don’t care if you have a winning lottery ticket in your hand, people will shut down if you make you the focus of conversation. Hand out your business card only if people ask for it or express interest in talking further.

6 If you’re apprehensive about networking, bring someone with you who knows the ropes. Pay attention to how they speak to and interact with people to learn what works. They can introduce you and break the ice. Later, invite their candid feedback to help you up your game.

7 If you’re looking for a job, don’t ask about current openings. Instead, learn about a company by asking questions like, “What kinds of new projects is your company working on right now? Tell me about your organization. What are the major issues or pain points in your industry?” You can then say, “Oh yes, we’ve had that same challenge. Here’s what we did.” In that way, you can promote your experience and expertise.

8 After 5 or 10 minutes, move on. You’re there to meet new people, so save an in-depth conversation later.

9 Follow up—the most important part of networking. After an event, connect with that person on social media. I invite people to “LinkedIN,” especially if they’re an Northeastern grad. Then I’ll propose a face-to-face meeting in a neutral place, such as a coffee shop.

10 Strive to build trust. Networking is like dating, only for business. People won’t do business with you unless they trust you, so listen carefully about what they do and need. As they say in sales, it takes 7 touches before you have a transaction, so take pains to lay the grounds for a relationship.

11 Network when you don’t need to network. Make networking a habit—a routine part of your life. Networking is a numbers game. Finding new clients is largely a function of how many people you know.  Don’t wait until you’re desperate for new clients or a job.

12 On LinkedIn, don’t underestimate the importance of your second-level connections. No matter how many first-level connections you may have, you’ll have many more second-level ties.

13 Be choosy about who you LinkedIn with. Your connections should mean something. Beware of “LIONs,” short for LinkedIn Open Networkers. Numbers are all they care about.

14 If you’re tongue-tied, consider joining Toastmasters. I used to be an “ummm” person. I knew that to be able to do my sales pitch, I had to practice. After giving speeches and presentations at Toastmasters, a support group where you learn public speaking, you can wing a conversation about practically anything.

15 Enjoy your widening circle of contacts. Networking opened my mind to opportunities I’d never thought of before. It can do the same for you.

AIMC Health Tip - #Fitness - What To Do With A Couple of Dumbbells 2019 ...