Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... or maybe just in the eye of the person paying attention at the time?
It's only fitting that on February 29, we explore why some events only happen every four years.
Do you know what it is? Your Salespeople know the answer.
I woke up this morning and came across this on my Facebook Newsfeed...
(Hartford, Conn., Oct. 30, 2015) – reSET, the Social Enterprise Trust, (www.SocialEnterpriseTrust.org), whose mission is advancing the social enterprise sector, revealed the winners of its annual Impact Challenge last night at The Society Room of Hartford to a record, sellout crowd of 300.
People ask some pretty specific questions on Facebook, but why are they using Facebook and not Google?
It's a question that gets asked a lot. You meet someone new at a networking event, and inevitably they ask, "So, what do you do?"
What's the right answer? How do you distill that into something that won't immediately bore your new friend?
The smartphone, the internet, and GPS have changed the way we travel. You used to plan a trip by knowing your destination, looking at a map, and charting a course. Some people still do that, but many people now rely on their iPhone or built-in navigation in their car. Get in the car, plug in the address and drive. Most of the time, you will arrive at your destination, no problem. But what happens when something unexpected comes up?
Ever wonder:
- How do I create urgency in my client?
- How do I get them to share their real budget?
- How do I get them to introduce me to the ultimate decision maker?
- How do I get them to return my voice mail message?
- How do I follow-up with Inbound Leads?
- How do I get my prospect to write my proposal for me?
- How do I follow-up if someone fills out a form on my website?
- How do I attract people to fill out a form on my website?
I was recently on vacation in Deer Isle, ME. Stonington is the next town over and has a wonderful Lobster Co-Op where you can walk down to the pier with a bag and buy lobsters off the boat.
How can you compare growing your business to a lobsterman trying to catch lobsters?
Every year for six years from 12 years-old through my teens, I attended a week-long overnight soccer camp. SoccerPLUS Goalkeeper School was an elite camp for serious goalkeepers. They brought in some of the best professional and collegiate coaches and players from around the world. As a camper, the staff could walk on water. They were the best players I had ever seen, and they also ran a tight ship. If you wanted to play beyond high school, you would need disciple and dedication, and the staff exuded that with everything they did.
The summer after my freshman year in college, I worked as a staff coach and did so for the next six years. The view from the inside was very different from the view from the outside.
Soccer is a team sport, but the goalkeeper is the one under a microscope if the other team scores. Goalkeeping is a tough position, and you need to be prepared for a variety of situations: rain, a glove ripping, needing an alternate color jersey, water in the goal mouth, sun in your eyes, etc...
One of my mentors growing up preached the big bag theory. Goalkeepers need to carry a big bag to fit all of the equipment they need to be prepared for any situation. At camp, we would do an evening lecture where he would literally bring a big bag and show all of the things he would bring to a game.
I also use the same theory when I go to the race track. I've been instructing at High Performance Driving Schools around the northeast for over 14 years. In that time, I've experienced my fair share of broken parts. Everytime I didn't have the right tool or the right spare part, I added it to my "big bag" list of things to bring for next time.
What about business blogging? Have you ever responded to the same question by email more than once? Should you consider writing it as a blog post? Do you have a "big bag" of blog posts queued up to share with prospects when they ask you a question? Are you prepared to react to customer feedback? To changes in Google's search algorithm? Do you know how often you should blog?
That's what the Hartford HUG event will cover next Wednesday.
I have a draft blog post I've been working on for a few weeks now, but I can't seem to distill my thoughts. I'm trying to write about the balance of Inbound happening online vs. in-person. Some people produce good content online, but when you meet them in person, they are pushy or "salesy". Some people are fantastic in person, but when you look them up online, they don't live up to the expectations or simply don't exist.
I read Seth Godin's blog everyday. Today, he wrote a more eloquant version of what has been swirling around in my head.
A website is just a tool. It only does exactly what it was designed to do.
Blogging, writing, and content creation have been a hot topic lately among my clients, prospects, and peers. I came across an article in April where HubSpot published benchmark blogging data from its 13,500+ customers. The article has great insights on many factors how blogging impacts website visits and leads. The key takeaway for me was that companies that blog 11 or more times per month would get at least 2-3X traffic to their website than those who only publish a handful per month. So statistically speaking, every company should target writing at least 11 blog posts per month, but how the heck is that going to happen?
What an exciting day at the Expo! Not all attendees shared the same sentiment because I got some mixed reviews as to what people thought of the show, but I'm going to sum it up as it's all about perspective. Here's what I learned from the show:
On June 4th, The Hartford Business Journal will put on the 15th Annual Connecticut Business Expo. Last year, over 4000 attendees representing over 200 industries attended the expo. It is open to the public, and admission is free, so there aren't many excuses not to attend. There is a lot of opportunity in attending an event like this, you just need to go in with a plan.
I had the pleasure of attending a great mini Inbound conference on last Wednesday in Portsmouth NH. Port Cities Inbound was a joint effort put on by the Portsmount HUG and Portland HUG. I normally try to do a pretty inclusive recap, but since Adam Zais was there recording the event, I'll let him share the inclusive video recap, and I'll leave you with some really great key takeaways from each presenter.