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customer service

How Feedback Can Make or Break a Relationship

I think it is interesting to observe what companies are doing in marketing and sales during the current situation and look for lessons or ideas that either I or my clients might be able to learn from. This week gave me three opportunities to do just that with very different customer service experiences. Given the current economic climate, you might expect companies to be on their guard for retaining loyal… Read More »How Feedback Can Make or Break a Relationship

Procrastination, Power Blending, Promise and Personal Branding

Oh, boy, have I been procrastinating! I looked back and the last time I wrote a blog post was a few months back, I could make excuses and reasons why, but at the end of the day I can only blame and kick myself for not investing the time in you. I have had plenty of opportunities to share good examples of personal branding and how it might relate to… Read More »Procrastination, Power Blending, Promise and Personal Branding

Why I Hate My Job

Tomorrow will be my last presentation this year. In total, I will have delivered over 20 keynotes, workshops, and online webinars on personal branding in 2016. Often the core message is the same, and then I adapt the content to the particular client and event. I am often asked, “Don’t you get bored?” I remember discussing this with a colleague some years ago and he told me that he always… Read More »Why I Hate My Job

10 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Build Your Local Business

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Imagine standing at a local networking event and every second that passes, two more new people walked in the door. It would soon get packed!

This is exactly what is happening 24 hours a day on LinkedIn as 7,200 new members join ever hour. As the world’s largest professional network, with over 450 million members, LinkedIn offers a huge global business opportunity.

But can it be useful on a local level and can it help you build new relationships and grow your business or career? Yes!

LinkedIn is business focused unlike Facebook or Twitter where the lines are blurred. On LinkedIn it is understood that you are connecting for business purposes. Around 40% of LinkedIn’s 12 million Canadian members live in Ontario. A simple postcode ‘Advanced Search’ can connect you with people as close as a 15 km radius to your location or target area.

You can also search by industry, company, job title and specific keywords to accurately pinpoint the connections your business needs. It is important for you to be very clear about who you want to connect with and why.

With that in mind, here are my TOP TEN ways to use LinkedIn effectively;

Read More »10 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Build Your Local Business

7 Best Practices For Being a Conference Guerrilla

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The following story is an example of how the actions recommended in this series of articles can work for you. Whilst they are intended mostly for longer conferences they can apply and work equally well to one off events.

How to be a Conference Guerrilla – Part 1 – Pre-Conference can be read here. 

In our time-crunched lives and with the option of virtual events, physically attending conferences can be a hard decision to make.  Approach events with more than just looking at the speaker line up, the complimentary networking sessions or in some cases to get the professional development credits checked off.  Instead actually measure the ‘return on investment’ of attending a conference. Start using this mindset and you will see the value to your organization and your personal brand in getting out there.

I once went to hear Keith Ferrazzi, author of “Never Eat Alone” speak at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. I learnt about the event from the organizer who had booked me to speak there a few months earlier.

I followed Keith’s advice in his book about ‘bumping‘ the speaker before they go on stage and engaging them quickly to gain a follow-up.  I had brought my copy of the book and asked him to ‘sign it before he became famous’ – a quote from the book. He commented that I had obviously read the book and I said it was (and still is) my most referred and recommended book on networking. I have even given several people copies as gifts.  I then told him that I would like the opportunity to follow up with him to discuss how to make his book the #1 business book in Canada. “Absolutely” he said and handed me his card.

As I walked away,  someone behind him had taken my lead and asked for their book to be signed.  I heard Keith ask the person….Read More »7 Best Practices For Being a Conference Guerrilla

Finally building your personal brand through great recommendations. Problem solved

“92% of respondents reported that a positive recommendation from a friend, family member, or someone they trust is the biggest influence on whether they buy a product or service.”  Paul Rand Online reviews are becoming the default place for us to check up on a hotel, airline or new restaurant. When we travel, we first check to see what others have experienced .  Several surveys identify that almost 9 out of 10 of… Read More »Finally building your personal brand through great recommendations. Problem solved

How to ACE Connecting Your Personal Brand to Your Work

Amazon.com recently surpassed Wal-Mart to become the worlds largest retailer by market value.  Amazon.com has over 180,000 employees working worldwide, making it hard for the company to develop and maintain a culture that is embraced, and in line with the perceptions that people have of its brand. “Brand is how others see you, culture is how you see yourself.” Curt Coffman This became evident after a New York Times article last Sunday… Read More »How to ACE Connecting Your Personal Brand to Your Work

5 Best Practices For Attracting New Clients By Talking on Social Media, Pay Attention

“Social media is called social for a reason. It lends itself to sharing rather than horn tooting .” Margaret Attwood If you owned a $100 million home would you assume that it could sell itself? This is the premise of this weeks piece in lessons from Tweetstock. As you are reading this we are heading up for what may be a final few summer days by a lake, not in a $100… Read More »5 Best Practices For Attracting New Clients By Talking on Social Media, Pay Attention

4 Steps to Turn Social Media Into a Positive Customer Service Experience

“Social media is a promise to your customers to listen and engage” was how Russel Lolacher wrapped up his presentation.  While I had engaged with prospects and clients on social media, I had never really considered that it is a customer service tool. But it makes sense. This week is the fourth in a series of articles I have written based on my opportunity to attend the annual Tweetstock.ca Conference in… Read More »4 Steps to Turn Social Media Into a Positive Customer Service Experience

5 Lessons I Learned From Organizing a TEDx Event

  “Learning never exhausts the mind” – Leonardo Da Vinci Conversations were going on everywhere. People were connecting with new faces, or others they knew but in a new way. They now had something stronger in common. Some were even catching up with people they had not seen in years. The local speakers were in high demand with peoples questions and congratulations.  The energy was electric and contagious.  This was how it… Read More »5 Lessons I Learned From Organizing a TEDx Event