I've Moved!!

Hi,

I've move my blog over to SquareSpace.com

You'll find it by going to RelationshipsInBusiness.com or PiarasMacDonnell.com

I promise it will be worth the click!

Piaras

Leak-free System for your Contact

We all know how important it is to keep up your relationships in business but how confident are you in your tools?



The importance of a leak-free system for recording the contact details of your colleagues, customers, potential business partners or anyone you know cannot be over emphasised.

The standard response to such a question is they keep it in Outlook, Gmail or some other mail system. Others worship at the alter of Blackberry or have the company CRM forced upon them while others keep it "old school" with a paper address book or organiser. The point they are missing is that these are stores for some of your contact information not a system and certainly not a complete leak-free system.

Ask your self the following questions about your current system, what if:

• You lose your phone/PDA/organiser, could I recover everything in a day
• your employer let you go taking PC, phone, PDA back with no notice
• I need to call an acquaintance that I have never emailed before
• I lost my electronic data, do I have a recent paper copy
  

The details of my own system are for another post but you need to look at how you are recording your contact information and ask the big question, do I have one place (master record) for all my contact details and have I a procedure to ensure it is kept fresh.

Connecting People Blog

I've been reading Andy Lopta's blog "Connecting People" and I think you should check it out.

His mix of recommendation, YouTube clips, detailed articles and eZine make this an excellent resource for all networkers or people interested in getting and giving more value to their business relationships

My only gripe is that he's based in the US so I am not likely to get to any of his events

The Tipping Point and relationships

What do shoes, fashion, epidemics and smoking campaigns have in common with social networking?




A lot when viewed through the eyes of Gladwell in The Tipping Point.

This is a remarkable read on the power of relationships and networks. By mixing observation on life with hard facts and analysis you are taken on a journey from how epidemics occur, the impact of a few, what makes an idea persist (sticky) and the importance of context.

What makes this book stand out in my mind though is not only does it present the ideas but suggest how it might be applied to current problem (e.g. health campaigns or marketing buzz)

This book is a must-read for any networker, marketer or students of people and relationships. Chapter Two alone on "The Law of the Few: Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen offers a fresh look at what motivates different types of networkers in live.

Beg, borrow or buy a copy. Be warned, you'll never look at a pair of hush puppies (shoes) the same again.


(Expect my thoughts on BLINK, another of Gladwells books in a future post.

The important of "The Parting Tell"

When the parting comment is the real message.


A friend of mine recently visited the doctor. After a relatively quick consultation was going out the door and made what he consider an off-hand remark. The doctor stopped him in his tracks and preceded to question him at length.

After 15 minutes of interrogation the doctor expanded on my friends treatment to cover an additional, more significant ailment. When my friend finally left the doctor joked that he had made many significant prognosis based on a patients parting comment.

It struck me that the world outside medicine could do worse than adopt this listening technique. Lets call it "the parting tell". When interacting with clients and fiends alike we are incline to tune out or drop our guard as a meeting comes to an end. By having our eyes and ears open for the parting tell we could glean a vital clue that could allow us do a better job or be a better friend.

The next time you meet a client or simply interact with someone look out for the parting tell and ask your self what additional piece of information did you gain and how could it help you the next time you deal with them

Great post from InsideCRM - Blogs of 2008

There is a great post from Chris Bucholtz over on InsideCRM summing up his pick of CRM blogs in 2008. You may not agree with all his choices but the list contain some great reading.

John Jantsch Duct Tape Marketing is a personal favourite, great mix of CRM, marketing and enterprise

Give it a look, it will introduce you to some thought leaders in crm (in its broadest sense)

A cure to the effects of Office Gossip?

Office gossip is part of our daily working lives but what do you do if you think you are the one being talked about?

A friend of mine recently mentioned an unexpected piece of advice she received on the subject, "it's none of your business what they talk about" she was firmly told when she expressed concern that her work colleagues might be talking about her.   

When the advice was shared with me I was surprise, to say the least, but from the smile on my friends face the reaction had been mutual.  We discussed it's wisdom at length and here are some of my own conclusions:

• Context is everything, not being there means you have missed 70-80% on the true message.
• Who cares what opeople talk about when you are not there.
• Gossip, office or otherwise, invariably becomes negative.
• If it doesn't server don't say it

It is easier said than done to "mind your own business" especially when it could be you they are talking about but life is too short to waste time worrying about it.

Words from Larry Hochman

"Collaboration is the hallmark of Value Creation"

Larry Hochman.

Photography by Conor McCabe from whitespace.ie,

I recently attended Larry Hochman's excellent presentation hosted in Dublin by Marketing Age.  The theme was customer relationship management in an information age.  To get an idea of the quality and content here's a video

The presentation left me with as many questions as it did answers.  

• What does it mean to be more compeditive in a changing world?
  
• Is agility more important than planning?
  
• Is collaboration where the real value creation is?
  
• What is the "promise gap" of my business?
• What are we doing to increase loyalty
• Are our own customers our biggest competitors? 

In searching for the answers to these and many other questions he did offered some clues (it would have been a bit depressing otherwise):

• In order to adapt and change you must  be free of denial, nostalgia and arrogance
  
• You must meet the customers real demands
  
• There are no longer passive customer but co-creators
  
• You need to create "platforms" to give them a voice.
• Ethics will determine your fate

We were left with a challenge "What will you do as an individual to make a difference?"

Larry is a great speaker and your feel the sincerity in his words.  I took away quite a few ideas and even put one or two into practice.  If you get the chance hear him speak.  To use one of the quotes from the day:

"The greatest difficulty in the world is not for people to accept new ideas- but to make them forget the old one" - John Maynard Keynes

Sundays Thought - Nick of Time

"You can rest assured that if you devote your time and attention to the highest advantage of others, the Universe will support you, always in the nick of time."
R Buckminister Fuller


I like this quote because Buckminister Fuller wrote it not from a traditional religious position but a transcendentalists point of view.

(His other quotes are worth looking up)

Understanding Influence, and Making it work for you

Is technology levelling the field for the moderately connected individual, see if you agree?




I finally got around to reading the CNET Networks article on "Understanding Influence, and Making It Work for You", you'll find the full text here

It investigates the whole are of Influence and the research blows away a few myths. The full text is worth a read (9 pages with a few diagrams). The points I took out of it were as follows:

• The idea of a few highly influential individuals concentrated over a mass of other does not hold (someone better tell NIKE ans Gillette)
• Weak Links, those informal relationships between groups, are more powerful than we thought. The reason is that they allow different clusters to interact with the person in between acting as an idea pollinator
• Technology matters, it's mush easier to build and maintain a network when you have the tools that can scale.
  
• The pyramid model (highly influencer at the top) has given way to a diamond model of the moderately connected majority.
• Getting asked for advice and giving it greatly accelerates the growth of your network
• Influencers tend to be active contributes and hunters of unique and trusted information. Which in turn makes them authorities.

I initially thought that the survey was biased because of its survey pool (all technology subscribers) but then I had a thought, maybe the moderately connected majority are becoming more influential because of technology. The "soft-skill" that was networking can now be compensated for with technology tools. Now we are being judged by our actions and discoveries rather than our communication skills alone.

If life gives you lemons make lemonade

A negative can be turned into a positive, it's all in the way you handle it. A story to illustrate.

This evening the kids managed to knock over a can of varnish onto my decking. After "grumpy daddy" managed to compose himself I decided rather than simply mop up and dumping the paint I'd paint the garden bench, the original plan for the varnish. Tomorrow, with more time I'll power wash the decking clean.

The bench had been waiting a month to get varnished and the decking much longer. I'll also be a lot more careful about tools and paint unsupervised in the future.

The Lesson

In business we have similar "spills" with our customer. If we handle them well not only can you turn the negative into a positive but the joint effort of over coming the problem strengthens the relationship for the next challenge you will inevitable encounter.

In the words of Og Mandino:
"Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time."

In the words of my daughter:

"hug daddy?"

Sundays Thought - The Lever

 

“Give me a liver long enough and a place to stand and I will move the entire earth”

- Archimedes (287-212 BC) 

You are the fulcrum, your relationships are the lever and the object is your dream or goal.  More relationships (not just friends) means more leverage.

Exploring the KF community

I'm trying out one of the features of the KF Communitysite, cross posting. The more I explore the more impressed I'm becoming.

View my page on Keith Ferrazzi Community

Note On Keith Ferrazzi

After read “Never Eat Alone” (see my past post) by Keith Ferrazzi I subscribed to his Tip of the Week a number of months ago.  It was well worth it. 

You receive a short, well written and relevant tip (at least to relationship builders) each week.  The contents vary but the theme remains consistent, connecting with people.  Below is this weeks tip, Tip 131 - Four Tips to Make New Connections Fast to give you a flavour.

There's more!

Keith has started a new community (Your success and joy powered by relationships).  I have joined myself  and first impressions are very positive.  Don't take my word, check it out for yourself. Click to join


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tip 131 - Four Tips to Make New Connections Fast
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I've culled some of the best relationship-building tips I've come across recently in books that have made the rounds on my nightstand.
1. Talk in Color. Nicholas Boothman, in his book How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds, reminds us that one of the best ways to make a good impression is to engage someone's imagination. "Don't talk in black and white, learn to talk in color. Involve as many senses as you can," he writes. For some people this may come naturally. Others may feel like it's "too much." So practice - on your cat, your grandmother, your husband or wife. Like a comedian, try out your material on a test audience. They'll tell you if you crossed over from charismatic to kookoo. (Well, everyone except your cat.)

2. Look people in the eye. This one is nothing new, but I mention it because Boothman (again in How to Make People Like You) serves up what I think is a great exercise to put it into practice. While watching TV, check the eye color of each and every actor. Once you've identified it, say it in your head. Then switch the practice over to real life.

3. Put something interesting on your business card. I love this tip, from Andy Sernovitz's Word of Mouth Marketing. Andy sent me my copy of this book, and he practices what he preaches: Tucked into it was a business card with this very tip on it. If you're self-employed and create your own business cards, ask yourself, "What can I do that makes this business card useful and memorable?" If you can offer clients some good advice, for example, you're putting your best foot forward by showing both expertise and generosity.

4. Host a Weekly "Know How" speakers series. This is from Tom Kelley's The Ten Faces of Innovation, a deepthink on how to set the conditions for innovation and creativity at an organizational level. Talking about the value of cross-pollination, Kelley writes that his company hosts a world-class thinker weekly to speak. You could do this yourself - at your office, your church, your community center, even your living room. On top of being a great way to spur creativity, it's a great way for you, the organizer, to stand out. You'll not only be a new celebrity, you'll also get to know all those great local thought leaders that you put on the podium. If weekly sounds like too much of a time commitment, think about organizing a biweekly or monthly event.

I hope one or all of these tips help you boost your relationship-building skills in the immediate future.
Does anyone out there already have a great business card they'd like to share on my blog?
Warmest,
Keith


Ferrazzi Greenlight, 8581 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 482, Los Angeles, CA 90069, USA

Wisdom of a Selling Geek

I’ve come across this useful resource for relationship builders, Selling Geek.  It’s a blog/podcast by a sales professional Timothy Sullivan.  Tim reviews a host of technical innovations, hardware, software, services, phones, the list goes on.

Why I like his site and podcast is that his view on technology is from a salesman's point of view and just as relevant to managers who work with clients on a daily basis.  In each review the over riding question is “how can this help be improve my working relationships and sell more”.

Check out his podcast on iTunes or over at PodcastPickle.

Sunday Thought - Reaping What you Sow

He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly;and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully

- 2 Courinthians 9:6



Every friend I make and help I hope I am sowing a seed, but I am a gardener not a farmer, the joy is in the tending not the harvest.

Super Connectors and Real-World Social Networks

I was reading Clive Thomson's piece in Wired this month on  Real-World Social Networks vs. Facebook 'Friends' and was struck by two important concepts identified in the underlying research from MIT, the super connector and the strength of links in face-to-face networks.


The tradition image of the super connector as the sales director or charismatic MD did not hold up under investigation and was more likely to be "some random guy"usually over worked and over stressed.  

In a world on LinkedIn, Facebook, BeBo and organisers stuffed with names and numbers it is very easy to think you are building an amazing business network.  The reality is that a business network, be it a project team or business partners, are significantly more affective when the people have met, have an experience or at the very least spoken to each other .  The scientific expression is "the office metabolism tightens", I call it "doing business with friends".


So what to do with these insights from Thomson and the researcher Weber?

• Find that diamond in the rough, the super connector and leaverage their skills inside and outside the organisation.  Maybe you're "that randon guy", go get some credit!
  
• Put the same effort into your face-toface network as you do your online one, quality not quantity.
  

Sunday Thought - Metcalf's Law

The value of a network grows in proportion to the square of the number of users - Metcalf's Law

The average person knows at least 250 people.  Then, each of these 250 people know another 250 people.  So instantly you have access to 62,500 people.[1]

Go on, call someone this week you haven't been in touch with for a while, you won't regret it

Sunday Thought - You decide the outcome

One ship sails East,

And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.

(Thanks Jim for the inspiration)

The Cure for Unpleasant Tasks

There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don't like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don't spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.
Michael Dell


We all have those tasks we've been putting off because they are just not much fun. The call to ask for a project extension, the renewal that will require difficult negotiation or the client who has a complaint to be addressed. The natural tendency is to put it off these unpleasant tasks.

There is one simple solution get it over with quickly.

In work relations there is a natural tendency to avoid confrontation, the unpleasant or difficult. We don't want to hurt someone's feelings or our own.

As someone who has to do this daily I can attest to the effectiveness of this strategy of "get it over with quickly". Some observations that may encourage you on this:

• A problem is rarely as serious as you think it is
• A stitch in time saves considerably more than nine
• Superior relationships are forged in adversity
• The client always wants to help
• You always feel better when you've made a start
• Momentum counts
  

Something to try out
Tomorrow morning take your email in box, stop the refresh, and starting from the top start and in sequence: replying, deleting or writing down actions for each email. Do this as fast as you can, 30-60 seconds per mail (momentum counts).

I guarantee that in one hour you will have cut through emails that have been hanging around for days, possibly weeks and feel great.

If you are interested in hearing more about these kind of work strategies check out a favourite podcast of mine by Stever Robbins, Get It Done Guy.

Wisdom in others questions

"Judge others by their questions rather than by their answers." - Voltaire



I found an interesting resource online relating to Relationship Management in an unexpected place, LinkedIn: Answers. Although there are many topics to choose but for now go to Sales and then search for Customer Relationship Management. Once there you will see lots of interesting questions and some great answers.

To get the maximum benefit I suggest you subscribe to the RSS for this category. Once you get a bit of confidence you might want to add your own 2-cents!

Fast food Relationships

"A Savage servility slides by on grease" - Robert Lowell





I recently read Eric Schlosser expose on the fast food industry, Fast Food Nation. It's a shocking and compelling read on many levels, especially given that fast food is such an integral part of our culture

One of the many thoughts that struck me while reading it was that some of the problems could have been avoided if working relationships had not been let deteriorate to such an extent over the years as the fast food business rushed towards lower cost, higher margins and standardisation.

It is very easy for organisation, from large corporation to mom-and-pop shops, to loose their way in the pursuit of profits when there is no sense of loyalty, commitment or empathy with the people who have to live with that organisations decisions.

It's not all doom and gloom and there are glimmers of hope throughout the book and in every case you see that it's because relationships with individuals, society, nature and the environment have been respected and developed. It is also encouraging that individuals (that includes us) can make a difference.

The irony is that the fast food industry are actually experts in developing relationships with their
customers, franchisees, suppliers and employees (ask any 6 year old child who Ronald McDonald is!). Its just that these are very often exploited for short term gain rather than nurtured for mutual benefit

I recommend you read it. I don't know if you will agree with my observations on relationships in this instance but you will not be left without food for thought.

To get both sides of this story I have also got John Love's McDonald's - Beyond the Arches on the shelf. It might be an old one but I know it will be a interesting one.

Keeping In Touch - Tricks from CRM

I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.

- Robert Brault

You will hear busy executives say how much they’d like to spend more time meeting clients or suppliers. This even extends to catching up with old colleagues or school friends. Their calendar is full this week and when they try to book it for the following week the other person can’t make it. This back and forth usually results in the opportunity to connect being lost.

As a Relationship Manager with potentially 20-30 appointments a month not to mention catching up with friends, let me offer a few suggestions to improve your chances to connect

Have a Account Plan

Decide for the year the frequency you wish to contact clients and set a goal to achieve each quarter, month and week. This will be come the framework you will build on over time. An extension of this plan will be your contacts database. For another post by me on this go here.

Here and now

At the end of each meeting schedule your next. You both can check your calendars on the spot and agree a date. A commitment made in person is rarely changed. This time can also be a chance to find out a little more about them or for you to share information with them

Well Ahead of Time

If you don’t meet them frequently set a date 1, 2 or even 3 months into the future. It ensures you get a clear schedule and is rarely refused as people easily commit to something that is far away. This is even more affective if you do a bulk reminder at the start of every month to ensure you are back on their radar.

In One

Always try to complete a booking in one take. Offer a range of dates to pick from (saves the email tennis) and if you’re flexible about location, before/after work, by phone, etc, say so.

Contingency

Have some flexibility in your calendar but the trick, let them know about it! I rarely do an off site meeting on a Monday but I make no secret of it. Clients know that it’s there if they really need to move the schedule but they also know I won’t offer it up unless it’s urgent.

Go with the flow

Learn your clients work patterns and set your requests accordingly. I conference call one client at 5.30pm because he’s in his car on the way home, I get 30 minutes of his undivided attention . The flexibility might mean meeting them early, at their office or lunch. I knew one manager who use to change his flight at the last minute just to get quality time with a client on the flight home

A Challenge!

Take a look at your calendar for the next 3 months and ask yourself is there’s any client, colleague, business partner or supplier you’d like to spend time with? Make the appointment now, you won’t regret it.

Lessons from Network Marketing - Part 1 of 3

"In Network Marketing, the NETWORKING always comes before the MARKETING" - Silke Stahl




I have been exploring the area of Network Marketing recently and in particular the approaches and tools it uses in establishing, maintaining and leveraging relationships to build a sustainable business.

Network Marketing (NM), Multi Level Marketing or Relationship Marketing is essentially the sale of products (or services) directly to customers through a relationship referral . The agents who sell the products make their commission by developing a broad customer base and recruiting other agents (distributors) from whom they get an additional commission from the levels below. Well know examples would be AVON, Amway or EXCEL ( and Euphony in UK and Ireland).

When reading about and talking to successful Network Marketers your are struck by the passion they have for their work and the amazing relationships they have cultivated with both their customers and the people they have recruited (down stream / level below).

Reading Scott Pospichal in Conversations with EXCEL Millionaires he sums it up

Gather a few customers and recruit new representatives and help them gather customers...everyone gets paid.

There is much that other business can learn from Network Marketers about business relationships with customers and especially their partners.

As you'd expect there is a lot of information on this topic out there and separating the "pitch" from genuine information is a challenge. I recommend the book Conversations with EXCEL Millionaires by Litmanand Oman because it is focused on the people not the product. I would also highly recommend Jim Sweeney's blog Network Marketing My Way as he's one of those successful Network Marketers who is willing to share the secrets of his success, he also tells a god story.

As you might have guessed from the title of this post I plan to dig deeper into this topic in the future.

A FREE copy of Conversations with EXCEL Millionaires is available to the first person who comments on this post!

Technology cannot replace the human touch

Technology cannot replace the human touch when it comes to building a relationship with your customers



While reading an article by Nick Rowley titled "Is Technology really being used to improve customer service" I was reminded how we have become so reliant on CRM tools, web sites, IVR and a variety of other tools to assist us in delivering a better service without taking our time to add the personal touch. Are we loosing touch and more importantly are we being left out of the customer conversation?

As any sales man will tell you that "you sell to people not companies". So is it not the case that relationships are built between people not systems? Rather that avoiding the customer surely we should be taking every opportunity to engage with them.

Research has proven that the customers who complain the most and have their complaints addressed (not necessarily resolved) are less likely to change providers. A phenomenon that psychologists call Reciprocity.

Technology and tools are aids but should constantly be helping us build our relationship with customers not used to avoid them. If the customer is not talking to you they'll find someone else to talk to and you may not be happy about what they're saying.


PS:
Chris Bucholtz over at InsideCRM had an amusing take on this in his post The call centre conspiracy

What I'm Reading - From Acorns..how to build your brilliant business from scratch

If you want to pick up a trick on great business relations ask an entrepreneur.






Just finished reading From Acorns...how to build your brilliant business from scratch by Caspian Woods. I posted a brief review on Amazon but what readers of this blog might find more interest is the motivation behind my choice.

I admire entrepreneurs for a variety of reasons but mostly it's for their unconventional think. Let's be honest, they wouldn't last very long in the business world if they did the same thing as the guys already ahead of them. This gives rise to all sorts of ideas in their writing, ideas that you and I can very often apply to our situations.

As well as having to be great sales people they also have to be excellent at networking. This book has a few great ideas on both topics and the author, through excellent design, makes them easy to find. The book is worth a read but the genre (Starting a Business) is always worth exploring what ever your interest.

Happy Fathers Day

To one of the most important relationship there is, thanks dad and thanks kids.

Sunday Thought - Until one is committed...

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." - Goethe

I find this quote inspiring every time I read it. I also believe that the Providence it refers to directly relates to the network of friends, family, associates, colleagues, contacts, etc that you have built up.

You can get more information on Goethe from The Goethe Society

Give your Relationships a Health Check

How good do you think your business relationships are? Give it a health check before it's too late


I was recently catching up on some of my favourite podcasts on Manager Tools. The topics vary but all have a theme of how to be a better manager. One of the topics touched on the question of how good are your relationships with clients, friends, co-workers and class mates.

We can very easily fool ourselves into thinking that we have a great relationship with a client or company but how do we really know? We can take this delusion even further and think just because we have 100's of links on LinkedIn or the email address of everyone you ever met in a PDA we have an amazing business network also.

Although the guys at Manager Tools had a test of their own I have my own suggested health check to give your business network and client list.

Overall Health

• How many business contacts do you have?
• What percentage have you their full name, address, phone numbers and email address?
• How many have you made contact with in the last year?

Detailed Check

• How many have you met in the last 6-12 months?
• How many do you know the private mobile number and private email address for?
• How many do you know the spouses name and kids name?

The key to a relationship health check is quality and quantity of relationships. Once you know how healthy your relationships are you can work on improving them.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on how to check the health of your business (or other) relationships.

Top 20 CRM Blogs

InsideCRM had an interesting post today on the the Top 20 CRM Blogs

By CRM we mean the solutions as opposed to the role. It's worth checking out given that anyone serious about managing the business relationships needs tools to help.

Chris Bucholtz blog is very good anyway and I'd recommend it if you want to keep abreast of the technology and tools out there supporting CRM. (also check out his blogroll for other sources)