Do you blend into the business background or are you leading the You Marching Band?

March 30, 2006 | Leave a Comment

There is a finesse to self promotion. Hand Number One says you should be modest and helpful. Hand Number Two says you should tell stories about yourself and be interesting. The fact is, you must be ambidextrous to pull off good self promotion.

I am always amazed at how hard many people work to blend into the business background.

  • I want my website to look like everyone else’s
  • I want to dress like everyone around me
  • I want my brochure to be just as good as my competitors
  • I want to offer the same products and services as others in my industry
  • I don’t want people to know I was an Fashion Design Major for a year (That is true about me, but don’t tell.)

Instead, find ways to be different. Both personally and as an organization. However, not so different to make everyone afraid of you.

I just met a motivation speaker, Derrick Pledger, who hired us. His last marketing expert told him to take things out of his bio, like that fact that he dropped out of school in the 8th grade. (he is now finishing his Ph.D.) She thought it made him look less professional.

Instead, we are getting him set up with a blog so that he can keep his professional profile but also tell his real story, which is far more interesting than the grey wall of trying to look like everyone else.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

How is your pre-sale sell?

March 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I am in a group of business professionals that meets every two weeks to review business issues and each time one person does an extensive presentation. We do help each other grow their network as well, when there is a good fit.

This Friday, Richard Henry is presenting and he sent out PDF documents, personalized for each recipient, which details what his company does and what kind of companies he helps. I have to say, the pre-sell before the presentation is just excellent. Instead of showing up and listening and thinking about who he might be interested in meeting, I can do my homework and go in with concrete leads and contacts for him. I find his approach very effective to get people to act.

Several times in the 5 page document he lists his number and invites you to call him with referrals, if they match his target. Now if I do not come up with some interesting people to introduce to him, it can only be because I am lazy.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

Thank You

March 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I have had several people use our posts in their posts recently and I just wanted to say thanks and point them out. All excellent blogs.

Automatic Referrals
Travelin Librarian
Legal Sanity
Conversations
Make It Great
Career Intensity

The big winner recently was our simple challenge for people to be better listeners in order to be more memorable to people they meet. Thanks for the links and if I missed anyone, please let me know.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

What is your Buzz Impact Score?

March 27, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Your Buzz Impact Score is how likely someone you just met is likely to tell someone they know about you. Read each description and rate yourself 1-5. 5 is highest, meaning an exact description of you, and 1 means the description is could not be further from the truth.

_____ My style of dress is unlike anyone else’s I know.
_____ I always Google someone before I meet them and know as much as possible about them.
_____ My conversations are daring. I tell people what I am passionate about and try to find out interesting things about others.
_____ I like to listen to others and laugh out loud often when they say something funny.
_____ People often say I am enthusiastic and full of energy.
_____ I love to network and meet people, even if I have no hope of selling them something.
_____ I enjoy introducing 2 people that I know would like to meet each other.
_____ When I have the chance to meet an influential person, I jump at the chance and introduce myself.
_____ I am not afraid to empathize with people I meet.
_____ Because I have done some adventurous things in the past, I have plenty of interesting stories and knowledge.

—————————————-

Add up the score. If you scored a 40 or higher, you are going to be talked about, but if you are not careful, you may monopolize the conversation and leave the person you met feeling pillaged.

If you scored a 34 to 39, you are well balanced, enthusiastic and fun. People will most likely remember you, even after a few beers.

If you scored a 25 to 33, you have spurts of fun involvement but generally feel more comfortable among the safety of friends. Try meeting new people more frequently and read more about networking blogs.

If you scored below a 25, you definitely need to take more chances and get to know more people beyond your immediate circle. If you are not comfortable with getting to know people in person, the web is a great way to meet people. Just be sure to have lunch with someone new once in a while too.

This Personal Assessment is highly scientific and not to be used for fun or leisure. The fact that it was developed in 15 minutes in bed when I could not come up with a better blog post does not have anything to do with its accuracy or effectiveness as a tool to assess all of your employees and fire the less popular or more flamboyant ones.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

Fast Release and Child Inspiration

March 23, 2006 | Leave a Comment

If you read regularly, you know I sometimes reference insight I glean from my 8 year old. Here is a very good blog post by someone who got great insight from their teen age daughter on fast release cycles and the importance of understanding online communities.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

Free Meat Update

March 22, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I got an email today warning me that someone I recently promoted on this blog is indead a SCAM artist. I posted the email at the top of the older post here.

If you are in education, please make sure you read the whole thing as he seems to visit many schools with the same story.

If you have any information (positive or negative) please let me know and I will add it to that blog post. Sometimes Word of Mouth can stop more bad things from happening.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

Word of Mouth and Exaggeration

March 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Interesting post at The Church of the Customer this week. It is concerning the velocity of bad word of mouth. What I find more interesting is the fact that 2nd and 3rd level removed people that repeat WOM tend to exaggerate it. I am not surprised, I have been guilty of that myself, but usually in a positive way.

As much as I try to be truthful, it is easy to draw conclusions and add them to a story. For example, I was recently talking about someone that is generating a large income from selling ink. He used to have a real job, but eventually started doing so well that he is able to focus on just his websites.

I do not know how much he makes, but I am assuming it is a lot because he quit a good job. So how did I exaggerate the story? I told a group he was making 6 figures. He might be, I do not know. He probably comes close to that if it is not true. My point is, people will embellish your story so implying something positive and big and leaving something for the imagination is probably a good thing.

For those of you reading this, don’t worry, I have never lied to you. :)

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

Viral Blogging

March 20, 2006 | Leave a Comment

The Indie Virus is a blog viral campaign started a short while ago to create a chain of links through the non-top 100 blogs. David Lorenzo sent it over my way and now I am challenged to come up with two people to send it to.

#1 The brand builder blog: The Indie Virus. I enjoy this blog

#2 Kids Roar: The Indie Virus. I am committed to helping her make that a success, and she had her first revenue this week, so I am seeing the enthusiasm go through the roof.

Honorable mention is Phil at Make it Great . He was already tagged so I could not send it his way again. He is always a very kind and interesting person that I enjoy reading.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

Your next conversation: 6 Things that will make it different

March 16, 2006 | Leave a Comment

The next time you have a conversation with someone that lasts more than one minute, challenge yourself to make these minor changes and watch how the person responds to you compared to previous conversations.

1) Listen 50% more
2) Ask twice as many questions
3) Hold eye contact 50% more
4) Make slight contact, or hold contact slightly longer. (Better hand shake maybe)
5) Show sincere sympathy or enthusiasm for something they say
6) Ask them if there is anything you could help out with

If football is a game of inches, meaningful conversations are a game of nuances.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

Monday and Tuesday Winners

March 15, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Monday and Tuesday Career Intensity Books have been given out. It is not too late to get your own copy. Just email me 1st one day this week.

Thanks to David Lorenzo for being so gererous to give out so many copies.

Posted by Buzzoodle Ron | Filed Under Blog 

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