Posted
by Ron McDaniel
Some people are more active online than others. Many companies might have the basic brochure website up, but little else.
A good friend of mine, Dale Siegel from System One, said he reads my blog every time I post. (Hi Dale)
He has some great stories and sometimes I think about using him as an example in one of my blog posts. There is only one problem…. he does not have a website he wants people to know about. He has advocates, people that would point to his site, people that would refer to his services, but we cannot. It is lost opportunity.
The good news for Dale is that he is aware of the issue and is planning to address it. But it makes me think about all of the people out there that are invisible online. Could I buzz about you if I wanted to? If the answer is “no”, get busy.
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
Last weekend I got together with some employees from an old job I had 9 years ago. It was a lot of fun, but somewhat shocking for me.
Out of everyone, I was the only one that became a business owner. However, they still did not think of me as one of them. The end result was that I got to sit there and listen to lots of comments I found shocking. They were upset the business owners got paid more. They were upset that clients were difficult to work with. They were very money oriented and thought they deserved more.
The one thing that stood out the most was project management. They praised people and businesses that had good project management and they reviled those that had poor project management. It was clear after a couple of hours that project management was the single biggest contributor to their happiness in their job. They called good project managers geniuses and they called bad project managers asses.
Even outside of technology, management is clearly the single biggest factor in employee happiness. And happy employees are more likely to create buzz about you.
At my party, I quickly knew which local tech companies were good and bad by how everyone talked about their managers.
If you were a fly on the wall, what would your employees say about you?
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
I don’t know that I have ever met someone 100% secure with themselves.
Everyone feels insecure at times, and in this age of email and voicemail, it is easy to doubt yourself when you leave 10 messages, send 8 emails and never hear back from anyone.
This ease of connection is also the reason that so many people do not respond all the time. It is simply overwhelming unless you have a personal assistant to filter out everything.
Here is a new rule for you, that you may choose to follow:
If someone is worth contacting once, they are worth contacting once every 3 months.
They will tell you to stop calling if they really do not want to talk to you. More than likely, they get your message and just do not have the time in that instant to reply. If they are like me, they probably have good intentions but sometimes forget to answer an email or voice mail.
I often cannot get from our bathroom to my office without getting 3 new things to do, one of which I will forget by the time I sit down. Then I remember them in bed at night.
Following up with people you want to get to know just makes sense. You will find people actually thank you, because they were meaning to get back to you but kept pushing it off.
Try it today. Go back to your emails you sent three months ago and follow up with three of those people you have not talked to lately. I am fairly sure you will get a pleasant surprise.
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
I just received a phone call from someone I have never met. He started out this way:
“My name is Josh from Company ABC. I was searching around on Buzz Marketing and came across the Buzzoodle Buzz Blog and I nearly crapped my pants…..”
Luckily for me, that was a good thing and he likes it. Maybe if I try a bit harder I can get someone to call up and say they had to go home and change.
Kidding aside, Josh is visiting North East Ohio this week and we are getting together to discuss partnership possibilities. I will write more on this after I meet him tomorrow.
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
I love to hear someone else tell our story. Mike Sansone does a great job at writing and detective work to uncover the very secret way that I met David Lorenzo a while back, and how we have both benefited from the meeting.
Thanks to David for pointing it out to me so quickly.
It really all came about because he and I share a passion for careers and word of mouth (buzz). If you blog about your passions, other people with a similar interest will find you.
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
Today I did a presentation at a large accounting firm about buzz.
Very early in the presentation I asked them a simple question: “What are your success stories?”
I did not get a response. So I gave them some of my own examples, and asked again. We finally got people talking and a few of them shared their stories.
This is a hugely successful firm that saves people millions all the time, but did not know what their successes were.
One of the partners after the presentation said, “You nailed it when you asked that question. We do not know enough about our own successes to be able to tell others.”
One of the keys to creating more buzz with your employees and your existing customers is to celebrate your successes on a regular basis. Make people aware of those things that go above and beyond the norm. Make sure everyone knows what makes you remarkable and encourage them to tell more people.
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
I look at my stats more than I should. Somehow, even if checks are not coming in every day, I still feel like I am accomplishing something if readership is high.
To the many people that read regularly, I would like to say thanks.
Next, there is someone in Cancun Mexico that reads almost every day. I lived in Mexico when I was younger and enjoyed it a lot. To that person I just want to say gracias and please shoot me an email. I would love to hear about how Buzz Marketing is being used in Mexico. Ingles o Espanol, no me importa.
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
Our friend, Ron Finklestein at Your Business Coach wrote a book a while back.
Disclosure: He does not pay me to help promote his book, although he does host a website with another company of ours.
Tonight I was at the local library and saw his book in the new book area. Being an advocate of his, because he has always been so helpful to us and because the book is good, I took his book down and did a face out for him. (I made the book stand with the cover out, more prominent.)
A small act, but how do you get your customers, employees and other advocates to take advantage of small opportunities to create more visibility and buzz? That simple act may lead to someone reading it and hiring him as a coach, resulting in a significant amount of income.
In this case, I can tell you that he has been involved with us for years and has consistantly cared about our success, and likewise we care about his.
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
In a recent post I suggested building other people’s personal network as being a key to expanding your own.
That also applies to organizations. If you want to increase membership to a chamber of commerce, a country club, a networking group or other type of group that wants businesses to join it, a great thing to do is give them some PR before asking them to join.
Today I went to a breakfast and the local chamber of commerce, where I had just done a speech the month before, and they mentioned us as a local innovator to a large crowd. Not focusing on us, but working us into the presentation about regional success.
At some point I just have to return the love, even though we are an internationally focused company.
Likewise, I get Crain’s Cleveland because they write about us, not because I have time every week to read it.
In fact, if I were a publisher I would find ways to write about more people more frequently because that is a great way to increase readership in a shrinking market.
Help businesses grow and give them free exposure, and you will get their gratitude and involvement in your effort more times than not.
Posted
by Ron McDaniel
7 Habits of Highly Horrible Networkers
Here is a good write up on networking bad habits. Highly Horrible Networkers . This is a Canadian Blog, so maybe this is only a Canadian problem. Has anyone seen these kinds of horrible habits in the states? Use comments here to tell your networking horror stories.
Lead Generation Resources
