Guest Author | FreshGigs.ca - Part 10

Author Archives: Guest Author

Appreciative Networking

Do you love or hate networking events? Most people fall at one of the two extremes, and almost everyone has passionate opinion about the effectiveness of these occasions. Some people have stories about the “just right” confluence of time, place and people and that big project just magically happened. Other people have stories about attending event, after event, after event… and coming up completely and utterly dry.

So here are a few tips about networking and some new things to try at your next networking event, from the field of positive psychology:

Go in with positive emotions

The work of Barbara Fredrickson tells us that positive emotions “broaden and build”. People are more open to new ideas when they are in a positive frame of mind, as well as physically seeing more. They have better resilience and bounce back faster from disappointment. How does this help you in a networking situation? You will capture more of the conversation and see connections between you and the other person more readily. And how do you get yourself into a positive mood? Well there are many ways to do it – a brisk walk ahead of time in the sun, or seeing a funny movie, or listening to uplifting music of your choice.

Build positive relationships

Networking is all about relationships. How do you craft new relationships? Even though people tend to go into a networking session focused on themselves (do I look ok? I really need to find my next gig….), they key is to focus on the other person. What do they need? What brought them to this event? What problems do they have for which they are seeking solutions? By putting your focus and genuine interest onto them, you are starting to create a meaningful relationship.

Use your strengths

There are many different ways to work a room and you have to go with your strengths on this one. If you are more of an achiever, motivated by goals and lists of things to-do, then you might set yourself the goal of meeting X number of people or collecting Y number of business cards. If you prefer to interact with people one-on-one, then look for the quiet ones standing in the corner of the room and approach them first. If you are more of a strategist, spend some time observing the dynamics of the room and plan your approach accordingly.

Know your meaning

Ultimately, what do you want to get from this networking event? What will make it a success for you? You can’t control what happens as far as other people are involved (yes, it will be a success if you find that perfect client with the multi-million dollar contract that is tailored to your specific skill set…) but consider what it within your own control – that you will attend, initiate conversations with as many people as it takes to find one meaningful and relevant conversation, that you will stay until the end, and so on.

And if nothing else, try something new that you’ve never done before to improve your networking chances. New business cards, a new handshake, a new way of introducing yourself. Small changes can make a big difference – and you’ll learn from this event to prepare you for the next one.

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Lisa Sansom is the Founder of LVS Consulting. A certified coach and positive psychology practitioner, Lisa helps businesses, teams and individuals be at their best. For more information, please visit LVS Consulting or email Lisa directly at lisa.sansom@gmail.com

Switching Into a Marketing Career

Apparently I have more in common with Martha Stewart than I could ever imagine. I don’t have blonde hair nor have I been to prison, but we’re both career switchers. Ms. Stewart started her career as a model before she became an authority and magnate on all things home and lifestyle.

I started my career running a program I also founded at the University of Toronto. I left that position to pursue an MBA at Queen’s with the intent of pursuing a marketing strategy career in a non-education sector after graduation. It’s been almost a year since I graduated and although I haven’t made that successful career switch yet, I have learned some things along the way:

1) Focus!: when I say I love marketing, I REALLY mean it. So it didn’t really matter to me what sector I ended up in as long as it was marketing. Not so smart. By following this approach, you adopt some unhelpful habits such as networking with too many people. While it’s always great to meet new people, when searching for a job, it’s best to stay focused on those from your chosen sector. You’re more likely to get relevant advice and make important contacts in the organizations you’d like to work for one day.

2) Volunteer: one of the most difficult aspects of career switching is proving to recruiters that you have relevant experience. Although I successfully used marketing techniques to grow a University program, recruiters still prefer those with direct functional experience. What I’ve done to address this is to volunteer as a marketing consultant for a non-profit. I’m not only gaining more relevant experience, but also helping out an organization to alleviate poverty. Unpaid internships are another way to showcase what you can do.

3) Grow: career switchers, especially, may find themselves lacking in function or sector-specific skills. For example, communication roles tend to require French language skills while marketing roles tend to require knowledge of statistical and database software. Use wallet-friendly resources such as the library and Internet to help build those skill sets.

Career switching can be a tough road, but staying focused, volunteering to gain experience, and building your skill sets will help you get that dream job in a great organization. Just remember to avoid ill-timed stock transactions once you get there.

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John Paul de Silva is an MBA graduate seeking work while volunteering as a marketing consultant for a Toronto non-profit. When not working on the 4P’s, he can be found at the gym, pool hall, rap record store, foodie place…or one day, a magical place with all those things rolled into one location. Follow him @jp9desilva

Breakfast to go

This past week, I was facilitating some leadership sessions at the Donald Gordon Conference Centre in Kingston, Ontario. Leaders from across the country, and sometimes internationally, arrive for one week to learn about Leadership and themselves in a very filled and fulfilling week’s worth of activities. I stayed with them at the conference centre, enjoying the food and guest rooms.

The work that I do there is two-fold. First of all, I help leaders understand the results of their 360 assessments that they ask their peers, direct reports and supervisors to complete for their participation in the leadership week. Secondly, I work with small teams of leaders, usually 4 or 5 individuals, as they exercise and practice some specific leadership coaching skills. It is always a great week, put on by the Queen’s Executive Development Centre, but this isn’t a blurb for them; it’s a blurb about the learning that takes place when you aren’t trying to learn.

When I got to the end of my team meetings, we debriefed the activities and some of the leadership lessons. We had a meaningful discussion about how leaders relate to their direct reports, how much time it takes to coach and develop others, the role of feelings in the workplace, and the importance of open-ended questions, when one of the team participants piped up, “But do you know what I really learned here? I learned about customer service.” Continue reading →

The Sizzle – Eat First to Grow

Following the delivery of a productivity workshop to the staff of a fast growth company last week, one topic that really resonated with most participants, was the ‘EAT first’ philosophy I shared. It links directly into procrastination and seeing that we covered business planning and goal setting last time, this makes for a great continuation to the theme.

But first let me ask you, what do YOU procrastinate on? Finances? Sales? Dealing with staff issues? Perhaps the sheer thought of a particular task is already boring you to tears. Or something seemingly insurmountable is freaking you out.

Some of the things the participants shared with me, were tasks they desperately needed to get done and had already failed to deliver in a timely manner. As a result they were disappointed in themselves, knew they were letting themselves and others down, whilst potentially ruining their credibility by not following through.

They stopped facing the situation head on and took on the ostrich mentality of hoping it will all go away if they only ignored it for long enough. Some of them felt intermediate relief for being able to shut out what they were supposed to be doing and replacing those things with meaningless tasks. But of course, no situation will ever resolve itself and still requires action. Continue reading →

What does your marketing say about you?

It’s hard to market yourself when you are in the marketing business. Your own PR and business props talk not only about the business you are in, but what your clients can expect from you. Are you a traditionalist? Are you e-savvy? Are you fun?

Here are a few tips that can help your marketing of your own marketing business stand out from the rest:

Market yourself using the tools you would use for a client

If you are advocating that all of your clients get onto Twitter, then you need to make sure you are an active presence there too. If you believe that business cards are the way to go, then yours need to sing. If you are about the swag and reusable gift bags, then guess what – you’d better have a few branded with your own logo. If you aren’t using your own marketing techniques, then why would your clients believe they are effective?

Know your client niche Continue reading →

Combine YouTube with other social media to get more business

Did you know that social media is now ahead of search engines in terms of video referrals and discovering new content?  YouTube combined with other platforms like Twitter and Facebook can be a winning combination for getting yourself and your company more exposure online.

To create your YouTube videos in the first place, you can either hire a video production company, shoot your own videos, or hire “YouTubers” who have already built an audience for themselves and incorporate your brand into their videos with product placement. Many large and small companies have been doing this and seeing a lot of success in getting their brands seen by more people.

Then, if you don’t already have one, a Facebook Page for your business is a great way to promote those videos outside of YouTube. Post them there so people who predominantly use Facebook see them either directly on your Page or in their newsfeed. They’re more likely to take the time to actually view your content and share it since they’ve already indicated they “Like” you. The commenting and “liking” options that appear under the video encourage more engagement, and the more people who interact with your videos there, the higher up they’ll show in the newsfeeds.

And finally a Twitter account of course isn’t just for announcing what kind of sandwich you’re eating, or trying to get Justin Bieber’s attention.  You can use your Twitter account to tweet out the link to a new video when it goes up.  You can also monitor other people’s tweets and when they mention something to do with your company and give them a link to check out your video.  It’s also a great way to “remind” people about your video since a few minutes after a tweet goes out, it’s typically not going to be read again.

You need to build a following on social media and one of the best ways to do that is by sharing good content.  People like to watch videos online so create a YouTube strategy, implement it, and use tools like Twitter and Facebook to promote the videos.  There are different audiences on all three sites, so by cross-linking between them, you’ll be able to reach even more people and get a lot more exposure!

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Josh Rimer is a YouTube Partner and Internet Marketer. Get daily tips and tricks on his YouTube Marketing blog where you can also download his free eBook on ways to get more views on YouTube.

How to find out what your clients really want

The key to a successful relationship with your clients is just that – a relationship. You need to be there for them and they need to trust you. They also need to know that you have their best interests at heart and that you care for the same important things that they do. But how do you find out what that is?

We can turn to the world of personal and professional coaching for some insights.

A professional coaching relationship, unlike the relationship with a mentor, a teacher or a manager, is about the questions. The client is the expert in his or her field; the coach is the expert in asking insightful questions that help the client get to the nugget of what really matters.

You can be a coach to your client. It will help you get to know them better, to ensure values alignment, and help you to deliver quality work that is appreciated and rewarded.

Some questions to ask:

What are you looking for? Determine your client’s future vision, their goals for the project. Likely, you already ask a question like this, or something along the same theme. However, most consultants and free-lancers stop here. This does not, however, get you to the core of your client’s needs and interests.

And if you got that, what would that get you? Let’s say your client is looking for a new letterhead design. You now have the answer to the first question above. But what if they did get their new letterhead design? What would that get them? (Apart from a new letterhead design…) Might it get them a more professional image? Might it get them a more modern image? A better connection with their corporate values? A segue into a new product market? There is a reason they want the new shiny thing – you need to find out what that is, and then ask…

And what’s important about that? What’s important to them about looking professional? Or looking modern? Or moving into that new product market? Or connecting with those values? This helps to ensure that your delivery to them really helps them to move in the desired direction in a meaningful way. And then…

What would success in that area look like to you? If they succeeded in getting that new professional image, what would that mean to them? What would be different? What would be successful in the future? Digging further into the importance and vision of your work, from a client’s point of view, will help you as you creatively provide solutions.

Overall, engaging in a meaningful series of questions with your client before embarking on the work will help you to develop an important relationship with your client – one where they know that you care about them personally and professionally, not just as a one-off client gig. When the client feels heard and understood, creativity comes easier for you, as well as the potential for repeat business. Happy coaching!

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Lisa Sansom is the Founder of LVS Consulting. A certified coach and positive psychology practitioner, Lisa helps businesses, teams and individuals be at their best. For more information, please visit
LVS Consulting or email Lisa directly at lisa.sansom@gmail.com.



Building Trust One Step at a Time

Continuing my series on tips for improving your corporate and stakeholder communication, let’s look at one of today’s top business issues: building trust.

Your written materials are often the first and only tangible means by which a prospective customer or stakeholder evaluates your company. Investors, for example, have virtually unlimited sources of information at their fingertips to help them make decisions. But even audited numbers don’t mean much without trust in company management.

Recognizing new realities
Traditionally, you could rely on showcasing your products and services or leadership team to help establish corporate reputation. Not any longer. The reputation of today’s leading companies is shaped by vastly different factors.

In fact, trust has become an essential line of business in Canada, according to the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer. Of 10 reputational factors, 83% of Canadians surveyed rank transparent and honest business practices first, followed closely by quality products and services at 81%. Perhaps surprisingly, financial returns is the least important reputational factor among Canadians.

Similarly, 82% of those surveyed want business to create shareholder value in a way that aligns with society’s interests, even if that means sacrificing shareholder value. Although, your banker may not be among this group.

Nevertheless, trust now has tangible value. Consider this … If your company is trusted, 40% will believe positive information after hearing it one to two times. But if your company isn’t trusted, only 7% will believe positive information after first hearing it.

The same is true with negative information: fewer believe bad news about a trusted company when they first here it.

Some industries, however, are more trusted than others. Globally, technology is trusted most (81%), followed by automotive (69%) and telecommunications (68%), while financial services is at the bottom of the heap (50%).

Industries rankings vary geographically, with Canadians staying true to their rumoured preference by ranking brewing and spirits as the second most trusted industry. Go figure, eh.

Creating trust and competitive advantage
So, how do you address this new reality and create competitive advantage?

Whether your company is private or public, the answer is to create a mosaic of trust through strategically conceived and written messages. First, however, you must commit to open communication. That means being transparent about your operations, how you make money, how you treat employees and how you respect the environment.

Stakeholders are looking for leaders who will deliver stakeholder value in new ways. They also want companies to communicate frequently and honestly and consider the role of business in society. In other words, they expect straight talk and the whole story.

Transparency and honesty build credibility and that, in turn, builds trust. So tell it like it is, warts and all, by:
• providing a balanced discussion of strengths and weakness
• translating problems into business risks
• aiming to inform, not impress
By following this transparent approach across your entire communication platform, your company will earn a fair reputational value, no matter how it is measured.

Today, you have an opportunity to build trust by committing to a collaborative approach to business that benefits society, not just shareholders. Remember, trust is no longer a commodity that is acquired, but rather a benefit that is earned.

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Richard Ketchen helps companies get the right message out to stakeholders. An accountant by training but a writer at heart, Richard has worked with leading companies across North America to develop strategies and craft messages for annual reports, websites and other stakeholder communication. You can download a free copy of Richard’s report “How to build trust through strategic messaging” at his website. (http://richardketchen.com/)

When Less is not More

We hear a lot in our lives that “less is more” – you can work less, just work smarter, and then you’ll have more. The 80/20 rule is predicated on this principle: that you spend about 80% of your time dealing with the 20% that is problematic. If you spend less time on the problems, then you will have more time to deal with the good stuff. Anti-consumerism also states that less is more – buy less and you’ll have more happiness, more money, and more time to spend with friends and meaningful experiences.

However, sometimes less is not more.

Consider goal-setting. Let’s say you want to do less administrivia. Ok. Great. So what do you want to do MORE of? More calling clients? More relationship building? More research? More design? You can’t set goals around “less” but you can set goals around “more”.

Consider personal development. Let’s say you want to be less stressed out. Good start. But what do you want MORE of? More time for meditation? More time dining out with friends? More time reading through journals and resources that inspire you? What do you want MORE of?

Consider your business. What if you want less aggravation? Fine. What do you want MORE of? More clients who pay on time? More clients who appreciate your efforts and imagination? More lengthy projects where you build relationships and co-create over time?

When you find yourself feeling that you want less of something, that’s a clue to pause and reflect. Nature abhors a vacuum. You can’t just have “less” because something needs to fill that space. So what do you want to fill it with? What do you want MORE of?

Lisa Sansom is the Founder of LVS Consulting. A certified coach and positive psychology practitioner, Lisa helps businesses, teams and individuals be at their best. For more information, please visit LVS Consulting.

The Sizzle, No BS Planning for 2011

First I want to ask you these questions:

1. Do you want to be happy?
2. Do you want to be financially free?
3. And how close are you to achieving both?

What better time to consider this then in the first couple of months of the fresh and crisp New Year? So lets get you on the path of getting you there!

I have been one lucky bunny already this year. I attended a three day intensive training course the first week back after the holidays.  And there is just nothing better to clear out the ‘cobwebs’ then a highly intensive training program that really jolts you into action.

Based on experiential learning techniques, the content was core shaking and mind shifting. So not only am I exceptionally lucky to

have been there, now you are even move lucky because I am going to let you in on the very 1st secret to professional success. Whilst I paid a ton of money for this, you get to make a cup of tea, kick back and enjoy the read. For now! Afterwards, I will challenge you to create the plan that will underpin your hearts desires.

But first, I am going to keep my promise and share.

I am a great believer that each and everyone of us is seeking happiness and financial freedom. No one likes to be down, unmotivated and poor. But where to start or how to get there? I am sure you have already tried many things to figure this out. Maybe you have even made attempts to create a plan but somehow it still did not bring the results you had hoped.

Lets break this cycle. Before you can even start to put plans or possible objectives in place, there is one very crucial piece you need to understand or otherwise your plan will never succeed.

You have got to really identify the WHY you want to be financially free! Only once you truly and deeply understand the WHY, you can start on planning the HOW. And here is another thing. The reasons need to be truly and deeply compelling, strong enough to carry you through all obstacles you will undoubtedly encounter.

So take a fresh, clean piece of paper and set the timer to three minutes. List all the WHY’s you can think of and make sure you approach it from the heart. Don’t spend time thinking to much about them, rather let things bubble up inside of you and note them down.

Once your time is up, go back over your list and highlight the three most compelling reasons. You will want to share them with someone else to gauge their reaction. If they are moved by your reasons, Bingo! You are one step closer to realising your dreams. I hope you will have shared the emotional charge that is connected to your WHY’s. This will break the cycle forever!

Now you are truly ready to determine the plan for the year. Either get started yourself or contact me if you need a one page planning template. Would love to hear how it goes!

Happy New Year,
Conny

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A highly skilled and experienced international Business Adviser with key competencies in Sales & Marketing Strategy, Conny Millard specialises in working with savvy female entrepreneurs in Canada, US and Europe. For further information please contact her directly at cmillard@mcgbusiness.com or visit www.mcgbusiness.com.