Isn’t it strange that even with an unemployment rate of nine percent, people still feel uncomfortable saying that they are looking for work? It seems to me that people hesitate sharing this information because they think the only way to tell someone they are looking for new employment is to use words and phrases like, unemployed, seeking a new position, and between jobs which have negative connotations. So, often times the approach is to say nothing… but as a recruiter, I can’t help but argue the exact opposite.

Admitting that you’re looking for new employment doesn’t make you any less desirable than everyone else in the job market, especially  if you know what to say, how to say it, and who to say it to. 

Each of us has countless interactions every day with a wide variety of people. We talk to family, friends, neighbors, the Starbucks barista, the owner of the local dry cleaners – the list goes on and on. But what people forget is that any one of these interactions could result in their next career opportunity. Rather than keep quiet, you should tell anyone and everyone who is willing to listen you’re looking for a new job. You never know, your neighbor might work at a company that is looking to hire someone with your exact skill set, or a family friend may have a great contact for you to interview with. The key here is to get out and talk about it; explain to people your current situation! 

Now, I’m not telling you to go shout it from the rooftop and sit back waiting for job offers to flood your way – you’ve got to think strategically.  Simply telling people that you’re looking for work isn’t enough.  Here are a few tips to help you get started thinking about what to say and how to say it:  

• Be straight forward
• Be specific
• Be Authentic
• Never Assume
• Focus on the positive
• Ask for advice, not a job

Now that you have a better idea of what to say and how to say it, who do you tell? I recently read an article stating that 60 percent of all new hires come from referrals and a recent study conducted by Facebook and researchers at an Italian university found that 92 percent of Facebook’s users are connected by four degrees of separation. So, that means that at any given time you are only three friends away from connecting to the hiring manager at your next job! With statistics like that, what are you waiting for?  

Social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide a superb platform for referrals because you can easily keep people in your network up to speed on your current job situation. It is vital to utilize as many of these tools as possible to further your ultimate goal of securing a new position. Additionally, more and more recruiters are using the same tools to seek out new talent.  For them, it’s a cost effective and efficient way to secure candidates and for you it’s a simple change to your profile that will undoubtedly increase your odds of finding you next job.  

So, what are you waiting for? You know what to say, how to it, and who to say it to – tell someone! 

Donal O’Donoghue is an account manager at entreQuest who specializes in expanding work forces by finding the best talent with the ideal personalities to place in a wide range of positions across all types of industries.

One of the greatest gifts in the world for any business, but especially a small to medium sized company in the B-2-B realm, is the surprise referral.  The testimonial that comes out-of-the-blue.  The unexpected rave review.

Not only did you not have to do any extra work to obtain it from a client but it genuinely validated the work you’ve already done with them.  It’s your client being so satisfied that he or she is acting on their own accord to announce your greatness.  It’s your client’s confirmation that you delivered a remarkable experience - and one that fulfilled them to such a level that they want other people to experience the same.  They probably weren’t speaking highly of your product/service to do you a favor, but more likely for the benefit of their friends, family members, and acquaintances.  As well as themselves – after all, they demonstrably believe that they hold a valuable piece of information that deserves recognition and they want to put a spotlight on it.
 
Now there are two ways of turning a target market into a consumer base – you can sell or you can enroll.  For the detailed definitions of “selling” versus “enrolling,” including  their respective applications in the workplace, please read eQ’s previously published article in SmartCEO Magazine at this link:  http://www.entrequest.com/wp-content/pdf/entrequest_Enrollment_06.03.pdf?phpMyAdmin=d2c4aa6766ft5760658. 
 
In basic terms however, selling is the one-off, transactional exchange with clients that fills a want or need right then and there.  Enrolling is the longer term, relationship building with clients that involves understanding a want or need for the betterment of an individual’s or a company’s future vision.  Selling closes deals.  Enrolling leaves the door open.  Selling makes for a shopping trip.  Enrolling creates a client experience. 
 
It’s pretty obvious as to why you’d rather enroll a client than sell them.  Sustaining growth is a process that accumulates over time and requires the loyalty of your client base to drive your company’s revenue and validate your offering’s excellence.  That said though, it can become quite tiresome to keep the faith in enrollment’s potential while investing so many of your resources into building a great client experience.  Especially when you compare that to quick sales to masses of people – a seemingly much easier means of meeting quotas.  But as eQ has advocated since the conception of our consulting, you have to keep your mindset focused on enrolling your consumers into a remarkable client experience.  It is by far the more valuable technique.
 
That value will become apparent sometimes unexpectedly… sometimes completely out of the blue… sometimes by SURPRISE!  Trust us because it just happened to our team.  A man whose company had partnered with eQ on a consulting and training level OVER SIX YEARS AGO recently posted one of the most complementary comments on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=720717160009&set=a.720716945439.2226526.13803364&type=1&ref=nf#!/entreQuest). 
 
His comment read:  “I can say that eQ taught me how to sell and taught me how to teach my team to sell, the right way.  Since going through the training in 2005 and again in 2006, our sales have increased 7 times over.  If you have salespeople and want to increase sales, let them train you, period.”
 
Though this kind of review is EXACTLY what eQ aspires to invoke in the clients we have enrolled in our community, we still couldn’t help but feel humbled.  Validation for your efforts, your beliefs, and your story often works like that.  When you receive recognition for providing a client experience that was remarkable, and literally “remark-able” in this case, it’s a beautiful byproduct of doing more than simply selling a one-off.   These instances are great gifts – and ones that will inspire not only your prospects and your clients but your own people as well.
 
A lot of technology and consulting companies are out there now trying to unlock the magic of e-marketing and leveraging outlets such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to establish an “Internet connection” with their clients and prospects.  Finding the social media solution strategy for businesses is vital in becoming viral. 

But no matter how innovative or fancy the corporate world’s online presence can be, there is still a person behind the screen.  Enroll them for the long term, rather than sell them for the short term.  Create for them a client experience and SURPRISE!  They might do your best marketing for you.  In fact, they just might be the social media solution themselves.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

Become our Facebook fan (Already a fan?  Forward this to your friends)!  Why?  Joe Mechlinski and I are in a heated battle…he thinks that we CAN’T get 500 fans by the end of September and I believe that we absolutely CAN!

For every fan that we are short of 500, I have to pay him $1.  For every fan over 500, he owes me $2.  If me making money isn’t enough motivation for you to admit that you are a fan, then maybe the following 10 reasons will be!

1). entreQuest shares GREAT information about how to increase sales and build stronger businesses.  This helps you become more educated which will make you sound smarter when talking with your friends.

2). Because we’re the source for sales growth, you’ll sell more (or encourage your employees/colleagues to do so) which will MAKE YOU MORE MONEY which means that you can buy bigger houses, faster cars or just save money for the next recession.

3). You can network with our community….which is a tight knit one that will most likely welcome you with open arms.

4). We don’t mind if you directly solicit our contacts for meetings or invites to your Facebook fan pages as long as you keep it G-rated and not annoying.

5). We give away our training materials from time-to-time for FREE…yes, free…nothing in this world is EVER free so you should jump on it.

6). Our recruiting division has basically blown up and we now have opportunities ALL OVER the United States.  This is a perfect opportunity for you to pull out the cool card by getting your friends great jobs.

7). eQ is involved in the community and from time to time does fun things like raising money by bowling for kids, serving food to Baltimore City shelters and sponsoring events, which will open your eyes to the endless opportunities out there to make our world a better place. (We are the world….we are the children…we are the ones who make a brighter place…so let’s start liv’n – RIP MJ)

8).  eQ does free public webinars that teach salespeople how to sell better using social media.  Again…free….no need to discuss further.

9). We’re having a 10^th year anniversary thank you party…and if there’s any shot that you will get an invite, you better be a fan of our page.

10). It takes 1 click on the word ‘like’ (look up and to your right) to become a fan which is the same amount of energy you use to blink your eyes once.

3 things to think about before you say YES!

Inspired by the Beatles, the entreQuest tag line, “Revolutionize Your Sales™”, was a call to action and a gut check all wrapped into one. Pretty smart, right?

(Don’t believe me, listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrkwgTBrW78 or read the lyrics: http://lyrics-a-plenty.com/r/revolution.lyrics.php)

To be or not to be revolutionary?

For companies considering growing their companies in 2010, that is the question. It’s one thing to go start the new decade with a new sales plan. But it would take a revolution of commitment and follow-through for most companies to keep momentum going after the first 100 days so what should you do?

1. Be Honest
Be honest about your company and your team. Is it a lifestyle business, or a growth business? There’s nothing wrong with either one, as you long as you understand what you want and can plan for it. And when judging your company and team… think of Simon Cowell not Paula Abdull – BE REAL HONEST! You know you are being honest if you have more than 1 difficult decision to make each day. This is living on the edge and pushing your company to GROW.

2. Be Willing
The second consideration for companies to keep in mind when choosing whether or not to be revolutionary is how willing you are to engage with your market, community and customers in the powerful, meaningful new ways available. The access to audiences that has become available through social media within the last 3 years is staggering. Online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In, etc., can help you keep the relationship going like never before – and can even put you in position to win new business. Don’t be scared of the net… or that social media fad. If 300 million people are using it already… it’s not a fad, it’s THE new reality.

3. Be Consistent
The third choice Companies need to make about being revolutionary is to decide whether or not you can be consistent. Talk is cheap. There is a HUGE difference between doing it once and doing it all the time. In fact, one of our favorite quotes is: “Don’t take an action to create a result, take an action to create a habit and let your habit create your results.”

It’s not easy, but can be fun!

Be YOUR best,
Joe

It’s a pretty hot topic right now… what to do when it snows (oxymoron: hot topic – what to do when it snows… get it?).

And nobody wants to be this guy, right?

All of us smart, intelligent, experienced and seasoned business professionals know we must adapt & overcome.

A little (or a lot) of snow can’t get us down, right?

So WHAT if it is snowing… its time to make lemonade out of lemons or snowmen out of the 30”+ of snow we all have.

And as they say in Hollywood… “The show must go on!”

Use this time to:

1. OVER-COMMUNICATE! To your clients, teammates and community. No one likes to be left in the dark… or the cold (ok, another corny one huh?). Let people know exactly what to expect from you and vice versa. Some companies have not even communicated what their office policy is this week yet. “Should I work from home or make the treacherous journey to work?” Of course – SAFETY FIRST!

2. PLAN AHEAD! Use this time to schedule 4-8 weeks out. When was the last time you could do this? Get check-in meetings, trainings and lunches on the calendars. This is a great time, while things are slow, to nail down these meetings. Our team has booked over a dozen meetings so far this week alone.

3. BE PROACTIVE! Look for business development opportunities for yourself OR one of your clients. We had a client reach out today for an introduction to someone who was recently in the business journal. They did research and found we were connected through Linkedin. Within minutes we made the introduction. (Picture Emeril saying this) BAM!

4. ASK FOR A REFERRAL! While everyone is home in the snow this is a perfect time to reach out to your community and make the bold ask: “Do you know of anyone who is looking to grow their sales? Someone with a company who is looking to hire sales people? Someone with a company who wants a higher performing sales organization?” (Not a hypothetical here folks – throw us a bone!)

5. GET ON TWITTER! Yes, that social media stuff we all talk about but don’t have enough time for. If you have not spent time on Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter this year and seen value… GO DO THIS IMMEDIATELY! Your community is screaming to hear from you and for you to pitch in.

6. GET ON TWITTER! Yes, I know this is redundant… I just want to make sure you DO IT!

7. EXERCISE! I went there… you betcha. We all could use a bit of exercise so take it slow and get that sidewalk smiling back at ya!

8. SHARPEN YOUR SAW (thanks Stephen Covey)! When was the last time you read something for professional development? Since we are the self proclaimed SOURCE for Sales Growth… check out one of our articles (Yes, another shameless plug for our content that sits on the Microsoft site) – https://community.dynamics.com/blogs/marketingarticles/archive/2009/12/16/working-backwards-from-the-client-experience.aspx

9. KEEP MOVING FORWARD! Don’t get stuck with anything. Handle it, file it, or get rid of whatever is sitting on that to-do list.

10. GRATITUDE! When was the last time you said thank-you to someone. Write a note… don’t send an email. You will be glad you did.

One of my favorite quotes says it best:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

- Charles Darwin

Adapt to your environment and make the most of YOUR time.

Stay home, work hard, and be YOUR best,

Joe

We just had an article picked up by the Micrsoft Dynamics site.

Check it out:

https://community.dynamics.com/blogs/marketingarticles/comments/49611.aspx

Be YOUR Best,

Joe

As recently as 10 years ago, the old rules of “being there” still applied.  Unless you had a local presence, you didn’t have the ability to be truly connected to your prospects and customers.  Being there physically allowed you to place extra emphasis on building the relationship.

Now, thanks to social media and the Internet, you can be there without being there.  You can stay connected authentically – and profitably, as most businesses have discovered – by using the social web and the tools of Web 2.0 such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

The adoption of social media has been pretty amazing.  Here are some statements that show the value to any company considering whether to invest in social media strategies:

• Tech decision makers give user-generated sites equal importance to traditional media sources when considering tech purchases.
• Decision makers consider their personal experiences first (58%) when short-listing tech vendors, followed by word-of-mouth and industry analyst reports, tied at 51%.
• Advertising (17%) and direct marketing (21%) were listed as the least important information sources when short-listing possible vendors.

(Study: “Tech Decision Maker,” Hill & Knowlton, January 2009)

But it’s not anonymous “decision makers” who rely on social media.  It’s real people.  Consider:

• Friends still play an important role in influencing buyers. 83% of online buyers said they are interested in sharing information about their decisions with people they know, while 74% are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product/service in the first place. (“Manage Smarter”, September 2009)

People are not likely to go back to their previous buying habits.  In fact:

• 85% of social media users believe that a company should go further than just having a presence on social sites and should also interact with its customers. (Cone Business in Social Media Study, September 2008 ) [r2]
• 81% of marketers surveyed say that their social media spending will meet or exceed their traditional advertising spending within the next five years. (TWI Surveys/Society for New Communications Research, November 2007)
• By 2020, 84% of marketers agree that building customer trust will become marketing’s primary objective, and 82% agree that collaboration with customers will prevail over marketing. (1to1 Media survey of the 1to1 Xchange panel, April 2008)

Despite all this change, it is important to keep this in mind: the only thing that has really changed is proximity.  Proximity has expanded exponentially.  You no longer need to live in the same zip code as your prospects, Partners, and clients in order to operate in the same community.

Whether your company is large or small, whether your audiences are far-flung or local, being earliest to the sale depends upon your investment in your communities.

Social media can aptly be described as many communities of many humans.  And like any group of humans, certain attitudes and behaviors will gain you acceptance, and some will get you ostracized.  Being smart socially, will differentiate the effective communicators from the rest on social media.

Studies suggest there are three basic requirements when communicating online or otherwise:

1)      Authenticity

2)      Transparency

3)      Emotional Intelligence

Authenticity is just being who you say you are and staying consistent.  It’s all about strengthening your brand by the lasting memory you create and the promise you deliver.

Transparency is full disclosure.  There is no reason to fool your audiences online.  It won’t work; they’ll smell trickery a mile away.

Emotional intelligence (or EQ) has always been the secret ingredient in “how to win friends and influence people.”  It’s just as important in social media, where your brand personality is open to the scrutiny of hundreds or thousands or millions of viewers.  EQ is your self-awareness plus social awareness.

In his book, “A Whole New Mind”, Daniel H. Pink discusses the correlation between “right-brained thinking” and EQ, and postulates that having a high EQ is the primary differentiator for companies facing off-shore competition.  “We must think and master aptitudes that are high concept and high touch,” he writes, “that overseas knowledge workers can’t do cheaper …”  Not only does our emotional intelligence determine our acceptance into communities, but it may be the difference between survival and extinction of our companies.

To understand the concept of self-aware versus socially aware, imagine your company as one of the characters from “The Wizard of Oz”.  Which one should it be?

• Scarecrow – is socially aware but not self-aware.  He’s a strawman, a fringe character.  He’s close to the action but not paying much attention to what his use of social media might reveal about him.  As a result, he is an extreme “life streamer” – posting too often about too little.  “Crows are evil!” for example, or “Bored with my field.”  If he only had a brain!

• Cowardly Lion – he’s very self-aware and very much interested in his own self-interest but is not socially aware.  He doesn’t understand the value of the “social” in social media.  He’s so deep in his fear and afraid of his own shadow, he can’t focus on anything else around him.

• Tinman – let’s say the Tinman is not self-aware or socially aware.  (Sorry, Tinman, you’re the bad guy in this analogy.)  He just doesn’t get what makes himself, or other people, tick.  So he gets a little oiled up and starts chopping randomly in social settings – potentially inflicting great harm to the company’s image.

• Wizard of Oz – the great and powerful Oz gets it!  He knows you can’t get on social media without a strategy.  He knows how to listen, participate, and engage in a way that fully respects the laws of human behavior.  The Wizard, front and center of all the action, makes an excellent community manager – and proves that the company is transparent by coming out from behind the curtain in the end.

So the question is… which one are you?