Tag: #Networkingworks #businessnetworking #buildingrelationships

You shouldn’t need a magnifying glass

Posted on May 28, 2023 by - Business opinions, Business relationships, Marketing, Networking

Recently I’ve been having some challenges at home because my beloved has been in hospital, it seems forever, following a heart attack. (As I type this, and after nine weeks, he is home now. Yay!) Now, you may be wondering “Why is she telling me this?” Well I think it is fair to say that my patience, which I have never had in abundance, has been even more lacking of late. I have a very familiar follow-up process when I network. I spend time afterwards getting in touch with the marvellous people I have met the previous week and adding their info to my database.

Most of the time this is a nice, relaxed process—a lovely cappuccino or two, maybe a familiar TV programme on in the background as I input to a spreadsheet. (Love a spreadsheet.) Anyway, in the last few weeks some cards have not made it onto the spreadsheet. (You might be thinking “Why does that matter?” Well I meet literally hundreds of people in any given month and not being on my spreadsheet means if someone says “Do you know a widget-maker in Scunthorpe”, or whatever, wherever) I won’t find the widget maker from Scunthorpe that I met ten years ago. It often happens that I have to look at a website to find out what someone I have met does, and, it has to be said, sometimes I still don’t know because their website is full of “management speak” but that is a whole other rant, so back to the current one.

Some of the reasons they do not make it to my spreadsheet?

In no particular order, (although if they are nearer the top than the bottom this is probably because they irritate me more). They have:

  • a sparkly card, usually with a sparkly, but different sparkly lettering. I like sparkly, but not when it makes the information illegible
  • very little information on the card (I refer you back to website comment)
  • cards which have no name and/or info/sales/enquiries@Idon’twantyoutogetintouchwithmepersonallyreally.com
  • tiny, tiny, tiny writing on the card.

My rule is if I have to get out a magnifying glass to try and read your card then it probably won’t make it onto the spreadsheet. OK, now all the above might just be me, however when we pay good money to have business cards designed and printed, we probably want people to keep in touch and for people we have met to be left with a good impression about my business. If the magnifying comes into use, then these goals have probably been missed.

Don’t have a process for your networking? Want some help with your networking? Then here is my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Yes you can do it yourself

Posted on May 1, 2023 by - Business opinions, Business relationships, Networking

Recently I was talking to someone about IT. Now anyone who knows me knows I am a bit of a Luddite (OK perhaps more than a bit). Anyway this man knew his stuff, I mean really knew his stuff. He understood that I only want to know how to do something when I need to know how to do it. I accept that there are shortcuts, systems and apps that will make my life more efficient and exciting, but my life is as efficient and exciting as I can manage at the moment, thank you.

While we chatted another business owner joined our conversation.

It became apparent that this other person thought he knew a lot about IT, even though it was not what he did as a business. He talked about how many IT things he did himself. He talked about SEO, Cyber security, domain names, internet stuff and frankly he probably talked about other IT things but I had glazed over quite early on, partly because I didn’t understand most of what he was saying and mainly because I was really bored.

The IT expert was very polite, he listened and nodded. He nodded and smiled. I am sure that he would have said something, but the new contact didn’t seem to need air to breathe so there were few opportunities to add anything. Finally, there was a gap in the monologue and the expert said “It’s amazing how much you know. Have you ever thought about starting a business offering this as a service?” I smiled (I’m easily amused when I’m bored) At this point the back-pedalling began and it became obvious that he didn’t actually do all these IT things for his business, he had an IT supplier but thought he needed to know what was being done.

This is not how I work. Yes, I want to know why I need whatever it is, and why I need to spend this money. What I do not want is to understand the mechanics of whatever is being suggested. If I have a supplier, I use them because I trust them, I’m confident that they know their stuff and aren’t trying to rip me off. I was therefore happy when my IT expert said “Everything I offer can be done by the business person. But why would they want to? They would have to take time out of their business to deal with their IT needs, keep up to date with all new current IT issues, and there are a lot, and of course, if it goes wrong they could end with no IT and what would that do to their business? As he said that, I had a sudden picture of me taking care of my IT needs and wondered how long before I found myself dangling over the abyss of IT failure. I’m not prepared to chance it, so I don’t do it myself!

If you would like some help with your networking,  but not IT, here’s my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

One of the best things about networking

Posted on April 10, 2023 by - Business relationships, Networking, Relationships

Recently I was talking to a business contact who I have known for a few years, but not really well. I knew that I liked him and, if you had asked me why, I would have said things like “Well, he is always pleasant and he has a great sense of humour—he makes me laugh”.  Over the last few months, for various reasons, I have met up with him more than I had and each time I have come away feeling upbeat. In networking that is not always the case!

A couple of weeks ago we arranged a 1-2-1 and before we started talking business, we had the “How are you doing?” conversation. Often this can be quite superficial. Business people put on their business faces and they talk about the good things that are happening. Occasionally, and usually after a long-term relationship with someone, with some people the business face can be ignored and they talk about real problems that they are dealing with and real, current challenges they are facing.

This is one of the benefits of networking that rarely gets talked about, the business relationships that become so secure and the people so confident in each other that they know that they will not be judged, they will be supported, and they can be confident that the issues shared will not make it on to the 10 o’clock news. In business it can seem at times as if you are alone, and are not sure where you can go for support, or if you should just keep it all to yourself.

When I met this contact, who I did not know well, I was sort of expecting a low-key and slightly superficial kind of ‘business-focussed’ chat. But this was not what happened. When I asked how he was he said, “I am dealing with some real problems, and I don’t know where to turn”. Over the next hour he poured out all the issues, side issues, what he’s done, what he’s thought of doing, what had helped and what had not. Then we worked together to work out some possible solutions, we identified some people who might be able to offer some practical help and we arranged a date when we would meet and catch up again.

This time it was him with the challenges the next time it could be me who needs someone to help. If you need help and you think it might help to talk, then get in touch. If you would like some help with your networking here’s my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

It’s all about a camel and a piece of straw.

Posted on March 20, 2023 by - Future dreams, Networking

Recently I was talking to a new business contact, let’s call him Gilbert, about his business which he had started a days before. I remembered how excited and frightened I had been in equal measure. I remembered lying awake making plans and feeling excited about this new adventure and, at the same time, overwhelmed by what I had to do and what I knew I didn’t know with a side issue of realising that there was probably stuff I didn’t know I didn’t know! Thankfully I found networking.

We began talking about how long we had stayed safe in paid employment, with a feeling of restriction, before we made the decision to make the leap into self-employment. What do I mean by restriction? Well, as my beloved summed it up when he said: “You’ve never done bosses well”. This is true: I love being the decision-maker in my business, and I’m not saying that all my decisions have been good ones, but they have all been mine.

Gilbert and I agreed that, at some level, this move to self-employment had been made more difficult because we were paid well and there is no guaranteed income when you are paying yourself. Added to this both of us had support teams, who did stuff and knew stuff so we didn’t have to be involved. So, in the main our jobs were more interesting and rewarding than other jobs we had done. Then he asked “When did you know you had to leave?”

No one who knows me will be surprised that a holiday was involved. Because we have always liked to travel we would always hit the annual issue of having “no leave left till the end of March”. And we like long holidays. The moment I knew I had to leave was, having returned from a month’s holiday when we had completed a circle of the earth, I parked my car in my personal parking space in London, walked back into my lovely office, saying hello to my fabulous team and thought “well this is no fun”. That’s when I started to plan my exit and less than six month’s later I was self-employed with no real idea of what I was going to do. I just knew that, whatever I did my number one rule was it had to be fun.

That was my “moment” and I asked Gilbert what his “moment” was. To be honest I was expecting some story like mine. He said he had been thinking about it for years and he knew what he would do and how. His final-straw/camel moment was he said when he started to think about what he liked about the work he was doing, the employment package he had and the people he worked with. He knew that he definitely had to start his own business when he realised that the best bit was that…he had a chair that swivels! The next day he started to negotiate his way out.

From my swivelling chair I would like to help you with your networking, so here’s a gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Definitely not a vanity move!

Posted on March 6, 2023 by - Business strategy, Future dreams, Networking

Recently I was talking to a business contact about his move into a business unit. I have known this particular contact for over 20 years after meeting him at a networking event (where else!). At the time he was working from his front room, with his lovely mum as his only member of staff. Over the years his business has grown and yet he has remained in his home office, now an actual office rather than his front room, staff have changed and he and his business have survived even the devastating loss of his mother at an early age. He has worked hard, been amazing at marketing and seen the resultant success.

While talking, I said that no-one could say he was making a vanity decision and we began to talk about how tempting these vanity decisions are. What are ‘vanity’ decisions, often involving vanity purchases? They are using money either from your business (or investing it from your own money) to buy ‘things’ and these ‘things’ are often not needed but give the business owner’s vanity a stroke. The nice new desk to replace a perfectly good desk. (Of course, always get a great chair to sit in, or stand at, because you may spend a lot of time at your desk and you don’t want to undermine your spine etc.) You see people with large shiny offices, staff, every piece of equipment you can imagine…and no customers!

Now the conversation I was having with my contact was definitely, from my part at least, not based on a history of “Well I’ve never done that” because I have stroked my vanity many times by buying stuff that was lovely and shiny and I didn’t need! When I set up my first business, I bought lots of stuff that I had occasionally used when I had worked in the corporate world but didn’t actually need for my small office at home, or, if I did, I didn’t need the super deluxe version. The same was true when I started my catering business. I had a storage unit which was full of stuff, and, unsurprisingly, because I am sometimes a slow learner, the unit got larger as I bought more stuff, and then reduced in size as I learnt that I didn’t need to own all the stuff I had. In the process I wasted a lot of money. But I did learn.

Obviously, my contact, being wiser than I, didn’t need to be taught this. He has seemed to know instinctively to only spend money you must spend. Save the money, don’t buy, buy the less shiny one, buy second hand, you get the picture. This last part is what I have learnt. I also realised that by saving money in this way I had more money, at the end of the year, to have more money to spend on shiny things for my home, for holidays and as soon as I realised this the vanity decisions became less and easier.

So I wish my contact all the success he deserves as he moves into his lovely shiny, and absolutely necessary, new business unit.

If you are not sure about spending money on networking let me help with a gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Surprising myself with what I know.

Posted on February 20, 2023 by - Marketing, Networking, Relationships

Recently I was on holiday and started talking to an American woman about what she did. She was a registered nurse who had a doctorate in medical administration. Her special area of interest was preventing heart disease. As part of her work she gives talks to various groups of people. Being who I am, I asked her if she wanted to make this some sort of business to (and remember I was talking to an American) monetise it all. (Apologies but I could not bring myself to spell monetise with a z!) She said she would love to offer products and information etc. online but didn’t know where to start. We went on to chat about other things and didn’t get back to business mode again.

The next day while eating lunch I realised I knew how to do what she needed to do, because I had done it for my (and staying in American jargon) “side hustle”—helping people lose weight by devising their plan to balance and manage their weight loss. (If you are interested here’s the link: www.glenyschattertley.uk.com). What we did was have a breakfast talking business, which felt like being home, if we had meetings that looked out over the Indian Ocean! I quickly outlined what her online “funnel” might look like (I had to explain this to her) based on what I had on my website. We also spent some time looking at marketing. I also remembered how panicky I felt when the mighty Lesley Morrissey (https://www.insidenews.co.uk) started me on the journey of online selling and also, of course, social media.

Lesley reduced my panic by not only providing her expertise but also support (think hand-holding) as we got this project off the ground. During my conversation with my new contact I could hear myself echoing some of the things Lesley had said: “You can choose how and when you do something”, “this is your business and these are my suggestions”, “You can stop at any point” etc.

During my slightly surreal breakfast meeting I amazed myself at what I knew, however I know  that I am not an expert and I believe we should always use experts and not think we know everything, so I referred her to Lesley’s page and suggested she sign up. I also reminded her that she could choose not to do anything, or choose not to anything just yet. As a potential small business. That is her right.

Now, I am back home and back into my usual networking, which I do know something about. In case you need some help with your networking. here is my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun

Glenys

What can you expect from networking?

Posted on January 16, 2023 by - Business relationships, Marketing, Networking

Recently I have been talking to people who are new to networking and some of them are not sure if networking is worth doing. In case you fall into this category let me explain why I think networking is a vital part of any marketing strategy. It is true that I have always networked, both before and when I worked in the corporate world and certainly when I became self-employed. The only difference was that when I became self-employed, I realised that what I did had a name…networking.

People often seem to think that they network to get work and, while this is certainly one result of networking, it is not the only result. When you network you build relationships, people get to know what you do, and they learn to trust that you know what you are doing. If you build strong relationships your contacts will feel confident that their reputation is safe when they recommend you to one of their contacts. So when you network you meet people who almost become your salesforce. For some people this is all they think you get from networking and—certainly if they don’t immediately get work—they say that networking doesn’t work. Yes, it does, but you need to work at it.

There are other things you will get from networking. One is that you meet people who do other things that you may need in your business: accounts, IT, recruitment etc. They can supply their services to you which means you can concentrate on what you do, servicing your customers, developing new products or services etc. Networking enables you to grow your business because you are not being distracted by sorting your tax return, sorting out a bug on your computer or ensuring you have robust contracts for your staff.

You also get people around you who will support you on those days when things are not going as planned and you just need someone to talk to about it, and this may just be someone who you can use to rant to about life, challenges or whatever. I certainly have a few people who fill that category. (I usually find that the phrase “Is it me” gets said at some point! They can share some of their energy when you have none, but don’t forget that, at some point, the roles may be reversed and they may need you when their day is going the way they planned.

One final thing you may get is opportunities that come from networking. I’ve networked in a high security prison, a cinema with a tour included, been given access to parts of Stansted airport that I would not have had if I had not networked. I hope that you have been persuaded that networking is not just about getting work, it is so much more.

If you want some help with your networking let me help with a gift to you: my Top 20 Networking Tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Why network?

Posted on December 19, 2022 by - Business relationships, Marketing, Networking

Recently I was talking to a contact, let’s call him Fred, about some work his company had just started. He was really surprised, because he knew that a lot of people had gone for the work and his company was quite a small one. They could do the work, but he was surprised that he had won the work rather than one of the larger, better-known companies. I asked him how he had heard of the work and he said that a business contact had told him, and introduced him to the potential customer. My next question was “How did your contact and the potential customer know each other?”  He said that they played golf each week.

Now, assuming that his prices and service provision were similar to all the other potential suppliers there had to be something that gave him the edge. In my opinion, it was that he was connecting with someone who wanted to use his company. Why? Because someone who the potential customer knew and who he met once a week had made the connection. They probably knew each other well and they trusted each other and Fred’s contact was willing to put his reputation on the line by introducing them. That’s why he got the contract. That’s networking.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me and my business to know that I fundamentally believe in networking as a powerful marketing tool. It turns cold connections into (at least) warm connections. It puts your company in front of potential customers, even when you are not there. It puts you in front of people you might not have ever met, and it raises your profile. My question who be: Why would you not network?

If you want some networking hints and tips let me help with a gift: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

It’s OK to have fun, just don‘t forget the customers.

Posted on September 12, 2022 by - Business opinions, Relationships

Recently I was in Oslo and, as often happens when I’m in one country I want the cuisine of another country, so I was yearning for pasta. We found what looked like a nice place. Looking at the menu outside it also seemed, whilst expensive, that we wouldn’t need to sell a kidney when the bill came. The tables outside were packed and since I always feel like I’m the animal in the zoo who people are watching being fed, we went inside, which was virtually empty. The smiley waiter put us near the bar and I said, “That’s good we’ll get served quickly”. I need to keep my thoughts to myself sometimes. Anyway, we ordered—nothing that wasn’t on the menu and straight into main courses.

Eventually our mains arrived, well not all of the mains, because my side salad only arrived when I reminded them. This was followed by a basket of bread which skidded towards us as the not-so-smiley waiter practised his spin bowling. Now I knew what was happening, because they were not busy, they were having a lovely time and we were interrupting their fun. Beloved and I began to chat about a proposed holiday to the Artic Ocean so I wasn’t really paying attention to the staff, but slowly they became more raucous. It seems that they were all of different nationalities and so they spoke English, which, unfortunately I could therefore understand. They (all men of about 25) discussed women’s rights, gender inequality, and when they started to discuss their sex lives, I’d heard enough and explained to them how inappropriate their conversations were. Their answer? “We were just having fun”. Which is lovely, but not the aim of my evening out. I’m sort of wanting to have fun spending time with beloved and just chatting, rather than getting bad service and indigestion.

I am all for having fun at work, in fact it is my rule number 1. But not when the customers are therefore forgotten, seen as an inconvenience, or badly served. Of course, the service charge was not paid, and, as someone who has worked in hospitality, I really try to give good tips. But there has to be at least an average level of service, so perhaps getting no money might make them think. Unfortunately, I doubt it. Customer service? You either get it or you don’t.

Thank you for reading, here is my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Be polite. Please. Thank you.

Posted on August 1, 2022 by - Business relationships, Networking

Recently I was shopping in Chelmsford and as I went to the door of one shop I saw that someone was coming the other way. Since my mam did a good job on me, I opened the door and held it open for them to come through, which they did, along with another couple of people. As each went past and ignored me, I did my customary thing of saying “You’re welcome” and got nothing.  My beloved has long told me that one day someone will turn on me because of this habit or another one I have. What is it? When I am in a shop and someone doesn’t say please when asking for (in my mind ‘demands’) something without saying please, I will say it for them.

This got me thinking: was it an age thing? A cultural thing? A male/female thing? Why do people seem not to say please or thank you anymore? So, I started to do some research and actively noted when I got please and/or thank you as appropriate. I also actively noted when I didn’t. The latter was easier because I had the urge to growl when I was ignored.

The results? Well from a fairly small sample (does it show that I live with a statistician?) I discovered that there was no clear correlation between those who, in my opinion, are ill-mannered and those who weren’t, based on any of the categories given above. Some were polite and some not. The other thing I realised was that I judged them based on this behaviour. Now what if that was someone I met in business? The same judgement would be made, and I don’t develop relationships with impolite people. Now It might be that I am just old and judgemental. That is, of course, a possibility. Would you, as a businessperson, want to take that chance? It might be that I know someone who would be your best connection, but I wouldn’t put you in front of them because when I make a referral my reputation is on the line. What if you are impolite to my referral? I wouldn’t take the chance, others might.

So I have a plea: can you make sure you fall into the ‘polite group’ rather than the other lot? Please. Thank you.

Thank you for reading, here is my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys