Presentation Advisors Blog

Bouncing Back from a Presentation Mishap - Part 2

Last week I posted part 1 of bouncing back from a presentation mishap, where I threw up what I thought was a softball question and heard only crickets.  Well, as I mentioned in that post, there was more...

The organizer wanted me to fill a time block about a half hour longer than this particular presentation normally takes, so I added in some new content and was confident I'd hit my timing no problem. I was even pretty excited about the new content because it revolved around a personal story about a friend of mine, and stories are powerful presentation tools.

However, the story didn't work.  At least, it was falling on mostly deaf ears to this audience.  It was a story that had a web 2.0 theme to it and the audience just wasn't technically savvy enough to really follow the point I was trying to make.  Many audience members couldn't see the forest for the trees and missed the point.  My fault, completely.

I could have used a simpler method to tell my story and make my point, but unfortunately I didn't, and the audience let me know...immediately.  I always tell my audience that I accept questions at ANY time during my presentation.  There's no such thing as interrupting me with a question (unless you actually interrupt me).  I love opend and honest conversation during a presentation, since presentations themselves are conversations.  So as soon as a few of the audience members got lost, they started raising their hands.  I was able to reel the discussion back on track, however once we were all on the same page I was already at least 10 minutes behind where I wanted to be. 

I still finished in time without skipping through slides or not giving them their due diligence, but I had much less time for open Q&A than I would have liked.  I felt as though I had let them down, but while it technically was in my hands, it really wasn't.  Just like I couldn't beat myself up for my mishap from part 1, I couldn't beat myself up for this mishap either.  I took all the feedback to heart and altered my presentation accordingly.  All I can do is try my best to make sure it never happens again.

Honesty is crucial.  Not just in presenting, or business.  It's crucial in life, period.  You probably won't see a lot of presentation designers and trainers talk so openly about their mishaps, but that's only because they're hiding them.  It happens to all of us.  I write posts like these because I know they can help you, and that's all that matters to me.

I fell into presentation design because I love marketing.  Scott Stratten is one of my favorite marketers, or should I say "UnMarketers", and he devotes a good portion of his recent book outlining all the mistakes he made in social media.  I was so thankful he did because I made some of those mistakes too.  It made me feel better that I not only wasn't the only one, but someone who I highly respect in the social media space made the same mistakes. 

I used to have a poster in my room of Michael Jordan, arguably the best basketball player to ever live.  It read as follows:

As long as you learn from your mistakes, making that mistake is never a bad thing.

Image courtesy of parhessiastes on Flickr

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Chris Brogan Shines Up Your Mediocre Presentation

I recently came upon a post by Chris Brogan over at the AmEx OPEN Forum (a fantastic branded initiative, btw) about how to tune up your presentation.

Damn.

Not only is Chris a marketing and social media rockstar, creator of "your second favorite blog", and a sought after speaker, he goes ahead and leaps into my genre and writes a very useful post for anyone who presents.

The nerve!

Faux anger aside, Chris hits some super-important points to help presenters of all shapes, sizes, and experience levels create and deliver a memorable presentation.  And if you consider my writings to be any shred of useful, then his is pretty much gospel, as he has given close to a thousand presentation over the years to rave reviews and constant speaking requests.

Start with a Plan

One of Chris' tune-up tips was to start with a plan and know it by heart. He notes that while many people think they have a plan, that's not necessarily true.  Chris writes, "They have slides, and those are arranged in an order, but if I shut their laptop lid, there is absolutely no plan."

Your story structure is paramount in creating a memorable and effective presentation.  Always make sure your presentation boils down to a singular main point that may expand to two or three sub-points, but that's it.  Make sure you know EXACTLY what you want your audience to walk away from the presentation with.  You've got to know this by heart, because if your equipment fails, it's just you and your thoughts...

From there, work to create an effective but relatively brief introduction stating where we are now and where we will/can be.  Tie the presentation together at the end by recapping your main/sub points, and make sure to leave the audience with the final thought of what can/will be, or what's possible.  I'm greatly oversimplifying it, but even formatting your presentation (this doesn't just mean "slides" either) to fit this type of story framework will help you create a coherent and engaging presentation.

And of course, don't start your presentation in PowerPoint.

Below are the other three tips Chris covered, which you can read about in his article, so I've hyperlinked them to related posts of mine that you may find useful.

• Your part in the presentation (appearance matters)
• Structuring your presentation (including WIIFM?)
• Your promise to the audience (and this post too about loving your audience)
• Practice is EVERYTHING!

Let me know what you thought about the article? What points did you like?

Image courtesy of Jimmy Baikovicius on Flickr

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Why The Pasta Bar is Doing Everything Right in Social Media

About 8 months ago I was sitting in my favorite lunch spot, Liquid Lunch, and was trying to use my cell phone to check into Foursquare.  Unfortunately I couldn't because not only was there no wifi, there was terrible cellular service (not the business's fault, I know).  As I looked around, this quaint soup/sandwich joint with a freezer full of old-school sodas, a chalkboard menu, and a line nearly out the door made zero effort to join the new media revolution.  No Twitter presence.  No Facebook presence.  A website akin to Geocities.  A missed opportunity.

It motivated me to write a post about the lack of restaurants embracing Foursquare, and praising AJ Bombers which has done a bang-up job of exactly that (and more) in Milwaukee.  There are so many opportunities for businesses to embrace their customers and even those who aren't yet customers by utilizing the FREE tools that web 2.0 has provided us.  No purchase necessary.  Sweat equity not included.

Just today I was reading AJ Leon's blog, as I do nearly every day, and he posted a video of a restaurant he had found in Azusa, CA, on his cross-country road trip for Rise of the Cubicle Farmer.  It's called The Pasta Bar, run by two uber-passionate people who have taken advantage of all the opportunities social media has provided to "hug their customers" as I like to put it.  AJ explains more in the video below. 

This is exactly what I was hoping Liquid Lunch would do.  In our Post-Advertising age, this is exactly what ANY business can do to tell their brand story, close the trust gap, and make life a little better for their customers, one meal at a time.  The opportunities are endless, as long as you're passionate and willing to put in the sweat equity.  The Pasta Bar has, and they're reaping the rewards.

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Book Review & Giveaway: UnMarketing by Scott Stratten

Rarely do I read a book and highlight the footnotes. Yes, UnMarketing was that good.

Scott Stratten, better known as @UnMarketing on Twitter, has written a book about Marketing that didn't seem like it was about Marketing at all. I read it. I loved it. You will too.

You see, this isn't a book about Marketing in the traditional sense, where you're given all the tricks you need to boost sales, lower customer churn, drive website traffic, and automate half your marketing tasks, all in only four hours a week. On the contrary, Scott vehemently argues against all things automated and describes how his "overnight success" actually took him years of building strong relationships based on trust.  Success in business isn't for the weary, folks.

This Soda Pop Eccentric is a Content Marketing Genius

I recently wrote a post about a marketing genius, and I'm not even sure he knows he's one.  His name is John Nese, and to say that Nese is passionate about his job is an understatement. When Nese, the proprietor of Galco’s Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles, was asked to describe his product in one word, he simply replied: “Happy." How about two words? His second answer was “Smile." So who is this wacky soda man who speaks like Frankenstein? Turns out he's a brilliant storyteller. And he had the cajones to stand up to Pepsi.

Read the rest of this post over at the Post Advertising blog, where I'm a contributor.

Image courtesy of Darwin Bell on Flickr

The Audience Conference 2010 - Social Media, Comedy, and Relationships

Over the weekend I attended The Audience Conference at historic Caroline's on Broadway in the heart of Times Square, NYC.  The conference was to be a blend of social media and comedy, and their similar relationships with content, audience, and the like.  Only a 60-minute train ride and an affordable $100 price tag, I couldn't pass it up. 

Overview:
Via the suggestion and rave-review by C.C. Chapman, I signed up only minutes after learning about this conference.  I was particularly intrigued by the fact that there was NO Tweeting, live-blogging, or connectivity of any kind.  I saw a few people using their iPhones to take notes, but otherwise we were disconnected from our technology.  My iPhone didn't get any service so I had no choice.  I'd have to admit - I felt far more focused and connected (in a non-digital way) with the speaker and my fellow audience members.  I wasn't racing to Tweet out the latest speaker soundbyte and staring at the hashtag column instead of at the speaker.  There is definitely value in spreading presentation content virally, but I thought this was a unique selling point for the conference and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere (and table-service).

Content:
The day started at 10am and was split into two parts: the morning containing "Tech" speakers and the afternoon containing comedians (apart from a sit down interview between host Loren Feldman and Jason Calacanis).  I won't go into depth as to what content they offered, but every talk was different and interesting, and the comedians actually performed their comedy sets and gave some rare insight into their craft during the Q&A sessions afterwords.  Their jokes are content, just like our blog posts, and they A/B test just like Marketers do.  They also, like Marketers, have to know who their audience is, pay attention to their wants/needs, react when expectations aren't met, and connect with them.  All of the comedians brought an honest piece of their lives into their sets, reminding us all of the importance of transparency and storytelling. 

Speakers:
For such an affordable conference and limited amount of tech-related speakers, this conference had an impressive lineup.  Chris Brogan, C.C. Chapman, Chris Pearson (founder of Thesis), and host Loren Feldman from 1938 media.  They certainly didn't disappoint and because of the small venue, all of them were easily approachable which is why a conference like this is so rare.  Instead of swooping in and out, all of the speakers were there for the conference in its entirety. 

As for the comedians, they were all really funny and all had totally different styles but each of them echoed the same sentiment - quality content is king, always be testing and revising, and you have to know and understand your audience.  It made me think about the vast differences in blog topics and writing styles.  Whether you're a food blog or a sports blog, quality content wins and without an audience you're just talking to yourself (so don't ignore them). 

My favorite comedian was Harrison Grennbaum.  He had a fantastic delivery, a welcoming persona, a myriad of joke styles and even finished with an unbelievable magic trick.  Check him out on YouTube. 

Venue
As C.C. Chapman put it so eloquently when I spoke with him briefly, "This is a hidden-gem of a conference."  The venue is quite small, and looked to seat maybe a hundred or so comfortably (although I'm sure they fit 200+ uncomfortably).  This made for a very intimate and connected conference, where you felt like an active participant rather than a passive crowd member.  No matter where you sat, the speaker was no more than a shout away and your question would always go answered.  The food was fantastic compared to more expensive conferences that provide just a box lunch.  I had some fantastic mini-wraps and potato salad for lunch and drinking was encouraged once the comedians took the stage.  I'm sure that resonates with many of you.

I fully expect next year's Audience Conference to outgrown the capacity of Caroline's.  Everyone I spoke to or overheard were raving about the conference, which means word of mouth alone will generate tons of awareness. 

The Presentation Blogger's Thoughts:
Putting away my marketing/social media hat and putting on my presentation hat for just a minute, this was an interesting setting.  No slides or PowerPoint or visuals of any kind.  Just a speaker, a smaller-than-you'd-think stage, and blinding stage-lights.  I have no problem that there weren't any visuals.  Many speakers can tell engaging stories just by their lonesome on stage. 

Lacking visuals, particularly slides, has some inherent positives (usually the fodder anti-PowerPointers use to argue against its use).  Without slides there was nothing the speakers could use as a crutch.  If they stepped on that stage, they needed to know their stuff and as a whole, they did.  I only saw one slightly unsettling technique, which was when one speaker used his iPhone as his notes.  I have no problem with using notes, but I would suggest having a simple small notecard he could have placed on the stool and glanced down at every once in a while.  Instead he held his iPhone and brought it quite close to his face to read what was next.  His content was great and he seemed like a super-smart guy, but I couldn't help but feel a disconnect when he'd look down at his iPhone.    

The Concept of Audience:
A presenter's audience is so important.  Of course without an audience, you don't have much of a presentation.  That's what makes me so crazy when I see poorly prepared presenters with sloppy visuals they use as a crutch.  It's so insulting to the audience - the people sacrificing their own time (and sometimes money) to listen to the presenter.  You're not only doing a disservice to yourself, since whatever your story is will go unheard because of the "noise" created by poor visuals and delivery, but you're wasting the audience's time as well. 

As presenters, writers, marketers, you have to love your audience.  If you ask ANY of the social media influencers out there (you know, the ones that worked hard for years to become an "overnight success"), they'll all tell you stories about how much they care and have cared about their audience.  They created high-quality and valuable content that they were passionate about.  They responded to every comment.  They found where their audience lived (in online terms) and engaged with them.  They attended conferences and shook lots of hands and actually listened to the people they met.

There was no better example of this than at the very end of the conference when I approached Scott Stratten of UnMarketing fame.  Scott is a sought-after consultant, speaker, author, and nothing less than a social media influencer.  Scott used the valuable relationships he's built over the years to leverage Twitter and raise just under $30,000 for Tanner (his goal was $25,000), a special young man whose story pulled on Scott's heartstrings.  Oh, did I mention he did this in ONE DAY?!  Yes, just one-day.  How's that for ROI of Social Media?

I wanted to compliment Scott on his amazing work for Tanner's cause.  I don't know about any of you, but I get a little nervous when I approach speakers and "influencers" at conferences.  I just feel like they get approached every two seconds and all anyone wants to do is pitch their business.  I was afraid he'd presume the same about me.  I'm probably wrong about that because when I pulled Scott aside, he seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say.  We talked about Tanner, social media, relationships, audiences, the conference, and much more.  I promised myself not to take up too much of his time (get in, get out), but Scott was so genuine and cool that we talked for at least 20 minutes.  I'm just one of MANY "audience members" he has (over 60k followers) but he treated me like we were long-time friends and I can only assume he treats everyone like that.  Now he's turned a follower into an evangelist.  I've already pre-ordered his book, but if you haven't click here to order, available September 7th.  

Conclusion:
After reading this I'm sure you're not surprised that I highly recommend this conference.  I don't know what to expect for next year as far as ticket-price, venue, and attendee growth, but if it stays similar to this year's, it's a must-go.  The only other conference with this much value for the dollar is the 140 Conference.  I will no doubt have fond memories of the conversations I had, people I met, valuable information I learned, and the brownies (which were to die for). 

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Image courtesy of Today Is A Good Day on Flickr

My Rules of Social Media Engagement

I am by no means a Social Media Expert.  Not yet at least.  Nor do I claim to even be a Twitter or Facebook expert.  I'll leave all that to the thousands of people who claim they are.

I do know a few things though.  I'm educated in the worlds of marketing, design, presenting, engagement, storytelling, and a little bit of technology (put that Info Systems degree to work!).  All of this knowledge and experience has helped me mold a social media strategy that works for me. 

I believe the most effective marketing techniques are those that don't market yourself at all.  Especially over the last couple of years, many companies have found great success in what is sometimes called Content Marketing.  It's more than just creating and distributing content, however.  It's about sharing information, helping people, engaging with your audience, responding to their needs, and most of all CARING. 

A wholehearted believe in this type of marketing has led to my social media rules for engagement.  These have helped me engage with my target audience, spread brand awareness, and truly help others.  This isn't the only blueprint for success, and there are many other ways to market yourself - many of which will probably drive more traffic to your site, grow your followers overnight, and help you build a database of emails you can spam - but these are rules that I like to live by.  This is how I truly believe your audience wants to be treated.  I know that because it's how I want to be treated as a consumer, and audience member, and a friend.

Never "Auto" Anything
This isn't all-encompassing, but it nearly is.  Hardly anything I do on Twitter is automated.  The key to effective engagement is to actually be there.  When I receive an auto-DM (direct message), it feels disingenuous to me.  You send the same thing to everyone who follows you, so you don't really care about me, personally.  However, it puts a smile on my face when I get a real DM, with my name, thanking me for following.  Especially if they note something specific about me, like "Thanks for the follow Jon.  Looking forward to reading your presentation tips!"  Social media is about building relationships, and few relationships can be auto-built.

The only automatic thing I approve of, and all of this is just my opinion, is scheduling tweets.  Most nights I finish my blog posts at 1am EST (or is it EDT?).  Many of my colleagues are asleep and only tweeting my blog post once at such a late hour will get little exposure.  So I schedule my tweets to go out 4 times on the day it's posted, spread out 6 hours each.  All of my quality followers follow enough that this won't clog up their stream, and gives them a better chance of seeing my tweet.  I used to religiously be against this tactic, but it helps drive traffic and I'm not repetitively tweeting a link to my product.  I believe these posts are all helpful and free of charge, so it's not rude to want to spread it.  

Be as Human as Possible
I was on #brandchat recently where a question was posed about how human a brand should be, mostly regarding the use of faces vs. logos for Twitter avatars and the proper handling of multiple "tweeters" per account.  Being human is one of the greatest marketing techniques there will ever be, and striving to be as human as possible can do wonders for your brand.  It's not appropriate 100% of the time, but some brands choose to be human 0% of the time, and that's never appropriate. 

There's no one formula for success in social media when it comes to humanizing a brand.  There are valid arguments to use a logo instead of a face and to use just one Twitter account instead of many.  But if you're on Twitter as a personal brand trying to connect with others, you will go very far if you act like a human.  That means using a picture of your face as your Twitter avatar, being descriptive about yourself and your passions in your bio, @ replying people to try and engage them, especially if it's just to thank them for a ReTweet or to tell them how much you appreciated their recent article, and responding to all your blog comments, @ mentions, Facebook messages, and emails (it's okay if it takes a little while - just make sure it gets done). 

Don't Let Your Social Media Presences Flatline
One thing I've certainly noticed over the last few years is that keeping the heart of my social media efforts beating is no small task.  There are many different parts and they all need tending to.  If you neglect one for too long it basically shrivels and dies - however, it never goes away which can be even worse (unless you make an effort to completely remove it).  Many companies jumping onto the social media bandwagon, only to fall off shortly thereafter.  During the first week they may post twice daily.  Soon that becomes daily, then weekly, then monthly, then the cobwebs start to form in the corners of their blog or Facebook Fan Page.  At this point consumers are coming across these pages and wondering what the heck happened.  Did this company go under?  Did the person tending to this get fired?  Did they lose their passion?  Were they only doing this because everyone else was?

First, just because a social media website was created doesn't mean you HAVE to join it.  Nobody is putting a gun to your head to create a Facebook Fan Page, a Twitter account, and to author a blog.  They can all certainly be useful, but only if you know you can commit the time to them.  Second, make sure if you choose to create one that you will commit the time to it.  Create a schedule to keep yourself on a deadline.  Telling yourself that you'll write a post "when the inspiration hits" can lead to a lonely blog.  Tell yourself you'll ask your fans 3 questions per week on your fan page, or you'll write 3 blog posts every Sunday (or before a certain time on Sunday) to be posted on three separate days per week.  This isn't easy, and even I struggle with it sometimes, but without it you'll certainly fall off the wagon.

CARE
I'm a Gary Vaynerchuck fanboy.  Although I'm not a fan of wine at all, I watch nearly all of his video blogs, watch his keynotes, read his book, and met him after he spoke at RJ Julia bookstore in Madison, CT.  I've consumed a lot of @garyvee content and while I realize it's impossible to retain it all, I know I've learned and retained a good portion of it.  As any presentation expert will tell you, "Forget two or three.  You're lucky if your audience remembers just one point you made in your presentation."  There's one piece of advice to become successful in business that Gary gave in the very first keynote of his that I ever watched, and that was to care.  Not just to care, but to CARE.  To go above and beyond what's expected of you as a brand, a business, and a person.  Gary has nearly 1 million followers and gets thousands of emails per day, but if you @ reply him or email him, I bet you'll get a response (if you're patient).  Try doing that to Ashton Kutcher or your favorite athlete on Twitter.  Maybe they're more famous than Gary, but regardless, as a human being he can't scale.  No matter who you are, 850k followers is too many to respond to them all (not to mention emails and blog comments) but he finds a way to reach almost everyone who reaches out to him.  Heck, I've messaged fellow Xaverian alumnus and pro quarterback Matt Hasselbeck a few times on Twitter and never gotten a response, and he has 22k followers (that's 2.5% as many as Gary, if you're keeping score at home). 

Truly caring about your customers, your audience, your followers, your fans, and your friends is so underrated.  I've come across a few college students who have tweeted that they were working on a PowerPoint and I offered my help, free of charge.  I do this for the sole reason that it would have been cool to get the help of a presentation designer when I was a college student who knew nothing about presentation design.  It's a nice thing to do, and my parents always taught me to be nice.  My paying customers come first and I don't spend all my time laboring for college students, but it's a better way to spend my time than watching reruns of the Soup.  I truly believe doing things like that will come back to me somehow.

This isn't the only way.  You can use many techniques, including black hat techniques, to grow and monetize your business or brand.  But I believe that we as human beings have a responsibility to treat others as we want to be treated.  I believe that following my rules of social media engagement will make this space a better one to be a part of. 

What do you think?

Image courtesy of Gord McKenna on Flickr

Telling Your Story in the Current Age of Marketing

Storytelling is a concept that I've continually bumped into in the last few months.  In December I wrote about the power of storytelling in presentations for engagement and recall.  Just recently I noted the incredibly creative and funny comics of Matthew Inman at The Oatmeal.  Again I've found myself recently engaged in a number of conversations about the role of storytelling in marketing what it takes to truly get your story across.

Like in presentations, storytelling is paramount in getting your brand's message across.  Consumers are no longer willing to be interrupted.  Those days are over.  They've been over for a while now.  Gone are the days of actually selling someone during a cold call, grabbing their attention during a commercial (thank God for DVRs), or slapping an ad in a magazine.  They're gone, and good riddance.

The new rules of marketing and PR are upon us, and I welcome them with open arms.  I love being in the marketing field in this day in age.  In order to be allowed to tell your story, you are required to be and do all the things that I enjoy being and doing:

Are you willing do to and be all these things to tell your story?  Are you willing to lose some control?  Many marketers aren't, and their companies are sinking.  Those who are willing are doing great things. 

Why Aren't More Restaurants Rewarding Customers via FourSquare?

I'm finally on the FourSquare bandwagon. Click here to follow me!

I joined about a month or so ago but only checked into my first location on Wednesday.  Only reason for the delay was that I hadn't downloaded the FourSquare app for my iPhone until this past week, and checking in without the app is nearly impossible.

As I sat at one of my favorite lunch locations, Liquid Lunch in Milford, CT, my mind (per usual) began to wonder what the possibilities were for restuarants, bars, cafes, and the like to harness and embrace the power of these location apps (Gowalla is a similar competitor).  

To start, I noticed that there was no sign of any social media calls-to-action in the restaurant, urging customers to join their Facebook Fan Page or to follow them on Twitter.  They could easily post today's soups and sandwich of the day, ask for recipe recommendations, offer Twitter or Facebook-only daily coupons, and more.  Definitely a missed opportunity. 

Getting to FourSquare, I immediately likened it to a frequent visitor card.  Encourage your customers to check-in to FourSquare when they arrive, and after their 6th check-in they can get a cup of soup for free!  If they're motivated enough, they could organize a FourSquare party like Joe Sorge did at a Milwaukee burger joint called AJ Bombers to earn the coveted "Swarm Badge" (50+ users in one place). [Editor's Note - There is now a "Super Swarm" badge that requires 250+ check-ins)  In great social media fashion, pictures from the event were posted on Flickr.  Notice the sign in the image below encouraging customers to follow them on Twitter and to check-in on FourSquare.  That's what I'm talking about!

Naturally, Starbucks has embraced FourSquare, creating a "Baristas" badge which can be earned by checking into a Starbucks location five times.  While I feel that a real reward like a free cup of coffee would be better, the unique badge is a step in the right direction.  AJ Bombers knocked it out of the park.  When will we see more establishments embracing these location-based mobile services?

If you have any examples of establishments utilizing location-based mobile services, please let me know in the comments!

AJ Bombers image courtesy of Tray on Flickr

The Value of Relationships and Giving in the New Era of Marketing

Editor's Note:  This is the first post in the new "Marketing" category.  While this blog has primarily been focused on presentation skills and design, I'll be branching out to include other passions such as Marketing and Social Media.

Maybe I’m just a little too “west coast” in my ideals, but there are certain marketing practices that I can’t stand.

I can’t stand email blasts to people who didn’t opt-in. I even hate the words “email blast.” I hate the profession of selling email lists. I hate cold-calling. I hate automated mass-follow (and then unfollow) Twitter programs. I hate people who only tweet links to their site. Sponsored tweets creep me out. I hate auto-DM’s, pop-up ads, banners, Pay Per Click, and contrived, self-indulgent press releases.

And don’t even get me started on SPAM.

I’m not claiming that these methods and techniques don’t work. Some do. Some don’t. That’s just not the way I believe people should market, nor do I believe they are increasing in effectiveness. They’re either declining or completely worthless. Marketing is not about grabbing your attention by interrupting you. It’s about creating valuable relationships. By “value” I mean GIVING value, not just taking it.

You have to give, give, give, give, give, give, give, and then maybe you can ask for something in return.

Trust me, if you cold-call me you have ZERO chance of getting my business. Problem is, I’m too nice to cut you off so you’ll probably waste 5 to 10 minutes of your (and my) time before I say no. I do, however, like talking to those who I call as an interested prospect because they’ve offered me so much free value in the past. I actually feel happy to give that person my business.

Here’s the formula I believe in. First, create an amazing product. Second, find the group of people who need or would care about your product and start creating honest relationships. Third, GIVE. If you opened a hair salon, find a sidewalk and start giving away free haircuts. If you opened a bakery, start delivering your muffins and cookies to local businesses. If you are a web designer, find a non-profit and give their site a major facelift for free. If you do this for as long as humanly possible, then you will see returns. Loyal customers will start coming to your hair salon because they know you and they’ve seen your work. Companies will start ordering your muffins on a weekly because they’re hooked. The non-profit will refer you to everyone they can because you donated your time and effort to make their site better.

If you’re not cultivating relationships and creating value, then your business is a sinking ship. The best time to start doing this might have been years ago, but the second best time is right now.

Image courtesy of Cakeface Originals on Flickr