Professional Partnering The Key To Effective Growth For You and Your Clients

If you have been serving business owners for very long you have come to some important conclusions. You only know what you know, you can only see what you see, and there are other professionals with blind spots in different places than you.

Let's face it, if we all knew the same things - most of us would not be needed. And if we had productive relationships with other professionals - those our clients use who services compliment ours, our clients would receive our coordinated ideas and insights. Plus we would be in a position to refer business to these professionals - now that we know how they work, and they would tell their clients about us. This is a perfect scenario all the way around.

Partnering, on a case by case basis or in an ongoing relationship with consultants, financial planners, accountants, coaches, lawyers, and other professionals can be a very good idea indeed.

And of course there are many different workable business models for doing this. For many of us it works best when we to do it quid pro quo basis vs. referral fees. Here are a few quick suggestions that you should consider:

1. Always work with someone you trust. In over three decades working with business owners I have found that if there is any doubt in your mind about the person you are considering working with - no matter how casually or infrequently, do not do it. I am still reminded from time to time, in a nice way - about the time I partnered with the wrong person - years ago.

2. Be the one to give more than you think you have to, in time, money, energy, etc. The other professionals will appreciate it and the law of reciprocity will kick in. The one thing everyone will remember about you is whether or not you did what you said you'd do. If you always deliver more than they expect, and because of your example your project partners do the same - you will all be proud of the results.

3. There are lots of opportunities to work with other professionals these days. I would suggest that you not enter into long-term relationships until you have a lot of experience with each person. In fact you may find that your clients hold you in greater esteem when you become known as the person who can put the right people on the team - no matter the situation, and they may be different people almost every time. You are seen as the go-to person because you are the one with the connections, the one who fits the pieces of the planning team puzzle together.

4. Give, rather than look for, credit. It is as true today as it was the first time someone told me that there is nothing we can not achieve if we do not care who gets the credit. All relationships are give and take. Give more and you'll get more.

5. Think outside the box when choosing your partnering relationships. Naturally if you are in the life insurance business you think of partnering with an accountant and a lawyer, or if you are an engineer you work with architects and people in the construction industry.

If there is anyone you should consider putting on your team, in addition to the usual suspects, it is a workplace conflict resolution professional. Why, because where there is conflict - no matter how far they keep it under the radar, nothing gets done. Wills are not signed and we never know why, estate plans end up in the file cabinet when doing nothing is just dumb.

When nothing happens to your (team's) proposals it is either because of you or the client. If it is you - they don't trust you or your partner's recommendations, that's one thing. You may or may not be able to overcome that.

If it is them, it may be that there are unseen disagreements and conflicts going on that are keeping them from taking action. And you may not about them until later, long after the deal has gone sour and the proposals are taking up space on your hard drive.

When you are putting together your next planning team - add someone who sees what you can't see, both traditional number crunchers and workplace conflict professionals.

About the Author

Successful professionals are always on the lookout for ideas and resources to help them. They are also looking for creative ways of marketing their professional services. If you want to be even more successful in the future than you are today, learn more about marketing professional services and share your insights with others, visit us and join in the discussion.

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Why Exhibition Stands Make Great Marketing Tools

Marketing is all about promoting a product to the right audience, in the right way.There is absolutely no point spending marketing budget on the promotion of a product to people who are never going to buy that product, such as targeting children's toys at teenagers, prestigious cars at first time buyers or mortgage deals to people who aren't on the property ladder.The key to successful marketing is to make sure the right people are informed of the right products, and one of the greatest ways to do this is through the use of exhibition stands.If coordinated correctly, they can help to promote your business to thousands of potential customers at exhibitions and fairs, distributing your brand and increasing sales and potential leads.

Exhibitions attract many different kinds of people that can help make your product, or company a success.As a result, it is important to make the most of all exhibition stands connected to your business, from large scale productions to smaller roller stands.Their purpose is to attract the initial attention of the potential customer.Once gained, it's over to you to convince them that you could do business for them.

To do this, you should treat every visitor to your stand as a potential customer and therefore give them your full attention.If you were the consumer approaching your exhibition stand and were greeted by someone who didn't seem to care if you were there or not, would you really want to give them your business?Of course you wouldn't.Therefore, it's important to always be polite and treat all visitors as you would expect to be treated.

The main purpose of your stand is to get the attention of passerby's and transform their passing interest into a successful sale of your product.Therefore you should always assume that the customer is always right.Anyone visiting your stand should be given respect and attention.Showing disrespect or ignoring them will not yield the results you desire.You may think that your product is only applicable to a certain market however you shouldn't ignore the interest of people who may fall outside that category.
It could open up new avenues for your business and allow you to start marketing to new networks of customers.

Bearing this in mind, it's also important to adjust your sales pitch to each customer accordingly.For example, if you are selling textbooks, do not spend ten minutes trying to sell a Biology textbook to a Physics teacher, just because it's a new bestseller.It's essential to market the right products to the right people.You just need to be flexible and adjust to the different requirements.

Time limits are also important when planning your schedules for an exhibition.If you are planning on arranging meetings, you will need to arrange allocated slots for different customers.Ensuring you keep to these appointment times will be essential.If you run over by an hour and keep a customer waiting, it won't reflect well on your business ethic.You will need to consider this when designing your exhibition stands, and if you need meeting tables and extra meeting space, then this will need to be arranged at the planning stage.

In the age of the internet, busy exhibitors may just spend just a few minutes with each customer to gauge a basic understanding of their requirements and asks them to fill in a customer details form, so they can they follow up the lead by email after the event.Some company's even take a Polaroid camera to the exhibitions and take a snap of the customers to pin with their customer forms, to help recognise each customer when they refer back later on.Whatever works for you, however it's important if you say you will follow up with customers that you do, with every single potential customer.

It's important that exhibition stands look the part and play the part.They need to be attractive to grab attention; however they also need to practical in order to hold that attention.There should be enough space available and all the appropriate products being promoted should be available to view.If this isn't possible, you should be able to refer to catalogues or DVD's of your products.Everyone likes to visualise a product, before they buy it.

About the Author

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in Marketing

Find out more about Exhibition Stands and why they are a great way to promote your business.

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Celebrity Branding You! - Typing Your Way to Fame!

Over the last few years, there is no denying that the online community has started harnessing the power of the Internet for more than just "surfing" the web to look for information.We have now started using it as a networking tool that allows us to connect with others to share ideas, opinions and videos of ourselves looking like fools.Okay, so hopefully we don't have too many of those videos; but having some video online, and at the major video sharing sites, is a great search engine traffic strategy that we should all be employing.

One of the online tools that has been around for the longest, but is often neglected or overlooked, is that of message boards and email-based discussion groups.Yahoo and google offer the two most popular email groups and they are free for anyone to set up.You can host your own group or you can join existing groups.There are groups for everything you can possibly think of; some are private and require the moderator of the group to approve you, and some you can get started with right away.

You can find these groups by going to the following URLs:
Yahoo - groups.
yahoo
Google - groups.
google

(don't forget to add the "dot com" at the end!

)

The way these groups are set up is that you are given an email address to which you can send a message if you want to send a message to an entire group.

When you send a message to that address, everyone in the group gets it, and when they reply their response goes back to the whole group.On a side note, this has gotten more than one person I know into a bit of a trouble; because by habit you might think you are only responding to the person who sent the message, but since it was sent to the group, when you reply it automatically responds to the entire group!BE CAREFUL!It can be mighty embarrassing to send a private message to someone that ends up going to the whole group!

So, how can this help you build your celebrity status?

In most groups, there are many members who join to get information, but do not send messages.Let me give you an example: I am a member of a group for entertainment lawyers in the state of Florida.When I joined, I did what I would recommend that anyone should do when you are first joining an existing group -- I watch how people post and respond for at least a few days to learn the tone of the group.After a month or two, I saw a message asking about a subject I know a lot about, so I responded to it.As time went on, I got involved in the discussion and I sent about 10 to 15 messages over the course of a few months.

As I was following the messages, it seemed like there were about 10 people who posted fairly regularly with about five others who would chime in every now and then.So by my estimation there were probably 20 to 30 people in the group.

Well, after about six months, I went to a convention where these entertainment lawyers gathered for an annual meeting.As usual, I met some new people and learned more about them, but something funny happened.When I introduced myself to people I had never met before, most of them said, "Oh, you're Nick from the message board." I would politely respond yes, but I had no idea how they knew that since I had never seen them send any messages.That's when I asked the question.

I walked up to the person who moderated the group and asked him, "About how many people are in our online group?I keep meeting people who say they know me from the message board, but I have only sent a handful of messages and have never seen these people send anything."

That's when he responded "a little over 500 people.

"

500 PEOPLE!

As you can see, I was drastically wrong in my calculation of 20 to 30 people in the group.There were actually hundreds, but only a few of us actually communicated through the group.And I have come to find out that this is fairly common in many groups.So, even though I had only sent a few messages, I had become a celebrity among the entire group.Everyone knew who I was, and before long I made a lot of new friends and was referred to a bunch of businesses because I was seen by the members of that group as an expert because of my prompt and accurate responses.

You really can find celebrity status in more places than you'd ever imagine; and sometimes, as in this instance, it smacked me in the face when I was completely oblivious!So go browse around online for groups of people that you would like to learn from, and that you think would be a good place for you to display your expertise and possibly even get some new business.Just remember the rules of the road!When you are in any new environment, watch how others behave first, before you start adding in your two cents!

Now, go out and join some groups!

About the Author

Nick Nanton, from TheBusinessGrowthLawyers.

com, publish the business Growth ezine covering topics that every business needs to know.Get FREE business growth tips now at http://www.TheBusinessGrowthLawyers.com

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Leaflet Distribution As A Force For Good

The recent case of twelve men being arrested for distributing leaflets that contained inflammatory and offensive material was not the first time that leaflet distribution has hit the headlines for controversial reasons.Leaflet distribution has a long history of coming under scrutiny because of the way it can communicate a message quickly and effectively to a large group of people.

However these run-ins with the establishment have not always been for reasons like the recent case.More often than not leaflet distribution has been at the forefront of important crusades and has helped to break down barriers, bring people together and, in many cases, has led to laws being changed or attitudes being revised.

These changes have always fallen into two groups, artistic and social.Leaflet distribution has help artists and designers question issues of taste and decency and has helped politicians and reformers raise awareness of important issues like poverty and homelessness.

The Civil Rights movement in the United States benefitted greatly from leaflet distribution.The very fact that the medium is so democratic and open to all means that it can be used to give voice to opinions that otherwise wouldn't have one.It can spread a message even if that message is not necessarily what the establishment or authorities want to hear.

It can, of course, be abused, as in the case of the men who used it to propagate offensive material, but in the case of the civil rights movement it was an ideal way to get the message of equality across.

People like Martin Luther King Jnr.were not granted the same access to mainstream media like other political groups at the time.Television and many newspapers were governed by people who wanted to maintain the status quo even if that was at the expense of a large part of the community.

Segregation and race were volatile subjects in 1960's America and few people in positions of power were willing to put their necks on the line.Leaflet distribution became an important weapon in the civil rights movement as a result.

Leaflets that were handed out during the time quoted from the American constitution and exposed the hypocrisy that segregation represented.Without leaflet distribution the message wouldn't have travelled as far and as fast as it did.It was also used for the same purpose in Ireland, Spain and South Africa.

Another political movement that worked towards social change and used leaflet distribution as a means to achieve its goals was the Suffragette movement.The Suffragettes were led by Emmeline Pankhurst and their main aim was to win the right to vote for women.Among their tactics were the lobbying of politicians, marching and demonstrations and leaflet distribution.

Pankhurst was a well educated woman and saw no reason why the fact she was a woman should exclude her from areas of society, commerce and politics.She campaigned vigorously and joined several groups that worked towards women's suffrage including the Independent Labour Party.

It was while she was involved with them that she met socialist reformer Keir Hardy and became aware of the state of poverty in many of Britain's cities.Although she did work to improve working and living positions for the poor it did not distract her from her main aim which was to win the right to vote for women throughout the country.

Pankhurst's tactics grew more extreme but she called a complete halt to her campaign during the period of World War 1 to support the war effort.The war had a great influence on the campaign as it gave women the opportunity to demonstrate skills that would normally have been the preserve of men.When the war ended Pankhurst formed the Women's Party and the right to vote followed soon after.

About the Author

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the leaflet distribution industry.

Find out more about leaflet distribution and the history of marketing.

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