BE SOCIAL!!!
One of the toughest parts of any Keyboard Networker's marketing strategy is to discern the line between social contacts and doing business. Some will argue that you're always doing business, even when you're with your friends. They usually continue that line until either a) they have no more friends, or b) their friends stage an intervention that usually involves beating them over the head with a nerf bat.
Sometimes a person who is in that downward spiral of all-business-all-the-time enters a new social environment, finding that environment disappointing. They've spent so much time in all-business mode that they've forgotten how to just talk to people.
The biggest thing to remember about Social Networking sites and technologies is that they're there to facilitate being social, not you making money. The creators of the sites want "normal" users, people who come online not to constantly hawk a product, but just to connect with friends. The sites are set up so they can make money. If you do, that's fine, but it's certainly not their mission.
So, what's a dedicated Keyboard Networker to do when faced with a bunch of people not doing business?
BE SOCIAL!!!
Approach the social medium as a networking mixer, or better yet, happy hour at the local tavern. Folks aren't going to want to hear your "elevator speech" when you first arrive. People who have worked at a 9-5 job all day (as well as those goofing off while at those jobs) don't want to hear more work-related stuff when they're done. They want to talk about their kids, their hobbies, or just about anything other than work.
Your task as a Keyboard Networker at this point is to decide whether or not engaging these folks is a good use of your time. If you enjoy their company on a social level, even if talking to them doesn't open doors that expand your client base or business revenue, it's still good for your sanity. If you can't justify that, then move on.
Whatever you do, don't become the person nobody wants to talk to because they always bring things back around to business.
BE SOCIAL!!!
April 2008 Archives
My Twitter buds are talking about receipts and business cards this morning, so here's a run-down of my scanners. I own three scanners, one standard, flat-bed, one portable that is 9" wide, and one that is business card size.
My flatbed scanner is a Canon CanoScan 600U that is a few years old now. It runs the CanoScan Toolbox software. It's also set up with a TWAIN32 interface, so I can use it with a wide variety of applications. This scanner is your basic $80 flatbed. I haven't even attempted to install this scanner to firefoot, my new laptop. I just added getting the scanner running under Ubuntu as a task for me for this week.
I was using this to scan receipts for expenses reimbursement, but it presented a complication. Because it's a standard-size flatbed, I didn't pack it and bring it along when I traveled to teach. If I'm on the road for 3-4 weeks in a row, I wouldn't want to be bothered with doing expenses in the 24-36 hours on the in-between weekends. That meant the receipts were piling up on my desk for the week where I was home. by then, the entire task was the ultimate pain in the butt, and an experienced procrastinator like me got very good at avoiding them.
Most of us can get away with this to an extent. sure, your bookkeeper/accountant will fuss at you that they can't get things done. When you're married to your CPA, however, it's more complicated, as you can imagine.
Since I fly Delta regularly, I pass through Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) regluarly. There are three great geeky things at ATL: a Palm Store, vending machines that sell iPods and accessories, and NeatReceipts.
The NeatReceipts concept looked interesting - a portable scanner that's not a flatbed, but a feed-through design. A typical scanner works like a photocopy machine; you put the original face down, and the bar with the scanning element is pulled across the length of the original, storing the image digitally as it goes. A feed-through scanner switches the movement. The entire scanner is page-width (9"), but it's only as thick as the scanning element, maybe 3" or so. That means it's very portable. The software is straightforward, scan-to-PDF, which is all most of us need to scan receipts.
I hesitated buying it, thinking, do I really need to spend $200 on another scanner? When my CPA threatened to withhold marital favors, I still procrastinated. When she threatened to change the locks, I figured she might be serious, so I bought one.
It's wonderful. I can pack the NeatReceipts scanner in my suitcase and do bills while watching TV on the road, emailing it all back to my CPA, thereby guaranteeing I don't have to sleep on the patio when I come home late one evening.
NeatRecepits has a MAC version of the software, as well, Greta. :-)
My third scanner is for business cards. It's an older CardScan (600x). In addition to the very-techie stuff I travel to teach, I also do a bit of "end-user" training, particularly stuff that helps self-employed and self-starters. It started with me showing folks in my BNI chapter a thing or two, and that grew into regularly scheduled classes. I taught the ACT! contact management software, occasional classes on MS Outlook, etc. One of the most popular classes I ever taught is called "How To Use A Business Card Scanner." I talk about how the scanner will scan a bitmap (graphical) image of the card, then use OCR (optical character recognition) software to turn that into fields in an "address book" style database. Depending on the specific software used, that scanned-card database can be exported to various other applications, like Outlook or ACT!
Business Card scanners are a very useful tool for those engaging in a lot of face-to-face business networking. If you go to business card exchanges, networking mixers, etc., you trade a lot of cards, and the prospect of keying all that data into your computer can be daunting. The CardScan scanner+software's pricetag ($225 or so) doesn't look so bad at that point.
(As an aside, the NeatReceipts website says you can scan biz cards with that scanner as well. I don't know how good their OCR software is, though.)
Which scanner works for you? A flatbed scanner is important for anyone who wants to scan photos, or use the scanner/computer/printer combination as a photocopy machine. NeatReceipts is perfect for road warriors, and the small, bizcard-size scanners make business networking a snap.
If there's one thing worse than an unsolicited sales pitch sent via e-mail, it's when an organization you gave a bit of credibility to spams you with multiple copies of a sales pitch. Yesterday, I got a solicitation to participate in a "Referral Success Program" from someone named Richard Martin from the regional BNI office. Then I got three more copies of the same solicitation. The From: address was a "donotreply" account, and there was no reference anywhere else to an originating e-mail.
Then today, I get four copies of a different e-mail from BNI regional.
Mr. Martin, your personal bio is trying to convey the impression you're professional, but your office looks like amateur hour. I'd suggest you get the e-mail act together, or tech-savvy people are going to assign a lot less credibility to your efforts than you'd like.
A common concept on the LinkedIn business networking site is that of "Open Networking." LinkedIn Open Networkers, or "LiONs" work towards amassing huge lists of connections, usually in the thousands. Given how LinkedIn is supposed to work, I don't see the value in such a huge list.
Because I'm on the "My Linked In Power Forum" list, I often get connection requests from other members of that list, particularly in the immediate aftermath of a post or reply I've made there. While I appreciate the fact that someone related to or enjoyed what I wrote, that doesn't mean we're automatically a good business networking "connection."
I want something more before I "connect."
I've got a fairly diverse group of contacts on LinkedIn, but most of them have a common thread. For example, I got an "join my network" request over the weekend from a gentleman from India I did not know, but he works for the national railway company and has an interest in street railways. Even though we don't have any common connections, I'm good with the request. That's what I'm looking for on LinkedIn, that certain something beyond merely being users of the same site.
Does "open networking" work for others? Sure, if your goal is to develop what is essentially a huge mailing list. Beyond that, it has little practical value. Of the thousands of people in a LiON's network, how many can truly write a proper recommendation for the individual? If I join one of these huge networks, just now much credibility does that individual have enough credibility to "introduce" me properly? If they can't, the the overall value of LinkedIn diminishes dramatically.
So, I'll stick with my approx. 100-person network and grow it out as I really "meet" others.
