In Reality You Have Two Business Cards:

When meeting others and well before you have an opportunity to offer that impressive pocket-sized work of graphic art we call a business card; they have already formed an opinion of you.  Yes, appearance and body language is assessed in our mind within seconds.  Your business card only acts to confirm or contradict this pre-established opinion.   If your image is inconsistent with who you say you are then dissonance is created in the minds of those you meet.  The result is that you have already lost credibility in their eyes diminishing the likehood of developing rapport and ultimately a worthwhile relationship.

Your Image Is A Powerful Marketing Tool:

To effectively build rapport one must communicate a clear and consistent message.  Confusion creates an obstacle to relationship building.  Be aware that your image is a powerful marketing tool. It directly helps or hinders success.  Make strategic decisions about how you dress to ensure that you communicate one consistent message. This enables others understand and trust that you are who you say you are; that you do have the potential to deliver on the business value proposition that you say you offer.  From there you can proceed to the next critical step; that of building rapport and trust.

Be Your Brand:

The most successful business people, in my experience, are literally an integral part of the brand they build.  Most importantly, they understand that their brand largely determines their personal “look”.  This may be easier said than done.  For us time-starved, harried executives, entrepreneurs and professionals, “looking the brand” may seem like another thing we have to do, among all the other things on our “to do” lists.  Yet representing your brand from the inside out can make all the difference.  It lends credibility and conveys passion and commitment around our venture.  At the end of the day, competence and credibility are key components of closing any sale or entering into any negotiation but it all starts with making a strong first impression.

You Are a Walking Business Card:

You represent a brand. Whether you’re detail oriented, creative, and artistic or a strong communicator, customers are only human and they will subconsciously judge your inside by what they see on the outside.  It’s worth it to spend a little extra time to look professional, clean, crisp and put-together.  Whether you choose cotton or cashmere, it’s all marketing material.  Getting valuable input from a Wardrobe Consultant, like that available at “Images That Suit” www.imagesthatsuit.com can make the process easy and fun.  Trained fashion specialists provide guidance on how to best build a winning wardrobe that is profession, age and style appropriate.  It will help ensure that each dollar spent on clothing is actually an investment in your success.

Your Next Biggest Client Might Be At Sobey’s:

Remember that it is important to “be your brand” both at work and play.  You never know when and where you might meet your next biggest client.  Not only should your business wardrobe reflect your brand but also your business casual and weekend wear.  Think of each dollar spent on clothing as a dollar spent on advertising.  As you keep clarifying and evolving your business brand, the nuances of how to best represent it on the outside will continue to become clearer and your image a powerful asset in building a successful business.

Give your image a performance review.  I invite you to a free wardrobe consultation.  To book a convenient time please contact me at 647-680-4536 or hjewer@cogeco.ca

Our next meeting is on Friday, April 16, 2010 at 8:45 am at the e-Spot™. We will be hosting our meetings at the e-Spot for the next 3 months.

Let’s invite some friends, suppliers and clients to come to our next meeting.

See you all there!

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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Over this last weekend I upgraded our blogging software to the latest version of WordPress. Although our previous version was running fine, after more than a year and a half since I first installed it, it was time to upgrade. I like to keep up with changes in features and especially security upgrades that each new version brings. Among other things, the latest version of WP now makes it easy to upgrade, so from now on the upgrades will take place more regularly.

When you log in to your user account you will notice the new layout and styling immediately, with the main menu now running in the left column. If you haven’t used the blog yet, now it should be even easier to use.

Writing for this Blog
A reminder to those members who are yet to publish their first blog post, and those who have published only one or two, that your account level is Contributor, which means you are not able to publish directly to the blog, but have to submit your article for review first. This review is only technical in nature, so we’re not concerned with content or style, unless your article appears to be encroaching on other members’ field of expertise, in which case you will be advised to revise your article. Once you’ve published several articles (or you’re an experienced blogger running your own blog site) your account will be upgraded to Author level. This will also allow you to upload images and videos to accompany your blog posts. BTW, even at the Contributor level, you can always link to videos you posted to YouTube.

To our visitors the blog should look the same, except that now the List of Speakers article is “sticky” and will always be displayed first on the main blog index page.

Twitter
If you’re reading this post on our site (as compared to our RSS feed, or on our Linkedin group where your articles are automatically syndicated — one more reason for you to blog more for added exposure) you will notice another new feature: the Retweet button found in the upper right corner of each blog post. If you’re on Twitter, I’d recommend that you re-tweet this, and all other blog posts in an effort to promote individual members and our group as a whole to your Twitter followers. Also make sure you follow @OakvilleNetwork, too. I’ve recently created this account which will tweet automatically each time you post an article on our blog!

Here’s to your successful business blogging!

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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I network a lot. I attend meetings both within groups and over coffee with individuals. I look for business development opportunities for my own business Executive Sales Support and also for opportunities to help my network through my expertise, or passing along opportunities I think might be a fit for others.

One of my network groups is HAPPEN in Mississauga, Halton and Peel Professional Executive Network. There are many wonderful professionals “in transition” in HAPPEN. They are a great group that offers help while they are looking themselves and also after they land. One member, in particular, who helped me through his public relations efforts, is Hugh Black from HMB Communications Group. Contact hughblack at cogeco.ca.

Within HAPPEN, conversations are around finding full time employment and within my business networking groups, the conversations are around finding new business development opportunities. Over the past months, I have noticed a difference emerging between the two groups. On one hand full time traditional employment seems to be going the way of the dinosaur and on the other hand, the members of the small business group are as busy or busier than before Christmas.

Yesterday, all the random pieces of networking came together. I had been networking with Hugh Black, putting forward my point of view that people were choosing self employment,  then the new Canadian statistics for unemployment in April 2009 showed that unemployment stayed the same and there was an increase in the self employed numbers.

As a result of Hugh Black’s efforts; I was interviewed as an example of someone who had successfully transferred their skills and started their own business,  Executive Sales Support. My business helps sales and business professionals get out of the office to see more clients and close deals. As a result of this interview, I was mentioned in an article on the front page of The Toronto Star’s Business section on Saturday May 9, 2009.

Yahoo, networking pays off for business development!

If you want to network with me I have a linked in profile. I look forward to helping you.

Here is the link to the article “Self-employment: The ‘do-it-yourself recovery’ Jobs increased last month, largely through people embracing self employment. The Toronto Star’s Business section on Saturday May 9, 2009.

Networking in person is a good way to stay in touch with business developments on a local level. If your business allows it, you should also be networking online for greater exposure to both partners and potential clients.

Are you looking to grow your business? Business networking site Linkedin.com has over 36 million users world-wide. Join Linkedin and start building you virtual business team and start generating leads.

• Manage the information that’s publicly available about you as professional
• Find and be introduced to potential clients, service providers, and subject experts who come recommended
• You can use it to build your reputation by asking your clients to endorse you.
• Be found for business opportunities and find potential partners
• Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals

Check out my latest blog post on how I use Linkedin to grow my list of qualified prospects!

Our 60-second info-mercials are a quick reminder that we use to jog each member’s memory about us and our products or services every other week.

Here’s another way we can help each other recommend us more confidently: offer “social proof” about you in the form of client testimonials. A properly worded and formatted testimonial is a great way you can say: “Here’s what others think about me and my business.”

A good testimonial must have the person’s real name as a minimum, because those “B.M. from Oakville” really don’t cut it anymore in today’s cynical world. If it’s from a client, ask them if you can also include their business name as well – this will also work for them as a small advertisement.

How to collect testimonials:

1. handwritten/typed letters or cards
2. voice mail or recorded audio testimonials
3. emails of praise you receive – ask the sender for their permission to use as a testimonial
4. some online networking sites have a “Recommend” feature, such as these on Linkedin, if you’re a member, ask your contacts and clients to endorse you.
5. regardless of the original form of the testimonial, you can post in to your blog site, or web site

Once you have testimonials organized on your web site or blog, give us the link to them so we can include it when communicating with someone who we think might be a good referral for you. For example, to recommend Boris, the Email Marketing guy, you can send an email with a link to all of Boris’ testimonials or just the one , like this recent one.

If you have any ideas, please enter them as comments to this article!