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Commission Altoids

Have you ever had coffee with a person and 5 minutes into the meeting you are looking for the nearest exit? It's not because their breath wreaks of garlic or coffee but because of "Commission Breath" and the sale that they are trying to make. In my previous article, I talked about how sales and marketers need to be careful to not have commission breath. Since January 7th of this year, I have attended 38 networking functions, have met over 140 new people and scheduled over 50 one-on-one meetings. There have been multiple instances of when I meet with people at an event or over coffee and they are so focused on trying to earn a commission that they forget the purpose of networking. One of my favorite books is Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey. In the book, Covey talks about how people do business with people that they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST. If the people that I had met with, had taken the time to have a genuine conversation so that I could KNOW who they are... lea...

Business Cards, What A Waste…

I recently got into a debate on Facebook about Business Cards and their importance. Surprisingly, it was my 2nd most commented and liked Facebook post in months. — 1st being the announcement of my wife’s pregnancy 😊. Most people agreed with me and some did not. Which is okay! One person’s comment really resonated with me and I have been looking forward to writing this article in response to their comment. They said: ...it’s not the card that counts, it’s the connection. A card shouldn’t determine how professional a person is or how serious they are. I have given out hundreds of cards to people who say they are going to contact me and never do. That is more of a sign of not being serious or professional. I take more offense to that than anything else. Action and connection count A LOT more than a little piece of paper. I love the ending when they say, "Action and connection count A LOT more than a little piece of paper" because after all, the title of my blog i...

Dilly Dilly!

In my last article, I said we would discuss the WHAM! BAM! WOMM! of networking. Next, to connecting with people, Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is the most crucial part of building a business that is a referral based. Word of Mouth Marketing is a strategy in which you engage customers and get them talking about your services or products. Wommapedia.org has a great definition for Word of Mouth Marketing, Put simply, it is 'any business Marketing action that earns a customer recommendation.' Here are some tactics for implementing a successful WOMM strategy… It starts with providing excellent customer service! When you receive a referral from one of your referral partners or another connection, you have to provide a customer servicing experience that speaks for itself. When someone refers business to me, I have the mindset that I am working for my referral partner because I am an extension of them. One of the things that I tell my team when they get referrals from a ...

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