Tag Archives: Network

How Do You Increase the Value of Social Network Interactions? Five Thoughts

Situation: People participate in social networking sites for several reasons – to network, to promote their businesses, products or services, and to gain insight through crowd sourcing. For these audiences, how do you increase the value of social network interactions?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Encourage participants to move from a short-term to a medium-term focus. Short term focus is about lead generation, immediate results and buy right now. Think of the man in the flashy sports coat selling his products on late night television. This may generate a sale but with low engagement and commitment. Alternatively, if you focus on engagement you start to build growth which is more sustainable. Growth which will persist with more momentum.
  • Clarify your objectives. Are you interested in sales or influence today or this quarter? How much effort do you want to put into it and what payback do you seek?
  • Be patient. Take the time to develop quality content. This time is an investment which pays back both in the medium and long-term.
  • Don’t treat people as though they can be manipulated into buying from you. There is a karmic cost to this approach. Look instead at the potential benefit that you can provide that will attract people to your content. Think in terms of reciprocity – give first and let others decide how they will respond.
  • Try an experiment. Propose a simple question: “What do you want?” Ask the question three times, each time with a different thought in mind – first annoyance, then confusion, and finally empathy. Rather than speak the questions, send them via instant message one after the other. The words of the message were exactly the same each time, “What do you want?” Without tone of voice, expression or body language, the receivers could instantly tell me what I was thinking in each case. The same works in social networking. People can read where you are coming from based on how you position your content. If you want to increase the value of what you have to say or offer, offer it openly and invite your audience to respond.

Thanks to Kenneth Vogt for his contribution to this discussion.

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How Do You Build an International Presence? Seven Guidelines

Situation: Companies are looking at market expansion opportunities. International expansion is one alternative. In the past this was done largely by sending expatriates to foreign locales. More recently there has been a trend toward hiring locally. How do you find the right talent locally? How do you build an international presence?

Advice:

  • Everything starts with the basics – a good job description.
  • Finding people is easier these days with social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Xing, The Meet Group, FlexJobs, TikTok, Reddit and Quora. However, finding the right people remains a challenge.
  • Invest time and effort to research your target market. Which country is a market or has the most likely prospective clients? What is your competitive advantage in that locale?
  • For a hiring company without an existing presence in the local market it is also a challenge to convince good local candidates that yours is the right company to join. It is important to understand the local business culture and values, and also to offer career-paths to qualified candidates.
  • Don’t assume the need for multiple offices as you start. You can start with a highly mobile person working from home who knows the local language(s), customs, and who already has contacts in your target market.
  • It is often assumed that it takes one year or more for an expatriate to be efficient locally, and that hiring locally often accelerates first years’ startup-time. However, the local person has to understand and “fit” into the corporate/head office culture.
  • Working with an international executive search firm to find qualified local talent with the right fit to your business and needs can greatly improve your odds of success.

Thanks to E.J. Dieterle, President & CEO, YES Partners, Inc. for his contribution to this article.

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How Do You Build Meaningful Social Media Participation? Seven Thought Starters

Situation: A company has built a good online community. Between their site and newsletter, they are contacting tens of thousands of executives weekly. The CEO constantly seeks new ways to encourage active participation in the discussions. What have others done to effectively build regular participation in discussions? How do you build meaningful social media participation?

Advice:

  • Know your audience and focus on topics that engage people. For example, one company does a semi-annual compensation survey. This generates great response when the results are published.
  • Another company has found that they learn more from mistakes than they do from success. People love to talk about business blunders, particularly if the discussions include well-intentioned humor.
  • Reach out to individuals with interesting backgrounds, experience and situations. Encourage them to post, or feature them in a discussion.
  • Another company sends out weekly emails with titles and synopses of articles posted in the last week. This enables newsletter recipients to quickly scan topics and click on those of interest.
  • A common challenge is filtering posts which are trivial, self-promoting and lack relevance to the focus of the site.
  • The bottom line is that there is no magic bullet. Social networking sites are rapidly evolving so it is important to continually seek creative additions. This takes time, work and investment.
  • Consider your own experience. What has drawn you to a social networking site? What have this site done to effectively build regular participation in meaningful discussions?

Thanks to Ken Ross of ExpertCEO, Inc. for his contribution to this article.

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How Do You Retain Key Staff During a Merger or Sale? Five Suggestions

Situation: A company has either a merger with another company or sale of the company pending. While most direct staff will be retained, roughly half of the indirect staff may be at risk. The CEO’s objective is twofold: to retain key indirect talent before and during transition and to do right by those who have made strong contributions to the company. How do you retain key staff during a merger or sale?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • One member dealt with this a few years ago. The company set up a retention fund for important but potentially impacted employees in advance of the anticipated transaction. The longer the employee stayed with the company through the transition, the larger the payout for which they were eligible. In the case of no transaction, the funds were to be returned to the company.
  • An alternate version of the above option is to use insurance to fund a retention package for a group of key employees. This package may or may not be required depending upon the transition.
  • For potentially impacted employees, consider a retention package that rewards them for staying long enough to train the purchaser in their areas of expertise.
  • Look at outplacement services as part of the package for employees. Let employees know that this is part of the package if they are not retained post-transaction.
  • Seek outside consultant expertise to assist in the design and administration of a retention package. To compliment this look at your own network, and seek the advice of others who are well-versed with the technical aspects of employee transition.

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How Do You Find A-Players? Six Strategies

Situation: An early stage company will be staffing-up over the next year. In the past the CEO has recruited individuals with big company experience and solid resumes, only to find that they had difficulty transitioning to the hands-on responsibility of a small company. How do you find candidates who are highly experienced but who can also excel in a small company environment? How do you find A-players?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The best candidates are not in the job-search pool. They are currently working but open to a change with new challenges. Some will wish to return to a more hands-on situation.
  • Let people know that you are looking for “the best” and have a great opportunity. Create some buzz. Go to your network and ask, “who do you know?” Don’t be shy!
  • Look for achievers – individuals with proven performance in companies of the size that you plan to be in 12-18 months and who are interested in the excitement of building that company. Check their references carefully.
  • What can the company do now, while seeking the right people? Use contractors and consultants. These people are more entrepreneurial, self-starting, and self-accountable. Monitor their work. If they are good, add them to your team as permanent employees.
  • Develop a milestone-based personnel plan as part of your business plan. For example when we hit Milestone A, we will need an operations manager. When we hit Milestone B, we will need channel or market development expertise.
  • Conduct case studies of how other companies in your or similar spaces have facilitated their scale-ups. What worked? What didn’t? Why?

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How Do You Jump-Start Sales in the New Year? Four Points

Situation: A CEO has been working with his team to jump-start sales to set the company on a positive growth path. His team has come up with some interesting ideas. He would like to hear from others as to what they have done to set their companies up for a year of positive growth. How do you jump-start sales in the new year?
Advice from the CEOs:
• Set up a focused, manageable revenue target list of 30-100 existing and desirable new clients. Focus sales efforts on these clients. This is much more effective than a shotgun approach.
• Touch-up and refresh the target list on a consistent basis. Create and lay out a schedule of contacts by email, telephone or meetings and stick to it.
• Schedule regular meetings with the team to share successes and insights gained from their efforts. Compliment this by awarding points and recognition for the best contributions to the meetings. Rather than deciding on the awards yourself, have the team vote on the best contributions. This will increase the camaraderie of the team and will encourage them to support each other
• Develop a focused network to link to former colleagues. For example, if you’ve worked at other companies join or create an alumni group for those individuals on Linked-in. This can develop unexpected new opportunities.

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How Do You Expand Business Internationally? Five Suggestions

Situation: The President of a company wants to expand its business in Europe, but has limited resources, particularly in terms of personnel. What have others learned from their international business opportunities? What has worked and what hasn’t? How do you expand business internationally?
Advice from the CEOs:
• Hire a Business Development person to develop your European business. You want to find an individual who has experience working with international partners as well as their clients.
• Allocate budget not just for the individual hired, but also the travel budget to fund extended trips.
• Plan for time to train existing and interested international partners to sell or service your offering.
• Hire an individual who is at least minimally comfortable with the language or languages of your prospective European partners. While most European business people are fluent in English, they appreciate foreigners who at least make the effort to speak their language.
• Network with local and online resources to identify both potential customers and allies in Europe who can assist you. LinkedIn is international and a good way to search for both customer and partnership opportunities. Check your local Chamber of Commerce for others who are engaged in international business and network with them. Utilize networking organizations such as the Alliance for Corporate Growth which has chapters around the country and internationally. Connect with the International Trade Administration’s U.S. Commercial Service. They specialize in promoting export opportunities for American companies. Partner with a venture capitalist who has European contacts and who may be interested in supporting your efforts.

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How Do You Negotiate the Purchase of a Franchise? Seven Points

Situation: An experienced CEO is considering the purchase of a franchise. What are the key points to consider in both evaluating the opportunity and in negotiating the purchase? What advice should be sought? How do you negotiate the purchase of a franchise?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Most franchises have a set contract in use by all of their franchisees.
    • Ask for the names of existing franchisees and ask them what works or doesn’t work both about their contract and the services provided by the franchisor.
    • Ask the franchisor whether they will agree to a side letter to cover areas of importance outside of the franchise agreement.
  • What services and are offered by the franchisor as basic infrastructure and what are offered as a percent of sales or other fee arrangements?
  • Look closely at the frequency and amount of franchise fees. What fees are set or variable? What is non-negotiable?
  • Is there a need for a professional to represent you as the buyer?
  • Closely inspect the prospectus financials – franchisors in many states are required to provide these to prospective buyers. What is the initial investment? Are there monthly or periodic minimums to be paid by the franchisee? What are typical monthly operating costs.
    • Add to these your salary replacement costs – assuming that you will have to pay yourself something over the break-even period.
    • Calculate the monthly revenue needed to break even, and to pay off the initial investment.
  • Evaluate the competitive situation facing the product/services offered by the franchise. Network with others in the market to assess both the market potential and any barriers that that will be faced as the franchise is established.
  • What other questions should be asked?
    • Why is this business interesting?
    • What is your experience and what is the experience of the franchisor?
    • How well do you understand the market that the franchise will be serving?
    • What does the franchisor bring to the table that you cannot do yourself? What are the comparable costs?
    • What is the anticipated rate of return? How is it being calculated? Can this be verified with third parties?
    • What criteria are deal makers and which are deal breakers?

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How Do You Minimize Hiring while Launching a New Market? Five Points

Situation: A company is planning to expand operations into a new geography. The CEO wants to avoid hiring a new sales person out of the main office as they make this move because he wants the expansion to fund itself. How do you minimize hiring while launching a new market?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Start by profiling the ideal customer for the new geography.
    • The definition should include business sector, company size, current capabilities in terms of the service provided by the company, and openness to working with outside service providers.
  • Consider a satellite office or franchise option. The two key employees to staff the office will be an engineer and a principal manager for the office. The principal manager will be the sales person.
  • Target initial clients that meet the profile of the existing business but in the new geography.
  • Use what has been learned over the years in the principal location to build an effective culture in the new location. Select key people for the new location that would fit well into the current location.
  • How can the principal manager network in the new location to attract clients?
    • Clubs
    • Organizations
    • White Papers
    • Advertising and Mass Mailing
    • Author a book or be featured in a chapter of someone else’s book
    • Generate partnerships or affiliations for business development

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How Do You Maintain a Robust Pipeline? Five Suggestions

Situation: A CEO is concerned that her company does not have enough new prospects or business on the horizon. New business opportunities appear sporadically but not predictably. She asks how others schedule their time and effort to bring in new clients. How do you maintain a robust pipeline?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Devote a regular amount of time to business and relationship development. Even when business is busy it is important to have the discipline to devote 4 to 6 hours per week to new business development. Schedule this time and fill it with activity. Occasional networking doesn’t work.
  • What differentiates a company is its brand. If new business comes from referrals, turbo-charge this by becoming the information hub for the referral group. Make it easy for others to make referrals.
  • There is a hierarchy of things to do.
    • Stay on potential referrers’ radar screens – monthly or quarterly awareness marketing to referral sources.
    • Spread awareness of best practices in areas where the company has expertise.
    • Make best practices relevant with situational stories.
  • Think in terms of a target.
    • Where do most referrals come from? This is the center of the bull’s eye
    • 2nd Ring – 2nd level of referrals
    • 3rd Ring – 3rd level of referrals
    • Network more with contacts at the center of the target – they know clients in need of help.
  • There is a lot of information in the cloud that is relevant to the business – personnel moves, hiring, firing, etc. If you it is possible to track this, it can help.
    • LinkedIn can help. Look for 1st and 2nd degree links to individuals of interest. For example, you want to meet a CEO who on LinkedIn is a 2nd degree link. Request a warm introduction from a 1st degree link between you and the CEO.
    • Think of LinkedIn in terms of rifle shots, not a shotgun approach. This makes it both more manageable and more valuable.

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