Business Cards - How many do you hand out?

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while. I read an article today and it made me put my fingers to the keyboard.

Simply put: Do you hand out your business card willy-nilly or hold onto them and give them out to qualified people?

The printing companies out there will say, shout even, that you hand them out to everyone you meet, in fact give them two I hear them scream! So I’ve thought on-the-fly of some pros and cons of handing out your business card.

Pros for Giving away Business Cards
1. You won’t get business with business cards sitting in a box
If your card is in the public domain, there is a greater likelihood that you will get business.

2. You just never know
People might just LOVE your logo, will be so impressed with the design of it that they’ll see you in a new light. Some people aren’t consistent with their brand and after all, it’s your work, your competence not your selling skills that people are buying.

3. They are a crutch
Some people are very shy at networking events so handing out a business card could help the talking juices to flow.

Cons for Handing out Business Cards by the Handful
1. Who cares?
You could give two cards to a prospect while saying “give one to a friend/colleague/favourite business person.” But those two cards could sit on a desk for years. Take a look at your own desk - have you got business cards from networking events that are gathering dust?

2. You know it’s a quality lead
If you have a policy of being selective with your business card, then you know that the person you are conversing with is a person you want to follow up with. There is a need there or a potential mutually beneficial relationship could be created. You walk away knowing the night was a success.

3. er……

Well I’m trying to think of a third one. I’m not in either camp - I’m very much sitting on the fence on this one.

So what do you think - Hand them out as if you’re giving away free money or hold onto them until the right person comes along?

Let me know.

Saying the Same Thing Differently

I received an email from my colleague, Peter Donnelly at Mustang Leadership. He sends a Thought for Friday (on a Friday obviously!). I loved it, especially as a copywriter, it is all about emotional direct response. But I also loved it for the story that it is.

Take two mins and have a read:

Saying the Same Thing Differently

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.”

There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?” and continued, “What did you write?’

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”

What he had written was: “Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.”

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.

Have you your telephone sales script ready?

I spoke with a client today. We are working on a flyer and a new brochure for his new business. I can say this as I said it to my client but I felt his words were a bit stiff.

So I called him up and suggested a role play. I was the potential client, he was the salesman.

The reason why the words on his flyer and brochure were stiff was because he was stiff on the phone. He didn’t have a script ready, didn’t immediately tell me what the benefits were and stumbled along the call with no clear goals and most certainly didn’t ask for the sale.

Yet when I speak with him about his business and its potential, he gets energised. He just needs to transfer that energy into a script and practice, practice, practice.

My question to you, this Wednesday morning, is this:

Are you ready to sell when the phone rings?

Is your staff helping or hindering your brand?

Just a quick note to tell you about my recent trip to one of the more elite jewellers in Dublin which reminded me that your company’s representatives have a huge amount to do with your company brand.

Background: My sister bought me a lovely bracelet on my wedding day. She wanted to give me something from that traditional wedding mantra - something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Long story short, it was a bit big, kept dropping off me so I wanted to get a security chain on it so it would stop falling off me.

I went into the store and to put it simply, one of the store representatives looked at me, ignored me and proceeded to make a call.

Then when I finally got speaking with another member of staff, he interrupted us.

I took off my invisible coat and told the lady that was dealing with me about the store assistant that ignored me. She apologised and decisively said that she would give me the security chain with no charge.

Instead of walking out of the store, swearing I’d never use it again, I left thinking what a good representative she was.

Ask yourself honestly:

• Are your staff (whether retail or service based) promoting your business?
• Is their behaviour helping or hindering your business?

You spend a lot of time networking and marketing your business. You might as well burn the cash if your staff aren’t there backing up your brand and being consistent with your image.

To know for sure that your staff is helping your brand, revisit the following five tips:

1. Don’t make assumptions based on your customers appearance

2. Understand that every person that walks through your door is a lead

3. Reward your staff who recognise that every person who walks through the door is a lead

4. Be consistent with your image through regular customer training/support/mentoring

5. Give your staff the authority to make a decision to keep a customer happy.

What do you do to keep your staff promoting your brand?

13 Reasons to Blog

Back in January, I posed the question to the blogosphere - ‘Why do you blog?’ as I wanted a client to start blogging. Everytime I talked with her, I discovered new levels to her fountain of knowledge. I thought she should share that knowledge with others.

Whenever I brought up the blogging topic, she always asked me the same question:

“But Denise, why should I blog? Why do you blog?“

I blog because I have ideas to share, to build credibility and to engage with the community around me. The very same reason that she should blog.

So to get extra help to persuade her, I asked my fellow bloggers and got some great comments. You can catch the entire comments HERE so I’m paraphrasing.

Reasons to Blog
These are the main reasons that I saw when reading the comments of fellow bloggers. They are in no particular order of importance:

1. Own my own little piece of the internet
2. It’s a good way to force me to pursue my interest in writing
3. Gain a superior understanding of the topics/subject when it’s written down
4. For the joy of writing, learning and sharing
5. Others may benefit from my articles
6. Aid SEO
7. Help establish me/my company as industry experts on a topic
8. Share observations or thoughts on the way people/companies do things
9. Recount a story from from recent travels
10. Advise companies/people on things they could do differently that I’ve seen elsewhere
11. Act as a FAQ site/repository of information
12. Provide my thoughts on a range of business/technical topics which can be accessed  reasonably accessible way.
13. Another way to help others

So in summary, people blog to:
- Help others
- Get higher rankings on search engines
- Gain clarity in their own mind on a particular topic
- Make use of the instantness of the medium

A caveat - or indeed follow up question.
Most of the people that I spoke with said that they don’t blog regularly enough.

So, how much is regular enough?

I’ve got a goal: 100 articles in 100 days

I signed up for the ‘100 articles in 100 days’ (#HAHD) last year but through one thing and another, I didn’t complete it. This year, I’ve decided that I’m going to complete it.

I want to get:

1. Downloadable #HAHD Certificate of Achievement (frame not included)
2. Original Limited-edition EzineArticles #HAHD Trophy Mug
3. Limited-Edition EzineArticles #HAHD Mouse Pad
4. Limited-Edition EzineArticles #HAHD Canvas Tote Bag
5. Limited-Edition EzineArticles Motivational Wall Clock

It’s not the goodie bag that I want but the sense of achievement and accomplishment.

So please - can I ask for encouragement from my friends and readers?

And give me your ideas as well!

What is your biggest marketing challenge at the moment?

I’ve been very quiet for a while and you know what? I think It’s time to get back to solving marketing issues for small businesses.

But instead of me assuming what your issues are, I thought why not ask you what your issues are.

You only need to turn on the radio or open up the newspaper to be (constantly) reminded that things have changed.

So I want to know:

• What is your biggest marketing challenge or issue at the moment?
• What are you struggling with?
• What would you like to do better?
• What would you like to know more about?

There are a myriad of issues in marketing, such as:

• Getting the strategy right
• Competitive analysis
• Market research
• Pricing
• Promotion
• Customer value
• Customer retention
• Promotion
• Direct marketing/selling
• PR
• Social media
• Writing of brochures/case-studies/leaflets/etc
• Printing of brochures/etc
• Website marketing

I could go on for days - but these are just a few ideas for you to think about.

So go on - take five minutes and tell me what your biggest marketing challenge is.

I’m a ‘Woman of Worth’ - Yippee!

During Louth Enterprise Week, the Drogheda Chamber held the ‘Women of Worth’ Awards celebrating the achievements of business women in the Drogheda & District Area.

You can imagine my surprise when I got a phone call from Marian Caddell, Office Administrator Extraordinaire at the Chamber to congratulate me for making it to the short-list. I didn’t even know that I was nominated!

There were four categories and I was short-listed in the Professional Category along with some very strong local women:

Among the other finalists were Marcella Bannon, Droichead Arts Centre Director and Orlaigh Carmody Duffy of Aerga Productions in the Creative Arts category.

Karen Devine and Marian Caddell celebrating with short-listed WOW Denise Fay and Marcella Bannon

The other finalists, in their respective categories were:

Creative Arts

• Orlaith Carmody-Duffy, Aerga Productions
• Marcella Bannon, Droichead Arts centre
• Els Borghart, Nexus Arts project

Community

• Isabel Sanroma, St. Patrick’s Day Festival
• Anne Tracey, Gary Kelly Cancer Support Centre
• Phil Conyngham, Samba Festival

Entrepreneur

• Laura Armada Buch, Labfitness
• Gemma McGuinness, Jacquis Fashion Boutique
• Carmel Riggs, Essential Magazine
• Gwen Fearon & Orlaith Callaghan, Stockwell Artisan Foods

Night of the Awards

The awards were held in the four star d Hotel and the guest speaker for the night was a woman of worth in her own right, Ms Terry Prone. Terri expressed her support for the WOW initiative in her inspiring speech.

It is not very long ago that women could be sacked from their employment simply because they were women and I have known that experience myself, it is incredibly important to acknowledge and celebrate the successes of women in business and there are some excellent examples to celebrate here tonight.”

Before announcing the winners, Chamber President Patricia Rooney congratulated each and every nominee, saying that the Chamber received an overwhelming number of nominations and the judges had a hard job whittling it down to the finalists.  “The calibre of the women who were nominated was really impressive and the judges reported it was a real challenge to decide on one winner for each category from such a wealth of talented and deserving candidates.”

Even though I didn’t win, I had a great night. It is always good to get nominated and who knows what could happen over the coming year. My sincerest congratulations goes to Sheila Cooney who won in the Professional category and all the other winners on the night.

Photo: Cowley Photography

I love Shoes, therefore I am in love with Shoeisms

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to hear Veronica Canning speak at a networking event and you know what, everytime I hear her, I learn something different.

She is engaging, entertaining and enthralling. I could listen to her all day, every day. On this speaking occasion, she shared with us her Personal Brand Success Programme which is a five step model.

Shoeism - Personal Brand Success Programme

This five step model makes sense - yet many of us don’t follow it as unfortunately common sense is not so common! The five points are Veronica’s five points - the sub-information is my personal take on Veronica’s words of wisdom.

1. Act Strategically

I’m a marketing consultant so I always tell my clients to think strategically. My constant advice is that marketing should not be done on an ad-hoc basis but should always be part of an overall plan.

Veronica applies this same logic to your brand - you as your brand should act strategically. Ask yourself before you do or say anything - “Does this help my personal brand?” If not…don’t do it!

2. Make your Message Match the Messenger

Be consistent with your brand. If you are a fun, quirky person, then don’t have a corporate banal brand. You are not representing yourself in the correct way.

3. Get Out of your Own Way

This was one of my favourite points. How many times do we get in our own way? Have you ever used phrases such as:

• “I’ll do it tomorrow”
• “I’m afraid people will laugh”
• “What will people think?”
• “It’s just not right”
• “I just don’t have time”

Go on - be honest. If you say any of these (and more!), then you are in your own way. Veronica is a big believer in this. We are our own worst enemy and as successful women (and men) that has to change to move forward.

4. Benchmark against the Best

Look at who is the best in your industry and benchmark yourself against them. Ask yourself what skills or talents do they have that you don’t? What can you learn from them?

If you benchmark yourself against the best, then you will find ways in which to improve yourself. And self improvement is a constant in today’s environment.

5. Fake It until you Make It

If you don’t have an office in  Dublin 2 or 4, then meet in a Dublin 2 or 4 hotel. If you’re travelling somewhere, hire a porsche or jaguar. There are ways where you can fake it without breaking you or your bank. Once you have self-belief and the right skills, then fake things before you make it. Take control of your own destiny.

Again, this is my take on Veronica’s five step model. If you want help with your personal brand, contact Veronica directly - she will do an audit of your brand and work with you on a one to one basis.

The Shoeism Book

Veronica has recently written a book called Shoeisms: Working Woman’s Guide to Take Control and Be the Sassy, Successful Woman You Know You Can Be. The world has changed and finding your role in the world as a powerful woman just got more difficult. Shoeisms will enable you to think independently and to carve out your own destiny.

I hope to bring you a review of the book later in the month but all you sassy ladies are recommended to check it out - www.shoeisms.ie

Forget The Apprentice. Apply for the Bord Bia Fellowship.

If I didn’t have my Masters of Business Studies (MBS) in International Marketing from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, I would be filling in my application form for the Bord Bia Marketing Fellowship instead of writing this blog.

I heard about it on the radio and just had to check it out. What a great opportunity for 25 people who want to embark on or further progress a marketing and business career. It’s an  intensive 12-month action learning programme which gives successful candidates the combined opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with some of Ireland’s most respected food companies and to also gain a postgraduate qualification.

Not only do you get experience and a MSc in Marketing Practice, but you’ll get to work abroad aswell. The student’s time will be spent here in Ireland and in a foreign location.

All this and it’s a fully funded programme, which means that you don’t even have to pay for it. AND you get a bursary of over just over €22,000.

To apply, you need to be a graduate with a minimum of two years work experience. Some placements will require fluency in a second language (German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian or Chinese). As a graduate of Smufit School and the marketing department specifically, I can highly recommend working with the school.

Closing date is the 23rd April which two weeks on Friday. Tell your friends, family members, your neighbours. If you or they fit the criteria, this is a programme not to be missed.

For further information and to apply please visit www.smurfitschool.ie/bordbia