Open to Juniors, Seniors and MBA Graduate Students, this is a gold-mine of opportunity. With companies like BB&T, Wells Fargo, Ally Financial, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, events like the BCS are just one of many chances students get to network. But this one event is like a small gem because only 200 students can register. Beyond this one event, the chances for any student anywhere to get their resume updated and use their university for contacts and new connections.

Don’t be afraid to communicate

In any event where you meet someone, you’re there to keep in touch in the long-run and hopefully take advantage (in a good way) of the connection that you’ve made. When you’re there, don’t be the one person handing out resumes saying, “Hey, this is why you should hire me.” In my opinion that’s just a hot route to being annoying.

You’re looking for a solid communication with the representatives that show at these events. Find a conversation where you see eye-to-eye with the person and engage them. Engage in a relevant conversation to what you want in your job hunt, what you expect from potential employers. Do more than just be a wallflower at the event, be the person who has something interesting to say.

Keep in Touch

The communication after an event is by far just as important as a Thank You note after an interview or maintaining contact with an old friend. It IS the true networking part of these opportunities. When you do receive contact information use it. This valuable information is given to you for a reason.

If you get an email address – check it on LinkedIn

Twitter Handle? – Shoot them a DM or an @ Reply, let them know your appreciation.

Mobile Number – Give them a call, let them know your your interest, even chat them up some more if they have the time. If no leave a message, express yourself.

Whatever the chances you get, don’t be afraid to Network the chances you do get.

Related posts:

1. Hotel Social Network
2. Networking or Marketing
3. The College Job Hunt

The problem is that Marketers, Accountants, and Financial Managers are all concerned about ROI. It’s always been a debate with social media, it will continue to be until the tools to monitor and analyze direct ROI become more accessible and efficient. Every one wants to know, what are we getting back from our money, but we business people are not the only ones worried about the ROI of our social and online marketing efforts.

Give the people a way to get ROI from what you build.

It’s an interesting way to think about the ROI of a consumer for your efforts. We business people have ours, but the clients look for an entirely different perspective. They want your Twitter to be a stream of intelligent and intelligible content, relevant to your business and relevant to the type of followers. Facebook should be an expansion and an easy way to get connected, talk back (in a good way) to them, and share longer information that can’t be done in 140 characters on Twitter.

More importantly, your website should definitely be easy to navigate, and have a very natural feel to the way it works and is laid out. These simple factors matter to the people who approach the tools you use to engage them because it’s their time on the line too. They want to know the information you’re giving in a high-quality, quick, and easy. Time and Knowledge are the two biggest returns for consumers online. If you can give those two aspects directly back to all your readers and people you engage with on an every day basis, you will be a bright shining star in their book.

Next time you develop something for your clients, think about their time and their return on investment with your product. Are they getting back what they expect, and more?! Give back to them too.

Related posts:

1. Student Branding vs Professional Branding
2. Going Beyond The Sale
3. Shut Up & Listen

Know What’s Ahead

According to the IBM 2010 Global CEO Study,

Eight in ten CEOs expect their environment to grow significantly more complex but only 49 percent believe their organizations are equipped to deal with it successfully – the largest leadership challenge identified in eight years of research.

While being one of the most difficult things to predict in today’s business world, the expectation of growth and the understand of the direction in which it’s heading matters just as much as understanding the culture of a business in itself. More importantly is embracing the changes that occur every day. Listening to employees, accepting feedback and changing the aspects of your culture will lead to better employees and better clients.

Understanding your employees is a factor that is as strong as the culture, and in fact is your culture. Every person inside your company is an integral part, know who you’re working with, hire people that might not necessarily be the top pick as far as their individual job, but help to define the future of your company and where you will go as part of that culture.

Value Time

Time whether in the long run or the short run should always be beneficial to you, your employees, or your employer. Knowing that everything has its commitments really focus on what needs to be done. As an employer though, much more productivity (and creativity) has been shown to occur when the people are given the opportunity to take matters into their own hands. Give employees the chance to do something they love, do something they want to do for themselves, and see where it takes the company.

Valuing time isn’t just a part of the company, but it’s a part of the lives of the people who work for that company. If things are going well, hell, give people some time to go home early to their kids and spouse. Time value shouldn’t just be taken for the money that could have been made, letting employees know that you care about them and their families. That’s Culture.

Defining your culture is a part of many, many aspects, it’s the way you treat people, the way you grow and the way you engage your customers.

What defines your culture?

Related posts:

1. Culture Not Clique – Relationship Series pt. 1
2. 3 Ways to Truly Build Communities
3. Consumers Think ROI Too

A couple days ago I saw this on the Home Page of the Huffington Post. The article in summary explains the way that the credit card industry is, even with changes from the CARD act, are finding ways to apply new charges, cracked-out interest rates, and every little bit of money they can squeeze out of a suffering economy.

Be Better

Don’t get me wrong though, there are honest businesses; Those kinds of large corporations who make mistakes, accept their mistakes and live up to their reputation. A while back the news story of 6pm.com, who accidentally posted many prices as $49.95, hit the mainstream. This mistake lead to a net loss of $1.6 Million. 6pm.com is owned by Zappos (owned by Amazon). To rephrase, they honored the $49.95 price-tag even if the item costs $100 more.

Even though, they were obviously in the red, this didn’t stop the companies from being honest about their mistake and honoring their prices. It cost them in money, but did it help build their brand confidence and loyalty? You bet your ass it did.

Be Straightforward

If you’re honest from the beginning of a relationship, whether with a client or a partner, the expectations change. The expectation of a solid follow through, consistent honesty and transparency will always be an integral part of your business. The reason the credit card industry manages to screw you over, and over, and over again, is because even with the CARD Act’s new regulations, it still doesn’t stop them from finding new fees.

The policy of a no Bullshit company seems to be like a fading facet. Is your company like that?

Related posts:

1. Airline Policies – You Can Do Better
2. The Small Business Impact
3. My Card

I have mentioned my use of Twitter for airlines or even when I have issues with my AT&T service(@ATTCustomerCare)or Bank of America(@BofA_help). In reality these are my first forms of outreach over calling or emailing a concern to their customer service department.

But, why do I reach out online first?

I choose to use Twitter primarily for customer service issues because these online presences recognize how quickly a bad situation can spread. All it takes is for someone else with a similar problem to ReTweet or acknowledge the concern and reply to it. These online entities tend to recognize social users much quicker and effectively, often giving better solutions, than if you were to rely on “old” forms of communications for customer service.

These online entities go beyond the sale of their initial product or service to give you a much better experience and bring you back to use them again and again. The increasing uses of social media for CRM is one that pushes these companies to adjust their policies and learn to truly give back to the clients investment with enhanced service and quality.

Here’s where I really want to give a shout-out to the BlueSkyFactory team and DJ Waldow (@DJWaldow) for really hitting up the opportunity and push their marketing to a phenomenal level.

I downloaded a BSF eBook (Ultimate Guide to Email) a while back, and like other online businesses filled out a contact sheet prior to the download; I didn’t think much would be done with this. Then, a few weeks later I received an email from DJ asking me if we could talk about BSF’s email marketing and how it it could fit in with what I do.

The problem here was unfortunately as a currently unemployed student (still overseas) I don’t have a use for email marketing. I told DJ this, and I messaged him on Twitter for “being a waste of his time and effort.” On the offhand though, that was because I didn’t have an immediate need to use email marketing.

The simple fact that BlueSkyFactory took the time to sit down, email me, and engage me makes me for when someone asks me about a preferred email marketing service, my first idea is going to be them, BSF. I understand that they are engaging seeking more clients and more users of their system looking for the sale and the revenue. But it was the attitude behind DJ’s actions and words both through email and Twitter that builds my trust and makes me want to choose them over another competitor.

The second implication I took from the actions taken is that when I do need email marketing, I will expect the same quickness and efficiency I found through them before purchasing anything as I should have after I begin to use their service. If not even better.

These kind of relationships are the ones that define inbound marketing and customer service relationships outside of just making money and increasing sales. They define the entity of the business, their trust, and the kind of relationship you should anticipate from a modern company. Imagine having your neighborhood mom & pop customer service from every company you deal with today.

What do you think? Do you have any recommendations or how CRM is changing with the online world?

Image by Piers Mason

Related posts:

1. 3 Ways to Truly Build Communities
2. Social CRM – Data & Humans
3. Musibility’s Doing It Right

I want to address the fact of Airline policies, and the sinking nature of customer satisfaction on airlines (for the sake of integrity, I’ll leave names out, people were only following rules). The issue is that airline policies are restrictive, as they should be, but when it comes down to being able to keep clients happy and want to have their repeat business a company should seriously consider things as the come in on an as-is basis.

To take for example in my case; A college student who made a mistake with his booking for a policy he was not aware of, who would be glad to fly with your airline again, is different than a business man who can afford to pay for the hundreds of dollars for changes. Sure as students we often take the cheap route, and will fly with whoever gives us the best prices. But really guys, how much does it hurt to be nice? I wasn’t asking for you to cancel my flight so I could take my business somewhere else, I was asking for you to help me out with the current conditions. You still would have kept my money AND have been able to re-sell part of the ticket, isn’t that a win-win situation considering you could have made more money off of the one-way flight I wouldn’t have taken?

You can’t make policy for everything, but the number one policy should be compassion. Empathizing with the client and really putting yourself in that persons shoes and saying, “How can I truly help this person?” Stop being greedy bastards and start doing more for the people who keep giving you business.

Your economists and statisticians can take into account, if you provide 200x better customer service, I can guarantee you that the client will be willing to pay more. Why does Virgin Atlantic charge more for their flights? Cause their customer service rocks, and their in-flight service is catered to the client, not the benefit of the company. Your company is losing ground because instead of simply raising the cost of the flight which people are more likely to pay, you decide to change your baggage rules to 1 checked bag instead of 2, or charging for carry-on bags.

Seriously guys, you can do better.

Related posts:

1. Going Beyond The Sale
2. Where Have The Honest Businesses Gone?
3. Define Your Culture

The parable of the fisherman is one some people know and some people have absolutely zero idea about it. After having lived in Guadalajara, Mexico for about 6 years, living near and talking to people from these small little fishing villages, you learn an interesting bit about what this parable truly means. So while you read the following parable, I want you to think about a few things, and leave a comment, let me know how it makes you change your view.

• Where is your business taking you?
• Does this better the people surrounding you or your product, or is it self-serving?
• What kind of problems are you solving?
• Be happy with what you have and explore.

The Fisherman’s Parable

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the
American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his
needs and those of his family.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs … I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help
you!  You should start by fishing longer every day.  You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.

“And after that?” asked the Mexican.

With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second
one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.  Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can  then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City!  From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps 25 years,” replied the American.

“And after that?” the Mexican asked.

“Afterwords? That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing.  “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions?  Really?  And after that? Then what señor?”

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends.”

Image by S@ilor

Related posts:

1. The Art of the Business Card – Guy Kawasaki

I almost titled this post, Everything I Know About Relationships, I learned from Seven Pounds, but it was a little too long and it would’ve been a lie. The thing is I finally got around to seeing the film Seven Pounds with Will Smith. It’s the story of a man’s post-accident life, and how he goes about making up for what he did during that accident. One of the few films showing the stress and the emotional impact of a man after a terrifying and life-taking car-wreck. 

I am going to try my best to write this post without giving away any spoilers so here we go:

We under-value our relationships. We always have and we always will. Whether you’re looking at this relationship from a work point of view, or a dating/marriage point of view, pure human natural tendency is to undervalue your relationship. It’s natural for a person to be closed when they disagree with something or to ignore the facts when it comes to making the best of what needs to happen.

Everyone however, can always tell when something is going downhill in a relationship, being strong and standing for what you want and what you need should really be a priority. Now even though, you could be talking about a b2b or a b2 relationship but holding your principles and evaluating what has to be done for the improvement of your mental, physical, accounting (or whatever else’s), health taking a stand and using the best of your abilities is the best way to establish these relationships. I think a great example of this can be seen in Love Actually where the Prime Minister stands up to the President. Watch it here on YouTube

Within these relationships there should always be a matter of trust and communication. I’m not saying go out into what you’re trying to get done and be 110% transparent about your needs or wants; however, to simply let the facts be known, let the truth be there without walls, without barriers, and definitely without the BS. When you need something from a client or a partner, let the facts be known, understand each other, establishing the priorities and the trust for a fruitful relationship.

But don’t just take it from me, check out Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents and watch Seven Pounds you won’t regret it. 

If you have any comments or objections let me know in the comments!

Image by Jim Boud

Related posts:

1. Community Marketing – Relationship Series pt. 3
2. Culture Not Clique – Relationship Series pt. 1
3. Burning Bridges – Relationship Series pt. 4

Firstly,

Square; Jack Dorsey’s project. I believe will have an economic impact on especially small businesses because it’s one of the “simplest” and convenient add-ons for somone offering a good (I don’t think this will have as much effect on service based companies).

As TechCrunch puts it:

Think paypal, but anyone can now accept physical credit card payments, too. With no contracts or monthly fees. People are sent receipts by text and email.

With such a huge market share of the mobile world running on the iPhone now, the simple dongle will add usability and ease to transactions.

Though I do agree with Read Write Web:

A regular coffee shop can get a payment terminal for free and only pays about $20 in fees per month (plus a percentage of every transaction).

The Square will cater to brand new businesses who cannot afford the merchant costs and to “mom & pop” stores who are selling more home-made like goods at low prices where the merchant costs become overbearable. In the end this will lead to better management of small business expenses. Therefore causing a better stimulus on the small business market.

Secondly,

Trust. I commented on this yesterday with my video, but to expand on that fact.

Small businesses need trust more than any other large corporation. These small manufacturers, service providers, and sellers need to build their trust database more than anyone else. Because their not fully well known and have a more volatile client base they need to:

1. Keep a consistent returning client base
2. Have an increasing trent of new clients

Other larger companies don’t have as much volatility in this case, so the small marketing techniques need to be based more on CRM and a quality product or service for their size (prefferably even competing with the big dogs!). By building thier trust these small businesses will see a huge increase in their word-of-mouth marketing and their returning client base moreso than their new clients!

Check out Chris Brogan & Julien Smith’s Trust Agents, and understand your clients’ needs!

What do you think the impact on small businesses is?

Image by emdot

Posted via web from Greg’s posterous

Related posts:

1. The New Age of Business
2. Community Marketing – Relationship Series pt. 3
3. Where Have The Honest Businesses Gone?

One thing I notice is the vast amount of articles coming around that are talking about interviews, their processes and their tips. I want to give a different perspective; try doing the same thing everyone else is from a different country. It actually makes it a lot tougher, even though you might not think so.

My Problem

If you follow my blog you realize, I’m currently studying in Alicante, Spain, my 3rd year of my international business major. As much as I am loving it, it makes apartment hunting and job hunting for the upcoming summer and school year much more difficult.

As much as I would love to send in a snail mail copy of my resumé or give a quick ring to the HR department of wherever I would like to apply, it financially isn’t that feasable. Doable, just not reasonably. The benefits of using some direct contact methods that help by being stateside:

• You usually get to talk to someone, and if you’re anything like me thats much more reasurring than sending your resumé into the black hole of the online database.
• The advantage of the company receiving a physical copy of your resumé shows not only your persistence but your will to succeed and advance in the working world

The Realization

The first step is realizing you have a problem. When you get stuck in a difficult situation, you probably already know it. So understanding that you are in this pickle is naturally the first thing you need to do. Then after that you can begin focusing on ways to rectify, and make the problem one that is almost non existent.

The Solution

Anticipation. The simple fact that you can anticipate these problems make the solution much easier. My Suggestions:

• Skype: If you haven’t found the many many benefits of Skype yet, I suggest giving it a try. Should you be called for an interview you have an economical and practical way to conduct a phone interview on the cheap, especially if YOU have to call.
• Google Voice: 2 benefits here: Recorded transcriptions and a proper phone number where you can receive a transcribed voicemail in case you get a call back.
• LinkedIn: The online resume: get connected, get out there, and get known.

Naturally, I’m still going through my application process for this summer, but as more develops and more comes my way, I’ll be more than happy to clue you in on my tips. If you have any please leave them in the comments.

Image by Ben Heine

BenHeine.com

Posted via web from Greg’s posterous

Related posts:

1. Acing the Interview
2. Interview with Tony from Zappos
3. Outliers