We have a special offer for all Black Pearl members for this year of our inaugural membership at The Oyster Club.

For those who don’t know about it, The Oyster Club is a new different type of networking organisation. The difference is: “No format, no rules, no badges, no pitching, just introductions, bubbles and fun. It’s business, of course. It must be the Oyster Club.”

As a Black Pearl Member I have additional access to more events, workshops and member offers and I am doing a special offer for fellow Black Pearl members – a one hour consultancy session with me to “improve your presence online”.

I did an offer like this for 4 businesses earlier this year and have had some great success – including the launch or Tumblr blogs to replace people’s out of date or non existance web presences. A blog is not a website but it’s a good start.

Here are the things we can cover:

• Social media – how you use it, what you are doing right, what you could do better or more of
• Twitter strategies – how to expand contacts, build relationships and move connections to “real life”
• Events – how to incorporate your event planning with your online marketing – you can work plans and strategy – based on your and your team’s current capabilities
• Email newsletters – What you use now for email marketing, what options are out there for you to use this better
• Blogging – How to make the most of blogging tools around, what kind of customisation options are there

So, for Black Pearls reading this offer Click on this link to apply!

Once you email us your details and a bit of background information about your current online presence and marketing situation, we can book in a meeting at a convenient time. Meetings will take place at our Central London office and will last one hour.

What about the other Oyster Club members – do we get a deal too?

For other Oyster Club members I am still doing a special deal of only £55 if you get in touch by the end of June 2011 – just email me and ask me what it is!

I was planning to attend this – but it changed dates. And now it’s planned for the 2nd April. Get in touch anyone else who is going.

The plan is that there are going to be so many high profile speakers (Including Zig Ziglar, Karren Brady, Mark Victor Hansen, James Caan, Julie Ziglar-Norman, Morris Goodman, Andy Hansen, Christine Hamilton, Adrian Webster and Rob Brown) and this is a weekend day in Birmingham – for learning and of course networking!

Check out the event here

I have been a member of BNI since the summer of 2002 and I am now at BNI Mayfair. During that time I have learned many skills, and I think it would be useful for anyone running their own business. BNI doesnt suit every one, as there are several rules to follow, it’s a big commitment, and the meetings occur very early in the morning. But a recent thread on Twitter inspired me to write this post.

For those who don’t know, BNI is a professional networking organisations where members meet weekly for breakfast and help each other by finding new business for each other and making referrals. These are tracked and statistics are carefully kept for attendance, participation and the amount of business passed.

I posted a Tweet with the hashtag (which is a clickable topic on Twitter) #ThatsWhyIDoBNI after doing some quick calculations.

But it’s important to note the other benefits of BNI so I have written a list of 11 things people will get out of membership.

1. Public Speaking practice – because you go to BNI every week and do a 60 second speech, you get lots of practice in public speaking
2. Learning to speak concisely – this is related to the above but there is an individual skill beyond speaking confidently, and that is getting your message accross within a short space of time. This has been compared to an elevator pitch as well
3. Taglines – many BNI members add a tagline to the end of their 60 seconds – and some people don’t have these when they join BNI but after being inspired by seeing others, they come up with clever ones. Have a look at the blog post I wrote about this recently.
4. Making friends – everyone I have spoken to about BNI has said they have made new friends through it – even a connection with just one or two members makes it all worthwhile.
5. Other networking opportunities – through BNI you will get to hear about other networking events – open networking events, monthly lunches,  awards events, workshops and seminars and often its contacts you get there that will help you grow your business
6. An education on how to network – there are many behaviours you can pick-up from other members which will improve your networking skills –  for some this will come more naturally than for others, but it definitely can always be improved.
7. A focus group – for testing out new products, marketing, and even new businesses
8. Joint ventures – It happens quite often in BNI groups that members team up for pitches, new business ventures, events, partnerships and collaborations. Seeing each other every week at BNI means you can easily meet regularly to move things along.
9. Knowledge of other types of businesses – Every week in the 60 seconds and the 10minute speeches, members share a bit about what they do, and through this you get a broad understanding of many different types of businesses. Through one to ones with other members, and with the potential clients and introducers they refer you to, you get even more.
10. Meeting the introverts – at parties, non member networking groups, and open networking events, introverts are a rarity and may not meet quite as many people. But so called “introverts” can join BNI and over time, they will be able to get to know other members and vice versa. Often introverts are the funniest and most intelligent people to meet and it’s interesting to see them come out of their “shells”.
11. Business referrals – This is the reason people join BNI in the first place – and yes, you do get these, and you learn how to along the way.

There are more benefits but I thought I would let this be a time for other BNI members to comment on this post and add their feedback!

Hopefully this will encourage more people to give BNI a try in 2011. If you would like to visit my BNI group please email me or visit www.bnimayfair.com

BNI is great – Keren has been an active member for 7 years, and has seen all sorts of people from all sorts of businesses come through the system. Many left without seeing the benefits, but there always seemed to be a correlation of INPUT and OUTPUT. Our business here at Top Left Design is built on referral and we still can track a majority of our incoming enquiries back to people we wouldnt have met if it werent for Keren’s membership at BNI.

The best members of BNI have a good attitude. This means they HONESTLY believe in BNI and understand that nurturing relationships takes time, effort and good intentions! Givers gain and all that!

My top eleven tips to make your BNI membership a sure-fire success!
(Important – these tips work for ANY breakfast group of a similar nature to BNI!)

1. Come every week
2. Have a clear speaking voice and a clear message when you do your 60 seconds
3. Be specific in asking for referrals
4. Consider who your introducers would be in your business – parallel companies who can partner up with you – and ask for those as well as direct referrals.
5. Make an effort to help their fellow BNI Members – by making introductions, giving advice, giving feedback – and avoid conflicts if you can!
6. Spend time helping the running of the chapter itself – by taking on roles like visitor hosts/commitee members or leadership team roles.
7. Be welcoming to visitors and follow up on them – you may be the only one in your group who does so, and they may come back to visit again because of you – or become a good contact for you.
8. When receiving a referral, no matter how small it is, make an effort to follow it up.
9. Have regular 1-2-1s with other members.
10. Spending time preparing your 10minute speeches, and doing a good job with this opportunity.
11. Attend training, at least until you feel you are comfortable – there are plenty of great ideas given at the BNI training days, plus great networking with members of other chapters.
12. Try subbing and seeing how other BNI groups run – it really helps to expand your network and make the most of your membership.

And even with all this, you have to have a good attitude and believe in BNI. Then it works wonders!

As a bonus for reading to this point, here are some 60 second specific tips for you – FREE!

BNI 60 second tips:

1. Don’t sell TO the group – you are asking for introductions to THEIR contacts
2. Stand up to do your 60 seconds and also for the rererral/contributions part of the meeting too
3. Remember – the referral part of the meeting another chance to market yourself, so make an effort to speak clearly and be specific there too!
4. If you are doing your 10 minutes that day, the worst thing is to say “I wont bore you with my 60 seconds” – the 60 seconds part is another time to promote yourself and you need to make the most of it! A very common mistake.
5. Use your memory hook (also known as a tagline!)
6. Be specific when asking who you need to meet and why – as for specific companies or sectors

Related links

Hook Line and Sinker – secrets to a great memory hook
Networking – combining online and offline
BNI Mayfair chapter website

The great thing about memory hooks is that they help you be remembered – just what we need in today’s competitive world!

Keren had an educational slot to do about this topic – and of course did proper research! Much of this was found through the founder of BNI – Dr. Ivan Misner and a BNI website www.memoryhook.com.

What makes a good memory hook?

1. it has to be easy to remember.
2. It should be short and snappy
3. Don’t include anything you don’t need.

Really Bad Memory Hooks

Here are some examples of REALLY bad memory hooks – they just don’t work!

Tips to help – from the book
“Seven Second Marketing by Dr. Ivan Misner “

Use some of the 5 senses -

A good memory hook often appeals to the basic senses -
sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch.

“For balloons with a flair, remember the bear in the air.” – Balloons
“Come fly away with me.” – Travel agent
“If you want to get rubbed the right way, see Jim.” – massage therapist (who’s name is Jim)

Use humour

This is an important sense for memory hooks –and a great way to make it memorable – the sense of humour!

“Making people laugh is one of the fastest ways of breaking down the barriers between strangers and of winning the prospect’s good will.”

• Everything we touch turns to SOLD – Property
• Keep in touch so you don’t miss much – Telecoms
• We won’t hit you but we will get you hits. – SEO company

Use puns or word play

• “We check your shorts,” – Electrician
• “Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you,” Dentist

Use your name:

• Bob Howe, a mortgage lender, says, “Know Howe to get your next loan!”
• “Put a little Joy in your next event” – an event organiser called Joy
• “Remember don’t let your profits slips, think of Mark Day with the titanium hips” – Office equipment supplier

Use Rhyme:

• “When the cops are in the foyer, call Frank, your friendly lawyer.”
• “Top Left Design – improve your presence online!.”

Use parody

Parody means a song or a phrase the reader or listener will recognize. But you have to be careful – some authors, especially songwriters, are quite militant about copyright infringement.

• “I believe in the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth, so help me God.” – Dentist

Double Reverse

This is a statement in which the second part either rephrases or reverses the first.

• “A business without a sign is a sign of no business” – Sign company
• “Get a life, get a life coach” – life coach

You can mix and match

These approaches should give you an idea of some of the tools and resources you can use to construct your own memory hook. Notice that many memory hooks use a combination of these techniques. Almost anything you do in the line of word play will come out funny—and that’s the way it should be, unless you’d rather appeal to the heart. Song lyrics usually rhyme, so if you parody a song, it should rhyme as well. And any of these techniques can be more effective if your memory hook is short and snappy and appeals to the senses.

Below is a selection of the memory hooks we found on the website memory hook.com – and we have categorised them based on the above concepts.
Hopefully this helps when you have to think of yours.

Examples of Memory Hooks

Other articles for more reference:

• Memory Hook Marketing
• 6 ideas for unforgetable memory hooks/
• Seven Second Marketing by Dr Ivan Misner

Each of the social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ecademy, BT Tradespace and the others) has their own purpose, and the main thing about LinkedIn is:

• it’s a trusted network - which means you connect to people who you have met in a business capacity
• its for business – so not really for sharing personal details but for sharing your business activitiesSo, it’s really for business contacts and business topics. Whether you run your own business or work at a company, it’s about your professional life – an online CV and profile. LinkedIn is highly searchable, so as people are in the habit of Googling you, it’s a good idea to make sure your profile is online and up to date and says all the things you want people to know about you, and none of the sordid details you may not want to share.
  Below we have put some useful icons you can save off and use on your website pages if you want to link to your LinkedIn profile. We recommend if you own or work in a company, you get everyone in your team to update their profile and link to it from your company website, as this will extend the network of your company.

People use LinkedIn to varying degrees. The most active (and successful) users consistently participate by:

1. Joining LinkedIn groups for specific topics and interests
2. Setting up their own groups and keeping them going by inviting people and starting new conversation topics
3. Interlinking their Twitter and Facebook and other Social Media profiles to their LinkedIn profiles
4. Putttng little “LinkedIn profile” links on their website where they have their own bios or on the homepage
5. Submitting forum posts to their LinkedIn groups and responding to other’s conversations
6. Writing and adding blog articles which are useful and relevant for the specific groups
7. Using other tools such as the slideshare tool to show PowerPoint presentations.
8. Consistently keeping their profile up to date.
9. Browsing profiles of other LinkedIn users and ask their mutual contacts for introductions.

Of course – the more you put in the more you get out – if you use this resource as a way of keeping in touch, keeping “in people’s heads”, and getting inspired to meet up in “real life” then you will see too the magic that can happen from connecting through LinkedIn.

At the very least, keeping your LinkedIn profile up to date is of utmost importance – as this makes up a big part of your online professional reputation.

Some people don’t know  that there is actually a LinkedIn Learning Centre. – see www.learn.linkedin.com – this is a valuable resource and show you a lot of what is possible on LinkedIn as well as answer FAQs.

See http://learn.linkedin.com and let us know what you learn – just email us or comment in the comments box and let us know extra tips!

Networking can be interpreted in many ways
but activities should include:

- going to networking events, parties, trade shows, and other gatherings where you meet new people
- making sure you keep in touch with those people
- connecting those people with other people you know, where it would be of mutual benefit
- meeting people again for “1-2-1s” and finding out more about their businesses
- Joining a group such as BNI, NRG, Business Junction, Athena, or Chambers of Commerce where you meet regularly to continue to get to know other members.
- Building relationships with other business people and showing yourself as an expert in your field as well as a nice reliable and helpful person.

All of these are typical of traditional networking.

What we are seeing now is that there are a lot of online groups as well. These have been around for many years and their usage is growing. Examples include Ecademy, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

There are many benefits to making proper use of these:

- They are way you can control your online reputation and raise your profile – if you are conscious about how all content you post online can affect this.
- They are easily found by search engines so if people “Google” you then your profile can come up so its good if it shows you off as an expert in your field and a nice friendly person.
- Social networking websites are extremely low cost and has huge potential for spreading your sphere of influence.
- You can see who your contacts know and ask for introductions, and use their list of contacts as a reference point in your 1-2-1s
- It’s important to put some effort into your profile so you really show off your skills/personality/etc – best to look at other’s on the same website to see what to follow – or ask us!
- If you do have Facebook Profile, a Blog or a Twitter account, all of this can be interlinked with your online profile – to take people on an online journey all about you and how great you are!
- Status updates can remind you of what others are doing and prompt you to get back in touch with them

And now the crux – offline PLUS online – combined!

We really would encourage you to get in touch with people when you have met them in real life via searching for them on one of the online networks where you may both be a member. Why?

- it’s an ice breaker, and means you have something else in common
- you can read a bit about them on their profile before you get in touch and then have more to talk about
- Once you connect with them on an social networking site, you can be “friends” or “contacts” which means your status updates and news announcements get fed to each other’s news feeds.
- On an ongoing basis you can see when your new contact has done something new – like posted a blog, or visited a place you have been to, or made a contact you know – and this can prompt you to get in touch again to discuss this new topic.
- As above, if you meet someone online, meet them in real life and really get to know them on a 1-2-1 basis. The right contacts in your network can make the world of difference! As Dave Clark from NRG says, you will build up a network of advocates – people who recommend you and speak highly of you once they have gotten to know you and understand your business.

We have seen time and time again the magic of this – and we have many stories about it we would love to share. Please call us on 020 7486 2629 and we can tell you all about them – and also help you with your online profiles, the content of your status updates and blogs, and getting your head around all the technicalities – it really is easy once you learn how!

We are also offering one on one training sessions on these – email us if you would like to know more.

The Social Networking websites we wanted to recommend as a good starting point:

Ecademy:
www.ecademy.com

Some people find it annoying to join Ecademy because all sorts of random people contact you when you join, but you can adjust the permissions (go to “My Settings” and then “Notifications”) so you don’t have this happening.

We recommend to stick with Ecademy, it’s really brilliant once you get the hang of it!

There is a very good searchable database on Ecademy, and you can use this for looking up people’s profiles, putting up your own, and contacting people who YOU would want to talk to. They would the look at your profile so it’s good to make sure this is properly finished.

See http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=21731 for Keren’s profile.

Twitter:
http://twitter.com

This is all about status updates and “following people” – you can follow Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross, and Barack Obama – and Top Left Design of course!
http://twitter.com/topleftdesign

See also http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9ce3a368-f82d-11dd-aae8-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1 for an article about Twitter.

LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com

This is a very worthwhile network and and it’s full of people in the corporate world as well as SME owners – so it has GREAT potential! Most people are on LinkedIn even if they are somewhere in their career.

If you would like to know more about this or indeed how to make better use of Social Media within your business and website, please get in touch!

I thoroughly enjoyed Keren’s “9 Deadly Website Sins” presentation. Clear, professional, entertaining and to the point, demonstrating the key problems that take away from a website’s effectiveness. All done without resorting to “dumbing down” techniques for the less technically minded.
Keren from Top Left Design is Top Class!

Denis Cahill – Director
Scorpius Solutions Ltd

——————

I recently attended a seminar that Keren gave at an NRG networking meeting. The theme, “9 deadly sins of website design”, was enough to draw me in!

Keren delivered her presentation to a mixed audience, ranging from technophobes to web designers; it is my opinion that she held all present equally enthralled by the clear and informative content of her talk and by her honest approach to sharing her companies guidelines to impactful web sites. If you have the opportunity to attend one of her seminars…

…grab the chance, you will not be disappointed!

Mark Keatley-Palmer
Director – Sycamore Design

——————

“Great presentation Keren! Very informative, useful and understandable. I took a lot of notes! I am very impressed with all your work and the numerous websites which you showed. I’m so impressed with you that I will be putting my web design business your way! I will also confidently refer friends and clients to you. Now that’s the BIGGEST commendation I can give you! I trust you. I think everyone else in the room feels the same way now too. You converted the audience into raving fans! And your Net Promoter Score must have jumped through the roof!”

Very Happy Phil,
www.veryhappyphil.com

——————

“…How refreshing it was to attend a seminar with a potentially technical and complex subject matter, and to be presented with a straightforward user friendly approach which even the worst technophobe could have understood. Highly informative and effortlessly delivered…”
Thomas Gilder

——————

‘Keren’s presentation is a very interesting and informative insight into how to create a useful website, Keren uses lots of examples to demonstrate how a good site should work and it is clear she has a lot of experience with a flair for high quality design’
Peter Cordery

Here at Top Left Design, we are active networking people! Its the most fun way to grow your business and you know what they say – “people buy people!”

Keren is a member of:

BNI Mayfair – www.bnimayfair.co.uk

NRG Marble Arch – nrg-networks.co.uk

Ecademy – www.ecademy.com/user/keren

Here are my thoughts on the Ups and DOWNs of networking:

I like to start on a positive note, so I will do the “Ups” first.

1. TURN UP – BNI and Networking is a long term thing. Its simple. If you keep showing up you will be remembered and will remind people of your existence. Over time, you will develop a long lasting business relationships.
2. SPEAK UP – with your 60 second commercial is an opportunity to clearly state who you are, what you do, how you add value and of course, what type of referral you are looking for
3. SHUT UP – BNI is about Giver’s Gain, so you need to listen to what other people are saying to find out how YOU can help THEM get more business referrals.
4. FOLLOW UP – at a networking events are not about doing business but making new contacts, but if you don’t follow up, those people will forget about you, you will be just another business card in their drawer. Always always follow up on anyone you meet. Write down on the back of their business cards something spoke to them about – and then email or call them and put them in touch with that person you said you would or invite them to another networking event.
5. MEET UP – having 1-2-1 meetings is one of the most effective ways to build up your referral based business, if you focus on how to help eachother get more business and ask the right questions you can get a much better understanding of what people do, and how you can help them.

Now that I have told you about the UPS – its time for the downs. It’s not like me to be negative but I still need to tell you about these 3 last points:

1. WRITE DOWN what referrals people have asked for in their intro talks
2. HONE DOWN your own speech, the more clear and specific you are the better results you will get
3. And finally GET DOWN and Relax! After all the hard work networking and helping other people, you will find you have much more success in your business and the work will come pouring in, and you need stop sometimes and enjoy the fruits of your labour!

Hope this has been useful for you! Dont be shy if you want to comment or send us a message:

keren[at]topleftdesign.com!