Business Networking | BizSieve.com

Five Tips for Wining and Dining Business Executives

In the business world, it’s not uncommon to have to entertain potential and current customers. You may also find that you are given the task of entertaining out-of-town executives from sister businesses. If you are put in charge of the entertainment, you may feel the weight of the world come crashing down on your shoulders. Don’t let the task of wining and dining your customers become overwhelming, though. Here are five tips for entertaining your clients, customers, and fellow executives:

1. Do the Legwork

If you know that your boss is going to make you the go-to person when it comes to entertaining customers, take a week or two and do some legwork. Scout out a few local restaurants, get to know the staff and management, and build a relationship with the eatery. When you build a solid relationship with a local restaurant, you can expect to be treated like an old family friend every time you walk through the door. The way that you are treated will impress your client and make them feel welcome.

2. Book a Limo

You don’t have to book a limousine for the same client each time they come to town, but if you book a limo the first time they visit, you are sure to impress them. Book the limo for an evening when you will be entertaining the client, not just picking him or her up from the airport. For many clients, this may be their first limousine ride since the high school prom, and you are sure to start off on the right foot by hiring a car.

3. Explore Your Town

Part of the benefit of traveling out of town for business is the ability to explore new cities. When your client comes into town, give them time to get settled in, and then show them your city. Visit the sites and attractions that make your area famous, even if it’s just having the town’s best burger for lunch. If your client is a nature lover, head out to some local parks. If your client loves to shop, take them to the newest mall in town. Your goal should be for your client to feel like they know your city by the time they leave.

4. Attend an Event

If you have the budget to do it, take your client to a major event happening in your town or a neighboring one. Go to the baseball stadium for the day or to an evening concert. Find out what it is that your client enjoys doing in his or her free time, and try to come up with an activity that matches his or her interests.

5. Arrange a Day Out

Get creative and arrange a day out for your client. Book your client several treatments at a ritzy spa, buy them a day pass to the local amusement park, or arrange for a surfing lesson. By arranging an entire day out for your client, you will be getting them out of their hotel room; something they are sure to appreciate.

If you are put in charge of entertaining clients, try to think outside of the box. Anyone can take a business executive out to dinner, but few people will spend the time to get to know him and his interests. Remember that entertaining your client in a way that suits their personality can be the difference in keeping that client or have them running to your competition.

Joe Jackson lives in Los Angeles and blogs about business matters, including how to entertain business executives. If you are looking for a way to impress your business guests, think about hiring a limousine for them at limousineservices.org.

The Value of Your Response on Social Media to Upset Customers

In this article, you’ll learn…

From my recent experiences as a customer who complained over social media
5 tips on how to respond to angry customers who have lashed out at you over social media

One of the best ways to learn about social media marketing and the impact it can have for your customers is to use social media as the customer of some other business. You can learn a lot of valuable lessons on how to treat your customers, particularly angry customers, if you are first one yourself. Pay attention to how you are responded to and how that made you feel. Are you more or less likely to do business with the company based on how they responded to you through social media? I have personally had 2 instances in the last couple of weeks in which businesses earned my respect because of how they responded to my displeasure with their business.

Experience #1: I was instructed by my wife, on the morning of the last day of school, to go to McDonald’s and get a gift card for one of my kids teachers as an appreciation gift. This teacher loves McDonald’s. The morning was packed with things to be done and there really was no time to spare. I pull up to the drive up and ask for a gift card. Sadly, they tell me they are out. Okay, fair enough. I travel to the next closest McDonald’s and pull up there. I ask for a gift card and was told that they are out of gift cards. “Really”, I thought to myself? This is a monster chain restaurant. Can they all really be out of gift cards? I tweeted at them expressing my displeasure and end the tweet with the hash tag of #fail. Shortly after, I receive a tweet from someone on the McDonald’s Twitter customer service team. Did you know they have a whole team, website, etc. dedicated to providing customer service via Twitter? I didn’t either. We exchanged several tweets back and forth, which ended with a direct message asking if she could send me some gift cards directly. I was very impressed with how this was handled. They were very professional in their approach and very accommodating. Respect earned.

Experience #2: My wife called me to tell me that the local water park was closing down for the day because they were not making money. She had been there with my kids for the last 2 hours and they were now being kicked out so that they could close. It was a colder day, sure, but that is not why they closed. If the park had been packed they would have stayed open. They tried to claim on their Facebook page that they had closed for the “health and safety of their customers”. I took issue and commented on the post. Needless to say, I stirred a pot with others who “like” them on Facebook. Some supporting me, some saying that I should have my head examined for taking my kids to a water park on such a cold day. In some cases, it got personal. However, The local water park maintained a professional approach in their responses to my “calling them out”. They left my posts up on their Facebook page. They replied several times and was part of the conversation. I noticed that they did delete one post that was particularly personal against me. While I did not agree with their business decision to close the park that day, I gained some additional respect for them based on the fact that they did not shy away from the conversation and kept things respectful when I am sure it was not comfortable for them.

Business owners and marketing professionals everywhere need to learn the lessons of social media customer service. Here are some tips on how to respond and how not to respond to angry customers on social media.

Pay attention! Someone needs to be monitoring the company’s social media accounts and what people are saying.
Do not delete the post of an angry customer. This will only anger them more and send them on a longer rant, and potentially to other places to leave negative reviews.
Address the post in “public”. Let others see your responsiveness and your professional customer service. This will shed good light on your customer service.
If you need to go behind closed doors after first responding publicly, that is fine. In many cases you will want to do this to make sure you do not get a rash of fake complaints trying to get free stuff.
Do not become personal, stay professional. Even if you do not gain them back as a customer, they will respect the fact that you stayed above board on the situation and they are less likely to talk negatively about you.

About the Author: Rick Hardman is an SEO manager at seo.com who loves to use social media personally as well as professionally.

Tips for Choosing the Right Trade Show Signage

Getting your booth noticed at a trade show can be a difficult task. You can only grab the attention of potential clients for a few brief seconds, but those seconds are paramount in selling your products and services. The best way to ensure sales is to set your booth apart with eye-catching signage that is both relevant and communicative. Custom signage is the best way to attract new customers and secure profits for your business.

Your Message Must Speak to Your Ideal Customer

The first thing to keep in mind when planning your display is the audience that you are attempting to reach. Your display should communicate the message and mission of your company in a clear, concise and appealing manner. Considering basic demographics such as age and gender of potential clientele will go a long way toward achieving a successful trade show for your business. Your message must grab the interest of your prospect quickly and effectively in order to draw him or her toward your booth.

Use Professionally-Designed Banner Stands and Pop-up Displays

Once your audience has been determined, it is time to begin considering the physical aesthetic of your booth. Custom built banner stands are an effective way to attract passersby. Although custom banner stands may seem expensive, they make all the difference in attracting new customers.

A common sight at trade shows are businesses that have obviously cut corners in constructing their displays. If your display appears shabby or cheap, the chances of you attracting new clients or maintaining a good relationship with those you have previously established. Implementing professionally constructed banner stands and pop-up displays in your booth will help you achieve success at your trade show event.

Make Your Signage Visually Appealing

When designing your trade show signage, be sure to choose images that are large, clear, and bright. Potential clients aren’t going to squint to see your banner stands when your neighbors have large, beautifully-constructed images on display.

Besides the graphical elements of the signage, it is also important to be selective in the type of banner stands and pop-up displays that you choose to represent your business. One model that is becoming increasingly popular is the green banner stand. This approach is obviously most successful at trade shows that promote an eco-friendly lifestyle and culture. If your company prides itself on its environmentalism, you should make sure that the displays you choose are environmentally friendly in order to stay in line with your company’s ideals.

Retractable Banner Stands Make Takedown Easier

You might want to consider retractable banner stands. These stands can be erected and taken down in a matter of seconds and they sacrifice none of the aesthetic appeal of your booth. Used together with pop-up displays, they create an appealing display that can be easily moved from one show to another and re-used throughout the year.

When choosing an event to attend, communicate with colleagues in the field who have had successful trade show experiences. They will have excellent advice about the best events for your company and will be able to provide additional tips to help you have a successful trade show experience.

Why Businesses Should Use LinkedIn

Business owners may feel that LinkedIn is just another task that needs to be dealt with in an already busy day. However, there are some compelling reasons why businesses should use LinkedIn for attracting potential employees, brand building and networking.

Setting up groups

Businesses who are seeking applicants interested in their industry can set up a group on LinkedIn. Setting up a group is simple; groups can be created so that anyone can join or restricted to invitation or acceptance only. Simply select the level of control that your company is comfortable with.

Attracting talent and clients

While some businesses may use LinkedIn only for talent purposes, there are other effective uses. LinkedIn allows users to set up options for developing contacts, seeking new contracts and allowing interaction. This makes LinkedIn an ideal platform for searching for potential clients.

Testimonials do matter

LinkedIn allows businesses to request testimonials or references from current clients, employees and previous clients. This can be very helpful, especially for a business that is just getting started. Testimonials help a business develop a strong online reputation. Additionally, these testimonials are readily available to share with others whether they have a LinkedIn account or not.

Brand building

One of the best things about using LinkedIn is that you help build your brand. Because LinkedIn allows a business to set up individual profiles for the management team as well as a business page, building a business brand is easier than on other social networking sites. In addition, a presence on LinkedIn is often seen as more professional than having accounts on Twitter or Facebook.

Networking opportunities

Some businesses may see LinkedIn as simply another networking site or social media site that must be managed. With time at a premium, many do not feel that there is a great deal of value in any social media site. Businesses who feel that they must decide between sites should select LinkedIn because it is often seen as more valuable for business networking purposes.

LinkedIn provides an ideal platform for networking, with like-minded business owners. Online meet-ups are also possible if you set up and use a closed group appropriately. Sharing your business expertise allows you the opportunity to establish credibility as well, which is helpful in attracting better talent and additional customers.

About the services

Businesses should take the time to familiarize themselves with the platform that LinkedIn offers. In addition to networking, brand building and building credibility, there are numerous opportunities for advertising. Whether you elect to promote your business using many of the free opportunities or use the paid opportunities, LinkedIn provides the tools that most business owners need.

LinkedIn can be used as a contact management system, a screening system for new employees and a recruiting method for small and large business owners. Take the time to explore the features of LinkedIn and decide which package works best to meet your needs. There are countless ways to gain exposure for your business whether you are a Fortune-500 company or you are just getting started. LinkedIn is simple to use, is very flexible and offers a number of benefits for businesses. Consider adding LinkedIn to your companies marketing and hiring strategy; the benefits will far outweigh the time that you spend getting your account set up.

About the Author: Tim works with coxcabledeals.com for his “real” job. In the mean time he works on his own thing. Once this is closer to becoming a reality he will definitely be using the benefits of LinkedIn for networking and business development.

Image: nan palmero / Flickr

Have You Been Networking Face to Face Lately?

If the answer is no, it’s time to put on your best suit and attitude, and venture out to make some friends. You may be connecting with people through email or over phone, but it’s never the same thing as saying a ‘Hi’ with a great smile in person. Even today, in this time of digitally connected and savvy people, business owners are more comfortable engaging with their contacts in person than online. If you have been postponing offline networking for some time now, it’s time to get out and say a ‘Hello’! And the good news is, there are quite a few ways to do it…

face to face networking — Face to face networking in trade shows

What offline networking options do you have?

1. Let’s start with the traditional and ever-popular industry trade shows. They last a number of days, don’t cost much to participate in, and are filled with potential clients and business partners. However, in today’s times, when we are all short of time and want to make the most of it, here’s an important tip – attend only those trade show sessions that provide real value information and spend rest of the time networking with people from your industry.

2. Next, how about meeting up with local professionals from your industry over lunch or coffee? You don’t have to try too hard – you can visit sites like Meetup.com to connect with businesses, investors and business owners with common interests. You may just hit upon your next big business move or marketing plan over insightful conversations! And of course, as a bonus, you will be giving your business the visibility it so deserves.

3. You can even set the stage for networking right at your home. Chat up relatives and friends who can open up different opportunities. Once you have zeroed in on a few target contacts, ask your family/friend to introduce you to them and put in a good word for you.

4. Why limit networking to only business hours? Be social and nice all the time. Try talking to people waiting in line with you at the grocery checkout or bank – you may find a great friend or if you are lucky, even an important business contact. Start off with small talk first instead of swooping right into business chatter.

Note to self: Be pleasant company. You can make a first good impression on potential customers at a party, conference, meeting and indeed your local supermarket. Read on to find out how….

Dos and don’ts of offline networking

All of us, at one time or another, have met a rather annoying guest at a party who just wouldn’t stop talking about only his/her interests. Obviously, these are not the shoes you want to be in when you are trying to strike a good chord. Golden rule: don’t be a brand, be a person. There is no doubting the importance of brand recognition, but it’s not all what networking is about. It is more about connecting on a personal level and gradually building trust. When you strike a chord with people, they will definitely seek information about your business. So, remember to:

Talk about common interests
Share news of interest with the person
Be cheerful and straightforward

Besides one-on-one conversations, there are several other ways to be visible without trying too hard. For instance, you can make a point at a meeting or ask a question at a conference. Whatever you do and however you connect with people, always remember to recognize the other person and yes, have a little fun!

About the Author: Penny is a senior ebook writer and resume writer with content writing service firm Godot Media. She has interests ranging from social media, copywriting to following web technologies and trends.