Last week was a fairly important one for me. I had the privilege of conducting a workshop at Meridian Business Day and next Wednesday we will have a table at the Ultra Clean Smoke Out. While preparations for all of these were going on, another opportunity presented itself and then rapidly became a reality. I had looked at Meridian Business Day as a chance to perhaps re-wet my feet in an arena that I was successful in some 20 years ago …. workshops and seminars. Instead, it became a vehicle for the soft announcement of those services as well as my recent designation as Idaho’s first authorized “Nimble SCRM Solutions Partner” which is a venture that I will team with SEN Technologies. Somehow, somewhere, the memo I wrote myself about slowing down got lost. Continue reading “Behold …. The Power Of Networking!”
Author: Craig M. Jamieson
Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional including Boise's best B2B leads group, NetWorks! Boise Valley. We are a Nimble SCRM and a PieSync Solution Partner and a Value Added Associate for TTI Performance Systems. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in selling.
UltraClean Smoke Out – 32 Business Tips
I attended the UltraClean Smoke Out yesterday as I do every month. This time it was sponsored by Sprague Solutions with help from a number of local vendors including Redline Recreational Toys (where the event is held), Event Rent who provides the tables and chairs, and Qdoba who was this month’s featured food vendor. Incidentally, UltraClean, Sprague Solutions, and Event Rent are all NetWorks! Boise Valley members. If you have not attended this event in awhile, it’s a great time to start back up! The venue is excellent, the crowds are smaller and of a higher caliber, and the guest speakers are dynamite! Education, networking, and food? How can you go wrong?
The panel today was composed of:
Steven Nipper – nipper@stephennipper.com, Twitter – @nipper, http://www.linkedin.com/in/nipper Continue reading “UltraClean Smoke Out – 32 Business Tips”
When Transparency Reflects “Stinkin’ Thinkin'”
With all due kudos to Zig Ziglar, this post is more opinion and observation than it is anything else. I have no professional experience or education in either of the subject areas. What I am is pragmatic. I look at the world, evaluate it’s condition, and take the steps I deem necessary to deal with it. I see a lot of folks talking today about the importance of being transparent. I hear that, in order to be successful particularly with social media, transparency is a must.
That’s all well and fine but, do some of us take this too far? Are we, in our quest for transparency, doing ourselves and those around us more harm than good? Does this need to be transparent translate to “unabashed and unbridled honesty in all things”? For some, it apparently does. I’m all for honesty but there has to be some limits …. Continue reading “When Transparency Reflects “Stinkin’ Thinkin’””
Think Like A Pirate
Just the other day a colleague asked me why I fly a pirate flag in the back hatch of my car. I told him the obvious … “Because I am a pirate.” That and the way that I have it positioned actually causes the image to literally float in my back window when I look in my rear view mirror. Constant reminder. LOL.
The fact is, pirates are hunters and I have absolutely no problem with being identified as such. Furthermore, there is nothing that says that hunters can’t be farmers (relationship builders) and I am of the strong opinion that you need to be both. Certainly, in business to business sales, you must be competitive. I ask you … who can you think of is more competitive than a pirate? Continue reading “Think Like A Pirate”
Garbage In = Garbage Out – Sales Forecasting
I’ve been talked quite a bit on previous posts about using a CRM so it only seems fitting to remind everybody that any sales tool is only as valuable as the accuracy of the information that has been put into it. Frankly, before investing in any CRM for either yourself or your team, I think that you need to ask yourself some critical questions. As a manager, what do you hope to get out of this? As a sales rep, what do I hope that this will help me with? Are we doing this to increase sales, manage salespeople, or both? What other applications need to be integrated? Accounting? Case management? Outbound telemarketing or email campaigns? The list goes on and on. Will this tool need to be accessed and maintained remotely or is it strictly desktop? Best to answer these questions now because there are a lot of solutions out there and they all come with different capabilities and price tags. Continue reading “Garbage In = Garbage Out – Sales Forecasting”
I See Dumb People
I was going to title this something else and then I found this cartoon which says it all (smile). I have written a bit on this topic before and I am warning you ahead of time that this may come off as a “rant”. Fact is, this post is born out of both frustration and a sincere desire on my part to see folks achieve maximum success at whatever endeavor they choose to pursue. They say that “you get no second chance at a first impression.” To a large degree that is true but, I can guarantee you that repeated boorish behavior will firmly solidify that sad condition and leave for little, if any, hope of recovery.
I own and operate business to business networking groups so I perhaps tend to have a slightly more heightened awareness of these things. I have also been in B2B sales virtually all my adult life and I am pushing 57 right now. I’ve been around the block. As a sales person, I lived on referrals and made a very nice income doing so. While I no longer actively sell a product or service per se (other than membership in our groups), I never made a single cold call during the last 5 years of my direct selling career. I earned referrals by: Continue reading “I See Dumb People”
Leverage What You Have & Get What You Need
The inspiration for this post actually came from one of our NetWorks! Boise Valley members who was struggling with his decision whether or not to remain with his group. I’ve heard the arguments (excuses) many times before …. “I’m just not getting enough out of the group” or “The people in the group are not really the people that I need to be networking with. I need people (industries) more like …..” As it turns out, this individual consulted others and made the right decision to stay. I have no idea what pearls of wisdom he received but, here is what I have would have told him and others … Continue reading “Leverage What You Have & Get What You Need”