Category: Networking Events

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”

Diversify Your Networking For Maximum Results

Last Thursday really brought to my forefront the necessity of having a diversified networking plan. NetWorks! Boise Valley fills what I like to call the “Business-Social” networking slot that many folks are accustomed to. Our groups meet weekly and our focus is business. Still, I am always encouraging our members to get out and network outside of our group settings. These activities should include: Continue reading “Diversify Your Networking For Maximum Results”

The Hot Dog Vendor

This one is a real oldie but a goodie (smile). I have no idea who wrote it but can tell you that I have had a worn out photocopy of this in my files for at least 30 years. Same tale holds true today. Feel free to substitute your company name, products, and chosen form of investments (smile).

There was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs.

He sold very good hot dogs.

He put up sign along the highway and advertised in the newspaper telling how good they were.

He stood on the side of the road and cried: “Buy a hot dog, Mister?”

And people bought. Continue reading “The Hot Dog Vendor”

Networking Remains A Contact Sport

I really wanted to use a picture of a fight but …………. (smile). With all the hype surrounding Social media as a way to make contacts, it reminds me that it is even more important to meet contacts. As others have properly pointed out, it’s not about numbers, it is about conversions. And, in my experience, conversions occur face-to-face. Networking is still very much about “pressing the flesh” and “meet and greet”. Why do you think they have TweetUps? Even good little Tweeple recognize that, at some point, they are actually going to have to speak to each other in order to take the relationship to the next higher level (smile).

What social media really is, as Justin Foster puts so well, “old rules, new tools.”  It’s still communication. Social media excels in the areas of branding and initiating some form of contact. Case in point. I was having coffee with Jacob Nordby the other day and as some people were leaving he stopped this one gal and said “Aren’t you …..”. And, yes, she was. They had never met but recognized each other from Twitter. This is a result of branding. Jacob was initiating a form of contact. Mission accomplished. And there are many avenues to get to that goal. Honestly, while social media can be a lot of work, by the same token it encourages folks to be lazy where it counts. Here are some of my favorite, and proven, old school methods: Continue reading “Networking Remains A Contact Sport”

Business-Social Networking Groups

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time lately in looking at networking, or “leads”, groups around the country and kind of evaluating what they are doing and how that might work in with some of the things we might wish to do with NetWorks!. Certainly, there are a lot of different formats to choose from and most of those can be found right here in Boise, Idaho. I thought it might be beneficial to discuss the varying anatomy of such groups. Continue reading “Business-Social Networking Groups”

NetWorking – Striking Your Balance

If you have never been to this site before, let’s just say that I am a traditional networker trying to find his way in a new fangled electronic world. Most of this blog is devoted to that journey. And, make no mistake, I am a huge believer in networking and close to 100% of my client base is connected in one way or another to creating, nurturing, and building these types of relationships. Now, more than ever, there are a lot of ways out there to connect with others. So, how to strike a balance?

Business-Social Leads Groups (business emphasis): Perhaps the traditional networker’s most widely recognized tool of trade. I have been involved in these since the early 90’s and still maintain relationships that began that same long time ago.  I am not making this up, I have sold millions of dollars worth of signs as a direct result of relationships that began in these same groups. Relationships that continue today. I am such a huge believer in these organizations that I created one that meets my exacting specifications for the leads group fueled by steroids …. NetWorks! (smile). NetWorks! fulfills what I like to call the business-social segment of networking. We are social but, the focus is on business. Just this week, I was presented with a ground floor opportunity to further present the sign aspect of my business to a very targeted and lucrative market. The offer came from a gentleman who was a member of my leads group some 16 years ago. This type of networking is best designed for those of us who are comfortable with being considered as carnivorous by nature (smile). Continue reading “NetWorking – Striking Your Balance”