Netwerken en Ondernemen in 2011

Beste lezers, klanten en zakenrelaties,

Allereerst wensen wij jullie een gelukkig, gezond en succesvol 2011. Laat de jaren van financiële crisis en het “terug recht krabbelen” voorgoed achter ons liggen en laat ons met zijn allen de economie terug in een hogere versnelling schakelen !

Traditioneel starten we een nieuw jaar met een nieuwjaarsbrief vol goede voornemens. Dit jaar wou ik heel graag deze voornemens in het teken zetten van ‘Netwerken en Ondernemen in 2011’. Hiervoor blik ik dan ook eerst even terug op het vorige jaar.

2010 was het jaar “na de financiële crisis”. Dit was het jaar waarin een recordaantal bedrijven de boeken moesten sluiten. Dit was het jaar waar de klap pas echt keihard aankwam, nadat de meeste bedrijven al heel diep in hun reserves zaten. Dit was ook het jaar dat netwerken meer dan ooit nodig was omdat we alleen samen deze storm konden overleven.

Netwerken doen we voortaan allemaal zowel online als offline via meerdere netwerk- en businessclubs. Trendwatchers spreken nu over “inline netwerken” als combinatie van online en offline. Waar men vroeger als ondernemer met gemiddeld 125 a 150 personen een goed contact kon onderhouden, doen we dat nu met de online netwerken erbij moeiteloos met 500 of meer personen.

Hoe meer mensen je kent, hoe meer opportuniteiten er zullen voorbij komen !
Het sociale aspect van deze overvloed aan contacten is uiteraard schitterend, maar als ondernemer mogen we toch ook het business-aspect niet vergeten. Op veel netwerken klinken voortdurend mooie slogans met betrekking tot het genereren van business, maar in de praktijk blijft het toch vooral een sociaal gebeuren met slechts sporadisch enkele doorverwijzingen. Laat ons in 2011 eens actief werken aan het business-aspect en ervoor zorgen dat we samen een flinke stap vooruit zetten in onze business en de economie een flinke schop onder de kont geven.

Netwerken in deze moeilijke tijden is inderdaad meer dan ooit nodig en vooral het “delen met je netwerk” wil ik hier benadrukken. Wanneer alle ondernemers actief moeite doen om te delen met hun netwerk overleven we allemaal moeiteloos deze harde tijden. Vorig jaar had ik mezelf tot doel gesteld om minstens 10.000 € aan business door te kunnen geven aan mijn netwerkcontacten. Dit streefbedrag heb ik ook probleemloos gehaald. Wekelijks hoor je mensen die op zoek zijn naar iets of iemand en het is een kleine moeite om deze mensen op de juiste weg te zetten als je ze via je netwerkcontacten kan helpen. Mijn streefdoel voor het volgende jaar is dan ook om analoog met het jaartal minstens 11.000 € aan business te kunnen doorgeven aan mijn netwerk.

In het kader van een coachingsproject voor UNIZO was ik dringend op zoek naar een CRM-partner. Mijn toenmalige CRM-partner had net de boeken neergelegd. Eén telefoontje aan Geert en ik werd geholpen. Een dag later zat ik rond tafel met Levent Korkmaz. Intussen werken wij een jaar samen en staan nieuwe projecten op til in 2011. Dank je wel Geert!
(Karl Mortier, Quattro Development)

Verder wens ik net als u allen uiteraard ook dat België eindelijk uit zijn politieke impasse komt, met als voornaamste reden dat deze situatie allesbehalve positief is voor de Belgische ondernemers. De wereldeconomie kijkt momenteel heel erg bezorgd naar België en het wordt alsmaar moeilijker om als Belgische Ondernemer ook over de grenzen jezelf te bewijzen.

Zelf doen we uiteraard ook ons uiterste best om er iets van te maken in dit nieuwe jaar.
We zijn alvast gestart met het verdelen van onze nieuwe folder en het opmaken van de kalender met onze ‘open’ Social Media Workshops (zie website).
Verder kijken we er natuurlijk naar uit om jullie opnieuw te mogen begroeten tijdens één van de vele presentaties of workshops, één van de vele netwerkevents … of maandelijks via onze nieuwsbrief !

Met vriendelijke groet

Geert CONARD

Location based marketing finally popular in Europe

Almost from the start of the very first Location Based Networks in 2008, they stimulated retailers to launch promo's for those customers who "checked in" at their local stores, pubs and restaurants.

During the first year I noticed lots of successful actions and promo's starting up in the USA and UK, some even nationwide (e.g. promo's of Starbucks, Domino's Pizza, ...)

Pioneer Foursquare has a great business page, listing the latest promo actions nearby.

It seems that after the summer of 2010 Belgium and Holland also noticed the positive aspects of these promo's and finally jumped on the wagon. Especially near larger cities, it happens more and more that when you check in somewhere, you'll be attended to "Special Promo" actions nearby.

Only yesterday I was attended to a promo by a local bookstore in Maastricht (NL) where they hand out free bestselling books to customers who have checked in to their store at least 10 times.

If you are active in retail or horeca ... take action now and get more customers.

Location based networks are very clever marketing tools and free to use !!!

The Social Network

Today, Oct. 27, the hit movie 'The Social Network' hits the screens in Belgium.
This movie about the early days of marketleader in Social Networking Facebook has been hyped for many weeks now. The movie is based on the book 'The Accidental Billionaires' by Ben Mezrich.

Why should you be interested to watch this movie ?

- Because 26 year old Mark Zuckerberg is a self made billionaire, this year marked at #35 of the Forbes Billionaires List.
- Because Bill Gates was the man who brought the PC to our living room, but Mark Zuckerberg is the man who made us communicate on Social Networks.

Tonight I'll be doing a 30 minute presentation, introducing this movie at Kinepolis Hasselt.

Privacy on Social Media (Video)

Just before the summer holidays I was booked for a Social Media workshop by Procter &  Gamble in Brussels.

Around that same time there were a lot of stories in the news about online privacy and more specific about how your employer would react when he sees your "wild weekend" pictures on Facebook.

In my opinion it's pretty simple if you use your common sense. Don't post it if you don't want it seen by everyone. In the video below I give you my view on this and also tell you how to use it to your profit !


Visit our video-channel at www.youtube.be/geertconard

Essential tips to find a job on LinkedIn

1. Make sure your profile is complete

LinkedIn is, after Google, probably the most used tool to search for your name. Even when they only search for your name on Google, your LinkedIn profile will probably show up on the first page of results. You can make sure people will like what they find !

Use your profile to display your skills and talents. If your profile is 100% complete it will show you as an expert in what you do. Make sure you have added some recommendations and always list your job history.

A wise man once said : You never get a second chance to make a first impression … so make sure you have the impact you want !

2. Add a headline to your name

Your headline is the first thing people will see when you show up in the search results. Make sure it is clear. Tell people who you are and what you do.
Adding a headline will already position your profile above many others.

3. Add your job history

For networking reasons it’s always a good thing to add your past jobs, because people might remember you as “Mr. Jones of Coca Cola”. By searching on your name and this past job you will show up in the search results !
Also, it could be that the HR manager who searches for new people has a good experience with one of your former companies which might get you on top of the pile for this job.

4. Recommendations

In short : The more people that recommend your services, the better the result will be. If you have less than 10 recommendations, people will not take you seriously as a professional.

In online networking the first impression is everything, make sure to ASK for recommendations whenever you have the opportunity. When a client compliments you with a successfully ended project, immediately ask for a recommendation. He will probably be very glad to do you this small favor.

If you don’t give recommendations, you also won’t receive any. Make it a habit to give recommendations without being asked for them. Lots of people will copy the gesture !

5. Be open for connections

LinkedIn advises to only connect with people you know and trust. In my opinion this rule will make it hard to connect with potential employers or other people who could open the right doors for you.

When looking for a job, you just don’t know who might be your best connection to get to the people you need to talk to. If you connect with an open mind, you will automatically detect who can help you the best.

When you are proactively connecting to people, always include a decent message that tells why you want to connect to them. (Even if it’s just to grow your network for future opportunities)

If you connect by using the default sentence that LinkedIn provides, lots of people will ignore the request and don’t even bother to think if they already know you or not.

LinkedIn has a very strong feature which you won’t find on many other networks. When you search for someone you want to get in touch with, you will always find the people in your network who can be the ‘hot link’ between you and your target. You can ask those people for an introduction which will work far better than contacting them out of the blue.

6. Always send a clear message

Professionals always have limited time, so make sure your messages are clear and to the point. Being mysterious doesn’t work in social networking, make sure the facts are on your profile.

7. Don’t let your profile fall asleep

The people who are the least successful on LinkedIn are those who put up their profile and let it fall asleep.
Make sure your profile is always 100% up-to-date and take part in the conversations on the forums.

Each time you do anything on LinkedIn, your name will show up in the newsfeeds of everyone in your network. This will remind them of you time after time, triggering them to read your new content and take note of your updates.

8. Join Groups

“General networking” on platforms like LinkedIn is good, but adding niche networking to your efforts will increase your credibility as an expert in your trade. By taking part in the conversations around your field of expertise, people will notice your knowledge and skills.

Within these niche groups around a certain industry or topic there will also be a more intense kind of networking with a lot of interaction.

9. Start your own group

Once you have built a network of a few hundred people, you can start a group around your field of expertise and invite them to join. This gives you a platform to talk to your audience.

By sharing your knowledge people will return to the group and engage themselves in the conversations.

10. Be interactive

On LinkedIn there is a great feature called ‘Answers’, which gives you the opportunity to ask questions to your network. This is a very valuable feature for all entrepreneurs and jobseekers.

Keep an eye on the ‘Answers’ section and when you see a question in your field of expertise take part in the conversation and show your knowledge.

11. Connect to your other Social Media profiles

To create more action on your LinkedIn profile, you can connect it to other online presences on platforms as Twitter, Slideshare, your blog, …

By connecting your online profiles, you will drive visitors to each of those profiles, to your blog and your website. Visitors can become clients, suppliers, employers or just friends …. The more people you meet, the more opportunities will cross your way.

12. Do the magic thing

Connect people to each other whenever possible. If someone tells you about a need and you know someone who could be the solution to that need, connect them. It may not be a 100% solution to the problem, but it is always a 100% chance to solve the problem.

In most cases I don’t use LinkedIn for this, but I send an email to both people, introducing them to each other and sharing their contact details.

People sometimes ask me if I’m not afraid to harm my own reputation when connecting people together. If the match goes wrong it could potentially damage my reputation too. I think there are two ways of connecting people :

- I can connect you to one of my close contacts. A professional I know for years and I’m very certain he will deliver high quality. This match can’t go wrong.

- Maybe I don’t have any connection that can help you with problem, but I remember a guy I have met at a networking event a few weeks ago who might have the knowledge you are looking for. When I introduce this contact including this message, I remove the risk of getting burned. My contact knows that this is not a close and direct contact of mine.

You can’t buy a network, you have to build it yourself every day. On average, it takes 3 years to build a network that’s strong enough to support you. Don’t give up when you don’t see results immediately, once you have built your network and keep the contacts warm, you can keep the network for the rest of your life. LinkedIn is one of the strongest tools available to build your professional network.

Breakthrough of location based networking

This week Facebook announced the launch of Facebook Places, their take on location based networking. From this week on available in the USA, other countries to follow soon.

I was probably one of the first people in Belgium who really believed in location based networking while many others laughed and said it was "just a game".
Today I see more and more businesspeople check-in to their workplaces, their favorite restaurants and bars and even promoting those by giving tips to other users. Today I also see more and more business owners announcing 'specials' or promo's for customers who check-in on Foursquare or Gowalla. Yes, also in Belgium and also in my neighborhood !

It's good news that Facebook Places is not going to play solo in a move to conquer the market. I was happy to read that they open up the application to pioneers like Foursquare and Gowalla who can forward their check-ins to Facebook Places too.

It seems more than one good idea is born while drinking a beer in your local pub, and that's more or less what location based networking is all about. Getting together with your friends and promoting the places you visit. Location based networking is probably the strongest sample of peer promotion we have ever seen.

Business owners or large companies (e.g. Starbucks) are jumping on the wagon and see their revenue climbing because more and more people are battling to become the mayor of the location and receive something extra with their coffee.

Not all business ideas have to be rocket science ... just a plain and simple checkin tool can be genius too !

KMO Marketingcongres 2010

(dutch posting)

Peter Desmyttere onder meer bekend van de Intac Internet Academy, organiseert op vrijdag 8 oktober 2010 in Edegem (Antwerpen) voor de derde keer het marketingcongres dat zich specifiek richt tot de Belgische kmo’s. De bedoeling is op één dag de marketing- en communicatiekennis van zelfstandigen en kmo’s een flinke stimulans te geven door praktische informatie te verschaffen die deze doelgroep aanspreekt.
De KMO-markt kent een eigen specificiteit en is zeer praktisch en no-nonsens georiënteerd. De meeste congressen, workshops en seminaries zijn voor deze doelgroep minder interessant omdat de presentaties niet aansluiten bij de leefwereld van de KMO's. Het KMO marketingcongres wil hieraan tegemoet komen met een programma dat onmiddellijk bruikbare kennis aanbiedt.
Het thema dit jaar is: Dichter bij de klant. Een actueel en nuttig onderwerp, want het is juist in deze concurrentiële tijden dat een goed contact met klanten een belangrijk onderscheidend voordeel kan geven.

Het programma is ook dit jaar zo opgesteld dat deelnemers buitengaan met concrete tips die ze meteen en zonder investeringen kunnen toepassen.

Het programma voor dit jaar:

08u30 - Onthaal met koffie
09u00 - Openingswoord
09u15 - 10 tips om een nieuw product in de markt te zetten - Tom De Ruyck
10u05 - Zo wordt winkelen kopen - Wim Stuyck
10u45 - Koffiepauze
11u20 - Herontdek de kracht van een persoonlijke brief - Geert Dehouck
12u10 - Hou bezoekers gevangen op uw website en maak ze klant - Marnik D’Hoore
12u50 - Lunch
14u00 - Start van het namiddaggedeelte
14u15 - Bespaar op marketingkosten: maak van uw werknemers uw ambassadeurs - Sandra Peeters
15u05 - Beter zakendoen met buitenlandse klanten - Luc De Haes
15u45 - Koffiepauze
16u20 - Ontevreden klanten op het internet: hoe ga je er mee om? - Sofie Verhalle
17u00 - Einde van het congres en networkreceptie

Meer info en inschrijven via http://www.kmomarketingcongres.be/

The News is happening right now !

I have to admit I'm an information-junkie.
I watch the news on TV, read newspapers and scan the Internet for all possible info which might be interesting for me to digest.

How relevant and up-to-date are these information sources ? In general the answer wouldn't be too positive.

Watching the news on TV gives you an overview of what happened during the day, supplemented with highlights and reruns of what happened the day before.

The morning newspaper will bring you an overview of what was on the news the evening before, supplemented with smaller regional newsfacts. It's only in large cities like London and New York that you also find Evening newspapers, summerizing the regional news of the day.

Of course during the day I'm also browsing the websites of several newspapers to catch the breaking news and have a taster of what will be in tomorrows newspaper. That's how fast traditional media can go.

Status updates on Social Networks and microblogging tools like Twitter are bringing the news to me "when it's taking place". Twitter absolutely changed the speed in which news come to our ears.

The best part of Twitter are the tools that were invented by the users, like the hashtags.

Adding a hashtag at the end of your Tweet (=message) adds a searchtag.

A keyword which people can use to find your Tweet. This tags your Tweet and adds it to a specific group of messages (e.g. #golf, #marketing), to an event (e.g. #smc09), to whatever label you want to give it.

Sometimes you would really like to attend an event, but work decides otherwise. During the event in most cases nothing can be found on the official website of the event. Photo's and video's will be added much later ... if you're lucky.

Tuning in on the Twitter hashtag of the event gives you a good taster of what's going on.

You can read the live conversations sent from the event and even have a look at the occasional Twitpics. (Photo's added to Twitter messages)

In the past year I have tuned into several events this way which brought a large chunk of the information to my desktop.

The world has changed a lot since our grandparents were in their early twenties. But in my opinion it's the speed in which everything is happening what really changed. We need these new and fast tools to keep up with the speed of our world ... that is of course, if you're an infojunkie like me !

Global Networking for World Leaders

Back in 2005, while I was researching for my first book ‘A Girlfriend in Every City’, I also read a Belgian reference book called “De Elite van België” written by Jan Puype, a journalist I recently met face to face in Antwerp.

This book was a summary of all clubs and networking organizations in Belgium at the time of writing. What fascinated me was the fact that it wasn’t limited to the typical Chamber of Commerce and Rotary kind of organizations, but Puype also disclosed a lot about more upscale organizations (e.g. De Warande, Cercle de Lorraine, … ) and even the more secret organizations like Masonic Lodges.

A few weeks ago I posted this movieclip about the Bilderberg group on my Facebook profile.



The Bilderberg group is probably the most top level networking group you can imagine, bringing together world leaders, statesmen, industry leaders and important international stakeholders.
The Bilderberg group was founded by the Dutch Prince Bernard in 1954, at Hotel Bilderberg in Oosterbeek (NL). This year the group gathered in a totally shielded and highly secured Hotel resort in Sitges (Spain). I’m not 100% sure if it’s true, but it’s said that Belgian Minister of State Etienne Davignon is now chairman of this group.

Each time this elite networking group gathers, there is a storm of protest from people who think this group is trying to create a new World Order, pulling the strings to every single government worldwide.

Another group which is accused of the same activities is Skull and Bones, founded at Yale University (Connecticut USA) in 1832. Only 15 new members are carefully selected each year during what they call ‘Tap Day’.
Although this group is covered in even more secrecy than the Bilderberg group, it’s well known that lots of Presidents and statesmen are members (e.g. George Bush, John Kerry, …)

For those people who think networking is not important or just a total waste of time, it might be stimulating to think about how our world is being managed through top level networks such as the two which are mentioned in this blog … probably there are many more !

The Facebook 5000 friends limit

This weekend I ran into the Facebook 5000 Friends limit. In the last couple of weeks I had been receiving warnings because my friends-count together with the Pages I liked was already over 5000 and Facebook wants you to keep below that number.

The reason for this limitation according to Facebook is that nobody has 5000 real friends in life. If you have more connections you must be a celebrity and in that case you need a fanpage where your network can just click on a Like button to enter your network.

Nowadays newbies can opt to not have a personal profile and immediately choose for a Facebook Page (Some Belgian politicians did this recently). When I became a member of Facebook a normal user-profile was the only option available.

So the best option for me today was to start a Facebook Page, next to my profile ... and open the door for the next part of my large network.

Of course I can't do this without making a few humble suggestions to Facebook

- Get rid of this 5000 friends limit. Almost all online networks allow you to have as many connections as you want, they make sure that no tools are available that would allow to spam the whole list. I have over 20000 connections in my network, gathered over multiple online and offline networking groups. I'm only allowed to to let 25% of them connect to my Facebook profile which is weird !

- Why not offer an easy and userfriendly tool to transform your Facebook Profile into a Facebook Page ? Now I have to maintain and update two different pages on Facebook which doubles my time efforts

Anyway... as from now it's no longer possible to connect to my Facebook Profile, but feel free to Like my Facebook Page :-)