(Dutch) Persbericht : Businessclub M4M lanceert nieuwe netwerkformule

PERSBERICHT – VOOR ONMIDDELIJKE VRIJGAVE
Businessclub M4M lanceert nieuwe netwerkformule

Nieuwe formule : M4M Business Advisory Boards

De meeste ondernemers gaan netwerken met enkele doelen voor ogen. Ze willen hun netwerk vergroten, zichzelf profileren, credibiliteit verwerven en indien mogelijk ook hun business stimuleren. Mits het spenderen van de nodige tijd en moeite zal je regelmatig doorverwijzingen krijgen vanuit je netwerk.

Voor het grootste gedeelte van de ondernemers is dit waar het om gaat bij het netwerken en dit verhaal is eigenlijk ook perfect gecoverd in het reeds bestaande aanbod van Managers 4 Managers. Als lid kan je immers elke maand terecht op een business meeting met een interessante gastspreker en het zeer succesvolle “Greet & Meet” concept.

We vroegen ons dan ook af op welke manier M4M nog meer kon bieden aan zijn leden ?

Een half jaar geleden werd Social Media expert Geert Conard (www.geertconard.com) aan boord gehaald om het bestaande netwerkconcept te verfijnen en daarnaast een nieuwe netwerkformule te ontwikkelen.

Deze nieuwe formule ‘M4M Business Advisory Boards’ of kortweg ‘M4M BABs’ is voorgesteld aan de leden tijdens de meeting van de Antwerpse club op 25/03, in het bijzijn van de gouverneur van Antwerpen, Mevr. Cathy Berx.

Grote ondernemingen hebben het grote voordeel dat wanneer er zich een probleem voordoet, men snel een vergadering samenroept met alle directeurs of afdelingsverantwoordelijken en het probleem op tafel gooit.
In een mum van tijd geeft iedereen zijn inbreng en op die manier worden problemen snel aangepakt of worden nieuwe ideeën afgetoetst.
Een zelfstandige of een zaakvoerder van een klein bedrijf heeft geen ‘board of directors’ en meestal is er eveneens geen budget voorhanden om beroep te doen op dure consultants.
Bij elk probleem of voor elke belangrijke beslissing sta je er alleen voor … Hier wil M4M nu ook een oplossing voor bieden in de vorm van een uniek business networking concept.

Stel je voor dat je elke maand kan samen zitten voor een lunchmeeting met 8 ondernemers uit 8 verschillende sectoren, waarbij elke ondernemer vast deel uitmaakt van de adviesraad van de anderen.
Elke maand opnieuw leren deze 8 mensen elkaar beter en beter kennen en werken ze samen aan de groei van elkaars ondernemingen.
Elk probleem kan onmiddellijk worden aangepakt en elk idee kan op tafel gegooid worden zonder bang te moeten zijn voor misbruik. Elke deelnemer moet immers bij het instappen een contract ondertekenen.
Eén van de belangrijkste punten in dat contract is 100% geheimhouding van alles wat er gezegd wordt tijdens deze meetings.
De BABs groepen zullen worden geleid door ervaren moderators van het M4M team.

Voor de deelnemers aan deze meetings is er een enorm grote return. Deze return kan je zonder probleem vergelijken met de directe input van 8 consultants of bijna 200 adviesuren op jaarbasis. Reken zelf maar uit wat daarvan de waarde is !
Om deel te nemen aan deze nieuwe netwerkformule moet je in elk geval ook lid zijn van M4M, dus sla je 2 vliegen in één klap : op de gewone M4M meetings bouw je aan je netwerk en aan je verkoopscijfers, op de BAB meetings werk je samen met je “board of directors” heel intensief aan elkaars business.
Uiteraard is dit concept niet interessant voor iedereen … maar als je denkt dat dit voor jou interessant kan zijn dan kan je terecht bij de M4M bestuursleden voor meer informatie !

Meer informatie :

Voor meer informatie over M4M kan u steeds terecht op www.managers4managers.eu

M4M International
Kort Ossegoor 7
B-2390 Malle

Jan De Vos / jan.de.vos@managers4managers.eu / +32 475 455837
Tamara Mariën / tamara.marien@managers4managers.eu / +32 477 545589
Geert Conard / geert.conard@managers4managers.eu / +32 496 127710
Tineke Vanhove / tineke.vanhove@managers4managers.eu / +32 478 762526

M4M – Managers for Managers :

MANAGERS 4 MANAGERS is een initiatief voor en door zaakvoerders dat een platform creëert om de ondernemers, bedrijfsleiders, managers, starters en beslissingnemers op een informele manier bij elkaar te brengen per regio. U kunt door u aan te sluiten bij een regionale club alle (inter)nationale leden bereiken. Elkaar beter leren kennen, uw relatienetwerk uitbreiden en het bundelen van knowhow, zijn maar enkele van de sterkhouders van dit concept.
Op dit ogenblik zijn er in België regelmatige meetings van M4M in Antwerpen, Beveren, Brussel en Hasselt. Er zijn daarnaast ook reeds groepen actief in Nederland en Luxemburg.
Voorzitter en initiatiefnemer van deze businessclub is Dhr. Jan De Vos, die wordt bijgestaan door lokale teams per locatie waar M4M meetings worden georganisseerd.
Naast de netwerkmeetings worden ook andere diensten aan geboden aan de leden (M4M Profit / M4M Trading)

Social Media expert Geert Conard :

Deze netwerkformule werd samengesteld uit de beste eigenschappen van meerdere ‘Premium’ formules die er momenteel wereldwijd op de markt zijn. (= Netwerkformules die worden aangeboden als extra lidmaatschap bovenop het gewone algemene lidmaatschap van een organisatie)
Als ervaren netwerker en expert op vlak van Social Media heeft Geert Conard meerdere van deze formules persoonlijk uitgetest en/of geanalyseerd.
Geert Conard werd vooral bekend als de man die een bloedhekel had aan netwerken en dan uitgroeide tot één van de bekendste netwerkers in Europa. In het voorjaar van 2004 begon hij met social business networking via websites als LinkedIn, Xing en Ecademy. Exact één jaar later was hij reeds één van de TOP Netwerkers in België. Deze waanzinnige transformatie wijzigde niet alleen de manier waarop hij zijn professionele activiteiten ontplooide, maar veranderde effectief zijn leven 100%. In zijn eerste boek "A Girlfriend in Every City" (11/2005) deelde hij zijn verhaal, maar ook zijn methodes en inzichten voor het netwerken met mensen, zowel online als 'face to face' op netwerkevents. In November 2009 lanceerde Geert zijn tweede boek 'Friends with Benefits', waarin hij dieper ingaat op netwerken in de sterk gewijzigde economie waarin we vandaag leven en werken.Geert is ondertussen internationaal actief als spreker, trainer en consultant en hij runt een eigen ICT bedrijf, IT Consult Services. Geert maakt zich sterk dat hij vandaag maar liefst 95% van zijn nieuwe business krijgt aangereikt vanuit zijn netwerk. De resterende 5% is het resultaat van mond-aan-mond reclame van zijn bestaande klanten. Zijn presentaties en workshops over Social Media en Social Networking zitten steeds nokvol met handige en bruikbare netwerktips. Deze tips zijn eenvoudig en direct toepasbaar om je eigen netwerkervaring te verbeteren.
Op 27/04 organiseert M4M ook samen met Geert een Social Media event waarbij een netwerklunch zal worden gecombineerd met een Social Media Training. Inschrijven hiervoor is nog steeds mogelijk.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Geert CONARD
CNO M4M Business Advisory boards

Foursquare : The next big thing is location !

The newest hype in Social Media world are location-based web-applications such as Foursquare.
Foursquare is a very simple mobile Internet tool to build your network and tell each other WHERE you are. The question is no longer "what are you doing ?", but "Where are you doing it ?"

The big thing in this evolution is of course peer promotion. This new platform has all the keys in hand to become the leading network for marketing and business purposes. Users can add tips to trigger other users to visit locations or businesses.

As my friend Marieke (@hensel) points out : It's just a matter of time before companies will offer free drinks or coupons to people who digitally check-in to their store.

Today Twitter is already recognized as one of the most important business networks. It were the users who invented most of the innovative features and uses of this network. I hope users will also be clever enough to develop the right uses for Foursquare ... there is a lot of potential in this new network ... but it's up to us to unlock it !

Outlook integration with Social Media

Since many years Microsoft Outlook is one of the most important tools in my professional life.
Already a while ago Microsoft announced their plans to integrate connections with Social Media platforms, straight into the contacts and e-mail features of Outlook.

As a Proactive and Professional Networker, this was of course something I was very excited about. Normally I'm not much of a beta-tester, but this time I just couldn't resist and downloaded the Outlook Social Connector, the plugin for Outlook that opens the gates toward the Social Media platforms.

Today there is only one add-in available for this plugin, connecting Outlook to the Nr. 1 Business platform : LinkedIn.
Soon other add-in's will be available too. Microsoft already announced connections to MySpace, Facebook and Windows Live.

The setup and configuration was not the easiest I've ever done. I installed the plugin onto Office 2007 Professional (Downloading a beta of Office 2010 was even too wild for me ...)
My biggest problem was the fact the add-in for LinkedIn wouldn't accept my login and password. After debugging this problem I found out that the client won't accept passwords containing a 'space'. I changed my password and got it up and running.

Result : It does exactly what it says on the box. When I receive an email from someone who's already in my LinkedIn network, I get extra information at the bottom of the page.

Even without the Linkedin connection it's already worth installing because the plugin gives you a history feature to track back all communication.
In the contacts section of Outlook you get an extra file with your LinkedIn contacts.

My conclusion : Bring on those new clients for Facebook and MySpace ... this is good stuff !!!

Wealth Dynamics Profiles (Video)

Roger Hamilton, chairman of one of the largest Premium Networking organisations (XL Results Foundation) is talking about Wealth Dynamics Profiles.
These profiles show you exactly who you are and how you should be working with others around you.

Up until 2005 I was running my business activities in a typical "supporter" style, always having the feeling of running into walls. After attending a webinar from Roger I could understand that I had to change my behaviour. In Wealth Dynamics I have the Star profile, which is still very close to the Supporter, but with a different focus. After adjusting my behaviour to my profile things became much easier.

If you know what you're good at and you can focus on doing that, you will always be successful. If you will surround yourself with people who are good in other things, the sum of your capabilities and skills will make your team stronger.

(un)Fair competition

In this blog I'm talking about the Social Media industry as an example, but I'm pretty sure the same goes for many other industries such as training, ICT, marketing, ...

Lately I see every 'dog with a hat on' organizing Social Media Workshops. Recently I got an invitation for one of those and I looked up the trainer on several online networks.
The largest network I could find where his 140 friends on Facebook ...

I also noticed some other Trainers and Public Speakers who are now on the market as Social Media Experts, but a few months ago they were speaking about Taxes and a few months before that they were speaking about marketing strategies. Whatever's hot is their game.

Lots of people attend these workshops and are often disapointed on the quality of the content.
Most of today's trainers don't walk their talk. I love to learn new things myself but the only way you can really pick something up is in the case that the trainer really knows his stuff ... from doing it himself.

In case of Social Media and Online Networking I do know most experts worldwide. It's not a very large crowd because there are only 4 or 5 in each country. Half of them are on the market as Public Speakers or Trainers and really know their stuff. As a few examples I'll drop the names of Octavio Pitaluga (Brazil), Thomas Power (UK), Louis Gray (Silicon Valley, USA) and Roger Hamilton (Singapore).

I have read a few good blogs with lists of questions to ask a potential Social Media Expert.
I really liked these questions and agree that any of those people I know would have no trouble at all answering them. Most of the trainers now jumping on the Social Media train "because it's hot" would probably have a huge problem finding the right answers.

The best part of Social Media is of course that you have all the tools to check people out yourself. Just tap in the name of the expert or trainer in any of your favorite Social Media websites and watch the results. Don't forget Google because you might even find some comments of attendees to earlier workshops. Nevertheless, I think there is a huge value in these workshops because we need to get the managers and entrepreneurs online now to keep up to level with the new generation of starting entrepreneurs.

Which type of network fits you like a glove ?

In earlier posts I already wrote about the various differences between networks, based on their average users. In this post I'm looking at the basic offering of various types of networks.

In general I can see three types of networking going on at various meetings, events and online platforms. In these three types of networks I can spot significant differences in the offering to their members, trying to satisfy specific needs.

1. "Old school" Networking

These networks offer the essential basics for a starting entrepreneur, but also established managers like the simple style of networking in these organisations.

You have the opportunity to grow your network at various events, but you'll also find a lot of top-down advice, training and learning opportunities. Most of these networks also offer mentoring programs, where experienced managers will help startups through their first years in business.

These organisations will give you a fast answer to any business question. As a member you will have a feeling of belonging to a strong and large group, which is defending your rights as an entrepreneur.

Typical examples : Chamber of Commerce, Unizo, ...

Costs :

- Membership fee (Often related to the size of your business)

- Entrance costs for most events

2. Social Business networking

These are the average networking clubs of today. Lots of networking events will give you the opportunity to grow your network. Leads and referrals will come to you, based on trust and reputation. Indirect business and recommendations will be the automatic result of online and offline networking. These networks will give you a feeling of belonging to a large club of entrepreneurs, handing each other some business.

Typical examples : Ecademy, Xing, M4M, ...

Costs :

- Moderate membership fee

- Entrance cost for most events, unless already included in the membership fee

3. Premium Networking

Unlike the typical social business events, the focus in this style of events is on advising each other or helping each other with typical business problems. You will build deep relationships with the other members of your group. Meetings usually have a concept based on a Mastermind group and offer secrecy. Most Premium networks will also have tresholds for entering the network, often based on industry, geography and expectations.

These networks will give you the feeling of having your own 'board of directors', helping you to grow your business.

Typical examples : Blackstar, BNI, ...

Costs :

- High membership fee

- Entrance fee for most events, unless already included in the membership fee

Since the offering is clearly different for all three types of networking, the combination of all three is probably the best choice for a full networking experience, satisfying the needs for your business. I'm a member of several networks and clubs in all three types and I don't think I could miss any of these three types ...

(Picture: M4M Networking event)

Networking into the New Year and a new economy

My very best wishes for a successful and recession-free 2010 !!!

As we enter a new decade, social networking gets more important every day. If you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner it will be close to impossible to survive after the recession without a solid and trusted network.

In general there are three large groups of entrepreneurs :
Starters (18-25) - The middle generation (25-50) and the Senior Managers (50+)

Senior Managers have built up a solid network during the many years of their career. They can rely on their trusted connections for support and referrals whenever needed.

The middle group (25-50) are the people with the least experience in social networking. This is the generation which was raised with "sales, sales, sales" as the main message. Often they think networking is just another marketing technique which needs lots of effort and isn't really profitable.

The group that we often forget to think about are the starters (18-25). Today, when students graduate they already have a network on Facebook or MySpace of 1000 connections on average.

Entrepreneurs always laugh with this fact because those connections are just other students and people they hang out with in weekends. Right.

What we forget is that this entire network ALSO graduates and enters the professional business world at the same time. When students finish school and enter their first job, their entire Facebook/MySpace network instantly transfers into a professional business network.

Young people today start their professional life with a 'warm' and trusted network of approx. 1000 contacts ... and they keep on growing their network in the next years.

My fear is the simple fact that the middle generation is not ready for this "competition".

The middle generation has to embrace social networking and learn how to apply the tools.

My contribution to this will be a new training course 'Social Media for Business', brand new and available as from now ;-)

Press Release - Succesful launch of book 'Friends with Benefits'

PRESS RELEASE 30/11/2009

Diest, Belgium – Very successful launch of book ‘Friends with Benefits - Networking in a new economy’

Saturday 21/11/2009 Geert Conard’s new book ‘Friends with Benefits’ was launched during a special Booklaunch event in the Cultural Centre of his hometown, Diest.

From all over Belgium and even some neighbouring countries, 70 people had found their way to the historical beguinage of Diest. This great group of people enjoyed a unique booklaunch event in three parts :

- Red Carpet Photoshoot
- Official part in the Auditorium with speeches and presentations
- Networking Event + Book signing

The event started with a promo-movie, produced by Cineworks : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bh3D477hgc

Photos of the event, including the Red Carpet photoshoot : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136553&id=560297038&l=fca9a01e7e

Press page including Press Releases and Press Pictures : http://www.friends-with-benefits.eu/presspub.html

This book is available through the official website or through webshops such as Amazon.com

Promo Movie Friends with Benefits

Dear friends,
As many of you know in the past weeks I have been setting up a booklaunch event for the official release of my second book 'Friends" with Benefits'.
One of my contacts (Erwin De Laat) brought me in touch with Johnny and Nick of Cineworks, who produced a very nice promo movie for my book.

I can HIGHLY recommend their services as excellent, tailor made, personal and very professional.
Here is the result of what they have put together for me in just a few days :
(We shot the footage on 18/11 and had the movie in Premiere at the event on 21/11)



(Click on the movie to go to YouTube and watch in original size !)

Network with your target audience

Networking is not about direct transactions, it's about getting to know people. Nevertheless it might be a good idea to network with people who have access to your target market. This could be the key factor in deciding which platforms to keep on using, after trying out a bunch of them.

On Ecademy you will find lots of small business owners, while Xing seems to have more production companies on board. The corporates are present on LinkedIn while you'll easily find the younger generation on Netlog. On Facebook you'll discover a nice sample of the total community, perfect for launching new products or ideas.

If your professional activities are aimed at a small and very specific piece of the market (e.g. lawyers), you might want to be part of a niche network for that target audience too.

Of course each network also has a strong memberbase from it's own origin. Ecademy was founded in the UK and still has a large percentage of UK members. Xing was launched in Germany and still has a huge amount of German members. This also gives you the opportunity to have a quick and easy access to the market in that country.

Some time ago I was helping one of my contacts to find a high-tech company in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh (Scotland), ready to accept an internship from a highschool in Belgium.

Because I knew Ecademy was probably the network with the strongest UK memberbase, I posted a cry for help on their blog and two days later the problem was solved.

If you want to do international business with a certain country, it's always a good idea to locate the top networkers in that country and meet up with them. They probably have all the contacts you need to get started.

Of course the best way to use online networking is to make the perfect combination of multiple networks, covering all your needs. More about this coming soon !