Mar 30, 2011
For a recent BNI meeting, I searched Linkedin for others in my profession (market strategy and planning) in greater Toronto to scope out the competition. This included large and small firms, and independents. I came up with over 10,000 company names that had some connection to what I do.
Over the past 20 years, I have learned that not every business fits the services we have to offer, nor are we always compatible with them. Rather than reject a prospect and send them off, businesses such as ours have an opportunity to productively interact in the following two ways:
- Why not try to network and strategize with the competition? It could work greatly to your advantage. Have you ever been in a situation where you know you have an individual who has a great business, however; the individual does not fit your profile or you do not offer a certain service or product? By referring business out, it may create a reverse affect when your competition finds them in a similar situation. I have met other competitors through social and other forms of networking and learned exactly how they operate (most of them I respect). It not only gives me options in the unfortunate situation where I may not be able to help a prospect, but it creates trust in the other consultant I am networking with. You are sharing information and ideas. Everyone wins!
- What better way to look out for the benefit of a prospect if you say "We do not offer this service here, but I know a very reliable company that may be better fit to assess your needs" rather than "I am sorry, but we just do not have the competency to suit your needs". An individual is always going to remember you for helping them find what they needed. It develops trust between individual and you.
I have found doing this to be extremely beneficial.
Businesses are looking to network and build trust with other businesses. Your competition is not your enemy. They are a great source of knowledge that may be untapped and you don't even know it.
While I still have your attention, below are the top five common mistakes that businesses make when it comes to social media networking. You should avoid all of these.
- Spending too much time on sites you enjoy and not fully evaluating whether that particular site is the most effective one for your efforts.
- Going onto a site for “work” and then running down rabbit holes getting distracted by friends who may have posted something interesting or something that requires a response.
- Not being able to properly define when it is more cost-effective to delegate certain social media responsibilities to someone else to handle.
- Setting up a blog, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter page and then not keeping it populated with fresh content.
- Forgetting that social media is about engaging in the conversation and not just about selling.
Tim Pervin
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