Costco Connection - June 2013

FRESHviews
RICH SLOAN: ENTREPRENEURIAL TACTICS

YOU’RE EXCITED TO meet with a rainmaker—a successful and influential person—who could unlock huge opportunities for your business. Here’s what you can do to make the most of that meeting and juice your odds of converting a one-hour meeting into a long-term relationship, and a game-changing opportunity to grow your business.

Prior to the meeting. Know exactly what you hope to gain. Determine an intention. Have a preset goal for the meeting.

Also, learn as much as possible about Mr. or Ms. Rainmaker in advance. Search results might include great fodder for conversation, like a charity event the person attended or even friends you have in common. And that’s what it’s all about: finding commonalities to help convert a stiff, arm’s-length meeting into a real bonding session.

During the meeting. Do what you can to establish rapport right away. Be light. Be inquisitive. Share a quick story. The human factor helps peel away any artifice that comes with a first get-together. If you sense the rainmaker’s attention has wandered, that’s your cue to transition to

Costco member Rich Sloan is co-founder of StartupNation.com (http://startup nation.com), a leading business advice and networking site for entrepreneurs.

substance. Hit your topics of interest hard, but be sure to leave room for the conversation to unfold in other interesting directions. So often, I’ve left a meeting with thrilling possibilities that weren’t on my radar going in. As the meeting winds down, return to some personal discussion, if there’s time. You’re building a relationship, not just holding a one-time meeting. At the very end, be sure to get coordinated on ext steps. This shows you’re focused, organized and on your game. After the meeting. Follow up with a personal gesture. You could send a handwritten note (un- common these days), or cut out and mail an article of interest. Don’t go overboard. Just do something that stands out and reinforces your likeability.

Most important, the real reason you met with the rainmaker in the first place was to advance your business. To that end, it’s imperative to quickly turn all the positive energy from the meeting into action. Whatever next steps you establish, be prompt in checking yours off and closing the loop. Demonstrate that you’re a maniac about your business and that you deliver on what you promise. If you do, any rainmaker will be impressed and excited about collaborating with you, and you’ll be poised to enjoy a long-term relationship that could carry your business to new heights. C

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AT A TIME when, sadly, so many people are still out of work, it may seem like a buyer’s market for employers looking to hire. But having so many highly qualified candidates to choose from may present its own problem—to wit, how do you know which one is the best choice? Chicago career coach, management training consultant and Costco member Roger Wright’s new book, Finding Work When There Are No Jobs (Think Different Press, 2013), offers advice for job seekers. Here, he offers his tips for employers. 1. Listen for the story. It used to be that a quick scan of the applica- tion was enough. No more. The right applicant will be able to go beyond names and dates. The right applicant should be able to tell the story of how he or she will be able to do what needs to be done for your business. Seasoned recruiters all use the word “fit.” Fit means all those hard-to-define qualities that fall into place when just the right person meets just the right job. Fit is different for every business, but it is always important. Ever run across a person who looked good on paper but felt wrong for the job? That happens when there is no fit. 2. Then comes community. Savvy businesspeople need to think about community to find the right person. Wright calls it “communitiz- ing” because it’s more than just networking. It’s working from inside any community to match the person with the job. If both you and your applicant share a common community, you’ve set the stage for success. 3. Finally, there is purpose. Can applicants say why your business is in business? Or is their story just about the open job? The right applicant will get what’s important to you. For more information, go to http://findingwork.org. C

COMMUNICATION IS vital in business. For small-business owners, it can also be time-consuming and costly. An online service to help get the word out may be just the solution needed.

According to Costco
member John Nahm, CEO of
Phonevite, “Phonevite helps
thousands of small-business
owners save time and money
by automating repetitive phone
calls such as event invitations
and reminders, order updates
and emergency alerts. While
email is frequently disregarded,
phone calls are the best way to
make sure the customer gets
the message. Phonevite assists
in this vital communication
front, in a privacy-respectful,
safe manner.”
Phonevite is a possible
solution for small businesses,
organizations and individuals
when they have important
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phone and can even post mes-
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Be mindful of the terms of service: Phonevite does not allow illegal robocalls, such as unwanted solicitations. The calls must go to customers or employees who have opted in, and call recipients can refuse the calls.