Networking at Trade Shows

How does your Team network at Trade Show types of Events?

The first annual Technology Forum was October 30th and AlphaKOR was proud to be After-Glow sponsor, an exhibitor and part of the Events committee.

Part of our networking plan included marketing the event to our clientele and prospects and invitations to schedule meetings at our booth.   This was well received and the Corp Team had several meetings each including some impromptu meetings with walk-by traffic.

As the Effective Leader on the Team, my role was to greet everyone and start a discussion to lead them to our booth.  There were many good discussions started and several took the time to discuss our products and services we had on display.

Interacting with the other Exhibitors including direct and indirect competitors was part of the networking strategy.   Having a pulse on your own industry helps one continue to lead.

One of the highlights of seeing results of networking was to hear our name several times mentioned during the Panel discussion between HP, IBM and Cisco.   After several mentions of a competitor and AlphaKOR, HP was bold to score the "winning" point by asking yours truly to stand up and be acknowledged!

 Wrapping up the day by taking the stage for final closing remarks and marketing the AlphaKOR name again resulted in a very successful networking opportunity at this Show.
 

 
 
 

Defining Your Brand

This week we welcome Ed Roach, The Branding Expert, as our Guest Blogger.

Has your competition ever accurately described what you do to a potential customer? My guess is not so much. Most promotional activity among small businesses in my experience does little to define a brand but does plenty selling clever slogans, flashy images, real estate and special offers. 

To ignore your brand position is to deny yourself the corner of your customer's mind that tells them why you are the go to people for what they are looking for. Without a defining brand position you are among the gray matter all of your competitors are fighting for. The quick fix, the sound bite, the mediocre message, the viral anything that everybody in your category embraces.

A competitor can only define an opposing brand when that opposing brand denies themselves the opportunity. Most brand positions when done correctly puts a brand out on a limb. The differentiation is clear and often intimidating to a competitor. 

Your goal in positioning is to resonate with your audience. First you must discover why they love you, then deliver a position that compliments what they love, builds on it and surpasses it. Positioning is not a slogan, it's a promise to deliver and if you're good at it - over-deliver.

Guest Blog Post

Ed Roach

The Branding Expert

Author of 101 Branding Tips

ed@thebrandingexperts.ca

Networking with Social Media

How do you use Social Media to Network?

Whenever I meet someone interested in building a business relationship, one of the natural steps is to send an invitation to connect via LinkedIN.  

Once this individual accepts the connection, the next step is to send an e-mail to say thanks and to request a meeting or phone call to continue the discussion of our initial meeting. 

These couple of steps have created many new connections and opportunities over the years.

Adding twitter followers and blogging to reach out to your connections becomes the next part of the social media process to network and communicate to your audience.

The questions you ask are:  How often to communicate?   What messages to send?

All part of building your social media strategy - how are you building yours?

Connecting People

How do you connect people?

As a business networker, this is one of the self-rewarding activities I really enjoy.    Meeting people for the first time and on a regular basis provides the opportunity to get to know each person' story.

Connecting people together and making introductions to spark a good discussion leads to creative ideas and opportunities for everyone.   Watching the energy level between the like-minded people you just connected is the reward.  

We attend many events for business, for the community and for networking purposes.   What is your focus at these events?  Keep making your own connections and focus on connecting people together.   Watch your "circle" of connections grow.

Looking forward to making connections at the next event.

Do you lead by Example?

Effective leaders know how to set good examples to lead their team.   What are you doing to lead by example?

Leaders strive to be consistent with the kind of behaviour expected.  Setting the bar high enough to challenge everyone yet not too high to discourage some of the members.

Focusing on the important tasks first and completing them before moving on to the next important task helps with the team understanding how to prioritize.  

Many teams have "busy" people focusing on tasks not related to the goals.   Leading by example and encouraging these members to prioritize better will result in more productive activities.

Facing challenges head on and addressing each one as it arises with a plan of action is another way to lead by example.   Do you know anyone who procrastinates?   How can an effective leader motivate the team to reduce the procrastination?

Teams who embrace their effective leader and learn by following the examples set, will learn how to blend their leader's style into their own style.   This type of culture leads to successful teams.