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Everywhere we go, we hear the economy is in the tank - not just in the US, but globally.
Consultants and sales people still need to sell, but clients aren’t responding to attempts to connect.
Clients still need to buy, but they are doing a lot more due diligence before they make a purchase. And they don’t want to be sold until they ar…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on February 16, 2009 at 8:30am —
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People often ask how they can get the most out of B2B Power Exchange. We have found several tactics that help people get the most leverage out of our group, but they also apply to nearly any networking environment.
Show up early
Feel free to set down your things, but don’t sit down, because it may send the signal that you are not interested in talking to others. Your first objective should be to mingle and get to know someone who you don’t already know. Remember, it’s about getting to kn…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on September 12, 2008 at 5:12pm —
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The collaborative team or consortium is the fifth of the
business networking relationships and the second of the group relationships. This relationship is a more proactive version of the
project team. The biggest difference is that a project team is formed after an opportunity has been uncovered; whereas a colla…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on August 25, 2008 at 7:30am —
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The project team is the fourth of the
business networking relationships and the first of the group relationships. This relationship is slightly more complex than the
casual referral,
power partner or…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on August 18, 2008 at 2:30pm —
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The third of the
6 business relationships is the third of the individual business networking relationships. This relationship is called a power group. Power groups are typically comprised of individuals who sell complementary, and sometimes competitive, offerings to similar decision makers. A power group is stronger and more predictable than a…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on August 11, 2008 at 12:30pm —
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The second of the
6 business relationships is also the second of the individual relationships. It is called a power partner. Power partnerships are typically comprised of individuals who sell complementary, and sometimes competitive, offerings to similar decision makers. This type of relationship tends to produce leads of a higher quality than the average…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on August 4, 2008 at 9:30am —
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I have determined that there are at least
6 different business networking relationships people can leverage in a business-to-business selling environment. They are broken into two categories: individual and group relationships.
The difference between individual and group relationships is that the first is best suited to people who are individually responsible for finding, closing and delivering opportun…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on July 29, 2008 at 7:50am —
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About a decade ago my wife asked me a question that I will never forget, partially because of her follow-up to my response. She asked, “What if you didn’t pay attention to your business or clients for a couple months?” My response was that I wouldn’t have a business. She pointed out that marriage works that way, too. She is really good at saying everything she needs to with very few words. I need to get better with that, and while I have improved, I still need to get better at balancing work and…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on July 14, 2008 at 8:00am —
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Over the next couple of weeks, we will have a new addition to our home – a new baby boy. This is great news for the family, but it is going to curtail some of my networking activities for a little while. So I have been looking for ways I can connect with others when I have free time after the baby is born. I am starting to leverage those techniques now as opposed to waiting, and they are beginning to work. I am expanding my network locally and in other regions of the U.S. where we already have a…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on July 11, 2008 at 6:31am —
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Many people I associate with are highly competent in their chosen fields. Some of them have been in the same or related roles for 10 years or more. But they get nervous when someone associates the word “expert” with them.
We are often overly modest about our accomplishments. Partially, because we are our own worst critics. We know that we haven’t always succeeded at everything we have done. But nobody else has either. Most people fear that being called an expert opens them up to being “discover…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on June 16, 2008 at 7:00am —
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I recently pitched B2B Power Exchange at an entrepreneurial competition in San Francisco. While the point of the pitch (the main prize) was exposure, it was judged by a local government official and two names from the investment community.
A comment was made by one of the judges that has been wearing on me ever since. He said that B2B Power Exchange’s business model is fragmented and can’t work. He said “You can’t be online and offline. It has to be one or the other.” What’s interesting is that…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on June 12, 2008 at 10:17pm —
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I talk to a lot of people who used to be with big companies but have now hung out their own shingle as an entrepreneur or consultant. Many of them used to sell huge deals to huge companies when they sold as employees for other companies. Now they sell small deals to small companies, because they think those are the only companies they are able to target. I have two words for those folks: Think bigger!
Something interesting happens when people go into business for themselves. They often psycholo…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on May 25, 2008 at 12:51pm —
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I used to tell people: “If someone buys something from you, it’s because they understand the value of your product or service and they like you. (I know they don’t always have to like you to buy from you.) If they don’t buy, it’s not personal; they just don’t understand the value of your offering yet.”
I try to make a habit of admitting when I’m wrong. I admit it. I was very wrong. I have determined there might be times when I like someone’s product, but I can’t stand them or their approach, so…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on May 19, 2008 at 8:00am —
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Most people participate in business networking because they heard it's effective or they think it's what they should do based on their job or business. Business networking is a marketing tactic. And like any other marketing tactic, people who don’t know (or can’t explain) why they are doing something shouldn’t do it.
I think most people who haven't seen results from business networking have never thought about what they were trying to accomplish. Since they don’t know their objective, there is…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on May 12, 2008 at 7:30am —
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I often talk about the
six relationships that can be built in a business networking environment. But there is a seventh category, it’s a non-relationship: the Stalker.
We have all met one (or a hundred). When we started networking, the scary reality is we might have been one. If you are one currently, you are going to have to change quickly, or you are going to have to move from city to…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on May 4, 2008 at 9:00pm —
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I interact with a couple hundred people in an average month. I encounter many of these folks in business networking settings, and I enjoy watching the different techniques, personalities, strategies and objectives that are incorporated into networking conversations.
What I didn’t realize until recently is that most business networkers are leaving an enormous amount of money on the table. Why? Because they are narrowly focused on closing business they can individually find, close and deliver.
A…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on April 28, 2008 at 11:56am —
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I think business networking has developed a bad reputation in many people’s minds as being ineffective. I think that is an inaccurate assessment – if networking is done properly. Unfortunately, many networking venues that are really designed for social networking try to position themselves as business networking events. In these scenarios, there is more emphasis on drinking or meeting people for more personal reasons (like dates), and the amount of business networking done is minimal, or focuses…
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Added by Chris Pareja -Founder, B2B Power Exchange on April 24, 2008 at 9:21pm —
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