Sep
5
Making a Great Presentation
Posted by the Networking Goddess in Networking Tools, Networking Groups and Functions, General
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Making a Great Presentation
Once you have found the functions you feel would best help you accomplish your goals, your next step is understanding what to say at these functions to help accomplish those goals.
In a previous article in the newsletter I wrote about the questions to ask someone about THEIR firm to get them talking with you. In this conversation, your goal was to find out EVERTHING and ANYTHING you could about this person in order to best help them. After all, if your goal is to build long-term relationships that refer business to you over and over again, these people need to know, like and trust you. The first step in that process is for you to give of yourself FIRST to them, with no expectations.
Once you have been asked about your firm, such as when someone says’ “So what do YOU do?”, you need to be prepared with something to say that IMMEDIATELY catches their attention. This
phrase should be about 30 seconds long and should highlight your best benefit that the product or service offers it’s clients.
Saying something like “I help people generate wealth”, if you are a stockbroker, or “I help people keep your money out of the hands of the IRS”, if you are a CPA, are examples. You may need to have several of these quick lines , because one may not work OR be appropriate in every situation.
After you say this, the obvious question next is “How do you do that?”. Here the answer needs to be consolidated to 60 seconds or so because that is all people listen really closely to anyway.
There are specific facts that you should consider answering when you respond to this question. The reason I suggest this is because your response should give this person you are speaking the SPECIFICS they need to help refer someone your way. The better you get at specifics, the more effective feedback to you will be. You want to help this person focus on faces and the more specific you are the easier that will before them.
One of the challenges I regularly see in my line of work then people introduce themselves, is a tendency to say things that, although nice to know, don’t really help us understand how we can help them and exactly what kind of clients they are looking for. The introductions or presentations are so general that we really can not focus on any faces of persons who we could refer to each other because “everyone in business is a good client for me”. We cannot focus on “everyone”. We need a smaller field to focus on to be able to help.
The following facts and specifics will help others find work for you. Remember, you want to speak this briefly, and SPECIFICALLY! You may not be able to incorporate ALL of this information in your introduction. Use what gets to the specific way someone can help, the fastest.
YOUR NAME
YOUR COMPANY
WHAT DO YOU SELL OR WHAT SERVICE DO YOU PROVIDE?
IF YOU OFFER SEVERAL PRODUCTS/SERVICES, IS THERE ONE WHICH YOU
OFFER MORE OFTEN?
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THIS BUSINESS?
WHAT MAKES YOUR BUSINESS UNIQUE?
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIALTY?
WHAT IS YOUR TERRITORY?
DO YOU DO COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATIONS?
WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE/BUSINESSES WOULD BE GOOD CLIENTS FOR YOU?
WHAT SORT OF “HOT BUTTONS” SHOULD WE BE AWARE OF TO HELP GIVE
YOU LEADS?
Remember - the more you give of YOURSELF, the more you will receive.
Nancy
Your Networking Goddess
Sep
4
The Stealing Of Intellectual Property Online (Part Three)
Posted by the Networking Goddess in Online Networking, Networking Tools, General
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Part Three: What not to do!
1. Do not under any circumstances accuse before you know who actually stole the material. Do your due diligence, find out, then you can share the “facts” that are available. The online small business community is VERY savvy and will have no problem drawing their own conclusions, once the facts are made known.
2. Do nothing about this challenge we are all facing. To do nothing, either to prevent theft or to deal with it when it happens to you will surely aid in the increase of the act.
3. Expect our governments to be able to fix this challenge for us. As Dana Blankenhorn so succinctly said:“No matter how noble the goal, the pattern is the same.Want to protect the environment? Small auto shops denounce laws on dumping oil into streams. Want to plan the city? Small developers denounce you for taking their property. Want to protect music copyright? Restaurants want an exception for their mood music. And on and on and on.
Whenever you beat-back “regulation,” you leave room for charlatans and crooks. But whenever you propose regulation, you will be denounced as a “big government liberal” by groups which don’t want the hassle of obeying the new law.
The point is, crooks hide in boundaries. Cops charged with policing these boundaries may (by accident) hassle honest businesses. Regulators who seek to prevent crime by requiring forms (civil rules, or rules of civility) may also hassle the law-abiding.
So we have to decide how much hassle we’re willing to deal with from the cops, and how much regulation from the civil authority, in order to protect ourselves.”
Things To Remember:
1. Use the Internet as a source of ideas but don’t copy what you find. You really don’t know who actually wrote the material you see since people hire ghost writers and content writers all the time. You may be stealing the material of someone you personally know and suffer huge consequences because of it.
2. Some people feel that when your site has material stolen, it is a compliment.
3. No one can do what you do as well as you do it.
4. It takes time to follow-up on these situation. Do not let the person who stole from you online also steal so much time from you that you can’t accomplish the other things you need to do.
5. Be sure you have taken steps to avoid claims against you and your business, as well.
The following was shared by James L. McNish:
[This is general information for the benefit of all of the IB Digest list that may be interested in the subject. It is not legal advice about your specific situation.]
1. If your office has copiers or computers:
(a) learn what copying is legal and what is prohibited, and share
this information with your employees;
(b) adopt a company policy that unauthorized copying is prohibited, and advise
employees (preferably in writing) of the policy;
(c) post notices by photocopiers and computers.
2. If it is frequently important in your business to make copies from magazines, journals or books, there are organizations, such as the Copyright Clearance Center that can facilitate authorizations for you. Often this can be done for as little as three or four dollars per article
copied. Some businesses choose to negotiate a blanket license with the Copyright Clearance Center, allowing them to make unlimited copies for a single annual fee.
3. Take steps to assure that your employees understand when copying is allowed as a “fair use” of copyrighted material. If you do not know what is fair use, seek advice or obtain a publication discussing the issue.
http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us/pubserv/docserv/copyrght.htmIf you decide to copy sections of the United States Copyright Law, please see the following URL:
http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us/pubserv/docserv/copyrght.htmMini-Course In Copyright:
http://www.music.vt.edu/notes/1970years/1975/no3/copyright.htmlWords Have a Price:
http://199.233.193.1/cybereng/nyt/12-20-01.htmFair Use: Staying on the Right Side of the Copyright Law
http://www.welch.jhu.edu/publish/WLI/v.8.2/3.fairuse.html
C|Net Article:
<http://www.cnet.com/Content/Builder/Business/Law/index.html?st.tv.wb>
“A LIST APART” Discussion:
<http://www.zeldman.com/advanced/>
Browse the archives at:
<http://www.devshed.com/listapart/>.
Thread began at:
<http://www.devshed.com/listapart/issue.phtml?num=1.13> and continues for quite a bit.
There is a special issue dedicated to it at: <http://www.devshed.com/listapart/issue.phtml?num=1.15>
* Thank You To The Following People who contributed their knowledge within these three articles about “The Stealing Of Intellectual Property Online:”
Robert A. Huntsman, Bradley Bartz , Jack Yan, Geoffrey Gussis, Ronnie Gauthier ,Leslie Smyth, Jeffrey Baumgartner, Dana Blankenhorn, Jan Crowell, Russ Kelly, Paul Myers, Denise Stewart, Marilyn Strong, Brian Platz, Shari Thurow, Bruce M. Clay, Janis Rose, James L. McNish, Michael Richter, Aaron Zahrowski, Scott Temaat, Jeremy L. Miller, Yves Poirier, Sharon Tucci, Barb .A.Sybal, Nikki Sev Pilkington, Dee Power, and especially to the thief of my material and to ALL thieves out there. Because of you, the Internet small business community is a bit wiser.
Nancy
Your Networking Goddess
Sep
4
The Stealing Of Intellectual Property Online (Part Two)
Posted by the Networking Goddess in Online Networking, Networking Tools, General
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What To Do When It Happens To You
1. Print out the pages that the stolen material is being used on.
2. Print out the source code of those pages.
3. Notify their ISP or their upline provider (you can do a tracert for this) about copyright infringement and tell them that if THEY do not take action within 48 hrs, you will also hold them liable for damages for copyright infringement. You will usually get a response from them on their copyright infringement policy.
4. Email the webmaster of the site the material is on. That email can contain many things. Ideas given to me on ways to handle this are listed below. Not all of these ideas will work in all situations. Decide what is best for your situation:
a. Contact the webmaster stating that stolen material appears on their site and ask for the name of the person responsible for that material.
b. Invite them to become partners. It was suggested that you say:” Thank you for expressing interest in our web site. Unfortunately, you have stolen copyrighted material from us. You can become an authorized agent reselling, selling our products. You can keep the material, but all order forms must be directed to my company. You will receive a XX% commission on all sales generated from your site.”
Give them a reference number for future contact. Should he want to get in touch again “we could find his files”.
c. Invite them to buy a license for your product or service. They could then be allowed to distribute materials of your choice, or to “lease” them (which would allow you to stop the
arrangement at any time).
d. After insisting the site owner take the materials down, demand in the same place a description of what you do and free advertising, an endorsement, a link to your site, and anything else you can think of.
e. Send them a bill for using the material.
f. Send an email with the following information.
(Reprinted courtesy of Barb Sabal):
——- Trademark Infringement Letter ——————
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing on behalf of Art a deux, Ltee., a manufacturer of greeting cards. Art a deux, Ltee. is the owner of a registered trademark for the term “My Sentiments” (No. 75/336,850 registered on August 6, 1997 with a priority date of July 8, 1997). We very much value our trademarks and would appreciate your ceasing use of the My Sentiments mark.
We found at least one use of this trademark on your site at HTTP:/ ……………………….. Please remove all instances of the My Sentiments mark from the Web pages that you manage, which also includes any instances of butterflies and dogs within the design.
We feel there is a possibility of confusion as our two companies offer the same or similar products.
We appreciate your cooperation and sensitivity to the protection of our intellectual property and would appreciate the removal of our mark(s) from your web pages by or before ………[insert date] ………….
———- End Trademark Letter——————-
———- Copyright Inclusion ——————
If you have any questions concerning our trademark, feel feel
free to contact our law firm at:
Keyser Mason Ball
201 City Centre Drive,
Mississauga, Ontario
Attn: Anthony de Fazekas
(905) 276-0418
Please also remove any instances of “art-cards.com” that you are utilizing as contact information for your own company, as this is also a copyright infringement.
As we have asked you previously over one month ago, we trust we have your full cooperation.
We appreciate your cooperation and sensitivity to the protection of our intellectual property.
————– End Copyright———————
5. Send a Certified Letter From an attorney. Keep your attorney informed of everything you do. Some pre-paid legal programs handle this as well.
6. Be proactive in your handling of this online. Should you not get satisfaction with the above actions, there are several ways to proceed.
Paul Myers offered the following suggestions:
a). Sending Notes to the infringer’s clients.
b). Blacklisting by a small group of people with control over access to publicity is another. Enough list owners refusing to deal with someone is a good start. The good list owners will go along.
What’s left? “The whiner lists.”
These avenues can be especially effective in a global marketplace and when dealing with the cases of International theft. Many people wrote expressing variations of the following, sent to me by Geoffrey Gussis:
“I am writing, however, not to commiserate but instead to encourage people to enforce their legal rights to the maximum extent possible. The only way to stem the tide of copyright infringement on the Net is to make people pay for what they take. Although the processes for registering an entire huge website with the U.S. Copyright office are complex, registering important pieces of your website can entitle you to significant advantages if someone ends up stealing your work. Copyright registration is not required; your work is protected once you have fixed it in a tangible medium. However, if you register your copyright before your work is infringed, you may be entitled to statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Registration is cheap ($20 for a literary work) and you can get the forms online.”
Be proactive, at least in protecting what is yours.
PART THREE: What Not To Do!
Nancy
Your Networking Goddess