The Blog - Where Business Collides with Human Nature

"It's Not All About Me: The Top Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport with Anyone" - Robin Dreeke

I know exactly what you are looking for: 

More cooperation, more people listening to you, more respect, more people saying 'yes' and more obedience from your kids (if you have kids).

The world gets more difficult to manage because those you come in contact with are more likely to hold the hand out with palm up with the hope of getting something. What you hope for is more people extending a hand as a greeting. 

No need to look further because Robin Dreeke is here to help you build a quick rapport with others.  Robin isn't just any basement author who wrote a book about a few ideas.  Robin Dreeke was in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s elite Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program (BAP).  As you read his bio, you will see that he was tasked to recruit spies. 

As of today, two people are joining Linkedin in every second.  Who are they?   Are you one?  Is it something to set up and forget about or a dynamic marketing tool?  Can a relationship really be supported on Linkedin? 

The infographic shows how most people on Linkedin have between 500 to 999 connections in their "network", use only the free account option and let their 1st level connection see their entire 1st level network. The most helpful feature is "who viewed my profile" followed by the automated suggestion tool: "people you may know".

Take notes from this infographic to better understand who you are connecting with and what they find most valuable:

The Great American Story can be told again with a 100+ year old company by the name of Brown & Haley in Tacoma, WA which started manufacturing Almond Roca 90 years ago. 

While Codecademy is the topic, this is about you and your inability to understand even the simplest things in regards to your website or online marketing.  For instance, <b>your text here</b>  wlll turn the text bold as you see here:  your text here

Simple enough, don't you think?  The came can be said for other very simple terms such as <center> or <u> or underline. 

Instead the entrepreneur "gets by" because there is a belief it is "difficult" or too expensive.  It does seem a little silly to spend big money on an expert coder to do simple things which can be done in seconds.

Celebrations happen every day in the day of an entrepreneur.  A new idea, a new problem conquered or a new introduction made are part of the path to success.  Today (June 21), we celebrate the birthday of Richard Gabel.  In my world, Richard Gabel is a celebrity and trusted advisor.  Professional, personal, committed, knowledgeable and open minded are words which would not be enough.

If you are local to the Pacific Northwest, you have a big opportunity to meet Richard in person.  He does not juggle, do magic or stand on his head to get your attention.  In fact, he becomes a perfect example of how those who are most valuable may not be talking the most because they are busy getting things done.

A friend ran across this article on the 50 worst charities and I am compelled to share it with you.

Collectively these charities collected around $1.5 Billion and only $429 Million of it actually went to the charities themselves. That is only around 28.6% of donations going to the charities.

Some of those listed spent almost 95% on Fundraising leaving a paltry 5% for the actual charity.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you already know how important networking is to the life of your business. But it’s not just about creating relationships with key individuals, other businesses, customers, and vendors. Your ability to foster and maintain these relationships is what will set you up for the growth and long-term success you crave. So what should you be doing after the initial conversation, elevator speech, business card swap and handshake?

Once it becomes obvious that personalization has impact, creating software and automated tools to appear more personal just have to be built.  Since Facebook and Linkedin are large personal information farms, everyone is sure to receive new personal messages as if they are your next door neighbor.

It appears though that people are either smarter than that or they simply have little patience for shallow and insincere messages.

Marketing Charts article reviews the data in a recent study about how customers say "What ever" to personal messages.

Effective link building is no longer based on technical tasks which can be easily assigned.  In fact, to refer to it as "link building" is not the best way to express marketing plan activities. The infographic below has rephrased it to be "link baiting".

Link building has a history of physically adding links to external websites such as article sites, blogs, forums, etc.  The options to "drop a link" are going away as software evolves and webmasters limit the options for commenting.  Many times 3rd party tools such as Facebook or Disqus have become a method to limit web spam which comes by way fo automated link tools.

An excellent webinar from Practical ECommerce which has ChannelAdvisor experts talking about how a business can get started with international sales.