The Thoughts And Ideas Of The Efficiency Coach

This blog has moved and multiplied!

Heather Townsend — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:26:37 +0000

This blog is now sadly only archive material… feel free to have a good old rummage around in it.

We realised the content was getting FAR too muddled to be efficiently read by anyone. So, we decided to split the blog into four, yep four new blogs:

Business Efficiency The place to go when you need ideas and inspiration on how to make your practice or business more efficient

Personal Efficiency The place to go when you need to up your personal productivity levels

Joined Up Business Networking The one place any professional needs to visit when they want to know anything or everything about networking

Career Efficiency The place to go when your career needs some tender loving care

Working the room tip 24: Look for connections in common

Heather Townsend — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 07:20:25 +0000

This is the 24th blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

A quick way to generate rapport is establish if you have any business or personal contacts in common. With a little bit of digging you will be amazed at how many mutual acquaintances you both have in common.

Action point:

Next time you are out working the room, aim to see whether you can find business or personal contacts you have in common with someone. Notice how the level of rapport changes between the two of you when you have established a mutual contact.

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

If you would like to pre-register to receive a signed copy of the book, please fill in your details in the form, and we will send you sample chapters when they become available, progress updates with the book, and details of how to get one of the first copies of the book.

Working the room tip 23: Get permission to sign someone up to your mailing list

Heather Townsend — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:20:44 +0000

This is the 23rd blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

It is a personal bugbear of mine, that if I exchange business cards or help someone out on-line and provide my e-mail address, my next contact with them is receiving their e-mail newsletter.

It is actually illegal to sign someone up to your mailing list without their verbal or written permission. In my opinion, sending them a newsletter which starts by saying,

“you are receiving this e-mail because we have either met at an event, or chatted on-line….
….
….
….please click here to unsubscribe”

Is still spam.

To keep yourself on the right side of the law and not be reported as spamming, remember to ask permission to sign someone up to your mailing list.

Action point:

If you exchange business cards, remember to specifically ask for permission to sign up someone to your mailing list

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

Working the room tip 22: Find out if they are happy to connect with you on LinkedIn

Heather Townsend — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:20:16 +0000

This is the 22nd blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

LinkedIn is a great way of keeping in touch with people after you have met with them at a networking event. Many people are on social media, but don’t display this information on their business card.

You may like to find out if they are on twitter or any other social media sites that you frequent. Do remember to ask permission to connect with them after the event.

Many people, like myself, use facebook for keeping in contact with their personal network. Although I now have a fan page for The Efficiency Coach, http://www.facebook.com/TheEfficiencyCoach, I would feel very awkward if asked to connect with someone I have just met at a networking event on facebook.

Action Points:

Get a LinkedIn account and fill in your profile
Next time you are out networking, specifically ask to connect with at least three people you meet on LinkedIn.

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

Working the room tip 21: Write on a business card after meeting someone

Heather Townsend — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:20:12 +0000

This is the 21st blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

After you have met someone, use their business card to jot down some notes about them.

For example, you may want to write down if they are happy to receive any e-mail marketing from you, or whether they are on LinkedIn and happy to connect with you.

After a networking event, where you may have met up to 30 people, it’s very hard to recall every single person or conversation that you had a week later.

Some ideas for what you can write down about them:

What they were wearing (if particularly memorable)
Personal details about them, children? hobbies? mutual connections?
Details about their company

Action Point:

Next time you are out networking write some details about each person you meet on their business card. Remember to capture these details on your relationship management system.

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

Working the room tip 20: Divide and conquer

Heather Townsend — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 07:20:15 +0000

This is the 20th blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

I go to a lot of networking events, and still continue to be amazed by the amount of people from the same company standing talking to each other. Why waste valuable networking time, when you could have had that conversation in the office?

Maybe you’ve gone networking with someone else for morale support, but you will achieve more if you break up and tackle the room individually. You can then come back together at certain points and swap information and contacts which you have made.

By dividing and conquering, a team of you can network with everyone in the room, rather than just talking to the one or two brave souls who come up and talk with the gaggle of you in the corner.

Action points:

Get an attendance list in advance and divide up targets between all the people attending the event from your company.
Agree in advance with the people attending from your company when you will reconvene and share information
Have a go at attending a networking event on your own.

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

Working the room tip 19: Introduce yourself with impact

Heather Townsend — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:20:16 +0000

This is the 19th blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

I can guarantee that if you go out networking, you will be asked this question… ‘what do you do?’. Let’s call this your opening ‘sound bite’. Every networking should have this opening sound bite rehearsed and polished. Unfortunately, in my experience, so many people trot out a boring, unmemorable opening sound bite. Well, not maybe not always boring or unmemorable, but they miss an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the value of what they do and get the conversation onto business topics.

I’ll give you some examples, on the programmes I have run helping accountants, consultants and lawyers with their networking skills, I typically hear sound bites like this:

“For my sins, (or words to that effect) I’m an accountant/lawyer/consultant”
“We are a firm of solicitors who specialise in working with SMEs””

Inspiring? Not really. Invites you to ask another question? Not really. Impactful… definitely not.

The trick to making your sound bite an impactful conversation starter, is to think of it in three parts. For the first part of your sound bite, describe the main benefit you bring to your client.

For example, change “I’m an accountant” to “I help my clients legally minimise the amount of tax they pay”.

Many people initially struggle with the concept of an opening sound bite, as they are worried that people wouldn’t know what they do, and will want to find out their occupation. And you are absolutely right, people do want to find out, so 99% of the time, their next question will be along the lines of, “so, how do you do this?” You then answer, with the second part of your sound bite, “we typically work with [insert your target audience] to help them solve [insert problem you typically solve]”

If you get the first two parts of the sound bite right, then typically the next question you get asked is “tell me more…” For the last and third part of your sound bite, you need to tell them a recent success story with a client, e.g. “for example, recently we…”

Action points:

Work out what value you bring to your clients, and write out the three parts of your opening sound bite.
Practice your opening sound bite next time you are out networking. Notice people’s reactions to your sound bite and notice if there are any differences to the conversation that follows

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

Working the room tip 18: Find ways to ‘give’ into a new relationship

Heather Townsend — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:20:34 +0000

This is the 18th blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

You never know when you may need to call upon a favour of someone that you have met at a networking event.

There are lots of simple things that you can do at a networking event to start to make deposits in the ‘emotional bank balance’, for example:

Offer to introduce them to people in your network
Offer to introduce them to people you have met at the event
Find out how you can help them
Offer to send them an article or link to a website that they will find beneficial
Sign them up to a industry updates that your firm produces (and will be of value to you)

Action point:

Next time you meet someone you, take time to explore the challenges they face in their role, and how you may be able to help them.

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

Working the room tip 17: Exit from conversations gracefully

Heather Townsend — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:20:19 +0000

This is the 17th blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

Everyone at a networking event has come with the purpose of meeting people. So, no one will be offended if you don’t talk to them all evening. However, there is a technique to exiting gracefully from a conversation.

The golden rule is to never leave someone on their own. The best way to do this is to introduce them to someone else and then make your excuses to leave. If no-one comes to rescue you, there is nothing stopping you going to find another person to introduce to them – for example, in the queue for the drinks or the buffet. Or you could ask them who they would like to meet at the event, and then aim to connect them.

Always aim to give a plausible reason to exit, for example, nature calls or I’ve agreed to meet with a friend over lunch.

Action point:

If after 5 minutes of a conversation you don’t find any mutual interests or synergies, then have a go at introducing them to someone else at the event.

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

Working the room tip 16: Make eye contact and smile

Heather Townsend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:20:46 +0000

This is the 16th blog post in a series taken from my book ‘Networking tips for busy female professionals’. Each week, we will take a tip from the book and publish it in a blog post.

Your never get another chance to make a first impression. Smiling at, and making eye contact with a person you have just met, is a great way to give off a professional and confident impression.

If you are in a group make eye contact with everyone in the group – and smile at everyone. You will be able to see if everyone in the group is engaged in the conversation. If you see someone being bored or ignored, bring them into the conversation. For example,

“Michelle, what’s your opinion on the government’s proposed rise in VAT?”

If you are on your own and looking for someone to talk to. Make eye contact and smile at someone else on their own – I bet you that they will come over and introduce themselves.

Action points:

When you are next looking for someone to talk to at a business or social gathering, have a go at making eye contact and smiling at someone you would like to speak to.
When talking with people in a group, check to see if everyone is interested and contributing to the conversation – invite the quieter members of the group to contribute to the discussion.

If you have enjoyed this tip and would like to get more of the tips before the book is published, then read on

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