|
| Featured Members |
|
Do you have someone you think would make an excellent Featured member? Please submit them to the newsletter editor along with their bio so we can recognize them. | |
|
Happenings/Events |
|
On Friday August 3rd, CBN-USA and our partner, Valley Learning Center, host of the Mountaintop Economic Summit, will co-sponsor a Big Breakfast featuring evangelist, author and businessman Ed Silvoso. Ed is one of the most sought after leaders in Marketplace Ministry.
Ed delivers a powerful message on both marketplace evangelism and how business leaders can lead the way to change our world. Jack Hayford has said that "Ed Silvoso is one of the clearest, most coherent, thoroughly biblical thinkers we have today," and Zig Ziglar has stated that "Ed Silvoso's clear-cut message could be the catalyst that propels America into a first-century type of revival."
What a great opportunity to renew old friendships, make new ones, network with other Christian business people and introduce your friends to Christian Business Network!
|
| |
| Don't Forget
Constant Contact |
|
Don't forget CBN-USA is a business partner of Constant Contact. By subscribing to Constant Contact through CBN-USA you can save additional money and provide us with a little income.
| |
|
|
|
|
From the Editor...
by Bill Gaffney
I want to stretch your thinking a bit this month. Think back to Numbers where God used a donkey to communicate with Balaam. Then think further back to Exodus where God used the Plagues to harden Pharoah's heart and let the Jews go. There are all kinds of examples in the Bible where God uses non-traditional means to help His People.
Are you stuck to the kind of thinking that says, "This is too earthly or secular for me"? Are you limiting God?
I will give you an example. A few years ago, I told a friend who does a column on marketplace ministry he should consider looking at the marketing and technology the purveyors of adult entertainment use. I know, this is a slippery slope. Or is it? The technology and marketing they generally use is totally legal and usually cutting edge. Big business has known this for years.
Aren't we, in fact, instructed to study and know our enemy? In martial arts it is called using your opponent's motion. Since God has bestowed us with the knowledge and ability, shouldn't we be using it?
Think about it. I am not condoning anything immoral, illegal or unethical. I am simply saying use eveything God has given us. Anything less would be disobedience!
Bill |
Lessons from the rainforest: Greater love hath no tree
By Douglas Harrison-Mills
"This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to lay down his own life for his friends. You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do" (John 15:12-14).
In "Up the Organisation" [Coronet Books, 1971], Robert Townsend wrote that one of the most important acts of an organisation's leader was deciding when to go. And in a recent article discussing the corporate lifespan of today's chief executives, the London Times revealed two interesting statistics. Apparently, the average age of departure for a CEO in the European Union is 54. And at the start of 2007, there were more top British CEOs in their thirties than in their sixties.
| |
 |
|
|
I just read an article that the often admired and often ridiculed desktop application we know as PowerPoint turns 20 years old. Happy Birthday! It is safe to say that most of us have been audience members to some "knock your socks off" presentations. On the opposite side of the coin, many of us groan as we recall one or more horrible uses of the presentation software.
The milestone made me think about an anecdote I heard more than a decade ago. The story goes that two groups of college students were asked to write a paper. Half were given pen and paper and the other half were given a PC. On average, the content produced by hand far exceeded the quality produced with the help of a PC. The conclusion: people spend more of their energy on the presentation of the information at the expense of the quality of the information. In essence, they are distracted by the technology.
How does technology distract us from delivering the best information possible to our customers? Do we spend too much time making self-service look good at the expense of working better? Do we worry about how our IVRs sound versus how efficiently they dispatch information? What do you think? |
|
|
| Guess what . . . it is not always the employee with the problem. If anyone wants to know whether a leader is being effective, one way would be to take a look at what is going on around a particular manager/leader. Stop and take a moment to observe managers and employees in their work environment. Conduct manager and employee assimilations. Look how leaders are relating (or not) to their employees in areas of development, motivation, and knowledge sharing. Listen to the stories going on around the organization about particular managers and leaders. Do these stories support the values the organization espouses to represent to stockholders, the community, and customers? If the answer is no, then perhaps leader development in the form of coaching for leaders and training is necessary to ensure there is consistency between what the organization says it values and leader behavior.
|
|
|
Sure, they cost money. But free trials are an effective way to nab future sales--if you run them right.
Read More |
|
Why Your Networking Is Not Working
By Leni Chauvin, The Client Attraction Coach(TM)
Does this sound like you?
- You're spending way too much time trying to network online and are on networking overload.
- You're trying to keep up with all the threads that relate to your business in all the social networking groups you've joined.
- You're also monitoring all the discussion lists you're on looking for an opportunity to jump in and share your pearls of wisdom with the others on the list.
- You're afraid to keep track of the hours you spend in online networking because, whatever the number is, it's way too high.
- You've just gotten an invitation to join yet another social networking group and, while you're very flattered, you realize if you join one more group in an effort to network your way to a full client roster, you won't need any new clients because you'll be out of business.
- You're spending so much time trying to master online networking that you've totally neglected the face-to-face networking that has been working for millions of people for centuries. (Come on, how do you think people built their businesses before the Internet came along?!)
I mean, seriously, how much time can you afford to take away from your work to keep current on all the goings on in all the online networking groups you belong to without your business starting to spiral downward?
There is a solution to all this online networking mania and it's very simple: Cut back on your online networking and up your offline networking. See? I told you it was simple!
Yes, I know, you don't have time to get in the car, travel to an event, and spend a couple of hours with people you don't know and will probably never see again, right?
You've been to lots of networking mixers and it never seemed to work for you. You're shy and you don't want to appear pushy.
Any of this sound familiar? I'm not surprised; I've heard it all a million times.
If that's what you've been thinking, you may not understand what networking really is and how it works, and trust me, you're not alone in this. I have found that the biggest misconception about "networking" is that people think the term is synonymous with going to formal networking events.
That couldn't be any further from the truth. Networking starts by forming relationships with people, getting to know them, and understanding what their needs are, while they are likewise getting to know you and understanding your needs.
You can start these powerful relationships anywhere-at your kid's soccer game, on the commuter train, at the hairdresser's or at the doctor's office-so if you're reluctant to go to networking events, fear not; there are lots of other ways to start the networking ball rolling.
If, however, you do chose to include networking functions in your networking plan, please do yourself a favor and make sure you do everything you possibly can to optimize the experience.
That means, among other things:
Attending functions where memebers of your target market (or those who have access to them) will be.
Crafting a self-introduction that will grab people's attention and have them practically begging for you to tell them more.
Knowing in advance exactly whom you want to meet and what you want to get out of the event.
Having a follow-up plan to stay in touch with the people you meet and deepen the relationships you began at the event.
Resisting the temptation to sell your product or services at the function.
Having a list of open-ended questions in your head so you will never be at a loss for something to say.
These are only a few of the things that can help you get the most out of any networking event so you attract more clients than you ever imagined possible, easily and inexpensively. There are others, but the bottom line is this:
BOTTOM LINE: If you want to grow your business, step away from the computer and do what the great sales trainer, Floyd Wickman, has been preaching for years. He says the key to getting more customers and clients comes down to three simple letters: "STP: See The People...belly to belly."
Copyright 2007 Leni Chauvin
Leni Chauvin, The Client Attraction Coach, has been helping ordinary people build and market extraordinary businesses since 1993. If you want to attract more clients, make more money, and achieve more success, you'll find TONS of f.r.e.e resources to help you at LINK
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
