Connect-IMCAZ

Alan Weiss, the Million Dollar Consultant, joins us from his home in Rhode Island

Friday, July 10th, Alan Weiss shares his wisdom about consulting in our first 2009 summer teleconference.

All registrants are eligible to enter the "Ask Alan" contest.  In this contest two consultants who pose the most intriguing questions will each receive one of Alan's books.

For details, go to the registration page

Even if you can't attend live, register and receive the download after the call.

Sylva Leduc, MEd, MPEC
Programs Chair, IMC AZ
Sage Leadership Strategies

Do you have a Social Networking Strategy?

Last week, Dave Cooke, aka the Sales Cooke, filled our brains with even more information about Social Media.  In his presentation, though, Dave talked about developing a strategy instead of jumping in blindly. 

I’m glad he that was the focus of his presentation because I've been telling my own clients to do the same thing.  Blogging, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, Ryze, Ning, Xing, YouTube or Twitter or anything else is only as good as your plan.  

Dave sent his PPTs, which will be forwarded to those who attended the meeting.  He also asked me to share the following recommendations for anyone grappling with what to do next:

1. Define what your business.  What do you provide your clients, the value your clients get and the real problems or issues that you solve for your clients.
2. Determine what people would be looking for if they would be looking for the solutions that you are providing.  Is it better hires, teamwork, increased revenues, etc.
3. Defining what businesses are looking for and what your business solves is your marketing opportunity.  Develop a plan or a vision for how you would promote this combination.
4. Determine how you would like to best communicate your message – written, audio, video, etc.
5. Start capturing your thoughts and ideas in the selected medium from above as it relates to your expertise and share them.
6. Use Twitter.com to promote your postings. 
7. Use a social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo) to increase your contacts.
8. Link Twitter, Social Networking and your chosen medium together and get busy.

 If anyone has questions, please contact Dave via www.purecooke.com

Sylva Leduc, follow me on Twitter @windowsyl
www.SylvaLeduc.com

11 Keys to Ensure Your Company Survives, Even Thrives, In Uncertain Times

To say we are in uncertain times is a gross understatement. Investors are in a quandary trying to decide what to do. Employees are ringing their hands as they watch their 401k and retirement funds dwindle. And business owners are wondering what the future holds and what actions they should be taking.

As a consultant, the last thing any of us can afford to do is allow our own practice and/or clients to play "turtle." Success will not come from pulling heads into shells and wishing for the best. It is crucial for us to face the reality of the situation and continue to carefully move forward.

IMC AZ member, Joel Strom, identified 11 Keys to Ensure Your Company Survives, Even Thrives, in Uncertain Times.

For the March '09 breakfast meeting, his interactive presentation for IMC AZ members and guests  addresses how to help yourself and your clients get through these tough times in one piece, and maybe even grow a little.

About Joel Strom
Twenty-five years ago Joel founded his consulting practice with a commitment to help business owners harness their entrepreneurial passion and create successful business growth and personal wealth. As an entrepreneur himself, having grown his own manufacturing company, he knew his clients and audiences would demand direct and realistic solutions that worked...not fads or gimmicks. His consulting practice, and the demand for his presentations and seminars, grew along with his reputation for providing real solutions that businesses and organizations could actually implement.

To learn more about Joel's 11 Keys, visit his website.

It's Lonely Out Here!!

Ann ---

It would appear that we are the only ones who took our "homework assignment" to become IMC bloggers seriously!

FYI --- I recognize you as the Queen of Effective Communications and later today I'll forward some addition thought regarding work to-be-done on the Fall Membership Events and what and how we may communicate.

Thanks, Ted

EFFECTIVE INTERACTION - Luck or Logic??

People generally make the mistake of assuming that others interact and think in the same way they do.

Well at HRGroup and TTI we believe that one of the biggest challenges to Effective Interation is to recognize that people may have a behavioral style different from our own.  Much interaction breaks down immendiately because of a lack of awareness of style differences. People do NOT communicate alike.  Effective communicators will:

1. Learn their own style
2. Recognize the style of others
3. Adapt their style for more Effective Communication

We believe that it is essential to acquire the ability to interact effectively with others.  Zig Zigler noted that over 80% of the  people who move up in corporations are promoted because of their people skills --- NOT technical ability.

Most people already adapt their style to the environment to some degree  --- they sort of "wing it" and hope for the best.  But there is no need to follow a "hit-and-miss" approach when assessments exist that will provide you with behavioral knowledge that will enable you to adapt more quickly to others by observing their behavioral cues.  In other words, you can bring science to the art of Effective Interaction.  Try it!!

Selling Pain Relief

Join IMC-Arizona on March 9, 2007, where Larry Mandelberg will present "Corporate Lifecycles; How and Why Organizations Grow and Die". He will take each participant on a highly interactive journey thru the corporate lifecycle theory, stopping along the way to identify their ideal target client stage. Key issues covered include:

• Identifying functional & dysfunctional organizational behaviors


• Making informed decisions involving change


• Anticipating conflict and reducing friction

The ability of organizations to deal with common problems effectively is the difference between success and failure. Organizations learn to deal with these problems by themselves or they develop abnormal 'diseases' which stymie growth - problems that usually cannot be resolved without external, professional intervention.

The theory of corporate lifecycles analyzes the stages organizations go through as they come into being, grow, age, and eventually die. By defining these stages, the evolutionary process of aging becomes a roadmap map where you can locate any organization and anticipate where it is headed. This 'roadmap format' provides insight into when, why, and how an organization must change. It also helps explain how behaviors that were once healthy can become dysfunctional.

Participants will:

• Understand the changes successful organizations must go through as they grow over time
• Gain knowledge and tools to leverage corporate lifecycles to engage with your ideal prospects
• Use corporate lifecycle insight to educate and engage your current clients

Selling Pain Relief
The University Club
39 E. Monte Vista Road
Phoenix, AZ 8500

7:15 - 7:45 am

Registration, Networking, Breakfast

7:45 - 9:00 am

Main Presentation

9:00 - 10:00 am

Session after the Session

Click here to register

Alan Weiss Doesn’t ‘Get’ Blogging

I really enjoyed Alan Weiss’s presentation Friday – Except for his comments about blogging. It’s not the first time I’ve heard those words and they always come from someone who is not a blogger, has never blogged, and does not understand blogging’s potential. I have never heard anyone say, “I’ve been blogging regularly for two years and it’s a complete waste of time.”

Alan spoke of gaining an early reputation as a contrarian and while it occurred to me that perhaps he is doing just that, but from the tone of his voice when he said, “Blogs are worthless” and “Nobody reads them” I think he was being sincere. I guess this means that I’m going to have to assume the mantle of contrarian on this issue.

First, as for Alan’s “Nobody reads them” comment: Not only do CEOs and senior executives read blogs, many are blogging themselves. TheNewPR maintains a list of them. Alan mentioned Marriott and Hewlett Packard as some of his clients. He undoubtedly would be surprised to discover that J Willard Marriott Jr, CEO of Marriott International has a blog. So does Eric Kintz, VP of Global Marketing Strategy and Excellence for Hewlett-Packard.

In fact TheNewPR’s list contains 272 names of people in leadership positions of various organizations who blog. Some of them are:

• Rudi Fischer, CEO, Telekom Austria
• Sab Kanaujia, VP, NBC Digital Media Group
• Richard Charkin, Chief Executive, Macmillan Publishers Ltd
• Simon Waldman, Director of Digital Publishing, Guardian Newspapers
• Scott Anderson, Director of shared content, Tribune Publishing and Interactive
• Marc Babej, President, Reason Inc.
• Randy Baseler, VP of Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
• Carole Brown, Chair, Chicago Transit Board
• Colin Crawford, VP/Online, International Data Group
• Michael M. Crow, Arizona State University President
• Marc Cuban, HDNET & Dallas Mavericks
• Chad Dickerson, CTO, InfoWorld
• John Dragoon, Chief Marketing Officer, Novell
• Michael Dunn, VP, Hearst Interactive Media
• Jeff Jaffe, CTO, Novell
• Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman, General Motors Corporation
• Lisa Meyers Brown, VP for Marketing, American Cancer Society’s Eastern Division
• Justin Rattner, CTO, Intel
• Greg Papadopoulos, CTO, Sun Microsystems
• Bob Parsons, President, godaddy.com
• Michael Powell, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
• Michael Pusateri, VP of Engineering, Disney ABC Cable Networks Group
• Joe Wikert, Vice President and Publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Professional/Trade division
• Steve Wilson, Senior Director of Global Web Communications, McDonald’s
• Hu Yoshida, VP and CTO, Hitachi Data Systems

Someday soon, Alan Weiss will be meeting with a large potential client. The decision-maker will hand Alan one of Hugh MacLeod’s Streetcards. Alan will stare at it blankly and flip it over and over in two hands as a question forms on his face. At that moment Alan will lose the client and not even know it.

Or perhaps between now and then he will ‘get it’ and – as he so often said Friday – he will marvel at how stupid he was just two weeks ago.

Guest Author Invitations have been Sent!

I just finished sending 'Guest Author Invitations' to all IMC-AZ members. You should first download the Getting Started Guide because it contains step-by-step instructions on how to proceed.

If you have any questins please don's hesitate to contact me at dbarnhart@BusinessBloggingPros.com