Social media has taken over how we network with our friends and family. Whether you want to be a part of it, you hear about it every day. Every TV show, celebrity and practically every politician is now on Facebook and/or Twitter, trying to get as many friends or followers as possible.

Ok you are not BCS, or Fox News, but you are trying to grow your business and client base.

It is too social for business purpose? Is it appropriate for what you do? But the question I hear the most is “How can I use it without spending hours on it”? There is a fine line between personal and business online networking today. If you like to keep your personal and business life separate, one way to protect your personal life and business life from overlapping too much is to have separate Twitter and Facebook accounts for personal and business accounts.

Is it appropriate for what you do?

Almost always. Today’s markets are run by social media marketing. Facebook recently sold for an unprecedented $4.1 billion dollars, Twitter is purportedly in the works to be sold for over $1 billion dollars, and the list goes on. Online social networking is big business right now and it looks like it is here to stay.

It is imperative that you use social media in your business. The current technology allows you to promote your product or service faster with less cost than ever before. Get your profile started on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are many more, but those are the base requirements.

How do you use online social networking without spending too much time on it? The more time you put in while you are setting up your profile and your initial contacts, follow-up methods and links to your website and blog(s), the less time you will need to spend daily, weekly and monthly maintaining your profiles. It is very important to take some time to perfect your profile and maximize the information available about you and your business.

Social media can be overwhelming if you don’t know how to use it or do not have structure in place to prevent yourself from getting ’sucked in’. Once you have perfected your profile and added your links, dedicate 5 or 10 minutes a day to post messages/tweets to communicate with your followers. Even if you post only once a day to start, it will allow you to be seen and heard by your prospective clients. In your Tweets and Facebook updates, give general information about your topic, share a resource, re-tweet someone, invite contacts to your events, mention a new post on your blog or new product or anything else with which you can grab their attention in just a sentence or two.

Dedicate 1 or 2 hours a week to follow up with your most pressing contacts personally. Send these contacts individual messages. Also befriend your friends’ friends that may have use of your product or service; people who have friends in common are more likely to add you. Invite more people to join your social network. Stay focused on your target market. Don’t waste your time checking things that are not related to your business. Join groups related to your business, participate on discussion, so you will get more exposure.

The people on LinkedIn are probably more business oriented, try to see how you could start some partnerships to trade clients that could use multiple services. Using social media, your main goal should be to direct people to your website or blog to sign up for your newsletter and eventually purchase your product or service. Have a strategy and a system in place to follow-up with your contacts on a regular basis, so with consistency, you will be able to turn most of those contacts into clients.

To learn more strategies like this one, on How To Turn More Networking Contacts Into Business Boosting Clients In 7 Simple Steps check www.powerofnetworkingsecrets.com

(c) 2009 Biba F. Pédron

One of the common question my clients ask, whether they are just starting their business or are in business for few years, is “How do I built my list to grow my business?”

So I wanted to take a minute to share some of the traffic strategies that are working very well for me.

1. Offer a free 15 to 30-minute consultation to new prospects. First people like free, but more they can sample your work. Contacts will have the ability to get to know you and see that you are THEIR problem solver. People won’t buy from you after you talk to them for just a few minutes at a networking even. After a free consultation they will get valuable information from you and they will be more willing to work with you and buy from you.

2. Enter all your contacts into a database. Don’t keep the business cards that you collect on a shelf but enter people information into your database. Set up a follow up system: send them your newsletter or schedule a series of messages via autoresponders. This will put your follow-up system on auto-pilot, so as soon as they sign up they will receive your messages automatically.

3. Cross promote your business with people who have the same target market as you. Contact people that you already know that have the same target market as you but are not your competitors. Set up an exchange in which you promote their products on your list while they promote your products on their list. You will suddenly have access to hundreds or thousands of people who have never heard from you before, and vise-versa. It is a win/win situation for both of you.

4. Do teleseminars with joint venture partners. Invite people to your calls to interview them about their business. It gives you credibility and it promotes your partner’s call list to you and yours to theirs. Again, with little effort you both advance.

5. Start an affiliate program. Encourage people to promote your products by giving them a commission. You can have an army of knowledgeable salespeople working for you without needing to train them. You just create sales text that they will copy and paste on their website, blog, newsletter or tweets. You don’t have to pay them until they made a sale. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain, including access to list of people that you don’t know who will become your new clients.

I offer 50% commission to all of my affiliates when they sell my ebook “Start Your Dream Business Today” or my program “Power of Networking Secrets”. If you want to become one of my affiliates click here http://www.theconnectionqueen.com/affiliate.html

Like those traffic strategies? Learn more of them in my program “Power of Networking Secrets” and join our free teleclass on February 25th at 8.00pm EDT Click here

Are you one of those who has nightmares about attending networking events? Do you dread meeting contacts because you have had bad results? You are not alone.

The number one problem is a perception issue; most people who attend networking events expect results immediately. They attend networking events with the only purpose of making a sale right a way. When a sale doesn’t happen and they come home empty handed (save the hundreds of business cards in their pockets) they are disappointed.

Networking is about consistency; results doesn’t happen overnight. You need to build relationship before your contacts even consider working with you or sending you referrals. They won’t buy from you after a five to ten minute conversation.

One of the biggest mistakes in networking is a poor follow-up system. If you contact someone a couple of times, don’t get the results you expect and then give up you are making a mistake. And this is a mistake that will reinforce your hatred of networking.
In marketing we say that repetition in key. Statistics show that people need to see or hear the same message at least seven times to even noticed it.

Do you follow-up at least 7 times with your contacts?

In networking consistency is key and the only way to be consistent is to have at least a 7 contact steps in your follow-up system.

If you don’t have a system in your business, you don’t have a business.

In order to turn most of your contacts into paying clients, you need to have a follow-up system to keep in touch with them on a regular basis. They need to get to know you, learn more about you and your business to consider your business worthy of their time. It is not their job you get to know you, but your responsibility to give them information about you and your business on a regular basis. You do this by sending emails, mailing postcards, fliers, brochures, calling, using blogs, videos, and any other media that you can use to give them information.

What information to include is tricky. Don’t give them information about you, but information about what you can do for them. You probably heard it before: “what’s in it for me?” If by giving them valuable information about your services, you give them a solution to solve their problem, you win their business. When they need services they will come to you and nobody else.

Don’t become frustrated; don’t stop networking with people after only 2 or 3 contacts, don’t give up. Keep following-up and you will see results and will see more and more of your contacts turned as clients. All you need to do is maintain consistency even when they become clients. Don’t forget about them just because they bought once, keep following-up and they will become repeat clients.

Give your contacts a hint of your products or services. In the long run you will find that they will give back to you by buying from you and/or sending you referrals.

Contact more than just a few times and automate your contact process. Keep doing it and you will be surprised how people will come back to you.

Building a list and creating a follow-up system is an integral part of Power of Networking Secrets. You will discover the step-by-step process to integrate and customize simple, yet effective strategies to put your follow-up system on auto-pilot. You will do the set-up work once then let your system work for you! Work once, then your system will work for you!

You can learn more about here “Power of Networking Secrets”

(c) 2009 Biba F. Pédron

Who Else Wants To Learn ‘Secrets’ That Most Small Business Owners Will Never Know About How To Really Build A List To Attract Clients Like Crazy…

Are You tired of coming home from networking events with a pocket full of business cards, and no bankable results? What if you could attract all clients you want just by networking? What if you had a constant stream of new clients always flowing into your business, instead of chasing them?

So let me ask you a question:
Does YOUR List Really Make YOU Money?

“Give Me Just 60 minutes and I ‘ll reveal and share the strategies I use to run 2 international businesses from home for the past 6 years.The Money is in YOUR List, so I will show you how to turn your contacts into gold to attract more clients, increase your traffic, responses, sales and profits…

During This Teleclass ” Secrets To Build Your List to Attract Clients Like Crazy” You’ll Learn How to :

-Get your networking contacts to visit your website AND join your mailing list or newsletter

-Attract NEW clients with a free offer

-The easy and successful way to get subscribers to actually read your messages

-Create a consistent and rewarding relationship with your readers

-One simple word that will increase your email open rate

-Avoid the biggest mistake that entrepreneurs make with their list

-Avoid the one thing that can cost you thousands of dollars

-Get your readers to TAKE ACTION!

Get a Jump on your competitors by learning the skills that most small business owners get to utilize.

Reserve Your Spot NOW

I spent the week helping a client to get a real visibility online to promote her business. Even if she is in business for a couple of years, she is struggling with all the tools and media’s available like blog, social media, etc… and didn’t really know how and where to start to get an online presence.

She is actually not the only one, lot of my clients seams to have the same challenges.

If it is your case, I have a great series of videos to recommend to get your website or blog and build your list online simple like 1,2,3.

I started working with Internet Millionaire, Tellman Knudson, last summer and I am still part of his mastermind. In just 6 months I was able to redo and create 3 new blogs, 4 new squeeze pages, which allowed me to double my mailing
list.

(Just check my old blog compared to this one to see what I mean)
But you don’t have to pay the monthly membership that I am
paying, you can get Tellman’s groundbreaking “ListBuilding Quickstart” series… that gets you set up with a website and list in 24 hours or less! You just wacht
the videos and do it. It is that simple.

The best part is, you get it for free!

After you sign in to get the series, check out the “Video” on the next page…
It’s intense, and it’s an important thing for anyone(with OR without a website or a blog) to see.

Click here

Just imagine, in 24 hours you could be set up with your own website or blog that automatically builds your list for you!

Don’t delay, this is too cool to miss!
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If you’ve been on my email list for a while or attended some of my teleseminars, you’ve probably heard me mention my mentor Ali Brown on more than one occasion. I won’t be making 6 figures today if it was not for her.

If you’re like me, you LOVE being a small business owner, but you aren’t so crazy about coming up with and implementing plans for selling your services. You’d like to design a program to create consistent cash flow rather than always having to drum up new business, especially when times are hard.

Leading entrepreneur and business coach Ali Brown has developed several tiers of coaching programs that last year brought in $2M. And she’s willing to reveal how YOU can do this too, at whatever level you choose, for the first time ever. She’s hosting a complimentary call titled “Coaching Business Secrets: The Inside Scoop on How to Design, Sell, and Run Profitable & Successful Coaching Programs.” (Ready to find out more and reserve your free spot?
Get all the info here

On this call, Ali will reveal:
*the most POPULAR types of coaching programs that are in demand right now *which types of programs are NOT easy to sell right now (don’t waste your time)

*Ali’s personal 3 no-fail formulas for various levels of group coaching delivery

*which price points ($$$) are working well across the board in many industries

*the biggest mistake Ali sees most solo-preneurs make when launching their coaching programs (it’s sad to see them shoot themselves in the foot, and publicly)
*hidden DANGERS of continuity (membership) programs, and how to avoid them

*details about Ali’s groundbreaking, private Coaching Business Intensive happening this summer, where over two full days Ali will personally walk you through exactly how to design, sell, and run your own profitable programs.It’s time to stop struggling and learn the secrets from someone who is doing this and knows the pitfalls.

Get all the info for the call on Tuesday, February 23, 8pm Eastern here

See you on the call, because of course I will be there as always.

Biba

P.S. – Feel free to share this call info with your clients and community, but don’t forget to reserve your spot first!

Recently I had met with a new client from France here in Miami, to teach him the steps to start his US business. He found me through a mutual French contact who referred him to me. This contact also wants to start his own business in the US next year. This is actually the fifth referral he sent me since we met online a year an a half ago. I learned from my new client that they both met only two months ago at the gym in south of France! Their conversation moved to starting a business in the US and my contact said “I have the perfect person for you. I know a consultant that helps French entrepreneurs start their businesses in the US and she can definitely help you reach your goals and dreams.

“He is a raving fan and that’s what you need to look for: people to promote your business. Nothing else has a better impact on your target market; not advertisements, not newspapers, not newsletters, not blogs. (Just remember that without the other tools prospective clients won’t be able to verify your legitimacy.)

I can say to a potential client “I am great and THE ONLY contact for you to start your business in the US”, but why would they believe me? Now if a client or a prospect says to somebody else that I am THE solution for them, the sale is already done.

How can you get more of those raving fans that will send you referrals on a regular basis?

1. You have to make sure that people know exactly what you do. Explain your services very clearly so your contacts can adequately understand and repeat the important parts. If people don’t understand what you do, they is no way that they will buy from you or send you referrals. Have a very clear and concise elevator pitch.

2. Follow-up with your contacts, clients or prospects. Contact them on a regular basis to see how you can help them. They will appreciate that you take the time to do it. For example this Frenchman who sent me 5 referrals in the last year and a half receives my bi-monthly newsletter, but I also call him at least every 3 months to see how his projects evolve and how I can help him.

Don’t rely only on virtual contact, even if you don’t meet in person, call them. I never meet this contact in person, he first found me via my website. Within the first few months we built a relationship and our relationship lead to him sending me referrals.

3. Put your follow-up system on auto-pilot; it will work for you for the following months and even years from now. Statistics show that 80% of sales are lost due to lack of follow-up. Lots of clients tell me that “Oh yes I follow-up with my contacts. I called them once but they were not interested by my services.” Then they tell me they don’t want to bother them again or they don’t know what to say the next time. Have an effective follow-up system in place so you won’t have to worry about what to say and when to say it. The system is designed to do the work so you don’t have to. You will attract a lot more clients and a lot more raving fans that will send you referrals on a regular basis.

Creating a follow-up system is an integral part of Power of Networking Secrets. You will discover the step-by-step process to integrate and customize simple, yet effective strategies to put your follow-up system on auto-pilot. You will do the set-up work once then let your system work for you! Check Out “Power of Networking Secrets” NOW

(c) 2009 Biba F. Pédron