Some of the suggestions made were:
1. Join Toastmaster’s, a non-profit that helps its members improve their public speaking and leadership skills. 2. Hire a Coach or Consultant.

I was a painfully shy person growing up. When I started working for the Meredith Corporation, I was sent to Des Moines, Iowa to do a presentation in front of a lot of people. It was one of the worst experiences of my life!

After that debacle, my boss sent me to a Dale Carnegie Course for some help– desperate help. It was exactly what I needed. I enjoyed it so much, that I went on to be a certified Dale Carnegie Instructor. From then on, speaking came to me like second nature.

Over the years, I have done countless Keynote Presentations and speaking engagements. I’ve travelled all around the world to speak.

After years of practice, I’ve come up with 5 main things that I do when I speak:

1. Right before any speech, I always make it a point to greet and shake everyone’s hand. I try to get to know my audience and remember people’s names so that I can mention them during my speech.

2. I draw my audience in by starting with an incident that happened to me that morning or a story. The typical “Today, I’m going to talk about–“ routine is boring.

3. My presentations are structured around 4 main points. My goal is for the audience to walk away with at least one of my points. At the end of my presentations I always summarize what I talked about and mention my 4 points again.

4. After my speeches, I like to continue the communication with the audience. People usually give me their business cards afterward to receive my Tip of the Week.

5. If I meet someone who I would love to work with or that I really resonated with, I like to write them a personal note via snail mail.

The most important thing is to keep speaking, as it’s the sign of a great leader.

One of the great things about speaking at the annual Merit Direct Coop is that I get a chance to learn new things. I also get to meet some of Merit’s clients and to enjoy the beautiful Renaissance Westchester Hotel.

And this year there was a bonus! I got to share the keynote with Amy Africa and spend a little time with her. The fact that it was her birthday made it even better.

Amy spoke about Mobile Marketing, expertly, as always. My topic was “Everything you need to know about Social Media for B to B companies”.

Some of the things I said might interest you:

I· You can develop a Prospect Database through Social Media. Merit Direct is a great List Company and they know better than anyone else that all kinds of businesses are building their own databases. Twitter and Facebook can help. A lot. Twitter has places for you to create your own lists and segment your audiences. You can also create a landing page on Facebook that ask your friends or fans for their email addresses so you can send them updates or offers.

II· Social Media makes it easier to access people in charge. You can begin a conversation with almost anyone on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. I’ve chatted with people online that I‘d never get to talk to if I called. There’s no gatekeeper and people logon to social media when they have time.

III. You can maximize your own content. Use it for your blog, white papers, etc. and broadcast it with links from social media. It’ll get you out to a larger audience.

IV. Talking about your company in all of these places, you can develop a large brand, even though you might be a small startup company. At the Merit Direct Coop, I was delighted to meet one fellow I’d been talking to online for a while. I thought he had a large company. Turned out it was a startup! Goes to show you what you can do with a social media approach.

V. And … You can also communicate with your customers along the buying cycle.

You might also want to consider this:

- The B2B buyer cycle is complex

- The offerings are more sophisticated (what they can do
and on what scale)

- B2B buyers are curious about how a product can make life easier and business better (mistakes can be costly)

- to win a B2B sale you first have to build trust, demonstrate how reliable your product is, and show how it is suitable

- determine each customer’s perspective, and mirror their concerns with benefits

- B2B buyer cycle will always require thoughtful consideration, due to the sophistication of the offerings.

- With targeted online experiences we can shorten the length of time between first contact to signed contract.

A chart of some Conversion Metrics

When I spoke on the exact same topic at the Merit Direct Coop a few years ago, we had a nice crowd. This time there was a lot more people, and we were in the ballroom. B to B sees the power of Social Media.

Happy Birthday, Amy.

Celebrating with Amy Africa (@AmyAfrica)(EightbyEight) and friends; Barbara de la Riva (@bdelariva), Linda Pickering, and Joanna Brandi (@joannabrandi)(Customer Care Coach)

I was reading an article the other day about “The Social Network” movie (“How Facebook Really Won the Social Media War…“) and it said something that I’ve been saying for years! There is Power in the List.

The movie was nominated for an Oscar, not because of the genius directing or their brilliant acting, but really for the depiction of how Facebook went from being an idea to a phenomenon that affected 500 million people!

The key to their success was in the power of their list! Being a Direct Marketer I’ve always known the value of having the right list. Remember, the 40-40-20 Rule. 40 percent of the success of a campaign lies in the list! When you have the right audience, you are more likely to be a success.

In “The Social Network” Mark Zuckerberg had to make decisions that were crucial to his success. He knew that in order to make “The Facebook” (It’s then name) a success, he had to get Eduardo Saverin’s (friend and co-founder) email list. His idea was that if he could get the emails of the Pheonix (a prominent social club at Harvard) it would make all the difference. Sending it to his personal list wouldn’t get them very far.

Zuckerberg was smart in that he knew if he got to the “popular” crowd first, the rest would follow their lead.

Are you targeting the right list? If you’re not too sure, then call us at our office 646.723.3231 or email me for some ideas at loisgeller@loisgellermarketinggroup.com.

Practice, practice, practice.

How do you get to be a Social Media expert? Same answer. And I haven’t practiced nearly enough. Nonetheless, more than a few companies and associations have asked me to speak to them about Social Media. I suppose that’s a good sign – they’re becoming aware of the issue.

Direct Marketing and Branding have always been my major topics and a few years ago I began including thoughts about Social Media in speeches but I’m still no expert.

I’m not even sure who is. We’re all learning and practicing and just when we think we’re close, someone throws a monkey wrench into the works, like Facebook’s new privacy challenges.

Whenever I mention any social medium – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. – odds are that dozens of people in the audience will know a lot more about it than I do. But I still practice. I’ve been practicing yoga for years and although I’m probably better at tweeting than at downward-facing dog ruminating on the topic remains a stretch.

Of one thing I am certain: if we don’t keep learning about the strategies that work and those that don’t, we’re just stunting our growth.

The real joy of the Social Media arena is that it is dynamic and the halls are filled with people who can teach me new things every day. But if you ask me to speak at your association, don’t invite me as an expert but as someone who is enjoying the practice!

P.S. About 30 years ago, National Lampoon magazine sent a writer tricked out as a tourist to Central Park West (8th Avenue) in New York, a few blocks from Carnegie Hall. The “tourist” asked hundreds of passersby “Excuse me, how do I get to Carnegie Hall” and two thirds of the people answered “practice, practice, practice.”

This year I spoke about the power of Social Media, sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. One of the things I like about the social media world is that in many ways it’s like direct marketing on steroids – faster, more intimate, and easier-to-measure.

I was amazed that many in the audience didn’t know about Twitter or LinkedIn. Some had Facebook accounts for showing family photos.

I spoke about strategy and how to drive followers from Twitter to Facebook and then to your blog. As people get to know you, the more likely it is that they will do business with you, especially in b2b.
The title of my talk was How to get Tons of Free Advice on the Internet. I showed them how I floated questions on LinkedIn and received dozens of great answers from leading lights in our field.

My enthusiasm for this subject is over the top because I have a great time meeting people online. The Merit audience wanted to know the basics. I was amazed that with all of the publicity around these programs (how did Obama win the election? Social Media) that they hadn’t at least tested the waters. After all, it is all free.
My takeaway was:
· Many people in business are depressed. They’re worried about their companies and their jobs.

· They are waiting for business to come back as it has in the past.

· They are marketing conservatively, doing what they’ve done (just mailing less).

My advice to them and you:
· Develop the right attitude now! If you stay positive and keep on truckin’ – trying new ideas – something is a bound to work for you.

· If you just wait for business to come back, as it has before, it might not. Go after any piece of business that has a chance to pay off for you. (I call it the Dandelion Theory.) Blow out as many programs as you can, and one will take root. Maybe more.

· Now is the time to think creatively. Tell people about the benefits ofy our product or service, as if you were recommending it to a friend. Skip the rhetoric. Talk like a human being and tell your prospects why they should buy it now.

· Don Libey at the conference said, WAYMISH. Why are you making it so hard for your customer to buy from you? Make it easy on your website, on the phone, on your direct mail. Short is best.

And, let me know how you’re doing. Visit me at twitter.com/loisgeller at LinkedIn: Lois Geller, Facebook: Lois K. Geller and by email: loisgeller@loisgellermarketinggroup.com Easy, huh?

So, it is always especially refreshing when someone offers me something to help ME. That happened last night at our Board meeting. I’d mentioned we were looking for new office space, and after the meeting…Alex came up to me and told me that there is lots of very nice space in his building, and he’d get me the name of the manager and phone number, if I wanted. It was a nice gesture, with no ulterior motive on his part. And, I appreciated it.

The same thing happens on networking sites, like Twitter. Some people are forever hawking their products, and they do it every hour. Others provide value, like John Kremer. He sent me his Marketing Book Tip of the Week, and it is full of information for me. I never market any of my books, but he gave me some ideas I will try.

He also offers a Twitter Mania Manual, a full downloadable book you can get an use and it is full of great ideas. So You try it…give first, and then maybe give again…and good tings will begin to happen.

John Kremer, you’re great!

So, we started testing mail, then obtaining email addresses. We tested emailing people to visit us on Facebook, and then gave them special offers there. Little by little, over the last few years, we’ve gone from a direct mail agency, to an online group that builds websites, maintains the relationships our clients have iwth their customers via social media…and are testing some great new strategies. We’re having fun.

If we’d stayed in our old niche, we probably wouldn’t be growing as fast.

Then I read a piece about Newsweek reinventing itself in The New York Times. Their transformation is amazing: a new, smaller format, interesting new design…and a more afluent readership. They aren’t going to cover the big events any more (like the U.S. Airways flight that glided into the Hudson River). They are gambling on an audience that will pay more for a new “offbeat take” on events. Will it work?

Time will tell.