A friend just pointed me out to this interesting video from Syndi Seid, an etiquette coach in San Francisco, who shows the proper way to hand out business cards.
Some of the interesting points I noticed in the video:
Pretty interesting stuff, isn’t it?
Last week, I spent Thursday through Saturday walking the floor at Expo East, one of the nation’s largest expos for natural and organic products. Given the fact that the primary market of my design studio, the zen kitchen is specialty food and green businesses, I went there hoping (quite rightly, I might add) to meet some new prospects, find some new products to spread the news about, and generally have a great time.
Overall, it was a great time – I got to meet representatives from brands that I already adore as well as try out some new brands, I got a ton of free samples, and had great conversations with most of the folks I met. Except for one person.
On Saturday afternoon, just beginning my networking experience, I came across the booth of a company that makes sustainable body care. I checked it out, introduced myself, and asked a bit about the products. The owner of the company promptly launched into a heavy sales pitch, trying out the different oils on me and telling me about all their great properties. I was intrigued, and ended up buying a small bottle of oil from her. But before I could finish up the conversation, another couple showed up and struck up a conversation with the owner. This couple had apparently spent many years working with one of her major competitors, and now owned a consultancy that helped smaller manufacturers compete with the “big boys.”
Sounds like a great fit, right?
In recent months, much like many other small businesses, my design studio, the zen kitchen, experienced a slowdown. Work was still coming in, but my sales process pretty much doubled in length. What’s a girl to do when she needs to get the marketing machine moving? I started looking at what I could give away – and I gave with all my heart.
Generosity as a marketing tool may sound a bit weird, but it’s actually quite simple. What you give comes back to you. You give a referral to someone else, they want to give back to you. You give someone information that will help them solve a problem they’re having, you’ve given them a great excuse to do something good for you – and they remember you the next time someone comes up with a need you can fill.
Over the last couple of years, my relationships with prospects and clients have deepened as a result of my tendency to give freely, and it’s resulted not only in positive attention for my business, but it’s directly resulted in referrals and new clients.
So how can you be more generous? Some ideas:
What are your favorite ways to give back to the people you know?