Your Online Identity: Using Your Middle Initial

In a world where many people share the same first and last name but not family, it is important to have a clear identity.

Consider using your middle initial.

Now, I can't take complete credit for this: this really came from Mike D. Merrill, a social media consultant in Dallas with a history with Dell. The guy knows his stuff and speaks from experience.

My personal experience is that when I Google my name, a number of people with my first and last name come up that aren't me. Same for a search on LinkedIn and Facebook. However, my middle initial set me apart. It makes me, me.

In this fast-paced, ever-changing information-savvy world, we all need every edge we can get. Your identity and personal brand are yours to manage and you should do so carefully and deliberately.

Relentless

Sportsmanship and Networking

You can call it sportsmanship or you can call it fair play. Whatever you call it, it has to do with fair give and take between players. Whether it's on the playing field or in the networking arena, play fair.

Over the weekend I was reminded of this lesson. During a youth baseball tournament, one coach had asked another to switch dugouts with his team as he was scheduled to play multiple games in the hot Sun without shade. Could he trade for the shadier spot for their game.

The coach who was asked was polite and said, yes, he would trade for their game.

When it came time for the championship game, the same two teams met. When the coach who had complied with the request for shade asked the coach who had benefited from the earlier shady spot to return the favor, the coach said no.

Karma has a way of working out. Even though they were the higher seed, the now shaded coach's team lost 9-0 to the non-shaded team.

The point is this: consider the consequences when you answer or pose a question. Consider, too, the long term result.

Relentless

Networking Basics: the Two "P's" and Two "C's"

These days we are caught up in social media and electronic communication. Yes, the are great tools for networking and marketing, but the basics never leave the process.

Some things never change. As we tell our trade show clients: "if you do this right, you can sell on a bare piece of concrete."

Picture not having Facebook, Twitter or your blog: could you still network effectively?

Sure you could. Just remember these basics:

• Patience
• Persistence
• Consistency
• Content

You need to be patient. Good things take time. Don't go into a room of people expecting a sale or even a relationship.

Keep it up: as in social media where regular posts and filings get you attention over the long term, so it is with basic networking. Be there, regularly, to be noticed.

Be the same and present yourself consistently. You will be memorable.

Provide value. As in social media give people things they can remember and use. They will remember you.

Relentless

Don't be like a soap opera--get to the point

I was reminded of a key point in the art of conversation a short time ago as I sat in a jury room. When you are conversing with someone, get to the point of what you have to say.

Don't be rude or impolite or disruptive of the conversation just for the sake of speed, but do be sure and not waste your partner's time.

When you're locked up in a jury room, this particular bailiff choose to turn on daytime TV and "As the World Turns." As most are familiar with, the plots of these programs move at glacial speed. I truly believe this is so that viewers can go away for any length of time (possibly years) and come back and resume the story as if they had never left.

Let's face it, in most interactions with people we do not have the luxury of that much time. We can, however, be crisp and to the point with our conversation and our listening.

It's the polite thing to do.

Relentless

Working Backward from "Yes"

This quote from the world of customer service works well in the universe of networking as well. Starting from a positive position is best.

"Work backward from 'yes'" comes from Chuck Greenberg, who, along with Nolan Ryan and a group of investors own the Texas Rangers Baseball Club. Recently, in a talk with customer service people, Chuck (he is not Mr. Greenberg to anybody, really), he brought up this phrase.

It really is the core of customer service. and networking. When you start from a footing of positiveness, you gain the ears and eyes of your audience. They listen, engage and even make decisions.

Conversely, if you start with "no", your conversation becomes a monologue really fast. People shut down and aren't hearing anything after you utter that work.

Wouldn't you rather engage people and have a dialog? Start with yes.

Relentless

The Informal Advisory Board

Over lunch yesterday with a public relations colleague of mine, we talked about how we use or benefit from our networks. My friend told me he uses an informal "board of advisers" at a monthly or quarterly lunch.

I think his recommendation of getting together with colleagues regularly is a great idea: bounce ideas off one another, bring up stuff you can't elsewhere, hear other people's challenges and so on.

My friend's "team" includes client-side practitioners at a utility, a food company, a non-profit and another agency. Their balance of views and ideas results in spirited conversation and a great cauldron of ideas and advice.

Look around you and consider it for yourself.

Relentless

Relationship Management: Retaining a Client

It's part of good relationship management: retaining that important client. I had a couple of lessons this week that helped me understand this concept.

Statistics show that it costs more to gain a new client that it does to retain a client. Plus the longer you have a client, the better you understand their business, their markets and the people inside and outside of the company.

My lessons centered on these points:

• When a client calls or asks, you respond and deliver without question
• Be honest, if you can't do something, tell them what you can do
• Incumbent clients come first before prospects

In a weekly meeting with my largest client, I was asked for a specific answer to a detailed question. I had another opportunity I could have pursued between when the question was asked and when it was to be answered, but I dropped that situation because I needed to commit time to the incumbent.

The honesty cam in when I had to tell that prospect I couldn't help them. But I didn't jsut abandon them: I found some alternatives and put them in touch with some suggested partners who could deliver the quality they deserved. All without charging a few (I want to have the chance to work with them again).

My commitment is with my existing client. They hired me in good faith and I need to deliver. The prospect was just that: unproven to each other, the work could go away and so would the unattended work with the incumbent.

I made a choice. Do you have similar situations?

Relentless

Lessons from Court

After a day doing jury duty, I realized I learned a lot from the experience.

Going to court to serve on a jury of somebody's peers (even if only was traffic court) drove home these points:

• Patience and persistence are required
• Listening is important
• Multitasking is a key skill to have

Being patient when you have hours to kill between assignments is critical. You are on their clock just as you are many times with your network.

Listening, in all areas of your life, is more important than talking. Listening to the judge's instructions, listening to the bailiff as to where the bathroom is and when you can go to lunch and hearing evidence. If you are talking, you miss all of this.

Multitasking goes without saying: Time between panels requires you to read or make notes or make solid conversation with your fellow jurors.

A learning experience all around.

Relentless