The Pedestal Group

I am extremely frustrated lately with people who give advice  but without substance.  Years ago I was speaking with a consultant about her latest project.  After describing her recommendations, I was shocked and asked how that implementation would go when some of the recommendations sounded like they conflicted.  She indignantly announced, “I don’t do implementation”.  Well people, we all do implementation so it is fine to say things like, “ask GOOD questions at networking events and then listen to the answers” (one blog I read this week) but unless the person receiving the advice knows what a good question looks like or who their prospect list should include, your advice is useless!

At a recent networking event a man asked me my favorite movie as his opening question.  I suppose there is something telling about my choice (I like the Lord of the Rings and if you are going to tell me that’s three movies, then I like the middle one) but in reality, we ended up talking about movies in our little group and not about anything any of us could use the next time to connect.  In fact, I don’t remember his name or his company – just that he liked the Godfather.  So was that a good question?  He was unique, but didn’t get anything useful so I would say no.

Another person upon introduction asked me my biggest challenge.  I quickly fished for something that was inocuous enough I didn’t mind telling a stranger (I believe I said something like while I love my existing clients, I need more just like them!) and then turned the table on him.  We then spent the majority of the time talking about HIS biggest challenge and I ended up introducing him to someone else at the meeting who could help.  I don’t remember him either.  Nor did he follow up and thank me for the connection.

So what are good questions?   In truth, any question can be good or bad depending on the situation and the person you ask.  I recently got great results when I asked what brought the individual to the meeting.  Turns out they were looking for ways to get better at marketing so we had a lot to talk about.  While she did most of the talking, by the end she walked away with information that I was able to mention in my follow up after the meeting and we are in discussions to do a project.  Reading a little on different industries can also help because when I meet someone I can ask something very specific.  Things that start, “how are you affected by…” or “what challenges do you have with…” can lead to very interesting conversations and sometimes are so timely the person wants to talk for a long time!  The other questions I love to use is when I’m in a small group at a networking event, I will ask a question that is more for another person in our group.  If I ask something like, “how does your practice relate to what Janet does in financial planning?” or something along those lines, it gets the two people involved in a discussion and they both get to look good.  Generally at that point I get to sit back and take mental notes so I have a wealth of  information to follow up on later.

A good question at a networking event is one that causes the other person to talk about their business in a way that allows you to figure out how you can help, and that causes them to remember you once you have walked away.  So plan ahead and have 5-7 questions ready before you go.  And stop reading people that don’t give you the real advice!

Lately I’ve had a bunch of conversations that start with, “I want to do social media but it seems like it would take so much time.  There are so many places to be!”  I’m not sure why the web causes people to think more is better, but that seems to be the case.  Social media is just like any other advertising avenue.  There are hundreds of advertising opportunities businesses ignore all the time because it isn’t right for them. But when it comes to social media, they think they have to be everywhere.

Listing your business with browsers and other directories can be a great resource and I highly recommend it.  But after that, you have to think about who is your audience and where are they.

Twitter is a wonderful source for information or research.  I love it.  But the majority of my prospective customers aren’t on Twitter. So the time I put in is for my own benefit and not for prospecting.  On the other hand, most of my prospects are on LinkedIn so the time I invest on  LinkedIn yields prospecting results.  Facebook is not a good tool for my business because that isn’t where people go to talk about small business consulting.  But they do go there and talk about medical issues so it is right for my client, After Hours Family Medicine.

When you start working with a social media consultant, it should start with the same type of discussion as a good advertising agency.  Who are you trying to attract, what kind of profile can you build of those prospects, and where are they when they look for information like you are offering.  From there, you can invest your time in only those areas that make sense for your business.  And not waste your time on things that won’t help meet your goals!

As happens to many of us, my computer died last week.  It was a long, drawn out process as it is a laptop and died from heat.  But, it was a great opportunity to see just how good my recovery process is.  I use a company called Backblaze to manage my off-site backups.  It is inexpensive and updates all day, every day.

I got my new computer home and spent the evening installing software as one should never try to copy software installations from one machine to another as well as downloaded the backup file.  I chose to download the entire file so that took a good part of  the night as the file is quite large (I could have downloaded it in pieces which would have been faster but I was functional enough on an older machine to just want to get it done.).   But, first thing in the morning, I had my entire old computer at my finger tips.  The best was about 3 minutes after it downloaded I had Outlook back up and running as if nothing had ever happened!  I was able to move all my files quickly  and easily and was back to work in no time.  In the past, it has taken up to three days to get everything found, copied over and settled in but not with my backup.

Now, had I not had this backup, I would have been in real trouble as my old computer can’t run more than 1 hour without overheating.  So the fact that I didn’t need to worry about getting things copied over was a real benefit.

So the question is – ARE YOU BACKING UP???  I highly recommend running a small test of your backup procedure BEFORE you need it.  Create a file that is for testing purposes and delete it.  Then restore it from the backup.  This give you the knowledge you need to handle the situation when it comes up.   Also, knowing the backup is working is HUGE.  Backblaze was a really great utility for me and I highly recommend it but there are many out there that can work. The bottom line – BACK UP YOUR FILES!