Building a Business

Your 20 Second Pitch: Don’t Cold-Call Without It!

by • Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Presentations, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

pitch shutterstock_147286310Whether you’re in sales, business development or a job search, effectively cold-calling “strangers” to get the meetings you seek is a crucial skill. For jobseekers, this is called accessing the “hidden” job market, where you’re developing new long-term relationships that can lead to opportunities.

When you cold-call, you have only roughly 20 seconds to gain their interest. At that point you need to give them an out or you risk making a bad impression; they may be about to run off to a meeting and keeping them on the phone would be a no-no. So if you haven’t interested them enough by then, you’re done. That’s why you need a 20 second pitch. More

Write These 6 Things to get a LinkedIn Introduction

by • Building a Business, Career Change, Getting Interviews, Recruiting •

One of LinkedIn’s killer applications is its ability to leverage your “first degree network” to get introductions to your second degree contacts– for recruiting, landing interviews or prospect meetings, partnerships, or just to learn from others.  To get the meetings you want, make it easy, for both your first degree connection to forward your request and for the recipient to agree.

Let’s take an example based on a client’s situation. Ellen wanted to meet Susan, a second degree connection, and she saw that John was their mutual first degree connection.  Ellen’s introduction request to John contained these six elements, in the sequence below:

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Are You Keeping in Touch with Your Network?

by • Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Job-Search Strategy •

phone-499991_1280 for keeping in touchIf you’re not, you’re not a good networker– you’ll miss opportunities! Getting meetings (and then “acing” these meetings) is 50% of what you need to do. Keeping in touch following these meetings is the other 50%. More

3 Tips for Delivering a Powerful Presentation

by • Building a Business, On-the-job Success, Org. Effectiveness, Presentations, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

How you present yourself or your work can determine a potential promotion, sale, or job offer. These three simple ideas, from my new book, Peak Presentations, can go a long way towards helping you achieve the outcomes you want.

PowerPoint Slides: Don’t Compete!
When using PowerPoint slides to support a presentation, make sure the slide content doesn’t compete with what you are saying. More

Presentations: 6 Ways to Hook Your Audience

by • Building a Business, On-the-job Success, Presentations •

When you are giving a presentation, look to actively engage your audience right from the start. Don’t assume they are paying attention; they may be thinking about their last meeting or the next one! So go beyond the dry and conventional; Capture their imagination, make them part of the show. Use any of these six approaches to hook your audience, so you can then reel them in with a memorable, powerful presentation. More

Cold Calling Giving You Cold Feet? Try These 9 Tips

by • Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Presentations •

cold feet warm socks shutterstock_248949232Many clients tell me that they really dislike the process of calling people they don’t know to get meetings, interviews, or new business opportunities. By following these tips on how to present yourself on the call and adopt the right mindset, you’ll get better results, and feel better too!

Presenting Yourself – Rehearse your “15-second pitch.”
How do you get them to stay on the phone, or want to speak with you? The key is your  15-second pitch. When someone takes your call, they More

LinkedIn “Recommendations” vs. “Endorsements”

by • Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Job-Search Strategy, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

Getting a recommendation on LinkedIn can help your career. LinkedIn recommendations are valued by hiring managers. Why? 1. The first-degree connection giving the recommendation is visible, hence “researchable” on LinkedIn, 2. significant effort is involved in writing a recommendation, adding to the authenticity, and 3. the content’s often descriptive nature helps the hiring manager to understand your value. I would suggest getting at least three LinkedIn recommendations. LinkedIn considers three-plus recommendations to be a factor in “profile completeness,” which figures in it’s search rankings. More

The Single Best Presentation Tip: Tell a Great Story

by • Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Interviewing, On-the-job Success, Org. Effectiveness, Presentations •

Whether your goal is to sell, inform, or land a job offer, telling engaging, relevant stories can turn even a so-so presentation into a great one. Illustrating your points with the right stories will have a far stronger impact than many other things you can do, including slide design, body language, eye contact, and so forth. More

LinkedIn Just Got More Useful for Business Marketing

by • Building a Business, Social Media •

If you market your (or your employer’s) business or organization using social media, and you are open to using Hootsuite as your social media organizer, you need to know about this useful new LinkedIn-related feature. More

Get better LinkedIn people-search results with “Boolean Logic”

by • Building a Business, Career Centers, Career Change, Getting Interviews, Social Media •

LinkedIn’s “Advanced People Search” feature is a fantastic tool for finding people in your extended network or shared groups who can help you to reach your career goals.  As I discuss in my book Your Social Media Job Search, including boolean logic in your search terms such as AND, OR, NOT, parenthesis and quotes around phrases can greatly expand its power.  To demonstrate, here’s an example of a client who was interested in obtaining a marketing manager or director position at Pfizer.  More

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