How many sales contacts do you try to make with a potential customer/client before you give up? This information just might give you some helpful insight: Although there are variations of the theme, most experts agree that it takes at least 5 ‘touches’ to finalize 80% of  sales.  The general statistics go something like this:

- 2% of sales are made on the 1st contact (touch).  These are usually people who have already done their research and know exactly what they want;

- 3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact;

- 5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact;

- 10% of sales are made on the 4th contact;

- 80% of sales are made on the 5th contact.

(Some experts go so far as to say that most sales occur on the 8th to 11th touch, but that seems like it’s bordering on stalking!!)   The truth is, however, that most sales reps give up long before the 5th contact.  In fact, the experts say that 25% of sales reps stop after 2 contacts, and only 8-10% make 3 or more contacts.

The moral of the story:  Persistence and stubbornness pays off!  Work up a plan that includes at least 5 touches over a period of time, and mix it up – being sure to include value content.  Send email, a newsletter, written material, promotional material, etc.  The experts (whoever they are) say you’ll see dramatic improvement in your sales closing cycle if you consistently follow this model.

I hope this works for you. Why not let us know what has and has not worked for you in the past.

Until the next time,

Jeff Mehl

jmehl@daybreakvirtual.com
www.daybreakvirtual.com
Phone:  845-790-2900
NYC:  212-863-9220
Toll-Free:  877-369-0066

Hi Everyone,

The word “virtual” comes up in a lot of conversation these days.  There is virtual memory (I wish I could buy some of that, I forget everything), virtual reality (isn’t that when the last kid leaves home and the dog dies?), virtual pets (aren’t they they best kind?), virtual makeovers (I’m married so I won’t touch that one!), virtual servers, virtual networks, even something called “virtual earth” – whatever that is.

What I’m going to talk about is “Virtual People.”  And no, I’m not referring to cartoon characters or the Avatar movie.  What I want to share is how “virtual people” can bring your business to the next level and why you should seriously consider using them.  (And isn’t that an annoying phrase?  How many times do marketers use “…bring your business to the next level” as a buzz word to get your attention – like I just did?).

“Virtual people” (better known as virtual assistants or virtual staff) can make the difference between night and day in your business.  More than that, the impact will often carry over into your personal life as well.  Imagine having an employee, or better yet, a team of employees, at your disposal to do all of those chores that typically keep you up late at night, cause you to miss the kids ball games, keep you pre-occupied when you should be relaxing and enjoying yourself, tie up your weekends, cause you to stay tied to your laptop and cell phone when you’re on vacation because you’re worried about missed opportunities, and otherwise take the joy away from owning your own business.  (You do remember the excitement and anticipation – and maybe even the fear – you felt when you started putting your business together?  The joy of your first sale?  I really hope you do!).  If you’ve lost that joy, then you need to listen carefully to the rest of this post!

What could that employee or team of employees do for your bottom line?  What if they could answer your phones and interact with your customers in a personal and professional way with the same care and concern that you would have?  What if you could be assured of not missing important calls and/or potential business?  Imagine having someone managing your appointments,  ordering your supplies, providing customer service follow-up, dealing with vendor issues, managing your database – basically doing all those necessary chores that keep you from doing the important stuff that only you can do!  Suppose you’re stuck in traffic, or a meeting runs late which puts you behind schedule.  Wouldn’t it be great to have someone in your office who could call your upcoming clients to advise them of your delay and either get their permission for you to be late, or to reschedule at their convenience?  You get the idea.

And what if you didn’t have to pay them for training time as you would a new employee?  (How many times have you hired an employee, paid them for training, orientation, etc, only to lose them after a few weeks or months?  How expensive and annoying is that?)

Now what if you had these employees available to you 40 hours per week, but you only paid them for the actual time worked?  And if one or more of them were sick or on vacation, it wouldn’t matter because they would have a replacement immediately available – AND you wouldn’t be paying for their sick time or vacation time.

If your office is in your home, which is an increasing trend, where do you put your employees?  Do they share the family bathroom?  Kitchen?  What’s your liability if they’re allergic to your cat?  Or if they slip on the ice cube that fell out of the glass of soda they poured from your refrigerator?  And if your office is in a high rent area like New York City, how much are you paying per square foot for each employee?  Imagine the savings if you could reduce the square footage of your office!  How much are you paying for their down time?  (Studies have shown that even really good, conscientious employees waste as much as 40% of their productive time, and you’re paying for that!  Click here to see the study).

Suppose this team of employees is not sitting in your office using your bathroom, complaining that it’s too hot or too cold, or tying up your expensive square footage, but they are “somewhere else”, waiting for the phone to ring while they work on the various tasks that you’ve assigned.  And if they’re not doing anything, then you’re not paying them.

What else?  Suppose this team is overseen and managed by a Virtual Admin Assistant who is responsible for your account and your satisfaction.  This person will become your new right arm.  In the role of ‘Virtual Office Manager’, she’ll know your business as intimately as an in-house Office Manager, and will handle some critical tasks personally, and delegate other tasks to her team.  You’ll train her (at no cost) and she’ll train her team.  Ultimately, you’ll have a small, dedicated team of 3-5 workers who are trained in the policies and culture of your office.

And now the best part:  Suppose you only pay for the actual time that they work for you?  In other words, if you only need one or two of them a couple of hours a week, that’s all you’ll pay for – even though they are available anytime during the normal workweek.  If you only get 3 phone calls a week – one on Monday morning, one on Wednesday at noon, and one on Friday afternoon, they’ll be answered.  How would you hire in-house staff for that?  If your business slows down a little, you would have to worry about keeping your employees busy – or dealing with hour reductions or lay-offs.  Not so with your virtual team.  On the same token, if you suddenly embark on a successful ad campaign and your business activity picks up, you don’t have to worry about bringing on additional staff or temps, they’ll be provided automatically – because you have a team at your disposal!

You get the idea:  You have access to a fully trained, professional team of employees as you need them.  The beauty:  They’re not your employees or your responsibility, so you don’t have to deal with all of the baggage that comes with having employees (I know:  I’m their employer so I’ll deal with that “stuff” so you won’t have to!!).

AND WHAT ABOUT COST? It’s not as expensive as you might think.  In fact, compared to hiring staff, it’s downright inexpensive.  We have plans beginning as low as $200/month for small businesses and startups.  In fact, the majority of our small businesses pay in the range of $300-$800 per month for the type of coverage we’ve discussed above.

And did I say that ALL of our staff are American based?  Absolutely!

Feel free to leave a post with your thoughts about this topic.  And of course, if you would like to discuss our virtual staffing solutions, send an email to jmehl@daybreakvirtual.com or give us a call at 877-369-0066.

Until the next time,

Jeff Mehl
jmehl@daybreakvirtual.com
Phone:  845-790-2900
NYC:  212-863-9220
Toll-Free:  877-369-0066

According to Guy Kawasaki, the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint is something we should all seriously consider when giving a presentation.  In a nutshell, he proposes the following:

10: Keep the number of slides to no more than 10.

20: The maximum number of minutes for a formal presentation should be 20 minutes, with any extra time devoted to questions.

30: The minimum font of a power point slide should be 30 points.  This will avoid jamming too much verbiage into the slide.

Guy’s blog has a lot of detailed information about the 10/20/30 rule that you’ll find interesting.  It’s also includes pertinent information for presentations in general.  Click here to go to his blog.

And again, a special thank you to Patrick Castillo of The Vendor Store for bringing this article to my attention.

Has this worked for you?  Feel free to post some comments and thoughts.

Thank you for your time.  I hope you found this information useful.

Until the next time,

Jeff Mehl
jmehl@daybreakvirtual.com

As we all know, accurate communication is a critical issue for all businesses, regardless of size.  And when using electronic media, it’ important to be brief yet clear and concise.  This month, I’d like to share some communications insight that I received from my friend, Josh Gordesky at Game Plan Communications (gameplancommunications.com) that I think you’ll find useful.  I did!

First though, the commercial (you know there has to be one, right?):

If you fall into one of the following categories, please continue reading.  If you don’t, then accept my congratulations and skip on down to the value-added portion of this email:

1)  You struggle to meet payroll every week; wondering if there is a less expensive way to accomplish the clerical/back office aspects of your business;

2) You don’t have employees or payroll to worry about, but you are overwhelmed and exhausted trying to keep up with your business; working 16-18 hour days and still falling behind.  You’ve lost the joy and passion of being in business for yourself because it has become all-consuming.  You’re missing family time, leisure time, and are wondering what happened to the benefits that you expected when you first made the decision to start a business!

3) You are at the point of impending failure!  You are missing business opportunities and deadlines, failing to return calls, and basically dropping too many balls because you lack office support.  You’re like that mouse in the wheel – just running and running and not getting anywhere!  And you’re getting really tired!

4) You are doing all of your business on your cell phone and/or relying on an answering service or answering machine to interact with your customers.  You want to appear more professional, but you can’t justify hiring in-house staff to help you.

If you see yourself in any of those categories, we may be able to help you, or at least point you in the right direction.  Give me a call so we can sit down over a cup of coffee and have a chat.  We’ll go over your situation and see if Daybreak’s model of an off-site clerical support team led by a Virtual Administrative Assistant is a fit.  (If you’re worried about cost, don’t assume we’re beyond your reach – we have plans beginning as low as $200/month).

And if we’re not a fit, I can help to point you in the right direction.  I hope I’ll hear from you so we can learn more about each others’ business.

Before I begin, I have to offer the following disclaimer:  “DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO!!”  By the time you finish reading this email, you’ll understand that I’m working on the advice you’re about to read, but I still have a way to go!!

When Josh Gordesky and I sat down a couple of months ago over a cup of coffee to learn about our respective businesses, he shared something that has stuck with me since then.  (I love simplicity and this is so simple, it borders on profound!!)

What is 300/30/3?

300: Don’t use more than 300 words in an email.  If you need more than that, then email may not be the best communication tool in this situation!  

30: Don’t leave a voicemail longer than 30 seconds.  Unless it’s a compelling message, most people stop listening by then!  

3: Don’t take more than 3 minutes to explain your business.  If you can’t make a compelling argument for your product or service in less than 3 minutes, then try a different approach.  By the time you hit the 3 minute mark, you’ve pretty much lost your audience and you’ll see them getting itchy and making excuses to move on…

TO CLOSE: I’d like to continue the conversation here on the blog.  Perhaps you can share some personal experiences of when an email or voicemail was too long?  Or maybe when it was just right!!  How do you respond to emails & voicemails that are too long.

Also, now you’ll understand why I started this with “Do as I say, not as I do.”  Not counting this paragraph or the credits below, this post (originally an email) has 679 words!  I hope you enjoyed reading all of them!!

And a special thank you to Josh Gordesky, President of Game Plan Communications (888-608-0999 - josh@gameplancommunications.com), located in New York City!

Best regards,

Jeff Mehl

Now that the national health care reform package is about to be finalized, most of us who own small businesses are obviously concerned about the costs of this overhaul, and this concern could result in hesitation to hire.  If that’s you, consider Daybreak Virtual Staffing as an alternative to hiring in-house clerical staff until we see how this new program plays out.

THE ELEVATOR PITCH: Those of us who network frequently are very familiar with the importance of this brief (+/- 30 second) introduction of our business to a potential client.  As important as this is, many of us have problems being concise and effective in using this critically important tool.  After all, if you can capture someone’s attention, they’ll listen.  And if you don’t, you’ll quickly lose them as they think about everything but what you’re telling them.  With that in mind, I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned.

To begin, understand I am NOT a business coach or adviser.  (I do know some excellent coaches and advisers.  If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll make an introduction).  I’m simply someone who has struggled with trying to come up with an effective elevator pitch that will generate interest in my business without appearing pushy, obnoxious, misleading or boring.  So let’s try to walk through this process together and see what we can learn.

THE SCENARIO: You’re at a networking event and you come across someone who would be a perfect client for your business.  You engage in a conversation and after some pleasantries, the person asks “So what do you do?”

You get excited!  Your pulse rushes and your pupils constrict as you think “This is it!!  Once I explain what I do and how good I am, he’ll have almost no choice but to ask me for a contract to sign on the spot!”

And you say:  “I own a virtual staffing company and I can save you money!” Then you wait for your prospect to tell you that you’re the answer to exactly what he needs.  You hold your breath as he says:  “That’s very interesting.  Ummm, I think I left my car running outside – I’ll be right back.” (As he walks away, it doesn’t even occur to you that you’re in the middle of Manhattan, so the chance of his running car even being where he left it is a long shot!!)

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THAT APPROACH? It was egotistical and self-serving; focusing on you rather than the client.  You need to be able to position yourself as a problem solver.  You’ll do this by communicating what you do in ways that will help him understand that you are a solution to his problem.

Small business owners are almost like a club.  Just like you, every business owner that you meet is struggling with issues and problems.  It’s inevitable in any business climate, but even moreso in this one.  So whenever you speak to someone about your business, realize it’s all about them!  And that’s all that matters.  If you can help identify a problem, and if you have a viable solution, you’ll have an audience.  Period!  If all you’re going to do is talk AT the person (or worse, hand out a business card as you walk past, forget it – don’t bother networking.  Your time could be better spent home watching TV).

You’ll want to quickly share some information about your company:

• What type of clients/customers do you work with?
• What problems do you solve?
• What solutions do you provide?
• What benefits do you offer?
• What results do you produce?
• What guarantee do you offer?
• And what differentiates you from your competition?

SOME THINGS NOT TO DO:

As mentioned above, everyone at a networking event is just like you.  They are either looking for prospective clients, or looking for cost effective solutions to their own problems and challenges.  (Or they could be looking for a date, but that’s for another post!!).  What they don’t want is a hard sell, or a lie, or misleading nonsense.  So you need to be as specific and brief as possible.  If you can relay a solution quickly and clearly that touches a problem they’re dealing with, you’ll get their full attention in a heartbeat.  And that will lead the way to further conversations, including a discussion of all that neat technology that you’re dying to talk about!

FOR INSTANCE: You might say “I work primarily with three types of small business owners:

• Those who are struggling with payroll costs;
  
• Those who don’t yet have employees but are overwhelmed and exhausted trying to keep up with their business;
  
• And those who have actually missed business opportunities and deadlines because they lack office or administrative support.”

Hopefully you are now getting your prospect’s attention, so you follow-up with the flip-side of the problem:  The solution!  Be as honest, straight-forward and logical as you can as you present the answer to the problem:

THE SOLUTION: “I give small business owners a personalized, significantly cost alternative to hiring in-house clerical staff.  By providing them with well trained off-site staff, the savings can be as much as 30% less than hiring in-house staff.  We give full time coverage for a part time fee, and we assure satisfaction with a money back guarantee.  For very small businesses, we even have plans beginning as low as $200/month.”

At this point, it’s in the prospect’s ballpark.  If your service provides a solution to his needs, he’ll likely ask you how you do this.  If he’s not interested, then perhaps your service is not for him at this time.  But maybe he’s a potential referral partner or possibly someone who can solve one of  your problems.  It really is a two-way street.  Remember why you’re at the networking event yourself:  To either find a client, or to find someone who can help you solve a problem.

To close, let me remind you again that it’s all about your customer.  Ask questions and listen carefully.  If you do this well, you could be developing a mutually beneficial long-term business relationship.

Thank you for taking the time to ready this.  I hope you’ll continue the conversation by sharing some of the interactions that have worked well for you, and those that haven’t.  On the other hand, what approaches have worked well to get YOUR attention, and what turned you off.

Best regards,

Jeff Mehl

Jeffrey T. Mehl
President
Daybreak Office Solutions, LLC
Daybreak Virtual Office
PO Box 161
Esopus, NY  12429  
Phone:  (845) 790-2900 
NYC:    (212) 863-9220

WEB:   www.daybreakvirtual.com
BLOG:  http://blog.daybreakvirtual.com
LINKEDIN: www.linkedin.com/in/daybreakvirtual
TWITTER:  http://twitter.com/daybreakvirtual
FACEBOOK: www.daybreakvirtual.com/facebook.shtml

NOTE: Special credit to Irene Brooks who's article "How To Tell Clients What You
Do" provided much of the information for this post (http://tinyurl.com/ye9xhms)

I’m running a little late on this month’s posting because the topic is so, well, yucky!!   That is, as I promised last month, I want to talk about BEDBUGS!!  (Yeah, you heard right!!).

As always, when I create these posts, I try to come up with a reasonable segue from our virtual office support services to the topic I want to chat about.  Today’s email was difficult (ie:  How do you jump from virtual office staffing to bedbugs?)  Well, it took some creative thinking, but Valerie came up with it:  “Since our service will give you more free time and the ability to get away more frequently, we want to make sure that you don’t bring bedbugs back with you when you return home.”  (Whew – that wasn’t easy!!)

FIRST, THE COMMERCIAL:  We’re modifying our name, but not our service:

One of our problems has been getting people to understand what we do without a lot of explanation.  People have assumed we sell office supplies, rent office space, sell virtual software, or that we are a temp agency who will send someone to their office.  We don’t do any of those things.

To resolve this, we’re changing our name to  “DAYBREAK VIRTUAL STAFFING.”  Since we provide clients with a Virtual Assistant (a real live, off-site person) who works with a virtual back office team (also real live, off-site people), the name “Daybreak Virtual Staffing” would seem to sum it up.  Of course, if you have a better idea, let us know by leaving a post with your thoughts and suggestions.

Imagine having the full functionality of trained in-house office staff without the hassles of hiring employees, at costs that are 20-30% less than hiring. 

If you think our virtual support services would be helpful, give me a call or email (jmehl@daybreakvirtual.com) and I’ll be happy to have a conversation to see if there’s a fit.

NOW, ON TO THE ISSUE OF … BED BUGS!!

(NOTE:  As I mentioned earlier, please feel free to leave a post with any insights or experiences you may have on this topic).

We’ve all heard, with revulsion, that bed bugs are becoming an epidemic.  These critters seem to be especially known for two things:

1)  They are travelers.  That is, they travel freely between hotel rooms, clothing, bedding, luggage, etc.  In hotel rooms, they often infest rooms that are side-by-side, and exterminators will generally treat adjoining rooms.   (HINT:  That means if you find bedbugs in a hotel room, don’t let them relocate you to an adjoining room!  I would ask to be put on a different floor).

2)  Happily, unlike flies & mosquitoes, bed bugs are not known for carrying any diseases.  So unless you’re allergic to them, there are no health hazards other than the ‘yuck’ factor.

It’s believed that bedbugs traveled from Europe to the USA in the 1600’s.  They were reaching epidemic proportions until after WWII when efforts were made to eradicate them.  Over the past decade, however, they have had a resurgence and are now a major nuisance.  Why the resurgence?  No one really knows for sure but one possible reason is the banning of many powerful insecticides.

WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE?  They are about the size of a tick, so they can be seen.   For instance, here are pictures of an engorged and non-engorged bedbug:

HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE A BEDBUG PROBLEM?   None of this is pleasant.  Look for:

- Small brownish or reddish dots on bed linens and mattresses (these are droppings and blood spots),

- You’ll find them hiding in mattresses (particularly under the buttons and beading), upholstery, and even behind wallpaper & picture frames,

- Heavy infestations can have a “sweet” smell.

- The appearance of little red bites on you without knowing why.  (They are rarely caught in the act of biting – they come out when you are asleep and only bite for a short period period of time).

HOW CAN I GET RID OF THEM?  It’s generally felt that home remedies are not very effective.  For instance, using a fogger will kill many of them, but possibly cause others to go to adjoining rooms, closets, etc, only to return when the fog clears.  Other solutions include using mattress encasement covers that completely seal the mattress.  That means that those inside will eventually die (which can take up to 18 months), but it doesn’t address those that are not hiding in the mattress.

The wisest thing is to contact a pest control expert to resolve the issue once and for all.  If you decide to call an expert, you can prepare for their visit by cleaning the area.  They will be looking for small crevices, so make sure the walls and floors are clear of “stuff.”  Speaking of “stuff”, avoid moving things from the bedroom to other areas of the house as the bugs will travel with the stuff.  Wash the bedsheets and any clothing (over 120 degrees) which will kill any bugs hiding in them.

PREVENTION:  It’s very difficult to prevent the spread of bedbugs.  One suggestion is to keep your luggage and clothing off the floor of hotel rooms and to wash everything when you return home.

- When staying in a hotel, pull the sheets and bedding off the bed when you first arrive to expose the mattress and look carefully for the signs noted above (red/brown spots, the bugs hiding in the crevices and under the mattress buttons, etc).  Look around the headboard, night stands and low hanging picture frames, etc.  Obviously if you find signs of bedbugs, you don’t want to stay in that room, or adjoining rooms.

TO CLOSE:  I hope you’ve found this information helpful.  As noted earlier, if you would like to continue the conversation and share your experiences with others, feel free leave a post.

Until the next time when we’ll talk about the impact of social networking on the job.

And, from all of us at Daybreak:  Our sincere best wishes for a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or a wonderful time however you celebrate the holidays.  And lets welcome the new year with enthusiasm (and hope it’s a better one than 2009).

Best regards,

Jeff Mehl

Jeffrey T. Mehl
President
Daybreak Office Solutions, LLC
Daybreak Virtual Staffing
PO Box 161
Esopus, NY  12429

Phone:  (845) 790-2900
Fax:  (845) 790-2901

WEB:      www.daybreakvirtual.com
BLOG:     http://blog.daybreakvirtual.com
LINKEDIN: www.linkedin.com/in/daybreakvirtual
TWITTER:  http://twitter.com/daybreakvirtual
FACEBOOK: www.daybreakvirtual.com/facebook.shtml

As I’m sure we all know by now, social networking is the new “THING” in business.  Whether you view it as a fad, or as a phenomenon that will change the course of business, you know it’s something you can’t ignore.  For the most part this media is free, so why wouldn’t you want to use it?

There are tons of paid consultants who can help business owners set up a marketing plan based on social networking, as well as many websites that gives lots of free information.  Having said that, let me say that I am not an expert in this new media!  I’ve been stumbling around this landscape for a while and am just now starting to get a little comfortable with it.  What this means is that I’m not going to offer any suggestions on how best to use these new tools – I’ll leave that to the experts.  What I would like to do is share some of the sites that we use at Daybreak, and perhaps encourage you to visit those sites to see if they might be helpful to your business.   I’d also like to know what has worked well for you.

TWITTER (www.twitter.com):   This is the one that has most everyone confused.  It wouldn’t seem like a source for business marketing, but it is being used fairly extensively.  One company I know uses twitter to feed their website so anyone visiting the site can see what projects are being worked on at that time, and to show the diversity of the company and its employees. Others use it to drive business to their website, and still others just to keep their name in view.

LINKEDIN (www.linkedin.com):  This is the classic business networking site that I’m sure everyone is aware of.  It’s a powerful tool, yet it’s being grossly underutilized.  For instance, I have about 90 or so contacts on LinkedIn.  In just about every case, it’s someone who I’m comfortable referring clients to.  What that means is that you can look over my contacts and I’ll be comfortable to make an introduction.  Since each of my contacts have contacts, the network can quickly become quite vast – yet most people don’t seem to be tapping into it effectively.

FACEBOOK (www.facebook.com):  This one is probably the most fun.  Although it’s primary focus is social, some have said that it is positioned to surpass LinkedIn as the business marketing tool of  the future.  After about 18 months of badgering by my family to join, I opened an account, but really did it for the purpose of marketing.  After creating my personal account, I created a business page as well as a Pay Per Click ad.  I had planned to focus most of my time on the marketing aspect of Facebook.  HOWEVER, I have to admit that I’ve come to enjoy the social interactions of Facebook, and usually neglect the business side of it.  One value that I do see is that it can give your business a personal “face”.  As people begin to see the personal side of the business owner, the business begins to develop that personality.  Not a bad thing!

- One suggestion:  If you are on Facebook to market, don’t be too obvious about it.  When people see that the only post from a person is an advertisement for their product or service, it’s a turn-off.

HUDSON VALLEY BIZ.COM (www.hvbiz.com):  Not to be mistaken for the publication with that name.  This is a network created by Edison Guzman which has a layout similar to Facebook.   Although registration is currently free of charge, there is a notation that it may become a fee-based network in the future, although current members will reportedly lock in their free status.  It’s worth checking out to see if it’s a fit for your business.

There are many other on-line social networking groups that can be helpful to small business owners.  Leave a comment and let us know which ones you use and why you like them.

IN-PERSON NETWORKING

These are groups that most of us are familiar with.  They meet at regular intervals to exchange information, swap business cards, etc.  The most classic examples are the local chambers of commerce.  They all provide venues for business card exchanges, seminars, breakfasts, lunches, etc.  They each have different strengths and weaknesses, so I would encourage each business owner to check out the local chambers and find the best fit based on your needs.

BNI (Business Networking International): This is a worldwide networking organization that is based on the model of “Givers Gain.”  That is, the philosophy that the more you give and invest in others, the more you will receive.

- Side Note:  This “givers gain” philosophy is tried and true.  Isn’t it interesting that it mimics the bible’s “Do unto others…” and the non-business model of “What goes around, comes around…?”  Nothing significant – it just struck me as interesting!

Anyway, each chapter consists of non-competing business categories that get to know each other well enough that a comfort level is created for cross-referrals.  People who are interested in the organization can visit local chapters twice and then decide if they would like to join.  The Hudson Valley BNI website is www.bnihudsonvalley.com and the international website is www.bni.com.  Although BNI is not a fit for every type of business, I would encourage you to check them out – it could be profitable.  Daybreak is a member of BNI and we have found be worthwhile.

Although BNI seems to be the most influential network in our area, there are other similar groups that can be checked out (www.letip.com, www.hudsonvalleybusinessalliance.com, etc.).  If you know of others first-hand, leave a comment and let us know about them and, if you are a member, the value you find in them.

- Quick note:  Most of the BNI-type groups consider themselves exclusive and will not permit members to join other groups that follow the same “non competion/referral model.”  Fair?  Probably not, but I do understand their reasoning.

Entrepreneurial Excellence Network
(www.meetup.com/Entrepreneurial-Excellence-Hudson-Valley):   This group is a spin-off of the Hudson Valley BNI Network by it’s Director, Frank DeRaffele.  Although many BNI members attend these twice-monthly networking events, non BNI members are also welcome to attend.  The evening meetings generally consist of a time for general networking, light dinner, presentation by a speaker, and table networking/problem solving.  They are currently being held twice a month – once in Newburgh, NY and once in Poughkeepsie, NY.  Although still evolving, these meetings seem to have a lot of potential.

Hudson Valley Business Networking Meetup Group (www.meetup.com/HVBusinessNetwork):  This is a new group that is forming in the Newburgh, NY area.  The organizer, David E. Dirks, is in the process of recruiting new members and will be planning events in the near future.

There are many others, but these are the events that we at Daybreak make every effort to attend, in addition to the six Chambers of Commerce that we belong to (Ulster County, Dutchess Regional, New Paltz Regional, Orange, Rockland Bus Assoc and Mahwah).

TO CLOSE: I hope you’ve found this information helpful.  As noted earlier, I would encourage you to leave a comment to let us all know of other venues that you have found helpful.  For instance, we are considering opening an office in Manhattan, so I’d like to know if anyone networks in NYC and, if so, what is the venue and how how has it helped you?

Until the next time when we’ll talk about BED BUGS!!

Best regards,

Jeff Mehl

What are some of your old favorites and what did they mean to you then?  And now?  Even if it’s corny, we want to hear what you have to say.

With that in mind, here are some thoughts I would like to share. (Understand that these are my opinions, so there is certainly a lot of room for discussion).

To begin, I think the most important concept of creating a business card is to KEEP THE RECIPIENT IN MIND!  You may be very impressed and excited about the look and feel of your business card, and that’s wonderful.  Just bear in mind that, in most cases, the recipient couldn’t care less.  All they want is your information, and they want it to be easy:

1) EMAIL ADDRESS: Email is now the most common form of contact, so every card should have an email address.  Personally, if I receive a card without an email address, I generally won’t try to make any sort of contact unless, of course, it’s from a potential client.

2) PHYSICAL ADDRESS: It’s understandable that small business owners who work out of their home may not want to publish their home address.  However, every business card should have a mailing address for contact – even if just a post office box.  Unless I know the person, I tend to be suspicious of people who seem to avoid letting me know how I can reach them.

3) PROFESSIONAL PRINTING: The last image you want to portray is that you are an amateur! How do you feel about a business that gives out cards that are dirty, ugly or printed on perforated paper with spelling errors?  Although most word processing programs make it easy to create business cards, and business card stock is available at most office supply stores, it doesn’t mean you should print them out on your home printer.  Using these tools to create some ideas to share with a printer is great, but the difference in quality is usually very noticeable.  A professional printer might also be able to help you avoid common mistakes.  Interestingly, it’s often less expensive to have cards printed in volumes of 500-1000 cards than it is to print them yourself.  

4)  WHAT DO YOU DO? If the name of your business makes it clear about the product or service you offer, then there’s no problem.  If it’s not obvious, then try to include a clear statement about the service you offer.  For instance, in our situation, “Daybreak Virtual Office” can mean anything from renting temporary office space to office related software; neither of which is what we do.  For clarification, we add “Off-Site Office Support” and “Virtual Personal Assistants” to the card so the recipient will at least have a clue.

5)  TAGLINE: Is there a tagline that will help people remember your product or service?  If there is, be sure to include it on the business card.  For instance, we use “The Office Redefined” as our tagline to help people remember what we do.

6)  GLOSSY CARDS: When sharing business cards, especially at a live networking event, it’s very helpful to write notes on the back of a card.  This way a potential client can be taking some notes about your conversation.  This is virtually impossible with glossy cards.

7)  USE THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CARD? There are mixed opinions about this.  On the one hand, that other side is valuable real estate to add more information about your product or service.  On the other hand, you are taking away space that a prospective client could use to write some notes about you to consider later.  You have to make that decision.

8)  FANCY GRAPHICS & FONTS: It’s becoming very popular to scan business card so they can be imported directly into contact managers.  Unfortunately, most scanners cannot interpret fancy graphics or fonts, which means the person has to make a lot of manual corrections.  If you want someone to have your information available (and that’s generally why we all hand out business cards), minimize the graphics and fonts to make it easy for the recipient to save  your information.

This is obviously a very quick, basic overview; mostly representing my own pet peeves.  There is a lot of information about how to create successful business cards on the internet.

I hope you found this information to be informative.  If you have other thoughts or if you disagree, leave a comment and we can start a conversation to see what works and what doesn’t.

Hope to see you at one of our upcoming events.

Jeff Mehl

When I logged on to LinkedIn some time back, I was greeted with a post that said something like “Between you and your contacts, you have approx. 28,000 contacts.”  That moment was almost an epiphone when I realized that 28,000 of ANYTHING is a lot!  Certainly in that 28,000, I could find enough qualified clients and referrals to retire from my marketing tasks.  (Well, maybe not really…. but you know what I mean).

The more I thought about it, the idea of the BNI model came to mind.  (For those of you who don’t know about BNI, it’s a worldwide networking organization where local chapters consisting of non-competing businesses meet weekly to get to know each other and share qualifed referrals.  It uses the concept of “Givers Gain”, which can never be a bad concept).  In other words, I wondered how the 28,000 of us could tap in to this resource for leads, strategic alliances, suppliers, personnel, etc.

For instance, I thought:  “Wow imagine the potential if I sent an email to 28,000 people.  Even if only 2 or 3% qualified to fill my need, that’s betwen 500-800 people – not a bad number!”  (I think they call that spam!!)  But then I thought of the Givers Gain concept.  So no, it wouldn’t be reasonable for me to attempt to contact 28,000 people without some sort of  reciprocity.  On the other hand, I certainly don’t want to receive 28,000 emails – and obviously no one else would want to either.   I also don’t want to go to jail for violating spam laws.

So there’s the dilemma!  We have this resource of 28,000 (or whatever your number is), but how do we tap into it?   I posed that question to all of my LinkedIn contacts, but didn’t receive as many responses as I had hoped, so now I’ll ask anyone:

THE QUESTION FOR YOU:  Who has some ideas as to how to make this tool really work – particularly when we have 2nd & 3rd degree access to so many people?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.  There are no right or wrong answers.  Who knows, maybe we can come up with some ideas the experts haven’t thought of yet.