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Peter Cochrane's Uncommon Sense: Business transformation

by Peter Cochrane

Why the new economy trumps the old economy every time (or at least almost every time)

Returning for 2004, Peter Cochrane gives us 12 tips to guarantee your organisation is a successful part of the new economy.


Over the past decade there has been a stark realisation that globalisation means increasingly tough competition and in many cases a fight for survival. But unlike in any previous period in our history, businesses face a world that is becoming increasingly fast, counterintuitive and commercially more dangerous. Moreover the perception of what actually constitutes value is increasingly confused.

Are today's investments in the dot-com world any less credulous and long lasting than the purchase of an old master – just paint on canvas with no intrinsic value of any kind and certainly of no direct benefit to society as a whole - or indeed antique furniture, which is just a few sticks of wood. Here we have items fundamentally worth nothing but valued in millions.

In comparison, our world of bits looks ever more solidly founded, with real customers, a service base, knowledge and a growing influence over the lives of everyone. The only uncertainty hinges on real value and that comes down to what people are prepared to spend.

Today we have an absolute focus on measuring everything in terms of money but a wiser choice of metric may turn out to be time. The key to calculating the value of an online business may be how many people are attracted to a website or service and how much time they are prepared to devote it.

Richard Feynman, one of the greatest physicists that ever lived, once said: "I think we can safely assume that no one understands quantum mechanics."

This is probably even more likely to be correct today. Unfortunately there has never been a Richard Feynman of economics or indeed any theories that come remotely close to explaining what is happening within markets. Nevertheless: "I think we can safely assume that no one understands the internet and the dotcom world."

Why is it we lack any models or theories of economics that are worth a dime? My guess is the dynamic nature of relationships and that the involvement of human emotions, creativity and greed result in a high level of unpredictability. But when a Feynman of economic theory does turn up I suspect the key formulae for value will include knowledge, information, access, reach, relationships, time, products and customer base as wholly stronger parameters than raw money.

If we could understand all of this it would be far easier to predict/guess the future. But just looking at the recent history of dot-com stocks, their rapid rate of growth and even faster fall, followed by their steady rise, it is clear that they are not only here to stay, they are here to dominate. Banks, insurers, telcos and many more have already been transformed by the internet but I’m not at all sure many of them see it that way. And it has only just started. There is much more to come.

I watch with interest as technologically celibate managers and politicians pontificate on the pros and cons, the opportunities and dangers of IT they seldom, or never, experience at first hand. Without a positive engagement in and with IT - and I mean actually using it for real every day - it is like watching porn movies and thinking you understand love and sex. Business and technology is also a hands-on game.

Broadly speaking, we are seeing all our commercial focus moving from the industrial economy to the electronic economy. We are realising a freedom of trade and action that borders on anarchy but in a constructive and dynamic manner that may realise the maximum benefit to society and the players. IT not only changes the speed and manner in which we can trade and do business but, more radically, it changes the fundamental characteristics of society.

So what must be done to realise a magical transformation of industry and business? Here is a short list of actions that are self-evident and necessary to ensure future success:

1) Keep it simple: Create a clear and easily understandable vision. Evangelise and sell to all the players and people involved. Communication is always the vital element.

2) Under- rather than over-manage: Let go at the top, empower people to succeed and provide the framework in which everyone is a partner.

3) Seek out supportive relationships: Find companies, organisations and people who salute and support your cause, and with the skills and facilities to satisfy and supply your needs. It is easier to be a winner when working with winners.

4) Build networks early: The return in any form of network goes as N^n, where N = the number of nodes, people or organisations, and n = an integer >2 .

5) Invert the rules: The value chain of the new is unlikely to resemble the old and will almost certainly be inverted.

6) Seek exponentiation: Find the routes to and mechanisms for explosive growth that far exceed the old linear markets.

7) Focus on customers: The future of business is about sucking up – really sucking up!

8) Virtualise: Outsource as much as possible – the days of do-it-all have long gone.

9) Technology: Use the best available – ultimately it costs far less than people – and you cannot win against competition with superior fire power.

10) Make information free: Let people have access – for without communication and data availability they will be disabled and ineffective.

11) Reward everyone: Make sure that all involved get a significant slice of any win.

12) Celebrate the winners – care for those in trouble: Remember the power of praise and the rehabilitating impact of concern and support.

Consider a Fortune 500 company that didn’t exist 15 years ago. It manages the expenses for over 20,000 staff with only two people. Everyone is trusted and electronic screening - with a few spot checks on reports lying outside the norm - is all that is required to police the system.

Now consider the governmental or 'old company' approach – no one is trusted and hundreds are employed to watch and police the activities of the rest. The cost is huge and the benefits negligible. People feel untrusted and unloved, while those wishing to defraud the company do it anyway and largely escape because it is unrealistic to devote sufficient resource to detecting and tracking crimes.

IT, the internet and freedom really work – but it is more about changing mindsets and behaviour than technology.


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How to Create a "USP" - A "Unique Selling Proposition"

by Jay Abraham

Even while you creatively imitate others, remember that it's also important to be different. Distinguish your business or practice from all the rest. Make your enterprise special in the eyes of your customer or client. That is the goal I want you to pursue. How do you get your business differentiated? By creating a Unique Selling Proposition - or USP.

A USP is that distinct and appealing idea that sets you and your business, or practice, favorably apart from every other generic competitor. The long-term marketing and operational successes I help you achieve will, ultimately, be helped or hurt by the USP you decide upon.

The possibilities for building a USP are unlimited. It's best, however, to adopt a USP that dynamically addresses an obvious void in the marketplace that you can honestly fill. Beware: It's actually counter- productive to adopt a USP if you cannot fulfill the promise.

Most business owners don't have a USP, only a "me too," rudderless, nondescript, unappealing business that feeds solely upon the sheer momentum of the marketplace. There's nothing unique; there's nothing distinct. They promise no great value, benefit, or service - just "buy from us" for no justifiable, rational reason.

It's no surprise then that most businesses, lacking a USP, merely get by. Their failure rate is high, their owners are apathetic, and they get only a small share of the potential business. But other than a possible convenient location, why should they get much patronage if they fail to offer any appealing promise, unique feature or special service?

Would you want to patronize a firm that's just" there," with no unique benefit, no incredible prices or selection, no especially comforting counsel, service or guarantee? Or would you prefer a firm that offers you the broadest selection in the country? Or one with every item marked up less than half the margin other competitors charge? Or one that sells the "Rolls Royce" of the industry's products?

Can you see what an appealing difference the USP makes in establishing a company's perceived image or posture to the customer? It's ludicrous to operate any business without carefully crafting a clear, strong, appealing USP into the very fabric of the daily existence of that business.

The point is to focus on the one niche, need or gap that is most sorely lacking, provided you can keep the promise you make.

You can even create hybrid USPs - combinations that integrate one marketing gap with another. Before you decide on a USP, though, be sure you can always deliver that USP through your whole organization. You and your staff must consistently maintain high levels of quality or service.

If you decide your USP is that your company offers the broadest selection of products or services "instantly available" or "always in stock," but in reality you only stock six out of 25 items and only a few of each item, then you're falling down on the essence of your USP promise, and your marketing will probably fail. It is critical to always fulfill the "big promise" of your USP.

If you don't honestly believe you can deliver on your USP, pick another one to build your business on. Just be sure it's unique and that you can fulfill it.

Remember, the USP is the nucleus around which you will build your success, fame, and wealth, so you better be able to state it. If you can't state it, your prospects won't see it. Whenever a customers needs the type of product or service you sell, your USP should bring your company immediately to mind.

Clearly conveying the USP through both your marketing and your business performance will make your business great and success inevitable. But you must reduce your USP to its sinewy bare essence.

Try it. With paper and pen, prepare a one-paragraph statement of your new USP. At first, you will have trouble expressing it tightly and specifically. It may take two or three paragraphs or more. That's okay. Ruthlessly edit away the generalities, and tenaciously focus on the crispest, clearest, most specific promise you could possibly hold out. Then, rework it and hack away the excess verbiage or hazy statements until you have a clearly defined, clearly apparent Unique Selling Proposition a customer can immediately seize upon. And then, integrate your USP into every marketing aspect of your business, such as display advertising, direct mail and field selling.

Let's say you run display-type ads, and your USP is that you have better selection and follow-up service than any other competitor. There are several ways to integrate these qualities into your ads. For example: State the selection USP in the ad headline:

"We Always Have 168 different Widgets in No Less than 12 Different Sizes and 10 Desirable Colors, in price ranges from $6 to $600."

Or, if good service at an affordable price is your USP, use this as a model:

"ABC Tree Trimmers will trim and maintain your trees and shrubs six times a year, once every two months, and all it costs you is $16 a month, billed quarterly."

By now you should have the general idea that you should carefully integrate your newly adopted USP into the headline and body copy of every ad you run. And in every direct-mail piece you send out.

But integrating your USP into just your ads and mailing pieces isn't enough. You must integrate its positioning statement into every form of your marketing. When your salespeople call on prospects, everything they say should clearly reinforce your USP. They should explain the USP to the customer in a clear, concise statement. For example: "Hello, Mr. Prospect. I know your time is short, so I'll get right to the point. Your company manufactures widgets. You buy steel and copper from a competitor. You're currently paying $100 a ton for steel and $75 a ton for copper, of which you waste roughly 25%. My firm will sell you a higher grade steel and a higher alloy copper for $95 and $69 a ton, respectively, freight prepaid, which saves you an extra $3 a ton. Plus, we'll guarantee our metal will produce a waste factor of 15% or less, and we'll replace any wasted coverage, free. One last point, Mr. Prospect. It could be important. We'll furnish you with 50, $20 gauge titanium rivets and cap assemblies free with every 10 tons of steel you order this month. May I have your order?"

Throughout the sales pitch, your sales reps should refer to the USP benefits or advantages, showing the prospect why it's vastly superior to take advantage of your USP rather than your competitor's USP, if he or she even has one.

Don't try and merely have your salespeople "wing it." Insist that they do their homework. Make them sit down (figuratively speaking) and express the essence of your USP. Be sure they can clearly and powerfully express your USP in 60 seconds (the oral equivalent of a written paragraph), and then compellingly state how it benefits the prospect. Furnish your prospects with plenty of examples of how you honestly deliver your USP.

When an old, tired company or profession adopts a powerful, new, and appealing USP, it gives new life, new excitement, new interest and new appeal to the marketing plan. You're suddenly different, instead of just being another interloper preying on customers you've trapped into hearing your sales pitch! Now you're on the customer's side.

However, remember this axiom: You will not appeal to everybody. In fact, certain USPs are designed to appeal to only one segment of a vast market. There is a vast gulf between the upscale clients and the bargain seekers, and you probably can't reach them both. Which do you want to stake out as your market niche?

Don't forget my earlier advice. Don't adopt a USP that you can't deliver, or further marketing is useless. Also, analyze the market potential of various USP positions in terms of volume, profits and repeat business.

For example, the highest marketing niche may be in the exclusive, expensive USP, but the biggest money may be made in the discount-volume USP. There's a place for both, but if you try to ride two horses, you'll probably bite the dust. Remember too, that your USP is giving advice, assistance and superior service; it can't stop with mere sales rhetoric. It must become total company conduct. If someone calls in with a question, the people answering the call must extend themselves. The same goes for every person who interacts with that customer, from the cashier and the delivery person to the service or repair people. You and your employees must live, breathe, and act your USP at all times.

Sit down and write a synopsis of your USP for your staff, how you're trying to carry it out, and how everyone can project that USP to the world. Make their cooperation a condition of employment. The entire company must adhere to the USP. Talk to your staff, write scripts, hold contests, and reward people who distinguish themselves in promoting your USP. Set an example so that your staff can see the USP in action.

How can you ensure that you are in the hearts and minds of your customers after the sale? Here are a few good approaches:

* Immediately following a sale, write, call or visit your customers. During this follow-up effort, see that the customers feel important and special, and that their initial purchases are "resold." Repeat your USP and remind the customers how it helped them make their purchasing decision. Reassure customers about their wise decisions, and show how the same USP that served them this time will be there to serve them in the future.

* And again, state your USP, telling customers why you've adopted it, and why it's such an advantage to them. People rarely understand the benefits you provide them, unless you carefully educate them to appreciate your efforts on their behalf.

* A post-purchase follow-up incorporating the essence of your USP is vital, regardless of how frequently you "back-end" or resell to that customer. You enhance the customer's loyalty and value to your business by following up after the sale. At the very least, a follow-up call, letter, or sales appeal drastically reduces or eliminates cancellations, returns, refunds, complaints, adjustments and disputes, and reassures customers of the prudence of their recent purchase.

Good marketing requires that you give customers rational reasons for their emotional buying decision. There is a formula for success, and the USP, my dear friends, is truly an integral part of that formula.

Depending on the business, I usually advise my clients to offer frequent special promotions to their customers by mail, telephone or in person. Everyone wants to feel appreciated and personally acknow- ledged. By offering your customers genuine, specially priced deals or first choice, you endear yourself to them. At the same time, you enhance your customers' perception of your Unique Selling Proposition.

If your USP is service, your preferred promotions will be service- based rather than price-based. Give them extended service - for instance, a special offer of your basic service, or one year of free consulting or assistance not normally given.

Also, don't underestimate the profit potential inherent in special offers. Acquiring first-time customers usually costs a small fortune. Space ads have to reach tens of thousands of readers to produce a few hundred customers, so it may cost you $10 or more to acquire a customer. The same goes for TV, radio, or direct mail. Field sales- people may have to call on 15 to 30 prospects before they make one sale, so the cost of acquiring a new customer may be "hundreds" of dollars.

But once you satisfactorily deliver your product or service and have a core customer base, you can continuously rework and resell at a very modest cost per sale. When you have a list of customers who have already shown their willingness to spend money on your products or services, it costs very little to go to them with additional special offers. If you have 10,000 customers, it will probably cost $3,000 to mail them a letter. (At best, that same $3,000 for display advertising would probably generate only 100 new customers at a cost of $30 per customer.) Calling all 10,000 prospects on the phone would take five telephone sales people about a month. If they were on salary, that might cost you about $10,000 (for that month) or only about $1.00 a contact.

If broad choice is your USP, have a customer-service representative contact your customers to see if everything is satisfactory. If everything is not, offer to replace, repair or correct the product or service. Your customer-service people should know just as much about available choices and options as your salespeople. Give them reason- able authority to replace, repair or reinstall if there is any dis- satisfaction. Make them aware that their jobs depend on ensuring that the promise behind your USP is fulfilled. They should provide evidence to any customer with a problem, complaint or question that the USP is real and that the entire company is enthusiastically committed to doing whatever it takes to promptly fulfill the USP promise.

Anyone in your employ who does not, cannot, or will not promote your USP should be immediately replaced with someone who can and will. Your real wealth comes from repeat or residual business which will only happen if every aspect of your business is a continuous extension of your USP.

You can send a personal thank-you note, letter, or a computer-typed letter to customers. You can send a gift or a gift certificate. You can send items to correspond with holidays: A box of candy on Valentine's Day; a poinsettia, a turkey or ham at Christmas; a birthday card - the possibilities are many. If you add up the customer's value in future business or repeat sales, you can probably justify a sizable investment in his or her goodwill. Everyone likes to be acknowledged and feel they are special.

You should even integrate your USP into every contact with dissatisfied customers!

Whenever someone asks for a refund, replacement, or adjustment, instead of resenting the fact that you have to give back money, use that opportunity to reconvey the essence of your USP - either in person or by letter. If you have an exchange department, instruct that staff to courteously and sincerely reiterate your firm's USP, and assure the dissatisfied customer of the firm's commitment to offer more service, greater selection, better guarantees or whatever. Then, if you issue credit or a check, include a prepared letter expressing your deep commitment to your USP, and apologizing for any inconvenience, disappointment or dissatisfaction. With every refund, send a letter expressing disappointment that you did not fulfill the customers expectations, and strongly restate your firm's USP and your commitment to it.

Then ask the dissatisfied customer to please give you another chance to make good! And make it worth their while by giving them a discount certificate, a special bonus, offering three widgets for the price of two, or some other preferential treatment that shows unhappy customers you want their business back, that you appreciate them, and that you will make good.

Above everything else, never, ever lose track of the fact that USP is all about the customer or the client. It is not about me, you, the company or the profession. Don't make the mistake of aggrandizing your business. Instead, help your customer or client do some aggrandizing.

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This resource is (c) 1996 by Jay Abraham, a renowned marketing expert, and is taken from the "Jay Abraham's Business Breakthroughs" newsletter. Find thousands of resources to help you in business, on the World Wide Web at Smartbiz.com, http://www.smartbiz.com and at
Jay Abraham's web site - www.abraham.com


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Forget trends; real-world common sense prevails

by John Heckers

It's that time of year again, when a new crop of "consultants" and business books come out to tell managers how to be faster than a speeding bullet and jump tall buildings with a single bound.

While a handful of business advice is going to be valuable, most of it just peddles the latest counterproductive business fad.

Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet for management success. It requires a large dose of that most uncommon of commodities -- common sense. Here are a few tidbits of horse sense to help you excel at management -- no fads required.

No matter how good you are, management takes time, sensitivity and an understanding of human nature. There are no shortcuts to manage in "one minute," get out of the responsibilities or delegate away all of the dirty work.

Business and management are not sports contests, and trite analogies to sports are usually useless. The most common and popular programs try to tie business, management or sales success to a sports team concept.

In Olympic years, it's always "go for the gold!" The rest of the time, football analogies are popular, with the manager seen as the quarterback and so on.

But the training of athletes is dramatically different from the training of good businesspeople and managers. The office is not a gridiron or track meet. The rewards and rules in the business world are different, and forcing analogies to recreational activities is confusing and useless. Which brings me to ...

Rah-rah and "motivation" are no substitutes for hard work and competence. We seem to think that getting people "pumped up" and "motivating" them has some value, but numerous studies about results show exactly the opposite.

Bringing in motivational speakers and sports figures, having rallies, singing songs and the like may give a short-term (a week or two) bounce, but has no lasting value. The money companies spend on rah-rah would be much better spent on training management employees how to communicate effectively, manage better, make better hires and legally get rid of the deadwood.

A highly motivated loser is a time bomb waiting to go off. Mostly, what counts in business is not motivation but skill, experience and cultural fit. The eager beaver who messes everything up by his enthusiasm is almost a proverb. Give me the well-trained, moderately motivated plugger to the pumped-up incompetent any day.

Realize that few sane employees are going to be as excited about the company as you, as a manager, are. They don't have the same emotional investment, they aren't getting paid your salary and they don't have the same at stake. Live with it.

Superstars are a pain in the rear. Most companies reward the superstars. This is a major mistake.

There are superstars, steady workers, mediocrities and deadwood in every company. Fire the deadwood ASAP. Put pressure on the mediocrities. Cherish the steady workers who actually get everything done. Watch the superstars like a hawk.

Superstars think they're heaven's gift to the company, are almost impossible to manage, are unpredictable and are likely to leave, taking your book of business with them. If corporate heads truly wanted to be more successful, they'd get over their infantile love affair with superstars and reward the pluggers. More work would get done with less management headaches.

Generally speaking, people don't change. Most attempts to induce behavior change in employees is a waste of management time. Don't waste time this way. Decide if you can live with the behavior or fire the person outright.

People have had somewhere between 18 and 70 years to become neurotic, narcissistic, controlling, whiny, tardy, manipulative and so on before you got them. You have about as much chance of changing them as there is of Middle Eastern peace breaking out. Save your energy for more useful projects, such as emptying the ocean one bucketful at a time.

The most valuable person in the company is the one who tells the truth. And, unfortunately, this is the most likely person to be fired. No emperor wants to be told that he has no clothes, and tends to shoot the courtier who points out this reality.

But an emperor with an honest courtier can get dressed. An emperor who shoots the messenger is still naked -- and with a rotting body on his hands.

Fire the yes men. Promote the cynic who tells it like it is. The cynic is almost always right.

Obviously, these gems of horse sense are nowhere near as sexy as the rah-rah and hype that sadly passes for business advice. But the bottom line is better served by a realistic (cynical) read on human nature than by the latest glitzy fad.

Try the latest fad if you want, but those who utilize common sense and hard work are much more likely to make it to the top.

John Heckers is a career coach in Glendale. Reach him at 303-463-7696 or jheckers@careershna.com.


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How To Grow Your Business Through Networking

by Rhonda Scher

Be Consistent and Have a “30 second” commercial or elevator speech

When you can tell others what you do in 30-45 seconds in a way that captures their attention, lets them know whom you do business with and how it helps others and leaves them wanting to know more, you have made an impression. Be memorable in a way that is a genuine reflection of you. Practice your commercial until it is committed to memory.

Stay in front of your clients and customers.

Maintain a database of your customers and clients and keep in touch with them. Send emails, articles of interest, postcards, or a holiday greeting. As a rule of thumb, keep in touch with your past customers no less than three times a year. Use promotional products such as calendars, pens, or mugs to stay in front of your customers.

Ask for Referrals – If you don’t ask, you won’t receive

Be sure to let your clients and customers know that your really appreciate their business and are building your business by referral. If they are happy with your services or product, ask them if they of others who might be able to use you or your services. When they give you a referral (and you might leave a form with them self addressed), send them a hand written than you along with a small gift such as a gift certificate to Starbucks. Ask your customers if there is some way you can help them build their business as well.

Testimonials – A third party compliment is the best kind

These are a great way to promote yourself in your brochure, website or by having a third party who is working with your target market endorse you. All you need to do is ask for them. Most people are happy to give you a testimonial if they like your service or product.

Become a Volunteer

Join groups and get on committees. Volunteer your time and get to know people. Finding out about you and your business is a natural outcome to giving of yourself.

Join a Chamber of Commerce

Join a local Chamber of Commerce and attend mixers, networking events and volunteer on committees. Meet new members, be a resource for others and get known in your community. People will seek you out as you continue to welcome and seek them out.

Exhibit and Attend Trade Shows

Trade shows are a great way to meet a lot of potential new customers at once — and for them to meet you. Keep your name in front of customers and give away promotional items to keep your name in front of customers and clients. Develop strategic alliances with others who are vendors and share leads.

Under Commit and Over Perform

Do more than you promise. Deliver your product or service earlier than promised and do exceptional work. You will be rewarded in more ways than you ever imagined.

Let Others Help You

The truth is that most people don’t know what they need. A networking truth is If you don’t ask, the answer is always “no”. There was once a cartoon that said what we lack in know how we make up for in “know who” Networking is simply allowing ourselves to be a resource for others and allowing others to be a resource for us. It is really about relationships and connections with the people we meet.

A few final thoughts

- Always thank others for helping you with a personal note and/or a small gift. A thank you goes a long way.

- Be genuine. Pay others compliments and be present.

- Keep in touch on a regular basis. Use the phone or snail mail more often than email. It is too easy to delete.

- Share and be generous. Give of your time, support those who may need some help and be spontaneous in picking up a tab or giving a small gift.

- Pay attention to how you make others feel. A wise person said, we don’t often remember what people do or say, but we remember how they made us feel.

- Keep your presence in front. Show up at events often, smile and be friendly. Become known in your community.

- Practice random acts of kindness. You never know where you will meet someone or when something nice might happen to you.

- Praise others both in their presence and their absence. Good word spreads fast and bad words spread faster. Only say good things and be genuine.

- Make sure you do what you say and say what you do. In other words, follow-up consistently.

- Practice an attitude of gratitude and smile and be friendly.

- Have fun!!!

- Smile and smile and remember to smile.

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Network Guru - Why I Network

Thomas Power


Many members have asked me this month to address the questions as to why I network, how I network and what the secrets are to my kind of networking:

The first question you need to ask yourself is how much money do you wish to earn each year? Networking is a very precise science based purely on numbers.

What are the costs of your kids’ schools, your mortgage, your holidays and your running expenses? Without this question answered you cannot determine your networking activity level.

It is my belief that you need 1,000 people in your network for each £100,000 you wish to earn each year. If you are crazy like me and wish to earn £1m each year then yes you need 10,000 people in your network!

In other words each person you know is worth £100 per annum to you either directly or indirectly. Remember the money is in the links not the nodes. Too many people assume from this that I am talking about selling pensions to my family and friends, I am not. The value of nodes (close contacts) is that they lead you to links (distant contacts). The money, your money, resides in the distant contacts not the close contacts. Very few people I meet recognise this fact and continue to focus on their close contacts for money. This is wrong.

Close contacts for knowledge, distant contacts for money is the rule.

I am not talking about network marketing here and I certainly am not talking about selling Amway washing powder.

Just in case you missed that, network marketing is NOT my thing!

I am talking about people networking, I am talking about connecting with people and listening to and learning from what that they say. I am talking about making detailed notes in little black books, often verbatim notes on what is said during the series of questions.

Questions, questions, questions is the secret to gathering knowledge and only open questions will do i.e. questions that start with who, what, why, when, how, where and which. If you haven’t read Rudyard Kipling perhaps you should.

We live in a world where everyone seeks knowledge, contacts and deals. This is the new economy; this is the knowledge based economy. This is the so called high-tech, high wage economy that Tony Blair often refers to. Personally I believe this is utter nonsense as the internet is the most powerful deflationary economic network ever witnessed by man on earth. Prices are falling and the price paid for labour i.e. your salary is also falling and fast.

However it is certainly true that knowledge is the new money.

Knowledge is thus what you need to gather, exchange and trade in order to get money.

Without lots of knowledge you won’t eat in the new economy, fact!

Knowledge comes from people, books, websites, events, networking, reading, listening, observing, asking questions, pondering, debating, perusing and sharing. I also think knowledge comes from going to watch Chelsea beat West Brom 2-0 at Stamford Bridge and drinking beer with your mates.

I find that the most powerful knowledge comes from listening to people. So I personally focus my mind on meeting 1000s of people and listening (very) carefully to them.

I have met 4,000 of the 13,000 Ecademy members since 1998 when we started this business network.

I can only meet 1,000 members per year. This is my capacity. John Bromley makes sure I maintain 20 meetings per week, every week and 80 meetings per month, every month …except August, this is our holiday month. I believe in having a month of work in August, (I think it’s that French thing)

How do I get 20 meetings per week?

It’s quite simple really I write to members and say “May I come and see you please?”

Very few members refuse the opportunity of a meeting with me, why? Because I can guarantee to bring them knowledge, new knowledge that they don’t know or had never considered. Thus I bring and give value, if I didn’t no-one would be interested in seeing or listening me. In other words those who give, receive. Those who take never get a thing but loneliness in old age.

This is the new economy, face up to it, it isn’t going away, it’s simply going to grow, so if you want to eat well, get used to doing your 20 meetings each week to gather your knowledge (money).

Have I mentioned that knowledge is money in a different form?

I know 1000s of people, literally 1000s. I write to them and ask them if I can come and see them. Very few ever say No, but some do. I am not fazed in the slightest by rejection, I simply ask again another time under another guise with another angle, (I literally have an unlimited range of angles)

I do this relentlessly week in and week out. Fortunately for me I have a wonderful personal assistant in the form of John Bromley (my brother in law and a former policeman so he keeps very accurate records) who takes care of my manic schedule and books all these appointments into my diary. John also looks after all our money and as a result we never have any debt!

Every now and then perhaps once a week I get the chance to do a speech at a conference. To me public speaking is like resting. I don’t have to ask questions, I can just talk. I can present what I currently know which is a vast amount of present knowledge. It’s almost most like a hard disc unloading its data. It feels good, very good and it’s very emotionally uplifting. I laugh a great deal at myself and I laugh with the audience. To speak is to rest.

People come up to me after I have finished speaking and say “where did you learn all that stuff?” and I say "it’s because I read a book a week and meet 1,000 people each year."

Why do I religiously meet 1,000 people per year?

The reason is quite simple, networking works.

Every £1 you invest in networking generates £5 in income for you and your team. How simple is that?

Shall I say that again?

Every £1 you invest in networking generates £5 in income for you and your team. There you go, just in case you missed it the first time.

But what I notice is that many people around me just pay lip service to my theories. They say things to me like “it’s a nice idea Thomas but I don’t need to do as many meetings as you because I am far more focused and targeted than you are”. It is not me they are fooling, it is themselves. Networking is not selling and selling is not networking.

Selling is about transactions.

Networking is about knowledge.

These are different concepts do not confuse them or you will neither network nor sell effectively.

Selling is about closing and cutting a deal.

Networking is about opening and gathering information.

You can clearly see how different selling is from networking.

Many people think I am crazy to do this volume of meetings, to have such a huge network of people to meet with and learn from.

In the new economy knowledge is money and people are knowledge, thus people are money.

If you play that forward then the winner of the knowledge game is the one with the most people in their network. Put finer:

“The winner of the game is the one with all the names”.

Think about that for a moment. Ponder. Absorb. Take a deep breath.

“The winner of the game is the one with all the names”.

Each day as a result I spend time looking at the members who have just joined the Ecademy and I think to myself …hmmm I would like to meet him or her and listen to their opinion on that. Then I drop them a little note saying “may I come and see you please?” and John books the date into my diary.

The concept is noddy simple....

The hard work associated with networking is that I have to work 80 to 100 hours each week and this is very difficult to squeeze into a family of three children. I hope I get the balance right, you need to check with Penny if I do or don’t. I am keen to know what she says so please email her on pennypower@compuserve.com. After all Penny thought of this thing.

In answer then to those questions addressed at the beginning of this article.

Why I Network?
I Network for knowledge, because knowledge can easily be exchanged for money. Without knowledge in the new economy you will not eat and neither will your family. This will become critical in the next 20 years, right now I am a freak within 20 years I will be boring mainstream.

How I Network?
I relentlessly maintain a simple model of 20 meetings per week, 80 meetings per month and 1,000 meetings per year. This I remind you is only possible because of the backup and support I have from John Bromley. I recommend you get yourself a John if you wish to maintain this pace. Make sure he’s old and wise and a former songwriter and policeman

And lastly:

What are the secrets to my kind of networking?
I use the Ecademy each and every day hunting for new people to gather knowledge from.

I contact people and say “may I come and see you please?” using the Network button.

I cc John Bromley so John knows what I have said and who to follow up with.

I visit these members. I always like to visit their location, their offices, their home as you can tell a great deal from a place particularly a home or private residence. I have a very sensitive nose, you can tell a great deal from the smell of a place, (my mother told me this and she’s right).

I ask endless open questions using the who, what, why, when, how and which formula. I try never to ask a closed question like, will you, could you, do you, have you and so on?

I listen very carefully to what I hear. I write copious notes in my little black books that Penny buys me from http://www.moleskine.co.uk/ these are my favourite books, now I have hundreds. I recommend you use books that you can cherish not these silly books from WHSmiths which have no intrinsic value.

I make sure I buy and read a book from Amazon each week so I have plenty in my mind to prompt my questions. I have read every book on the Internet available so now I read anything Amazon recommends to me.

I visit perhaps 10 new websites a week to avoid going rusty or stale. It is so easy to go rusty or stale.

And finally and most importantly did I mention I always meet 20 people a week, 80 people per month and 1,000 per year.

I hope you enjoy networking like me with fellow Ecademy members; it really is great fun having friends the world over.

Warm regards,

Thomas Power
Chairman of Ecademy
ThomasPower2@Ecademy.com


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