I was in Denmark last month.
Not to take in Legoland or the Tivoli Gardens, but I did have a couple of very enjoyable days with Radio ABC Group, delivering sales training to help stimulate their advertising revenues.
I usually try and keep my training sessions collaborative, rather than boring presentations with fifty million slides, and on this occasion, I’m very glad I did.
You see, one of the best takeaways of the workshop came from one of the delegates, Tina Sørensen Strangholt.
A couple of weeks earlier, Tina had been to a networking meeting, which was definitely – to use a football analogy – a game of two halves.
Before the meeting, no one was particularly interested in talking to her.
Maybe they had bigger fish to fry, or maybe they weren’t interested in advertising. (We’ve all been there, right?)
Either way, it seemed like they left Tina standing awkwardly next to the croissants.
But then the meeting kicked off, and by the time it had finished everything had changed.
The person chairing the meeting was a local restaurateur, and just before he called the meeting to a close, he made a point of telling everyone in the room, that if they were serious about using advertising to get more leads and sales, they needed to speak to Tina.
He went on to say what a valuable advertising partner Radio ABC had been for his business and urged all the business operators to go and speak to her afterwards.
Which they did, with Tina collecting eight business cards, which soon after resulted in eight new business appointments.
What other people say about you, particularly people who have wide spheres of influence, matters A LOT.
You see, everything you say about yourself can be seen as marketing or advertising. However, when other people say things about you, it’s instantly regarded as more trustworthy.
What are you doing to increase endorsements and referrals, and build relationships with influential figures and organisations in your area?
Or, are you just leaving this to chance?
