I often tell my client to celebrate their successes.
Deep down we all love a bit of praise for a job well done. It might come from family, friends, colleagues, or clients, but just a simple “thank you,” “well done” or “that was great” can make us feel a whole lot better.
But sometimes it might feel as though compliments are in short supply. Maybe someone in your close family thinks “you should get a proper job” or “why are you bothering with that” and it can hurt.
Make sure when you do have a success you share it with people who will support and celebrate with you.
So will you help me celebrate?
This month has been absolutely amazing for me. Why?
This is from over 10,000 registered users, across 4 networking platforms, I was recognised for the effort I put into not only running 4Networking meetings, being part of 1Networking, engaging on the Network Central Social Media platform, but also for the support and time I give to other members and teams to help them understand how to get the most from networking.
From nearly 600 nominations, again I was recognised as being worthy enough for my nomination and supporting comments to be sent over to the judges – Ian, Marine, Sarah, Abid and Emma, fo them to decide if I am good enough to win this prestigious award.
Good luck to everyone in all categories and I look forward to seeing you all at the awards dinner in June.
FINALIST – Networker of the Year 2022
3 – Final throws of book collaboration
I’ve been writing my first book since Christmas and it’s going to be published next month. This was an idea which has come out of a friendship formed with Jenny Leggott from Transcend Zero, met through 4Networking,
So the first book in the Focus Guru Series, “Focus Guru – 52 ways to achieve your work life balance” was born!
We had a call between Christmas and New year, decided we could together come up with 52 tips on work / life balance and make a book. Less than 5 Months later, we have now added Jonathan Smythe to our collaboration. Here’s a sneaking peak at part of the back cover.
Sneak peak at part of the back cover
4 – Free marketing
I am passionate about making the most of everything a membership organisation offer to me. Part of my Network Central membership is the ability to go onto their social media platform and use it to raise awareness of myself and my business.
One of the best ways to do this is to get what is called “a full house”. This is where your name and picture is on every the front screen of every room. Just like this!
Full House – raising my profile
It means that everyone visiting the site has to see my name and my picture. The chances are if I track my profile views before getting the full house and after, there will be more visits to my profile after. This means more people will know about me, what I do and how I can help them than before I achieved the full house.
Network Central wins Business Champion 2022 Award for Covid success against the odds
Champions in Crisis 2022 awarded for resilience and quick thinking in the pandemic.
Network Central, the new home of 4Networking, the national business networking organisation with Face to Face groups in Stockport, Astley and Didsbury after Easter,and Greater Manchester online founded by motivational speaker and entrepreneur Brad Burton back in 2006, has won the NationalChampions in Crisis 2022 Award at Canary Wharf’s East Wintergardens on Wednesday 23rd March. It won the award for its resilience and quick thinking when its core face to face operations were decimated by the Covid-19 outbreak.
History of the network
4Networking’s turnover went from £2m to £0 overnight as its 5,000 nationwide meetings each year 12 groups in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, 4 of were run by myself, were immediately cancelled as a result of restrictions and lockdown. Moving fast, meetings were moved online, the first business networking organisation to do so, and a new platform, Network Central, was created, both for business appointments and community support.
Sockport Face to Face meetings launch
In the early days I ran 7 online meetings, now I run 1 online and 2 Face to Face meetings, with more face to face meetings planned for the future.
4Networking was started in 2006 by entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker Brad Burton to provide friendly, informal networking for business people around the country. It grew to become the biggest business networking organisation in the UK, with over 5,000 weekly meetings. When these were cancelled overnight by lockdown the network moved online to Network Central and now operates both online and with its trademark face to face events.
Everything happens for a reason, and it doesn’t always make sense, until it’s in your rear-view mirror. We’ve had to start from scratch in a way, but with the previous experience of building a business against the odds – people said 4Networking would never work when I started the organisation in 2006 whilst delivering pizzas at the weekend to keep it afloat. We were almost driven out of business by Covid and winning this award is testament to everyone who stuck with us and supported us to get through this most difficult period. It’s indicative of a new dawn for UK SMEs in general. Ironically, two years to the day that Boris Johnson first told us to stay home, we won this award. We really did get through it. Together! – Founder Brad Burton
Who we were up against
Network Central was nominated against brands such as Insignia and Mercedes’ AMG and DPD UK, and was presented with first place by BBC News at Ten presenter Huw Edwards. Ironically, Founder Brad Burton was unable to attend after testing positive for Covid the day before, but Directors Terry Cooper and Jen Hinds accepted the prize.
“Network Central was more crucial than ever for businesses in Greater Manchester and Cheshire as the pandemic struck as being able to network online and receive business and moral support was the only way to survive it for many. We’re so pleased that it has come out of the other side and now we’re able to meet face to face in venues including Bredbury Hall and The Point at Astley again. Well done to all involved for winning this award.” – Rachael Chiverton
The future
Who knows what the future holds for business networking, however I am super proud to be part of this award winning network and look forward to more business and social networking meetings, both on and offline launching in the near future.
A few weeks ago I ran the FIRST EVER 4Networking truly hybrid meeting, with the Founder Brad Burton presenting, called a 4Sight, from his home in Somerset due to Covid, to our attendees at Bredbury Hall.
The FIRST hybrid 4Networking meeting
If you would like to get involved in helping launch any meetings then please do get in contact with me.
For this months blog I wanted to look at how recovering from the Leo & the Lion incident related to the processes, systems and mindset that my clients focus on.
How did I get back to walking leo?
I’ve had to learn to take things one stage at a time whilst still recovering from the incident with Leo & the Lion! What do I mean by that? Well when you have a knee that makes you go Oww when ever you walk down a pavement, walk too fast, turn only the top half of your body to look behind to see if it’s safe to cross a road then you have to be careful and plan your routes.
What it has meant for me in the last 8 weeks, was the first 5 weeks I wasn’t walking Leo at all, in fact I was resting my knee so the healing process could start. Over the last 3 weeks I started by going out with various people whilst they walked Leo with me accompanying them at the speed I was comfortable with.
Next came me having Leo when he was on “dog time” which is when he’s allowed to snip and roam to the extent of the lead but no more. It’s his freedom time, it’s the time when predominately the lead is slack and he doesn’t pull.
Then only this week I’ve started walking him with someone else with me. So I predominately have Leo the second half of the walk, once he’s burnt off his over enthusiastic start to the walk and he’s had his “dog time” so is more capable of walking at the pace I want to go at.
What the heck has any of this got to do with business?
I regularly work on my clients, especially those who procrastinate or suffer from overwhelm, by looking at the tasks they have on their achievement list and we review why they aren’t achieving them.
Predominately it’s because they are too large.
Overwhelm about decluttering an office
A cluttered office or home creates a cluttered mind. If you have a clear desk, you also have less on your mind.
By having a sort out and a tidy round you will feel more relaxed, more focused and more energised.
Also you won’t be thinking “I still need to do that” or “When will I get time to sort this out”
By clearing your home or office, you will be clearing your mind and freeing up mental space and you’ll have better focus on your current task.
If this seems like a massive task to sort a room, chunk it down.
Disorganised shelves can give a sense of overwhelmOrganised Shelves organised mind
Chunk it down
Rather than think I need to tidy the office, focus on a shelf, a drawer, one corner of your desk.
Once you’ve achieved sorting that out celebrate, make yourself a brew, sit in the garden and listen to the birds for 5 minutes, tell someone you’ve done it.
By celebrating this small chunk you’ll be more motivated to achieve another chunk and before you know it you’ll have tidied your whole office!
I’d love to hear from you about what task, personal or business you’ve chunked down and achieved this week. Why not book in a call with myself to share your success, or struggles with chunking it down?
As always I appreciate your time is limited and I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to read my blog.
Let me introduce you to Leo. He was a 5 month old Collie / Alsatian cross when we rescued him last November. Now, just 8 months old he’s growing in confidence and character.
Leo 8 month old collie / Alsatian cross
The Incident
His confidence in us is growing, his confidence when he came across a stone lion, on the left, in the dusk wasn’t so high. He saw it out the corner of his eye, thought (or I think he thought) “PREDATOR RUN”.
And that he is what he tried to do. Unfortunately he was attached to me! In a split second I was on the pavement / road landing nose first, knees next! Leo was at the full extent of my right arm and lead away from me in the middle of the road.
The next day I carried on as normal, going for walks, going to his training lesson looking like I’d been 10 rounds with Mike Tyson to my face and with aching, very swollen knees! It’s just bruising I thought.
Leo looking at the lion in daylight
A week went by
Deciding to take time off from my part time role was a must, I wasn’t focussing I wasn’t concentrating and I was in pain.
ENOUGH I told myself!
I got a physio appointment and went for my assessment.
Turns out I’ve damaged both ligaments either side of my left knee as well as given myself a swollen fluid sack beneath the knee cap. Rest, Ice, Heat, a knee support and elevation were needed.
Time to put MYSELF first!
You’re longest serving, highest income generating client.
I need to put myself first for the next 5 weeks, no driving. Flat short pavement walks only. No holding Leos lead in case I twisted my knee when reacting to him.
Working with my clients about their time management mindset, I teach them all that you’re longest serving, highest income generating client is the same for them, as it is for me, as it is for you.
It’s MYSELF
Without myself, you have no family, no friends, no business, no employment, no way of generating cash or servicing those you people you need to be there for.
I had to put MYSELF first. I reduced my part time hours, I worked sometimes from the sofa. I got lifts to my face to face networking events. I asked for help and support.
Everyone of my clients fully understood I need to put myself first.
So my question to you is
When did you last put MYSELF first?
Do comment or email me and let me know when you last put MYSELF first.
Want to be informed each month about what I’ve learnt from Leo about life and business? Then sign up here.
I’ve talked lots about the benefits of following up after networking meetings and I’d like to share two different strategies to help you make the most of your follow-ups without experiencing overwhelm or getting distracted by…Squirrels!
When I attend a new networking meeting, I know I’ll meet around twenty people each time. Over the course of a week I might meet over a hundred new people plus catching up with people I’ve already met. Without a proper follow-up strategy in place it could be very time consuming and difficult to keep track of who asks for more information and who wants to order from me.
Following up is so important in networking
If someone doesn’t want my services or need them right now, I can also keep track of potential opportunities where I can recommend that person to speak with other people that I’ve met networking. An example of this would be recommending a mortgage advisor or removal company to someone looking to move home or office, or a mechanic to someone who needs help with their car.
Having lots of networking contacts helps you become a problem solver, simply by connecting people together who might not have met each other. To make the most of your contacts, it’s important to follow up with them regularly, adding value with each conversation.
“I attended Rachael’s Follow Up training session and afterwards I felt motivated and immediately implemented some of the things we discussed. I will be back to carry on and will book a further Follow Up session!” – Liz Johnson, Pet Health and Welfare Specialist
There are two main strategies for following up and these are 121 Follow Ups and One To Many Follow Ups. They each have value and can be used successfully depending on how much time you can invest in your follow-ups and how you prefer to carry out your follow-ups.
121 Follow Ups
As the name implies, you’re following up one to one, you and the other person. This is a great way to continue a 121 meeting and find out more about the other person. It offers you the chance to get to know someone better and consequently find out if they want or need what you do, or whether they can be someone you can recommend or refer to another of your networking contacts in the future.
In my Focus Guru Networking Follow Up Power Hour I talk more about the power of 121 Follow Ups and how you can implement technology solutions to make your follow up process simple and stress-free.
One To Many Follow Ups
A “One To Many” follow up typically involves a generic message talking about what you do and how people can find out more. You can also include a call to action and a special offer or a time-limited offer, as well as your website and social media links.
One of the most successful ways to do this is to address a problem your contacts might be having and show them how your product or service can remove the problem and/or the cause of the problem. You can write this in the content of your message and track which of your contacts opens the message and what they do next. With many mailing list solutions you’ll also have access to see whether they click on the links inside your message as well.
I cover making the most of your message tracking information in my Focus Guru Power Hour and highlight exactly how important it is to know your numbers when carrying out a methodical follow-up process to maximise your time, energy and resources when following up.
“Rachael led the session well and is a patient teacher. I recommend giving one of these informative sessions a go.” – Liz Johnson, Pet Health and Welfare Specialist
I had my 1st vaccination 5 hours ago and so far I’ve had no reactions at all. The injection itself was less painful than the Depo injection I have every 3 months. The fact the Depo is also injected into the muscle means I didn’t feel the pain, really.
My hubby by now was complaining of a sore arm, a fever, a headache amongst other things.
I had less pain than my Hubby after the injection
I don’t have medical training, this is just my thoughts.
I want to clarify, I don’t have medical training or nutritional training. These are my pondering on my choices, sharing some of the information I’ve been given and listen to. This me thinking about the things I do but my Hubby doesn’t and why I think they have helped me with my reactions so far.
Why am I sharing this?
I’ve seen other friends share on Social media and in very safe groups about how they have been affected by having the vaccine and if I can help someone I know to not have as bad a reaction as my Hubby, I really want to help them.
It’s not all about Genetics.
In my view it’s not all about my genetics, as a family member keeps insisting and the hubby keeps reiterating to me. The person saying this has no medical training, no training in genetics. They refuse ,as does my hubby, to accept it could be down to my choices of supplements, the fact I listen to friends who are on the front line and follow their advice.
It’s not all about the genes
What advice did I get?
This is written in the order I did things, not in order of preference or bias.
24 hours before your appointment.
PARACETAMOL My friend who works on the front line said to me, she had heard taking paracetamol for 24 hours before you have the jab (injection). I did this, don’t know if it made a difference, however when I’m given advice from someone on the front line who is around people with medical knowledge, as well as having medical knowledge themselves I’m going to listen.
SUPPORT YOUR IMMUNITY. As part of my daily routine I normally have 1 sachet of Immunity Support each day. In the 24 hours before my jab I upped this to 2. A single serving of this vegan food supplement pouche are a convenient way to get essential vitamins and minerals along with an instant pick me up any time or any place.
Drink more water. As a rule I already drink loads of water, I have a litre of water with a supplement that helps support cognitive performance including aspects like memory and learning and a supplement that delivers a blend of electrolytes to support isotonic balance and rehydrates cells to promote proper muscle function. In the morning especially if I’m on a heavy computer day as I need to keep hydrated when working at the computer.
No downside to drinking more water
1 hour before your appointment
Take 2 paracetamol, again I don’t know if this helped but as mentioned I didn’t find the injection painful nor has my arm become painful so maybe it does help.
Take 1 Sachet of the Immunity support. I took a sachet of my immunity support supplement an hour before so my body had time to absorb it.
After the appointment
Another friend of mine, who is a volunteer organiser for the vaccination appointments, advise taking regularly paracetamol for 24 / 48 hours after the appointment. They advised that the younger generation (40s) struggle more with the vaccination in general than the older generation, their own sons had a much more severe react than they did. They advised that paracetamol every 4 hours for 24 / 48 hours really helps with managing / reducing the symptoms.
4 hours after my appointment I took another sachet of immunity support sachet.
Currently (5 hours) after the injection
We’ve just got back from a dog walk, during which I called into Tesco to pick up some new food and some some fish to add to her current food to see if we can’t tempt her to eat it. We also needed a loaf, in case I do have worse symptoms tomorrow. I carried the shopping home, a mile and a half and have no pain in my arm.
I have no headache, I’m not shivering, I’m not feeling tired. I’m writing this watching the Eprix.
Home from a dog walk & shopping trip
What do I differently to my hubby?
1 – Positive Mental Attitude.
My hubby has been telling me, “I’ll get worse” or “Your arm will start hurting later” or “You just wait”. Every time my response was “I’ll be fine”. The family member I mentioned earlier had been telling him since he got the date we would react badly and should expect to really struggle. I think he got into his head to expect nothing else.
I believe that a positive mental attitude and the self believe that you’ve done everything to help your body deal in the best way to jab is the huge part of the battle.
2 – Listen to people with knowledge.
Hubby listened to hearsay, his main advisor was someone with no medical training. The only experience they had a of being jabbed was their own and their partners.
I listened to people who are on the front line, have medical knowledge and took their advice.
3 – I use supplements
As a couple we do eat well, we cook most things from scratch using herbs from my garden and later on in the year we have salads and veg from the garden too. However I believe in putting myself first and I work with my clients on the easiest way to do this too.
So give my body the best chance to deal with the jab, the supplements I have used which my Hubby doesn’t have given my body the additional supplements of:
Vitamin C
Zinc
Selenium
Naturally derived caffeine from Green Tea Leaf and Guarana Seed
Vitamin E
Vitamin A
Do they actually make a difference? I don’t know but I’m feeling a lot better than he was.
4 – Paracetamol Regularly
I have taken paracetamol regularly before and since my jab, my hubby only took it once he was feeling very ill.
5 – Ignore your arm
The more you focus on something, the more you subconscious focuses on it and the more you worry about what’s going on. My hubby was constantly looking at his arm, seeing if “he had stopped bleeding” or “if he’d got lunch” or “if it ached more”!
I have an arm, like I have a back, a bum, a neck, a face. Don’t focus on it and your subconscious won’t.
6 – Drink more water
There is no downside to drinking more water,
Conclusion
I’ve shared here what I’ve done differently to my hubby and I do believe that some, if not all of it, has meant I’ve had less a reaction to the jab.
I am an Arbonne Independent Consultant other products are available. This article is based purely on my experience since having my first Covid vaccination, not on scientific data.
If you’ve ever opened LinkedIn with a feeling of dread at all the notifications you’ve received, all the posts you’ve been tagged in and all the connection requests from people you’ve never heard of, then you’re probably experiencing LinkedIn Overwhelm.
Do you feel like this from Linked In
Experience LinkedIn Overwhelm
LinkedIn Overwhelm is a very real problem. There’s a huge pressure to expand your network of connections. The theory is that if you have a large network, you’ll gain more customers, or if you have a large network, you’ll get more reactions, comments and shares. But this isn’t necessarily the case. Yes, having a large network is beneficial, but only if they are your target audience.
I talk about finding and understanding your target audience in my Focus Guru LinkedIn Power Hour. It’s important to know who you’re putting your message in front of. Otherwise you might end up posting about the amazing washing machines you sell to people who’ve already bought them or talking about red cars to an audience who want blue cars.
This is where having the right audience is important. You need to find the people who are actively looking for what you do as they will be the captive audience for the stories you want to share. These are the people who are most likely to interact with your posts and read your articles. Getting this right can relieve you of some of the symptoms of LinkedIn Overwhelm.
How do you manage Linked In Overwhelm?
The question is, how do you make it manageable and avoid overwhelm on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn Overwhelm is a big problem for many people. I explain more about this in my Focus Guru LinkedIn Power Hour, where I help business owners and employees build a structure for managing LinkedIn to make the most of this social media platform. This is important because LinkedIn is still the primary social media platform for business use and plenty of business gets done through posts, articles, messages and phone calls.
It’s easy to experience overwhelm on LinkedIn, but also easy to find a solution. LinkedIn one of the world’s largest social media platforms used daily by millions of people across the world. Even within a small network of connections you may find there are dozens of posts every hour. Every post takes a little brain power, either reading through the post or checking whether the post needs to be read or scrolled past. Every small decision to read or scroll past uses our energy.
What fears does this create?
We have a fear of missing out. We fear other people are using LinkedIn better than we are. We want to be seen and can fear we haven’t been listened to. There’s also a fear that if we’re not ever-present on LinkedIn that we will fade into oblivion.
These are the fears which lead to overwhelm.
You may have already experienced these fears.
Maybe you know someone who has LinkedIn Overwhelm?
Whether you are new to LinkedIn or a regular user who wants to learn more about LinkedIn please consider booking a Focus Guru 121 Power Hour where I can share my LinkedIn tips and strategies for managing your time effectively on the LinkedIn social media platform.
I’ve talked lots about the benefits of following up after networking meetings and I’d like to share two different strategies to help you make the most of your follow-ups without experiencing overwhelm or getting distracted by…Squirrels!
Ban the Squirrels, take back control
When I attend a new networking meeting, I know I’ll meet around twenty people each time. Over the course of a week I might meet over a hundred new people plus catching up with people I’ve already met. Without a proper follow-up strategy in place it could be very time consuming and difficult to keep track of who asks for more information and who wants to order from me.
If someone doesn’t want my services or need them right now, I can also keep track of potential opportunities where I can recommend that person to speak with other people that I’ve met networking. An example of this would be recommending a mortgage advisor or removal company to someone looking to move home or office, or a mechanic to someone who needs help with their car.
Having lots of networking contacts helps you become a problem solver, simply by connecting people together who might not have met each other. To make the most of your contacts, it’s important to follow up with them regularly, adding value with each conversation.
“I attended Rachael’s Follow Up training session and afterwards I felt motivated and immediately implemented some of the things we discussed. I will be back to carry on and will book a further Follow Up session!” – Liz Johnson, Pet Health and Welfare Specialist
There are two main strategies for following up and these are 121 Follow Ups and One To Many Follow Ups. They each have value and can be used successfully depending on how much time you can invest in your follow-ups and how you prefer to carry out your follow-ups.
121 Follow Ups
As the name implies, you’re following up one to one, you and the other person. This is a great way to continue a 121 meeting and find out more about the other person. It offers you the chance to get to know someone better and consequently find out if they want or need what you do, or whether they can be someone you can recommend or refer to another of your networking contacts in the future.
In my Focus Guru Networking Follow Up Power Hour I talk more about the power of 121 Follow Ups and how you can implement technology solutions to make your follow up process simple and stress-free.
One To Many Follow Ups
A “One To Many” follow up typically involves a generic message talking about what you do and how people can find out more. You can also include a call to action and a special offer or a time-limited offer, as well as your website and social media links.
One of the most successful ways to do this is to address a problem your contacts might be having and show them how your product or service can remove the problem and/or the cause of the problem. You can write this in the content of your message and track which of your contacts opens the message and what they do next. With many mailing list solutions you’ll also have access to see whether they click on the links inside your message as well.
I cover making the most of your message tracking information in my Focus Guru Power Hour and highlight exactly how important it is to know your numbers when carrying out a methodical follow-up process to maximise your time, energy and resources when following up.
“Rachael led the session well and is a patient teacher. I recommend giving one of these informative sessions a go.” – Liz Johnson, Pet Health and Welfare Specialist
How much did you make last month? No, I’m not asking you to tell me how much, I’m just curious to ask if you know your numbers and if you know why knowing your numbers is really important. At Focus Guru I help small business owners learn the best way to keep track of the important numbers within all areas of their businesses.
Do You Know Your Numbers?
Perhaps the most obvious place to start is in your accounting software, Excel spreadsheet, or pen and paper notebook, to see your incoming sales and outgoing expenses. I work with clients to help them identify their absolute minimum income to survive. Then I ask them how much their dream income would be and what they would do with it.
Absolute Minimum Income
Dream Income
These figures are usually easy to identify but it’s surprising how often they can be overlooked. I recommend checking your outgoings as much as your income as often there are savings to be found. For example, a Focus Guru client changed their utility supplier and saved hundreds of pounds over the year. This wasn’t a sale. It wasn’t generating money. It was being savvy and cutting back on unnecessary overheads by breaking away from an uncompetitive supplier.
Check Your Outgoings
Find Hidden Savings
Compare and contrast your numbers
I also recommend comparing and contrasting your numbers. I cover this in more detail in my Focus Guru Power Hour, however the principle behind this is to work out your numbers for each month and compare this month with last month and with this time last year. Don’t put your head in the sand! If you spot a problem, that’s a good thing. Problems can be fixed but if you don’t know what’s going on, that’s when small problems can become big problems.
Know Your Accounts Numbers
Also Know Your Business Numbers
In the Focus Guru Power Hour I talk about knowing your business numbers. These can be anything from how many customers you target, how many 121 follow-ups you do, how successful each meeting is for your business, and much more.
Networking numbers are key to return on investment.
Do you know your conversion ratio from your networking 121s? Do you know how many phone calls you need to make to generate a sale, or to recover a debt? Do you know how many people visited your website last month? Do you use Google Analytics in your business?
These are just some ways you can use the numbers in your business to identify strategic solutions to generate more sales, or even to streamline existing processes. If it can be measured it can be monitored, and if it can be monitored then it can be adjusted as and when needed.
Knowing your numbers isn’t scary! It’s one of the best business tools you can invest your time in learning. In my Focus Guru Power Hour I give you tuition and training and uncover the most important numbers within your business. Your numbers might be accounts or sales related, or they might be based around how many social media posts you create, or how many hours you work in the week.
Every business is different and that’s why knowing the numbers which relate to you and your business is so important. I’ll help you become more confident in knowing your numbers in the sixty minute Focus Guru “Know Your Numbers” Power Hour.
Do You Know Who’s Watching Your Business Social Media Posts?
Are you aware of your silent audience? These are people who have you as a LinkedIn connection, Facebook friend or follow you on Twitter, yet you almost never hear from them. They’re your silent audience, the people who are there, but those who don’t regularly like your posts or comment on your articles.
Who are your silent audience?
You might be tempted to remove these people, to delete them or block them, but I can share with you a story about how one person in my silent audience messaged me out of the blue and bought my services to help recover a debt from his customer. When I looked at his message, the last time we had exchanged messages was several years ago.
Why Me?
I asked him what prompted him to make contact and why he had chosen me to help solve his problem. He replied saying he’d seen my 4Networking 4Sight “Why I’m a Cyborg”, a presentation I deliver regularly on the networking circuit. He told me he’d read testimonials from my clients and that he wanted my help and no-one else’s. I solved his problem and I know he’s a happy customer who will recommend me for this service in the future.
When Is The Right Time?
I was chosen to provide the credit control debt recovery service for him because of my online reputation. It happened because he had a need for my service at that time. He stepped out of being part of my silent audience. It was the right time for him to contact me.
My good friend Stefan Thomas (The Networking Success Programme) is exactly right when he says, “you don’t know who’s watching or who you are reaching”. This means it’s even more important to keep your message consistent, to keep the same tone and language consistent, and to be the person that you portray online.
For example, if you post pictures of large houses and flashy sports cars and imply in your posts that you own them, your audience, silent or not, will find out and may change their opinion of you. So, always be you. Be authentic and you won’t need to keep track of what you’ve said because it will be part of your personality and lifestyle rather than a fake front to remember to upkeep.
Make It Easy
A bonus tip is to make it as easy as possible for your silent audience to reach you. Make sure your contact information is prominent and up to date. Make sure your website has the right information for the products and services you provide. Have you added anything new? Tell your silent audience what it is and make it easy for them to contact you.
If you would like to find out more about your silent audience and how to make the most of your social media connections, please book your Focus Guru “Making The Most Of Your Silent Audience” Power Hour and let’s get started.
Rachael Chiverton, Focus Guru – Giving You Your Time, Your Way
