Twitter? Face book? Linkedin? It’s all too confusing…..

Social Media Marketing has swept the world by storm – and nowhere more so than in business. Far from being the ‘one hit wonder’ that many marketers predicted, Twitter alone is receiving 50 million ‘Tweets’ per day. Face book has over 16 million users and these figures are likely to continue to rise.

Don’t know your Tweet from your fans? Your followers from your links? Not sure how a blog can help generate sales?

Or maybe you do know it all but just simply don’t have the time.

On Thursday 4th March Social Media entrepreneur Cat Yaffe will be giving a straight forward practical presentation on Social Media and how it affects you and your business. Cat successfully handles several high profile Social Media campaigns and has first hand knowledge on how all the different platforms combine to elevate your business to the next level.

To book your place at this event, click here www.networkingdirect.co.uk

Richard McCann to speak at Networking Direct

Motivational speaker, professional speaker, inspirational speaker and keynote speaker, available for business, corporate, community and education clients.

An exceptional communicator whose ability to inspire an iCan attitude is guaranteed to give people the iCan approach. Not only does Richard live and breathe the iCanphilosophy, but has helped thousands of people in the business, corporate, community and education worlds to change the way their people think – and act.

A motivational speaker who will take you to another level and inspire you to take action. Richards story enables people to identify with real life experiences and then see how they can take control; to take the steps that will give them the freedom to succeed at whatever they choose.

If the challenge that people face seems overwhelming, Richard understands adversity and challenge at a level everyone can engage with and gives them techniques to help overcome their own challenges.

If you want to experience something unusual, inspiring and challenging then book onto the June event at Networking Direct. www.networkingdirect.co.uk

Richard is available for business, community and educational events.

Claire Young at Networking Direct

Nicknamed  ‘Rottweiler’ she was the candidate that Sir Alan Sugar threw out of the boardroom, only to praise the following week. Claire Young, runner-up in the 2008 series of The Apprentice may not have been born in Yorkshire but she attributes much of her grit and determination to her education at Wakefield Girls High.

Speaking at Networking Directs business event yesterday, Claire is very candid about her time on The Apprentice and admitted that she would do it all again in a heartbeat.

She now owns and runs an exclusive wedding venue business ‘Elegant Venues’.

Claire has been heavily involved in the business networking scene recently and can clearly see the value in word of mouth recommendation, “Networking is a great way to widen your business contacts and generate business leads – all for a relatively low cost,” said Claire, “It’s a form of marketing that is ideal for the SME.”

Claire has also taken on business ambassador roles, championing small business through her involvement with Business Link and is also committed to helping young people and enterprise, “There is not enough support out there for school leavers, I didn’t know at 16 what I wanted to do with my career. I now work with the Enterprise Village who promote Enterprise Education to children as young as 5 years old.

It’s clear listening to Claire that she is one very driven woman, and while she may have been the runner-up, there is no doubt who the real winner is.

Quick turnaround for Jelly

Tell us your story Melissa, how has Networking Direct helped your business?

Networking Direct has been instrumental in opening doors for us. It gives me the opportunity to get the Jelly Communications name out there and into businesses that could progress into real value customers at a later date.

Any in particular stand out?

Yes, back in October I was passed a lead from Mushtaque Ali of Hardsoft Computers. Within 2 weeks it resulted into business valued £350.00

So we’ll be seeing more of you in 2010?

Absolutely. Time spent at a Networking Direct event can save hours of telephoning and door knocking. It’s a great way to generate leads that turn into business.

Leeds Print Company Lead The Way

Networking Direct is unlike any of the mainstream networking groups that are around, and one company that has maximised on this is well known Leeds printing firm Leed Graphic Print Solutions.

Darren Booth, talks to us about the amazing success he’s had in the last 6 – 8 months.

Tell us about one of your first success stories.

“Well, I attended the Carrwood Park event in May last year, and was introduced to Sammy Blindell of Ice Innovation. Ice used to deal with LGP but had stopped without any explanation. I had a 1-2-1 with Sammy and I convinced to her to start considering us again, as a supplier. Less than 2 months later Sammy had not only started dealing with us again, we are now their main print supplier.”

So Networking Direct was instrumental in re-building that relationship.

 What about the leads that are passed to you during the lead request section, what’s your success been there?

I had a lead passed on to me by Derek Wellington of HSBC. Again it was the first time I’d met him. He gave me details of local company, I got in touch with the buyer arranged for her to visit our premises. As a direct result we are now their main print supplier too.

Would you be able to put a value on the business you’ve had as a result of Networking Direct?

Network Direct has been a revelation for me and the business, with fantastic return on the £20 door fee…I personally have gained a number of new and valued customers, who’s spend with us just keeps increasing….I have also gained some fantastic business contacts who are always available for advice or for just a chat in general..The format really works, the six degrees of separation is a great way of identifying opportunities, without wasting anybody’s time and the general networking time is great too, I can not recommend ur enterprise enough.

Thank you very much for £7000 worth of business and counting.. from only attending a dozen or so meetings

Apprentice Claire Young to speak at Leeds Event

In keeping with The Apprentice theme set by Harrogates Krisitna Grimes, the 2008 runner up, Claire Young will be speaking at the next Leeds event on the 4th February.

Claire, who riled but eventually won over Sir Alan with her directness is now a director of wedding specialist Elegant Venues, as well as appearing on GMTV and a regular in womans magazines.

‘Business is one big playground of opportunity,

it’s diverse, challenging and exciting.

There’s never a limit to what you can achieve.

My motto is JDI: Just Do It.

Hold your head high and go forth’

To book your place click here www.networkingdirect.co.uk

Networking Direct does The Apprentice

Jason Archdale, director of Networking Direct is determined to kick 2010 in style, and it’s is indicative of the year ahead for Jason and his unique networking group.

At the first Harrogate event of the year Apprentice runner up Kristina Grimes will be speaking on the sales and marketing strategies that businesses need to adopt to get them through the recession.

Kristina’s business Raising The Bar will be holding it’s next event on 18th March 2010 in Harrogate.

To book your place at Netwroking Direct on the 19th click here www.networkingdirect.com

Networking Direct Meeting Format

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Walking into a room full of strangers can be an intimidating experience but a little preparation beforehand can make all the difference.

Upon arrival at Networking Direct’s event you will be greeted at the door by a regular attenders, who will take payment if you haven’t paid when booking online and hand you an attendees list. Make the most of this, it contains the details of all the other guests. Have a quick scan through to see if there anyone you would like to meet. It’s open networking so people will approach you as well. It’s a great opportunity to get to know a few people and there may be some familiar faces. Help yourself to refreshments too, and then it will be time for the guest speaker.

This is a much coveted spot, where a local business gives a topical seminar on a wide range of subjects. It’s NOT a flagrant promotion of their own business but an educational slot. It could be about marketing, accountancy, sales – whatever issues businesses are facing. You’re more than welcome to apply for one of these slots, just speak to Jason at the event.

Now to the crux of the meeting – Lead Generation.

When you booked online you will have been asked to submit a ‘Lead Request’ form. This is where each request will shown to the room, and the leads are literally generated there and then. It’s important to be specific with your request but we’ll go into more detail on that in another post.

The rest of the meeting is more open networking and a chance to have 1-2-1′s with other businesses in the room, in particular those who have indicated a possible lead for you.

Directly following the meeting you will receive an email with all the contact details of the attendees and a matrix of the leads that have been generated.

The vital part of any networking meeting is the follow-up. What better way to do business than with those who have indicated that they are looking for or know someone who wants your product or service.

Finally, don’t forget to book onto the next event, and if it’s in the same month that it’s half price!  

Networking: Membership or Ad Hoc?

Which kind of networking do you find more effective? Does it make a difference if you attend the same event week in week out?

Or are you an ad hoc kind of person, preferring not to commit all your time to one event?

A bit of both perhaps?

What do you think? Which do you prefer?

Let us know in the comments below and we’ll feed the info back via a future blog post.

Lead request

At each networking event you can expect to stand up and tell a room full of people who or what you’re looking for. This can be a huge success or a dismal failure depending on how well you’ve prepared.

Networking Direct lead request is different – and some would say more effective – way of asking what you’re looking for. As you book onto the event online, you’re asked to submit your lead request.

So what should it contain and how can you maximise it’s effectiveness?

• Opening – Your opening statement should concisely say who you are and what you do.
• Who are you looking to speak to? Name specific companies, or at least the size and industry. If you want to speak to SME’s try to indicate the number of employees, turnover etc. What is an SME to you might be a  big fish to others!
• Why would they benefit from your service / product? Provide evidence, “We have helped xyz in the past with their widgets and they were more than happy with the results.”
• Finish with a memorable tag line, remember that although it’s not YOU that will be reading it out it still needs to be remembered by others. An air conditioning company used to say “Can we cool it?” and everyone in the room replied, “Yes we can!”