I find this final quarter of the year leading up to the holidays, Very Exciting.
Are you planning to attend social events and trade shows over the upcoming holiday period to grow your business?

Maybe you have been struggling with generating new prospects and clients from these business growth strategies. I want to help.

Can I ask you a question?

What is the top question you have about – prospecting at – and – following up after – business networking and tradeshow events?

Please e-mail your questions to Cheryl at Executive Sales Support.com

Many of my clients tell me they try to follow up with the people they meet but they end up;

• feeling like they are bugging people and so they stop
• get distracted doing other activities and end up running out of time and feeling like it is now too late

The reason I’m asking this question is – Over the next six weeks I will be hosting a series of seminars where I be answering your questions about generating prospects through marketing activities such as business networking and trade show events I’ll be sharing with you tips you can use to:

• start conversations in a room full of strangers
• follow up tools to continue the conversation
• a marketing and sales funnel strategy that enables you to follow up with everyone you meet

Please e-mail me your questions.@ Cheryl at Executive Sales Support.com
I look forward to receiving your questions and ’seeing’ you during the upcoming series of seminars.

To your success,

Cheryl Scoffield Follow Up Specialist

Are you are an Entrepreneur, Business Owner or Service Professional interested in ways to maximize your small business development investment in business networking and trade shows?

Every month business people spend money and take hours away from their business to attend networking events and trade shows where they use a standard routine. Work the room, meet people, promote their business and collect a stack of business cards.

If your desk is covered in stacks of business cards and you hate the idea of cold calling to grow your sales this Lunch & Learn is for you.

Please join me, Cheryl Scoffield, Follow Up Specialist, on Wednesday September 14, 2011 from 11:45 am – 1:00pm, I will be the Guest Speaker and the topic will be Business Networking-Now What? How to continue the conversation with more of the prospects you meet. (Drop in a few minutes early to get the most networking).

EOPC-Entrepreneurs of Port Credit, meets every Wednesday from 12:00pm – 1:00pm.
EOPC is a not-for-profit group of Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Professionals that get together to educate, share ideas, network, inspire and refer business. The only cost is $15 to cover your lunch. We do ask that you please bring cash, a receipt will be emailed to you afterwards.

Hope to see you there!

Oakville Ontario

Kristeen Sopeju-Edwards, Gifting Specialist and Founder over at The WQ Gift Company in Oakville Ontario, makes THE MOST beautiful gifts for corporate and personal gift giving. She is a priceless gem in the Rolodex of the people who know about her business and let her take care of their gifting.

If you are the one at your office who is responsible for the gift giving, I am sure you know, it is time consuming and stressful, although wonderful.

What do you buy for that special client who is oh so important to the growth of your business?  Well now I have a solution! I just came across a new program at The WQ Gift Company.

Appreciate Your Clients Year Round, read on because the 6th month is a real bonus. Here are the details.

Pick your top 6 clients: You choose a different client to thank every month for 6 months.

Send your client’s details over to The WQ Gift Company: Send them their likes, dislikes and any other information about your client.

The WQ Gift Company will customize a look: Your brand, your client, your look in a Gift Basket or Gift Box which can include gourmet foods, gourmet treats, standard spa and standard baby products, you decide.

The WQ Gift Company will deliver one gift per month*: A variation of the initial gift is sent out each month to a different client. The price is $83.45 per month for each of the first 5 months. That price includes the gift, taxes and delivery* within the GTA, Burlington, Milton and Oakville, Ontario. (*Please contact us for delivery boundaries)

In the 6^th month you pay only $25.00 to cover the taxes and that darned delivery cost: That is a great deal! Your cost of $25.00 is just covering taxes and that darned delivery cost, but the cost of the gift is completely on them! Just their small way of saying thank you!!

They will continue to use your look for the entire 6 months once agreed upon. Slight variations in content may occur.
Excludes books, balloons, alcohol and custom request, which will require an additional cost.

Send Kristeen an email to order@thewqgiftcompany.com to place your order or call her at 647 290 4261 to make an appointment or obtain further details or drop by their wonderful new store at 3-2380 Wyecroft Road in Oakville, Ontario.

Would you like to grow your business by 20% or More using the FREE Linkedin Network investing only 20 Minutes per day?  Who wouldn’t !

If you are an entrepreneur, business owner or solo professional who has been using Linkedin and not getting the results you would like, this workshop will make Linkedin prospecting for new business leads a SNAP. This information could also be used by job seekers to help find your next opportunity.

Join Boris Mahovac of iBizAcademy for an all new 2 hour workshop In Burlington Ontario.  Learn an easy step by step 6 Point Process he uses to take Linkedin To The MAX!  The first 6 sessions SOLD OUT!

	How to complete a winning Linkedin profile so that your ideal new clients will find you faster.
	How to grow the number of connections without spamming people
	What to do so that your name stays in front of your connections every day without being annoying.
	How to gain expert status on Linkedin on auto-pilot without having to learn anything new or complicated!
	How to time-manage your use of Linkedin so you spend less time clicking and more time connecting!
	How to build your list and have direct access to Linkedin members who are not your direct connections!

Training will be at the NEW iBizAcademy Training Centre, 6-1253 Silvan Forest Drive, Burlington, ON L7M 0B7 click here for directions

COST: $79 + tax and includes a FREE copy of a training audio CD “Linkedin: Social Networking for Professionals”
Seating is limited and the last 5 sessions SOLD OUT so please register early.

In 2011, International Networking Week®is February 7th – 11th.

The purpose of this event, an initiative of BNI, is to raise the profile of networking in the wider community. The goal is to celebrate business networking’s essential and key role in business development and business success especially in today’s economic climate. BNI is focussed on small and medium sized business.

Business Networking is an important part of marketing, prospecting for new clients and developing sales for businesses of any size be they small or large business corporations. Over the past 12 years, I have attended many networking events around the Golden Horseshoe, west of Toronto, Ontario. One thing I have learned (it is absolutely essential to achieving sales growth, which is the goal of business networking), is to develop a plan BEFORE you attend.

WHY? When you network, you meet a lot of people and collect many business cards. If the business cards just end up collected on your desk and you never connect with people after the event – what was the point of collecting? Did you know that 80% of sales are made on the 5th – 12th contact – yet 48% of people fail to follow up past that initial 1st contact? To maximize your investment of time, energy and resources and avoid falling into the 48%, you need to have a plan for how you intend to follow up people after the event, BEFORE you attend.

Business Networking with specific intent - The concept of developing a Follow Up Plan BEFORE attending the networking event is what I have coined “networking with specific intent’. Having a plan is such a critical component of business networking  that I developed a series of Follow Up Training Seminars.  Set The Stage For Follow Up  is Step 1 - it gives you the basics and includes ways to enter a room and start talking to strangers. Automate Your Follow Up Process is Step 2 and introduces ACT a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) which works with Swiftpage for email delivery.

Attending networking events without the specific intent of following up after is, in my experience, simply a waste of time, energy and resources. You might have had a great social time, but you failed to maximize the business development potential of  the networking event. So what can you do to avoid the trap of just having a great social time at your next business networking event?

3 Follow Up Tips to Help you Maximize Your Business Networking Efforts During International Networking Week

1. Develop a resource such as a Tip Sheet as your first Follow Up Step
2. Begin to use a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) such as ACT and connect it to Swiftpage so you can begin to
3. Automate your follow up business processes. That way you will develop processes once, use it again and again and speed up your business. You will also lay the groundwork for being able to free up your time by delegating maintanence tasks to more junior team members. Contact me to find out more about documenting business processes.

Looking for an event to attend during International Networking Week? Jennifer Beale of UnLeash PR runs fabulous events in Toronto Ontario. Join me, Cheryl Scoffield, Follow Up Specialist and register here for Grow Your Network on February 8th and hear great speakers, Lisa Kember, Christel Wintels and Cindy Mount, Richard Dolan, Donna Messer, Lia Bandoli and Tina Deszi. This event includes an evening networking schmooze and costs only $35 for the FULL day!

Can’t make this event? Find a networking group in your area by visiting Better Business Networking or attend Hamilton Business Network in Hamilton, Ontario,  Mississauga Networking in Mississauga Ontario or my home group  Oakville Networking in Oakville, Ontario on February 4 and 18, 2011. Oakville Networking meets at 8:45 am at e-Spot in Oakville Ontario.

 Find out more specific details for your business here with Follow Up – Discover Your Next Step and Follow Up -Take Action or contact me to arrange a Keynote for your next association meeting or trade show breakout session.

Hear what others have to say about Follow Up Training.

Are you confused about the new sales automation tools and which ones you need to grow your business? If so, you are not alone!

Over the past several years there have been so many changes to the traditional sales and marketing methods and many new Internet tools.  As a result, more time is needed to not only keep track of all the new sales automation tools but also to investigate each product’s features and decide which one is the best fit for your business needs.

Here are 3 tips to help with your investigation and set the stage within your business for growth.

So what is your first step?

1. ASSESS your current business processes to determine where you are today and discover areas where information may not be flowing smoothly. Do you have a CRM Customer Relationship Management tool in place?
2. BRAINSTORM ideas to address the current bottleneck areas you found in Step 1. Look at both people and business processes. The goal is to get internal information flowing smoothly again. What resources are currently available that you can access?
3. DEVELOP a strategic map of tasks outlining a step by step plan in each step. That way you will have a path to implement the identified ideas and move toward the changes. Do not forget to also include investigating features of the new sales automation tools.

These initiatives will set the stage and get your business started down the road to implementing change and also gather the information you’ll need to choose which technology tools best fit your improved business processes. 

One of the challenges in business today is to not only keep up with the fast pace of change but also continue to implement improvements into your business processes. Processes need to change within your business to help utilize the advancements in technology to enhance your marketing and sales funnel and set the stage for growth.

Along the way you also need to maximize knowledge flow through improved business processes if you want to gain business growth in the new Innovation Economy. Which specific process should you look at first? Which technology should you apply for maximum effectiveness in your business?   Without a strategy, it can seem overwhelming.

When developing a strategy, one of the first steps I take to help a new client prepare to move forward is a current state accessment. I often start with the foundational processes and then progress to optimizing the way knowledge flows within the company. As a result of requests from my clients I will be launching a new business called BusinessKnowledgeGPS to help clients get started. If you would like to be kept up to date, just go to the site and send me your email address.

The goal of the Follow Up Services I offer for sales follow up and sales automation is three fold.

1 – EXPERTISE & RESOURCES that help people within the business understand the basic concepts of automation and
2 - GET ORGANIZED to start implement the changes necessary, then
3 – TRAINING that helps people start moving towards utilizing the tools to maximize their business development investment, marketing and open the door to greater sales.

During this transition, additional expertise resources may be needed to analyze the sales cycle and determine the best course of action and tools needed. Ultimately, the goal is to standardize and optimize the sales process from first contact through to the 5th – 12th contact where 80% of sales are won.

The outcome goal is an integrated system that once set up, runs automatically in the background to maximize the business development investment and marketing assets, optimize the sales cycle, increase the volume of qualified prospects and ultimately increase the likelihood of won sales that grow your business. The combination of components and the route to attain that goal varies for each business.

One of the components I recommend is Swiftpage which provides 2 things.
1 – an HTML program that builds newsletters and drip marketing campaigns for example and
2 – an email blaster that sends email campaigns and compiles statistics based on opens and click through traffic for campaigns.

You have the option to integrate Swiftpage with ACT a CRM or you can utilize Swiftpage with an excel spreadsheet as the source for the contacts. When using ACT all your email stats can be loaded back into the contact records.

To learn about these are concepts , attend Follow Up Training- Automate Your Follow Up Process.

Excellent Follow Up

As a new initiative here at Executive Sales Support, I have decided to begin recognizing those people whom I met while networking, who followed up with me after that 1st contact.  

They were probably busy also, but took a few moments to maximize their investment in business development and business networking by following up on the leads generated and setting the stage to open doors to greater sales in their business. 

 after meeting me at ThinkSpot in Burlington, Ontario
Barry Reid, Owner, Reid Performanace Management Inc representing LMI Canada.ca

Congratulations to these people who followed up.  They beat the statisitic of 48% of people never followed up past that 1st contact and are well on their way to the 5th – 12th contact where 80% of sales are WON.  

My hope is that by highlighting some of the people who have followed up with me, you will be inspired to follow up with the people you meet at business networking events. How can you repurpose these ideas to build your own First Follow Up Steps and open doors to greater sales in your business?

Good Luck!

See you out business networking this week!

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.   Martin Luther King

The last couple of weeks have been really busy with Small Business Week, Enterprise Toronto and the Toronto SOHO SME event!

Excellent Follow Up

As a new initiative here at Executive Sales Support, I have decided to begin recognizing those people whom I met while networking, who follow up with me after that 1st contact.

They were probably busy also but took the time to maximize their business development investment in business networking by following up and setting the stage to grow sales in their business.

Congratulations to these people in my community who followed up with me, they beat the odds of 48% of people never followed up past that 1st contact

after linking with me on Linkedin

Amina Mohamed Canadian Certified Staging Professional at Flair 4 Home Staging, sent me a Thank you

after Enterprise Toronto Small Business Forum

Promod Sharma, Marketing Actuary at Taxevity

after a Small Business Week Seminar at the Oakville Chamber of Commerce

Nigel Southway of Nexus Consulting – offered a 1st Follow Up Step of a Free Business Productivity Improvement Profile

after my Follow Up Training session for Enterprise Toronto

Preciosa Leal, Alliance Business Solutions, invited me to connect on Linkedin

after Toronto SOHO SME Expo

Amanda Bickle, Marketing & Web Co-ordinator at the National Speakers Bureau, invited me to connect on Linkedin

Congratulations to these people who followed up, they are on their way to the 5 – 12th contact were 80% of sales are made.

My hope is that by highlighting some of the people who have followed up with me, you will be inspired to follow up with the people you meet at business networking events. You can repurpose these ideas and techniques to build your own First Follow Up Steps and grow sales in your business.  

Good Luck.

Great news! If attending trade shows and networking events is part of your marketing and business development strategy this fall, here is an opportunity to get your business in front of more prospects.

The sign up page for the Toronto SOHO|SME Expo   on October 27th, 2010 is up. This event is FREE to attend.
How great is that!  I plan to attend, listen to what prospects are searching for and then use follow up to develop the initial contact into relationships that will grow my business in 2011.

If you are looking for strategies you can use to follow up the people you will met at this event then attend the next session of Set The Stage For Follow Up Training in Oakville, Ontario. Or plan to have this training come to your location.

Here is the schedule for SOHO|SME Expo in Toronto Ontario.  Jordan Banks, Managing Director, Facebook Canada will be speaking at 9:45 am.

11 am - 4:30 pm Free Keynotes, Seminar Sessions and Panel Discussions. Topics included social media, online marketing, digital media, business planning, financing, government resources and opportunities and a paid session with Richard Branson, CEO, The Virgin Group at 1pm.

Fast becoming the #1 business-to-business conference and trade show program in the Greater Toronto Area. The SOHO|SME Expo brings together business professionals, executives and entrepreneurs from all over Ontario to learn, connect and celebrate business growth and success.

Location: Metro Toronto Convention Centre South Building, Halls F & G 222 Bremner Blvd. Toronto, Ontario M5V 3L9.

Following Up with the people you meet will open doors to greater sales in your business.

During my Set The Stage For Follow Up Training, people always ask me about using Linkedin for business development. I say Boris Mahovac is the one to ask! So I asked Boris for this training seminar and he stepped up to the plate with this 90 Minute presentation in Oakville, Ontario. In my opinion any training that he puts on is wel worth attending.

I will see you there!