Business Forums – Good or Bad Use of Time?

I’ve been meaning to get involved in business forums for many months now but it’s something that keeps dropping down my to-do list. So when @TweetsBySkeet posted a tweet asking who would be interested in reading a blog about business forums, I immediately replied “yes”! I asked him five questions:

1. Do you recommend joining several forums then concentrating on 2 or 3 favourites as best use of time?

In my experience it takes a long time to learnt to trust other people’s judgments.  This process takes even longer online and it usually ends in you thinking the other person is a twit.  Adding a comment, then waiting for a reply, then replying again, leads to a long-term approach to building up a rapport.

I would say, join with friends, avoid the bouncers and people who post regularly and go as a small groups of friends together.  I would also say, perhaps “credit check” the companies on the forum, to make sure you’re happy with who you are talking to and what their commercial interests are before you start taking part.    I have seen people being all nice about one thing, to refer you to someone else who does their other thing.

It always seems much better to be able to carry on a conversation online, with someone you already know, than it does to develop new relationships online.  I’d also go so far as to say, phone up some of the people who use the forum and ask them what they get out of it before you join.  This is your time and you are about to spend it on a very time-consuming activity when you should be “earning a crust” instead.

It would seem some of these people, almost feed of these forums and never actually do anything other than press F5 – “screen refresh” and are very happy for you to improve the ‘post count’ all day long to make the forum look positive and buzzing.  Remember that, you run a business, it can be very costly in terms of time using these forums and this is time that needs to be invested carefully.

However, you need to join the most suitable places for your requirements.

This might be:

• Where your ideal customers hang out
• Where more experienced people hang out
• Where your peers hang out
• Where your suppliers hang out
• Where the end users of your product hang out
• Where your local contacts hang out

2. As with face to face networking, do you build relationships and trust (no selling)?

Listen, you’re in business.  If you are joining to sell, then yes, you want sales.  Achieving a sale direct from someone who hasn’t the first clue who you are, you will struggle.  Would you trust some bird on the Internet?   No.  Neither would I.

The alternative is to have a very clear product for them to buy.

Ask yourself:   for what purpose are you joining?  To make friends?  To find new routes to market?  To understand the market?   Perhaps to recruit advocates?

Before you do any  networking by these “business forums”, you do need to be clear about your own intent.  Sadly, like most things, you only learn how to use them, once you’ve used them.

Most people will get pretty disappointed if they join primarily for sales.  Networking is not selling and it is not marketing either, it is “breaking the ice” and getting to know people for a later day – you’ve still got to be there at the right time, with the right product in the right place.

A forum is a poor place to hang around for an order.  If you join as a group of established friends, it is different, you can all bounce off each other mainly because you are already an established network.

Whatever you do, be clear before you do it.  Joining alone is what everyone does – I’d say, join together, as a group, if you’re new to it.  At least you get a second perspective on everything.

3. How often and how much time would you recommend investing in online forums?

You get out less than you put in to start with, then it grows and about 12 months after, you get out far more.  In that way I would say, it is a very costly thing to do.  Worst still, is all the silly people who started using it before you, will say, “yeah, but you’re not doing it right” and you’ll feel all mixed up about why it is not working.

Fact is, it is an ice breaker.  The quicker you break the ice, speak to people, meet them, the quicker the value you will get out of the activity.  It does all come down to people and naturally, you will have to weed out all the time wasters amongst the ones who are there for reasons that fit with your own.

The good ones you find will be complete gems.!!

On this subject about time, just remember, this is a computer system and you have to come back and read the reply, after the other person has written it.  It could be a 15min cycle.  Four of those and a whole hour has gone.

4. Do online networking forums work better for certain types of businesses than others?

Networking as an activity is something everyone has to do.  For me it is not really a formalized process, but more of a natural way to keep up to date with market changes.   Ultimately, everyone within the market place needs to increase their sphere of contacts within their market place until they hit an optimum level.

You have to ask yourself, once you’ve broken the ice with someone, where you take it.

What is the purpose of the connection?

Some people seem to live on these networks.  In fact, I’d say they feed of them, literally.  If you upset the apple cart, don’t expect these people to pat you on the back, they’ve been there for a long time and will be there long after you have gone.

If you upset the apple cart, they will also, quite happily kick you out of the door as well.

5. What are your top tips for online networking forums?

• Understand the forum you are joining.
• Understand the role it plays for the creator
• Understand who the people are who control and manage the forum
• Decide why you are joining
• Also make a decision as to which parts of your identity you wish to disclose.
• Read about baiting and how to avoid flame wars
• Be aware of the hidden roles people maybe playing out on the forums
• Join each forum with trusted friends at the same time, where possible
• Consider why you are joining and what role it plays for you
• Recognise that you do not need to answer anything, even when you are asked a direct question

Above all, remember that your business comes first and the network is either helping or hindering your development, if it is hindering, try to solve the problems you have elsewhere.  You can always add value, by taking the answer back to the forum later on, which naturally is a great relationship builder.

Final thoughts from @TweetsBySkeet…

Join with friends, decide what you are going to disclose, then build rapport with the people you’d like to develop the stronger relationships with, then take it offline.

What are your thoughts and experiences with business forums? Both of us would love to know.

Clearing my Office, Clearing my Mind.

For a while now, my mind has not been clear. The same questions, information and ideas have been buzzing around without settling. Any new information has felt overwhelming. Paperwork was piling up on my desk, emails were stacking up… you get the picture. I knew I needed to physically clear my office in order to mentally clear my mind.

Where do I start? How do I start?

Well, I’ve had a short break away with my children and it has given me chance to think, away from the piles of paperwork. I had little mobile or internet connection so I couldn’t check on the emails. Also, my laptop was being repaired and although everything was backed up on Carbonite, I knew I would come back from my holiday with the frustrating task of loading programs and checking data had been restored to the correct place. But looking at this another way, I decided I could make a fresh start. I would only load on the programs as I needed them, maybe there were one or two I don’t use anymore. As I checked the restored data, I could delete files I no longer needed (or at least back them up onto a disc before deleting).

I’m still in the process of tidying up my electronic files, but it feels good. I have no idea why I kept so much rubbish!

As for the office. It has taken me a week, far longer than expected, and it has proved to be a far more difficult task than anticipated. I’ve never been the kind of person who hangs onto possessions and I usually find clearing out exhilarating. I set this office up less than a year ago and I had a clear up and clean out a few months ago. So I thought the whole process would be easy.

Just clearing my desk, giving it a good clean and only putting back the things I needed to work ie laptop, pen, calculator and a tray containing only the work I had planned on completing that day, was a great start and felt fabulous.

The next step of making my filing/shelving system more efficient was the sticking point. After putting everything on the floor and cleaning the shelves, I suddenly felt completely overwhelmed by the whole thing and wished  I hadn’t started. The next couple of days were very unproductive. I was happy to go out to clients’ offices and forget about the mess in my own. I was actually unable to work in my own office.

I had several false starts, but dealing with it a little at a time, meant that it all started to sort itself out. As the floor became clearer, my mind followed suit. Momentum built and soon my office looked amazing. Now, when I walk in, the air feels fresh and I can’t wait to settle down and get on with my work. My mind is clearer, new ideas are forming. It is very exciting.

I now intend to keep it this way. I will only ever have whatever I need, for the particular task I’m carrying out, on my desk. At the end of each day my desk will be empty (except for the laptop), as will the floor (which was my favourite place to file things!).

It is a fantastic feeling to overcome obstacles and achieve a goal. I am proud of myself.

Do you find that physically clearing your environment makes your mind clearer, your mood lift and kicks start your motivation?

Do You Value Time?

Do I value my time?

This is the question I’ve been thinking about for the past 24hrs after reading a guest blog by Helen Stothard

In all honesty I’ve known that I haven’t valued my time since I started my own business. I’ve struggled with what to charge for the services I offer for as long as I can remember. Why would clients pay £x amount per hour for my time? What I’ve not taken into consideration is that it is not just my time by the hour, it is for my personal experience and skills collected over many years. This makes my services unique. Clients who hire me are literally hiring me; my personality, my skills and my experience. This makes me very valuable and the person who has to value this the most, is me!

This leads to the other side of this question. If I am to value my time I should be outsourcing all the things I’m not very skilled at to others who are. They can do the job easily and professionally in far less time than I can, whether that is in my business or in my home life. This would then leave me with time to spare, to value, to spend with my family or just on myself.

If I value my time and charge accordingly, I can afford to value other people’s time and skills, who can then value further people’s time and skills………

Procrastination – any excuse to do something else

I love the work I do. My head is always full of new ideas but there are not enough hours in the day to bring them all to fruition. So why am I constantly distracted by the tiniest, most unimportant things? Why do I procrastinate?

When I’m training or working from clients’ offices, I’m completely focused and the day passes incredibly quickly. I often forget to eat! The problem seems to be when I’m left alone, procrastination strikes.

When working from home, it suddenly seems vital that I tidy up, put the washing out, have too many cups of coffee, eat whatever is in the kitchen and spend far too long on the internet and Twitter. Needless to say, I’m about to hire office space. But my children are still young so I have to work from home as well. How can I be more productive?

I have found one tool which has helped me enormously. The Pomodoro Technique. A pomodora is a tomato, as in a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato. When starting an activity, a timer should be set for 25 mins. Nothing else, but the activity, is to be done during this time. Most things can wait a maximum of 25 mins. At the end of the 25 mins an X is marked on a sheet of paper and a 5 min break is taken. The process is then repeated. After 4 x 25 mins, take a longer break eg 15-30 mins.

If you remember something that needs doing during the 25 mins, write it on the piece of paper and forget it until the next break.

This technique was designed for studying and goes into a lot more detail but I prefer to use it in this simple way. It is an amazing way to get things done.

Firstly, I often don’t want to start things because I think they will take longer than the time I have available. If I know I only have to commit to 25 mins, I will get the project started and often carry on, in 25 min chunks, until it is done.

Secondly, I find it is easy to stay focused for 25 mins. In fact it passes very quickly. I usually use the 5 min break to read emails or glance at Twitter.

Thirdly, making a note of things that randomly pop up in my head means I can forget about them until later. I can then enter these in my CRM system, to be done on a convenient day.

Fourthly, marking a cross each time 25 mins has been completed is a very basic but extremely useful time tracking system. At the end of the day I can see how I have spent my time and what has been chargeable.

Just one problem remains. I have to remember to set the timer!

Do you have any tips to help with procrastination?

Is CRM necessary?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM), what is it and why do we need it? This is what I thought a couple of years ago, in fact I had to look it up on Google! Now I believe every business that wants to grow and prosper needs to have some form of CRM in place, a way of making sure their customers receive the best possible service. Then, the most important bit, they need to use it.

CRM systems enable you to record and access all communication with every single existing and prospective customer quickly and easily. Procedures can be set up to make sure whatever you promised your customer will be carried out when you said it would be.

As most companies realise they need to find a way of coping with their contacts, communication and the inevitable, ever-growing to do lists, seeing a CRM system working is very exciting. Suddenly it seems possible to become organised and streamlined. And it is…….as long as the information is entered into the system. Every member of staff should be trained to use the system correctly and to use it at all times. If telephone calls aren’t logged, emails not allocated, meetings not recorded, notes not made your company will not benefit from the expense of investing in a CRM system and will probably be in an even worse position due to some information being on the system and some recorded elsewhere, if at all.

Changing working procedures is always a steep learning curve. People are naturally resistant to changing what feels comfortable. It may take a while to find the right system for you, train staff and set new ways of working but it will be worth it. Very quickly you’ll wonder how you managed to run a business without CRM. Your customers will notice a difference, your reputation will improve and more orders will come in. Happily, you’ll be able to deal with the extra work due to being so organised!

Personally, I love using Capsule CRM. It’s a simple system that keeps me focused.

I’m really interested to know you’re experiences using CRM, please leave a comment below.