I received a phone call from one of our I Take The Lead members this week.  http://www.itakethelead.com  The call went something like this:  “I’m not sure if I’m going to make the meeting today.  I’m not feeling well, and really don’t feel up to having “Marie” (the name is changed to protect the guilty) hover over me, trying to sell me her products.  She just can’t seem to take ‘no’  for an answer, and I want to support the other members. Last week she kept me in a conversation about why her products work better than what I’m using,  for a good 45 minutes after the meeting. I simply don’t feel up to that today.” 

Are you one of those people?  You know the ones I’m talking about.  Do your relatives dread seeing you at weddings, family reunions, holiday parties, and worst of all, funerals, for fear that you are going to try to sell them something?  Or do your relatives look forward to seeing you again because it’s ‘been too long.’ 

Remember: Networking (even when going to family functions) is not Selling.

I’m quoting myself, how egotistical is that?

A business luncheon should be a retreat from the grind, an escapade of ideas, and an accolade of success stories!”

Becky Loves My Hat

I really enjoyed speaking to the Tigard B2B group yesterday, and what a turnout!  Half of the people there were from other ITTL groups and came out to hear my topic “Effective Internet Marketing You Can Do Yourself for Free!” and the other half came from the post on Meetup.com (if you were there feel free to leave a comment here and on Meetup)… I think we hopefully gained one or two new members to I Take The Lead, specifically one in the Lake Oswego B2B I attend on Mondays, Mr. Church that does OSHA Compliance Programs.  Additionally, Honeymoon and Jerry joined us all the way from Denver’s I Take The Lead franchise and contributed greatly to the conversation.

I Take The Lead Members that were there included: Me, Tom Cochrane, Peter Grote, Jodi Colbert, Norm Baker, Stephanie (Owner of Sezchuan Kitchen), Lisa Lynne, Michael Neuman, Neil Robbins, and our superstar Becky Tengwall herself!  Thanks to everybody for coming out and showing support! 

As promised I did post a lengthy article with the details of the conversation, again on Free Effective Internet Marketing that you can do yourself over on my blog dedicated to supporting I Take The Lead members, Locally-Social.com.  I took some time to add email and RSS subscription buttons as well as links to my Linked In, Twitter and Facebook Profiles.  Please take a few minutes, visit, comment, and add me to your social networks!

One thing I have to mention is that the ClubSport Conference Room is a perfect place for a large meeting… Read more…

 We’d like to believe people pay more attention to what we do or say than how we look. However, people believe what they see far more than what they hear.

Abigail Dougherty - Straight Edge Solutions

My work is talking to business people. Sometimes I hire them. Sometimes they hire me. Sometimes we are peers meeting on a collaborative project or being a support team for one another. The more business people I work with, the more I realize that deal breakers often hinge on how you show up.  Here are five areas that can kill a business deal regardless of the product, service or price.

On time:

Everyone has a different definition of what “on time” means; however, few business people accept a 2:15 arrival as being on time for a 2:00 meeting. Calling 10 minutes before your appointment to let the other person know that you will be on time or are stuck in traffic is more professional than apologizing for being late. Many businesspeople plan to arrive 15 minutes earlier than scheduled to eliminate traffic concerns.

Dress:

We’d like to believe people pay more attention to what we do or say than how we look. However, people believe what they see far more than what they hear. Deals can fail for a number of seemingly petty reasons such as unpolished shoes, unkempt hair or inappropriate dress. Most business people see attention to a professional appearance as a reflection of your attention to details in a job.  Having a dress code for your employees is a basic component of your business brand.

Read more…

Charles Montgomery of Northwest eSource

When do you really need a new blog?

Life is not easy and neither is change – therefore when something is working it is often best to STICK WITH IT.  However, when you post to your blog near daily, it is important for that content to be on your own domain as your property.  When you post to Blogspot, Blogger, or Wordpress.com – you run the risk of losing your blog at any time.  Becky’s information is too timely, informative and relevant to her business to risk that loss.

New Features

It isn’t complete yet, and potentially I will keep this list updated as to the features you can expect.  We are definitely taking the time to optimize her blog for search engines, so stay tuned for updates on the blog’s rankings for search terms people might use to discover content in Becky’s unique niche – effective networking leads groups.  We are also in the process of integrating Google’s Feedburner, which will enable automatic email notification when Becky posts a new blog so we can support her more effectively with comments.  As well she will be able to post her announcements here and people will be notified automatically to supplement her email announcements.  Make sure to sign up!

Portland Web Design

Our core focus is Small Business Web Design and Marketing – including customized, optimized, personalized, hosted blog websites.  We focus on creating high impact graphics and match it with high impact content – you can guess our preference is to work with high impact people, just like Becky Tengwall.  She works very hard to be successful, and successfuly benefits so many others.  I believe that aligning your business interests with those of your clients as altuistically as possible results in the greatest benefit to all in the long run.  Becky does well when her people do well, and at the same time she doesn’t allow shortcuts.  No one is forced to pass lame leads, people are encouraged to build real relationships and foster real solutions.  In a Clackamas B2B meeting with Becky there, Lynn Gray, Peter Grote and Roger Buskers and I combined to coin a phrase:

A Real Solution for a Real Need is Real Networking!

Good luck to you all and happy networking!

Charles Montgomery
Northwest eSource
503.922.1446
charles@nwesource.com