Golf, anyone? No thanks! Creative ways to entertain clients

When you sell professional services, you’re selling yourself. People buy services from like minded people or someone they can relate to. One of the easiest ways to show them who you are is to spend time with them outside the office.

Sharing a round of golf, going to a Twins game, or meeting up for drinks are always good stand-by options. But if you don’t like doing those things, don’t do them. Here are a few ways we at Ingenuity have included clients, prospects and referrals in our “outside” life in ways that allow them to see who we really are and none of them include drinking or sports.

Idea No. 1: I like to workout, but found my exercise routine was becoming just that - routine. In order to motivate myself, and others, I created a game called Fitabulous. I invited family, friends, clients, prospects and referrals to participate. The game consists of five health-related categories. I assigned points to each category. Over the course of six months, people have been earning points depending on what category they signed up for. At the end of the six months, a cash prize will be awarded to the winner of each category. In addition, I have been planning one group activity a month and created a Facebook page where I post recipes and health tips. Over 30 people signed up. Of those 30 people, several were clients, prospects and referrals. Fitabulous has given me a great excuse to bond – and keep in touch - with people over a common interest: fitness.

Idea No. 2: For seven weeks this spring I volunteered with Junior Achievement of Minnesota. My assignment was to teach juniors at North St. Paul High School about job success skills. For the last session I planned mock job interviews for the students. I recruited five people to be job interviewers, including one of my favorite clients (a commercial lender at Platinum Bank), one of my favorite referral sources (the operations manager of a manufacturing plating company) and one of my dear friends (a commercial realtor). It wasn’t a coincidence that these three people could all benefit from knowing one another – and helping me out gave them an excuse to meet. Not to mention they all got to see me in a different light than they normally do.

Idea No. 3: Wendy, one of the principals of Ingenuity, has played host to a couple of Fashionista parties. The purpose of the party is for women who wear similar sized clothing to bring items from their closet still in style but that they don’t wear. At the party they all trade clothes. I haven’t been lucky enough to be invited to a Fashionista party, but I know the guest list has included several of Ingenuity’s clients, prospects and referrals – not to mention some of Wendy’s friends and family members. Whenever I run in to one of the “fashionistas” they rave about how fun the event is and tell me they cannot wait until the next one. For those of you who know Wendy, you know this is a perfect expression of something she is interested in.

Hopefully these ideas will inspire you to get creative with how you let clients, prospects and referrals in to your life.

In what ways can you let clients, prospects and referral sources into your life so they can get to know you better?

Power Up to Navigate Social Media at Your Firm

I just got back from Texas. I was speaking at the national conference for the Association for Accounting Marketing. (Great conference, by the way.) Rachel and I spoke about social media and how that is changing the way businesses communicate and handle business development and PR.

Of the many things I learned last week, two things stood out about the social media conversation:

• Firms are all over the map in terms of what they know about social media and how they are using it. Some are just starting out and some are embracing it completely. One thing is common: they are very interested in learning more.

• Firm leaders are not sold on the value of research, uses and ROI of social media. Marketing departments can’t stand alone to get buy-in.

Something brought up consistently among marketing professionals was an effort to get younger staff involved with social media. I’m not talking about giving you more time on your Facebook page (or maybe I am!) You should actually think about how Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and other tools can be used to drive more people to the firm website.

In the next few months, I challenge you to talk to your marketing department and get involved in the effort to leverage social media. Whether you take on a research project about great referral industry blogs or help a partner set up a well-branded LinkedIn or Facebook profile, you can help shape how your company does business in the future.

It’s a leadership opportunity that not enough young people are taking advantage of right now. So step up and power up!

How are you helping your firm use social media in ways that support business goals?

Use Blogrolls to Create Buzz and Connections

I’ve been doing a lot of research on blogging and online media for my public relations clients. One great PR strategy, if you or your firm has a blog, is to ask other bloggers in your target markets to blogroll you. Then offer to blogroll them back.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, it’s basically a link from your blog to theirs and vice versa. The power of Web 2.0 is the ease of creating these links so that you have more arrows pointing to your blog and firm website. The blogroll is not just a widget. It’s a powerful endorsement: you like what these bloggers have to say and you think that your viewers should check them out. You are sharing more great content with your readers. You are building social media connections.

On the flip side, bloggers who blogroll you are improving your credibility and ability for more people to find you. If your firm or personal blog doesn’t offer a very large blogroll yet, I encourage you to start building this powerful social media network. Connecting with other bloggers can lead to great public relations as well as business referrals. If you link to them, make sure that they link to you.

Introduce this idea at your next team meeting and offer to do some research on great blogs for your blogroll. It will build your visibility as a thoughtful young professional.

In this spirit, please check out our recommended blogroll listed in the right hand column under Recommended Blogs. Visit these blogs and let them know that you heard about them through the PUB! Btw, we love Rita Keller, Kevin Mead, Michelle Golden, Bruce Allen and Edward Williams!

How are you using blogs for publicity and business development?