Networking Group Book Now Available Everywhere (Just About!)
I am VERY pleased to report that my networking book, A Service Provider’s Guide to Starting a Unique Business Networking Group (Intense Publishing 2011), is now available as an eBook on a number of websites! Moreover, we have reduced the price!
If you want more out of your existing networking group, or are considering joining a networking group, or want to stand apart from your competitors and START a networking group of your own, then I invite you to purchase this book NOW!
Click on any of these more popular sites below:
You can also purchase the book on iBooks! Just search for J.B. Brocato or the name of the book in iBooks on your iPhone or iPad. If you choose to purchase this book, I thank you! And I truly hope it helps you take your networking to a brand new, exponentially-higher level!
J.B.
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Crux Rainmaking’s 1st Anniversary!
Where has time gone? It has been exactly one year since I started jotting down my musings on the topic of business development in this Blog. I have been honored with the reception the Blog has been getting, with subscribers and views from all over the world. The support I have received from so many people has, frankly, been humbling.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for following this Blog. Believe me, I know your time is valuable and limited. There are many competing options for your time. The fact that you take a few moments every week to read my thoughts on sales and marketing is very, very much appreciated.
Having almost 100 published posts now, I feel like we are just scratching the surface. Of course, there is no end to the ways we can improve our business development efforts. We need to now dig deeper, and look for more useful ideas and ways to not only originate more business, but have even more fun in the process! If we are not having fun, then no amount of money is going to matter. In the end, we will be unhappy, no matter how successful we become. So, please remember to have fun as you continue to grow your business.
Happy New Year to everyone! I truly wish you much success and happiness in the new year. As always, I welcome any thoughts or comments you have about the Blog, or any other topic for that matter! Just email me directly at jb@cruxrainmaking.com.
Thanks!
J.B.
Read MoreThe Crux Rainmaking Workbook
As with many things, gaining a depth of knowledge coupled with putting that knowledge into practice can yield the most satisfying results. This is equally true with Crux Rainmaking. It is essential to understand the basics of this approach, but the true value is in gaining depth and starting to incorporate the approach in your business development life. In this spirit, I have created The Crux Rainmaking Workbook.
The 70-page Workbook incorporates the essence of what Crux Rainmaking is all about, and contains a number of worksheets that professionals can use to deepen their understanding of the approach and begin an efficient Crux Rainmaking journey. I wanted to create a Workbook that Marketing Directors can use to educate their firms’ professionals on a firm-wide basis, and that individual professionals can use as a guide to implement the approach quickly and productively. While certainly not a prerequisite to properly using Crux Rainmaking, the Workbook is a great value-add resource for those looking to truly get the most out of the approach.
I wanted to introduce the Workbook to you guys, and invite you to let me know if you might be interested in receiving a sample from the Workbook. If you are, please email me directly at jb@cruxrainmaking.com. If you email me, I can respond with a PDF of a brief sample of the Workbook, so you can see the potential value it has. And, of course, if you are interested in buying a copy for yourself, and/or copies for the various professionals in your firm (as each professional should have a copy), then we can discuss pricing and payment options as well.
I am really excited about finishing the Workbook, and have been truly honored by the positive feedback I have received so far. I hope to be able to continue to look for ways to make Crux Rainmaking as easy to implement as possible!
Thanks!
J.B.
Read MoreTaking AAM
Today I was deeply honored to speak at the National Conference for the Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM) here in Chicago at the Fairmont Hotel. It was the first time I spoke for AAM, and from the time I was invited to speak a few months ago until the time I left the hotel today, I was absolutely amazed at the incredible level of professionalism of the AAM team. It truly was a pleasure to participate in their great event and share my thoughts on Crux Rainmaking with the attendees. I sincerely thank everyone at AAM for allowing me to speak and everyone who attended my presentation!
After the presentation there were a number of great questions. I thought I would mention a few here with the substance of my responses. Perhaps you, too, have wondered about some of these questions.
1. If one of the assumptions of Crux Rainmaking is Time, namely “time is not an excuse,” how is it possible for professionals who are very busy with their jobs, billing hours (in this case), to find the time to develop business? This is not only a great question, it’s a very practical one as well. Remember, rainmakers are busy people. They have families, friends, and lives outside the office. But they make the time to develop business. If they are busy during the day (without a break), they find time before and after their work day to do various business development things, such as maintaining their Crux Worksheet, emailing potential and existing clients, setting up lunches, dinners, extending invitations to events, learning more about their profession, researching the best organizations to join, etc. etc. These things can all be done before and after work. Frankly, most people can take a few minutes every day (even the busiest people) to make a phone call to a contact, or schedule a breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, etc. with a contact. If we, as professionals, are able to reset our minds consistent with the essential characteristics of the Rainmaker’s Brain, it will be easier to find the time to devote to developing business, because we will be more passionate about our chosen profession, we will be more committed to the process of rainmaking, and we will be more confident in our ability to get and take care of a client far better than our competitors.
2. How can we reverse the reasons for lack of confidence (i.e., the third characteristic of the Rainmaker’s Brain)? This really depends on the reason. There are a lot of reasons why professionals are not as confident as they need to be. For example, they might not be familiar with the selling process, they might fear failure, they may not have tried enough, or they may lack experience in their chosen profession. The method of reversal really depends on which “reason” we are talking about. So, the first thing to do is drill down and try to pinpoint the exact reason for why a professional is not confident. Let’s say it’s because of fear of failure (a common reason, by the way). One way to reverse this is to motivate the professional to undersand that failure is part of the business development process. The best rainmakers fail! In many cases they fail more often than they succeed. The idea is to get up to bat, often. Harness your passion and commitment, and keep trying. Only by doing this will the fear of failure subside.
3. How can we implement Crux Rainmaking systematically within our firms? Of course, it is not practical for marketing directors to sit down with each and every professional to educate them on the ideas and concepts involved in Crux Rainmaking. The best way to implement this firm-wide is through educating your group about the various ideas involved, and having them work through a Workbook that I put together that goes along with the approach. There are a series of worksheets that each professional can work on to fully understand the ideas involved, to practice, and to gain confidence that it is truly possibly to exponentially increase their business. Of course, all professionals within the firm should consider subscribing to this Blog to get further insight and depth of the various concepts involved. If professionals are armed with the Workbook and Blog, marketing directors can periodically hold group meetings to discuss the worksheets, track the progress of working with the concepts of Crux Rainmaking, and continue to motivate the firm to dig deep and bring out their best business development efforts! If you are interested in getting more information on the Workbook for yourself and/or the professionals within your firm, please email me at jb@cruxrainmaking.com, and I can provide additional information on how you can purchase copies.
Again, I want to thank AAM for their hospitality today and everyone who attended my presentation, and wish them the very best!
J.B.
Read MoreLet’s Communicate
I had a completely different idea for a post today, until I attended a presentation this afternoon given by a very good friend of mine, Jennifer Wojan. Jennifer owns Capture Consulting, a full-service communications firm. As you know, there are four underlying assumptions to Crux Rainmaking which are essential to its effectiveness. They are: Competence, Time, Hunger, and Communication. When I heard Jennifer speak today, it reminded me of the importance of Communication in our business development endeavors, and how we can all learn from the experts like Jennifer to improve our communication skills.
As I have mentioned in this Blog, our ability to articulate our thoughts to people is important in life generally, but it is essential to influencing the decision-making process of sophisticated business prospects. To fully achieve our business development goals, we need to be able to verbally express our ideas to people in a face-to-face setting. When selling to others, we are regularly in meetings with people one-on-one, making presentations to small or large groups of individuals, or otherwise communicating our value to the market. We all possess the ability to communicate, but the idea here is to hone our communication skills as much as possible, so as to maximize the potential we have to implement Crux Rainmaking in a highly-effective way.
Observing Jennifer’s presentation, I was blown away by her deft presentation skills, her ability to truly engage an audience, and how she imparts significant value on anyone who aspires to improve his or her communication skills. Whether it is helping people to overcome a fear of speaking, or sensitizing people to the importance of body language, or simply reinforcing the fact that no one wants you to fail in your communication endeavors, Jennifer can provide significant value to existing and upcoming rainmakers. The more we hone our communication skills, the better our chances of enjoying the effectiveness of Crux Rainmaking and the higher likelihood of exponentially increasing our books of business.
If you have never thought about engaging a communications consultant, you might want to consider it now. Get the most out of your rainmaking efforts. And get the most out of Crux Rainmaking. I would highly recommend that you check out Jennifer’s website at http://www.captureconsultingservices.com. Feel free to communicate with her!
J.B.
Read MoreA Great Networking Opportunity (and a request!)
Hey, guys! In addition to discussing the nuts and bolts of Crux Rainmaking on this Blog, I’d like to also be a resource for you, particularly with respect to additional ideas to supercharge your business development efforts. Here’s something to think about:
I just got back from a meeting of the Professionals Club here in Chicago, which is one of the clubs within the American Club Association (ACA), a national organization. A number of months ago I was introduced to ACA by two great friends who are members. I had not been previously aware of this organization. Recently, I was excited to speak at one of the ACA meetings on the topic of Crux Rainmaking, and was honored just a few weeks ago to be invited onto the Board of the Professionals Club.
The format of the meetings is awesome. Every meeting features a guest speaker on a relevant topic for professionals, with networking before and after. An interesting twist to the networking in this organization is that during the meeting attendees are paired up to learn various business attributes about each other, with the idea of being able to credibly introduce the other person to the group. It’s a very effective way of not only meeting someone but immediately digging under the surface to learn about possible synergies with the other person.
Tonight I met a number new people who I am absolutely confident I will be able to help and who may be able to help me, from a business perspective. Just goes to show that a great networking opportunity, coupled with great people, can not only give an immediate boost to your business development efforts, but can pay dividends for a long, long time.
I wanted to introduce all of you to ACA. But for two of my friends having brought ACA to my attention, I may not have learned about it or, even if I had, I may not have been particularly inclined to attend without my friends’ personal endorsement, given the plethora of various organizations out there and the limits on my time. This organization is worth it. I would recommend that you visit the ACA website at http://www.acaclubs.org.
I will be discussing the concept of joining organizations in more detail in subsequent posts, but I wanted to encourage you to take a look at ACA and also ask you a question:
What organizations, events, or other opportunities to meet new people and network are you aware of that you can recommend to the rest of us?
If you are willing, please comment on this Blog. I’m sure all my subscribers would appreciate learning about new networking opportunities. Or, if you would like to discuss with me a particular organization or other potential networking opportunity you are considering, please feel free to reach out to me at jb@cruxrainmaking.com. I’d love to hear from you!
J.B.
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