“I don’t have time to network; I’m trying to make a sale!”
If I had a dollar for every time I heard that phrase….well, I’d be writing this article on a beach in Maui and not at my kitchen table. Networking is one of the single most cost-effective ways to promote your business and ultimately gain sales.

A Sales Funnel is a tool used to organize and manage a sales process.
It is often thought of as a pipeline, which implies that whatever goes in will eventually come back out as a sale. A more accurate analogy would be that of a sorting machine. A variety of items are placed in the funnel and through a series of activities all those of low quality are removed leaving only the desired items.

“Economists say that the great recession, the longest and deepest since World War II, ended months ago and the US economy is growing again. Growth is relative. That doesn’t mean sit and wait for things to improve. Rather retool for the economythat exists today.” ~ Rosalind Resnick, Entrepreneur Magazine.

The world is changing politically, socially and certainly economically at a rapidly increasing rate. Yet there are still businesses out there that believe they can operate as they always have and continue to be successful. More and more common are those businesses that recognize change is needed and even plan for it, but never act upon their plans.
Why would anyone go through the process of setting and planning goals and then not follow through?

“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.” ~ Peter Drucker Before you answer the question, ‘What does a customer really want?’ Consider a broader question, ‘What is your definition of a customer? Although organizations deal with many types of customers, the definition should include two important components:
• A customer is someone who wants or needs your help, your service or your product, and is willing to pay for it.
• A customer is someone with whom your organization is attempting to create a unique and emotionally positive experience for which they will repeatedly purchase your product or service.

Of the many issues with which we wrestle each day, one certain truth is: the future will not look like the present. Global competition, technology, and innovation will define the future. Yet many leaders continue to lead, manage, and operate as they have in the past.

As businesses try to navigate the newly forming economy, one of the areas receiving a lot of attention is Employee Engagement.
Engagement rates are meant to reflect how “plugged-in” the employees are in a business. Are they motivated to do their best? Are they concentrating on what they are doing? Are they positive in their representation of the company, both internally and externally?

It’s that time again, when we reflect on the past year and plan for a new one. Although we all know that we should do this for our businesses, few of us ever take the time to do it. It is critically important that we look back over the past year, identify those things that were done that did work and those things that didn’t work at all. While there is little we can do to control the economy and the global marketplace, there is much that can be done to manage how our businesses navigate through them.

In my last article “I Don’t Have Time To Network!” (Aug/Sept 2010), I spoke about networking frequency and how it impacts success. Networking activities must be scheduled, done consistently and with purpose. They are not to be done only “when you have nothing else to do”.

“I don’t have time to network; I’m trying to make a sale!”