Steven Seppinni also shares his thoughts too

I wanted to share a few tips with you that will allow you to have more success networking and connecting at the Women’s Conference hosted by California First Lady Maria Shriver and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. These strategies will help you at any other event you attend in the future.

Here are six things you can do before, during, and after the conference that will allow to create more powerful connections with the people you meet, and get a higher ROI of your time and money from attending.

What To Do Before the Event

1. Research. Nothing will be more important than doing your homework. Who do you want to meet with? What will you say to them when you meet that will get their attention and cause you to stand out?

Here are some of the tools that can help you do with that research. A good place to start is always Google or Bing.
Other great resources to tap into include

http://www.Wikipedia.org

http://www.Linkedin.com>

http://www.Hoovers.com>

Make sure you read up on someone’s previous blog posts and read their bio; perhaps you have something in common with them. If you know someone they know, grew up in the same town, went to college at the same place, share the same passion, or support the same charity, you will likely connect more easily quickly.

Reviewing someone’s Twitter feed or Facebook posts is another great way to find insights that can be helpful in starting a conversation. A few years back, I was able to connect quickly with Sir Richard Branson; he gave me his private email after meeting him at a charity function in less then 30 seconds. When I was reading articles about him, I uncovered something that pointed to one of his priorities at the time, and when I met him I invited him and executives from his team to an event at which they would find value.

2. Knowing What To Say When Someone Asks You What You Do. This could be the biggest opportunity most people miss. It is amazing that this happens, because we all know most people, at some point in a conversation, will ask what you do. You have 10-15 seconds to grabs someone’s attention, and if you do a good job perhaps another two minutes to whet their appetite about your product and services.

For example here is mine: Have you ever met someone who is mega connected in their industry and very influential at what they do, and as a result they are able to get more business in less time, and get more referrals then their peers? Well I teach entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, and sales professionals to become highly influential, and then go to people in their industry.

What To Do During The Event

1. Have a Giver’s Mindset. If you want to easily differentiate yourself from most everyone else at the event, show up with a giver’s mindset. Most people tends to have a taker mindset (looking for what can they get from other people when they first meet them). If you, on the other hand, focus on being a giver and seeing how you can serve other people, you will find it much easier to connect with others.

2. Knowing the Right Questions To Ask. Here are some questions I have found to work most effectively when connecting with people at an event.

What do you do for fun when you aren’t doing ______ ?
How did you get started in the business?
What brings you to the conference?
Who are you looking to meet while you are here at the event?
If and when you have rapport, a great question to ask is this: What is the most important project you are currently working on in case I or my network can help you in some way?

I can’t tell you how many doors this last question has opened up! With good follow up and leveraging one’s network, you can add instant value to many people you meet.

What To Do After The Event

1. Prioritize Your Follow Up. One thing you should do when you first meet people is to make notes of important information that someone may have shared with you on the back of their card. Do it quickly, as it’s easy to quickly forget what others have shared.

I like to write down personal things they may have shared about their family or what they like to do in their spare time. I also like to record where I met them and what was discussed. If there is a way I can add value, I note that on the card, as well as any next steps we may have discussed.

It also makes sense to prioritize the contacts you met in an A/B/C fashion:

A – Must follow up. There was a good connection and there is a strong possibility of doing business in the near future.

B – Great people to stay in touch with. While there may not be a possibility of doing business in the short term. there could be strong possibilities in the future.

C – Keep in contact. This could be someone who you may just want to put into your online newsletter and stay in touch with in case something develops down the road.

2. Follow Up Fast and Add Value. If at all possible, to follow up within 24 to 48 hours while the event is still fresh on someone’s mind. The key element in terms of taking a contact and turning it into a connection is to add value to your new-found friend. Can you make a referral for them? Can you share a book or an article that can help them? If they were a speaker at the event, perhaps you give them a testimonial they can use on their website. Can you invite them to an upcoming event that can help them generate more business or help their favorite charity?

The faster you can add value to someone else, the easier it will be for you to turn your new found contacts into long-lasting, profitable connections.
Good connecting to you.

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Larry Benet is known as The Connector. He is CEO and Co-Founder of the Speaker and Authors Networking Group (SANG). He is known for helping entrepreneurs, speakers, authors, and sales professionals to effortlessly turn contacts into connections.
He has shared the stage with Tony Robbins, Jay Leno, Paul Abdul, Keith Ferrazzi, Peter Guber, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (from Chicken Soup For the Soul fame). To get more connection tips please visit http://www.larrybenet.com

I was recently speaking at Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Manager seminar and I ran into an old friend…  Martin Howey. I just happened to be on the phone with an old friend of Martin’s, Harvey MacKay author of “Swim With The Sharks” Harvey is launching a new book and by re-connecting these two old friends, I was able to help them work together on this project. Watch this video then read the rest of Martin’s post at http://www.sevenfigureconsultants.com/?p=769

Today, I wanted to follow up with the other 4 steps he outlined, because I think this is truly business-building gold that he shared with us.

Step #4:Create a Powerful Vision

This is something you hear a lot of business coaches talk about, but it was interesting to hear this from a guy who has created literally hundreds of millions of dollars of profits and billions of dollars of sales.

Tony commented that “whatever you’re thinking .. THINK BIGGER”. This is powerful advice, because a critical problem most people have is that they never start thinking big enough to begin with. They set low standards, they set low goals, and they never achieve anywhere near their personal potential.

Tony’s attitude is somewhat like Donald Trump’s in this respect, who likes to say, “you’re going to think anyway .. so you might as well think big”.

No matter how you look at it, creating and holding a MASSIVE, exciting vision leads you to take more significant, committed steps, because we all want to be a part of something significant.

So how do you create a vision that’s compelling? Tony suggested asking the following question to help uncover what you are really trying to do .. “What will you be passionate about in 10 years from now, even if you never made a dime doing it?”

When you have a powerful, inspiring vision that connects to your passion, it’s incredible what happens – and such a vision rarely, if ever, has anything to do with money. As Tony commented, “chase the vision, not the money”.

If you find yourself doing something because your primary goal is money, that’s a big sign that you’re headed in the wrong direction.

Step #5:Build Relationships – Not Networks

This was great insight, because so many people focus on how many business cards they collect at a networking meeting, or how many contacts they have in their Outlook or contact database.

Tony’s view is that it doesn’t matter how many people you know or that you’ve met .. what matters most is how many people you connect with. He disagrees with the idea of “networking” as he thinks of that as a superficial process that doesn’t really bring you close to anyone.

Instead, he emphasized how important it is not to focus on quantity of relationships, but on the quality of the relationships you have. And one of his greatest insights was “be interested instead of interesting.”

Step #6:Build A World Class Team

As with most entrepreneurs who are successful, Tony acknowledged that the most important thing he’s done is set the culture of his company, and then brought in the right people to manage and grow the culture and vision.

He agreed with the classic thought of “hire slowly, fire quickly”, saying that one of the most damaging things you can have happen to a company is an employee who doesn’t fit, or is damaging to the culture.

He outlined the Zappos.com recruitment and training programs for new employees, which includes significant training time spent on culture and brand. He also mentioned a wild concept — during the training, they offer $2,000 to anyone who is willing to quit on the spot!

They’re looking for someone who’s not really committed and they know if someone’s willing to quit for $2,000, they’re not going to be around very long anyway.. best to flush them out at the beginning that find out later, after they’ve spent a bunch of money training them!

This is a great example of how differently Tony thinks in his business, and why he is so wildly successful with it.

Step #7:Think Long Term

This was one of the themes of everything that Tony talked about. He thinks about the long-term in his business, and specifically, what the lifetime value of a customer is. He outlined numerous stories of how they went so far above and beyond to make a customer happy, because they focus on doing whatever it takes to make a customer happy.

He details examples where customers have spent more than $60,000 with them online, and that everything that matters in a business that keeps customers is about the service.

You can’t just say you have good service, you literally have to show it and prove it every single day.

He emphasized there is “no get rich quick” out there, and that success takes time to achieve. Of course, I agree wholeheartedly with this premise, and this is exactly what I teach — there are no short cuts to success.

He then proceeded to tell us more about his company, which is headquartered in Las Vegas. He described how they offer free company tours to anyone in Las Vegas, and they even have a shuttle that will come and pick you up from your hotel for free to bring you to their offices so you can see what they’re about!

To say that Tony operates differently than almost EVERYONE out there is an understatement!

If you want to read more about Tony and Zappos.com, Fortune Magazine recently published a great article about him that you can see here.

Tony was the first speaker at the SANG event which was 3 days full of this kind of talent and insight. I’ll be sharing more of my notes with you over the next several days, so look for more to come soon!

At the recent SANG meetings in Las Vegas, we had a very cool presentation by Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos.com – a billion dollar online retailer with an incredible story.

Tony is an amazing entrepreneur. In 1998, he sold LinkExchange to Microsoft for over $240 million, when he was 24 years old. It’s not hard to see how brilliant this guy is, and he shared some incredible insight into how he’s been able to build a huge, profitable business in a niche that you’d think would never work on the internet — the primary niche they’re in is selling shoes online.

Zappos.com is now doing over a BILLION dollars a year (he’s only 35 years old by the way), and Tony shared with us his 7 Steps To Building A World Class Company. There are over 12 pages of notes from his presentation, but I’m going to share Tony’s 7 Steps with you over the next 2 posts.

7 Steps To Building A World Class Company
by Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos.com

Step #1:
DECIDE If You’re Willing To Build a Sustainable, World Class Company.

Tony’s view was that until you truly make the decision, it’s useless to try and build something when you’re not fully committed to it. As I often teach (from Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill), the power of making a DECISION is significant. It requires a lot of patience to make this decision, because it means you MUST remained focused, and maintain discipline in working towards your goal.

Once the decision is made, the REAL work begins. However, making that DECISION is what most entrepreneurs never do, and explains why most are never successful. Make the decision, and the rest falls into place.

Step #2:
Get Clear On Your Core Values

This step really resonating with me personally, because it was when I got really clear on what my personal core values are when things really start to go in my life. Tony outlined how he was very clear on what his own personal core values were, as well as those of their company. Once you know what values the company stands for, it becomes a guiding force for you. For example, it’s easy to decide who to hire when you consider core values.

For me personally, I discovered several years ago that my 5 personal core values were Accountability, Growth, Contribution, Integrity and Freedom. Now, it’s easy for me to determine what direction to take in business, what relationships to nurture, and what kind of people I want to have in my organization — I simply check them against my core values.

I operate my company with these same 5 core values, and the results speak for themselves. This is a tremendously powerful step, and Tony went to great lengths to emphasize how this was one of the key factors in the success with Zappos.com – because it has been entirely around the culture of the organization, which is driven by the core values.

Tony also made the point that discovering your core values is NOT an easy task, but worth the effort and time that it takes. Once you know what they are, the goal is simply to live in alignment with those core values, and to live them in every way through the decisions the organization makes.

Step #3:
Commit To Transparency

One of the most powerful things that Tony said was, “be real about who you are, and then you have nothing to fear“.

Most organizations (and people) spend a lot of their time making up stories and trying to be something that they’re really not. Tony’s perspective is that unique is good, and the best thing you can do is embrace who or what you are, and live it all the time. Doing so means you don’t have to try and remember what your story is, and that you don’t need to pretend with people -you just be yourself.

He also pointed out with regard to transparency that “your culture IS your brand“, and that you simply cannot pretend to be something you’re not. Customers are too smart these days, and the ability for people to talk and provide feedback is simply too powerful — you can’t hide what you really are for long.

For example, if you over-promise what you sell and leave customers unhappy, it won’t be long before they begin to voice their unhappiness on the internet. We’re in the age of instant feedback, so if you try to be something you’re not, someone will quickly call you on it.

The bottom line is, decide WHAT and WHO you are, and simply BE that in the market place. Even if not everyone loves you, people will appreciate and respect the alignment and honesty in the message.

.. Tune in tomorrow for the remaining 4 Steps in a blog entry tomorrow.

Thank you Greg for your insights – you can read more of Greg at his blog

Which is relevant to you because you can also learn simple things you can do to build relationships at the speed of light.

I recently met Jerry Yang the 2007 World Series of Poker Champion at Sundance for about 60 seconds.  Just long enough to score a photo, shake his hand and get his biz card before he sat down again at the Celeb poker table.

I met Seth Joyner, retired Superbowl champion who played for the Eagles and Cowboys and is the organizer of parandpoker.com; which holds poker tournaments for charity around the superbowl and the NBA all star game. 

We met for the first time for about 5 minutes outside a networking event for the Winners Circle that my friend Roger Salem puts together.  During our brief conversation I found out that Seth grew up in my home town of Rockland County NY and helps kids with financial literacy.

About a month ago I met John Alm the former CEO of Coca Cola enterprises at the Canyon Ranch at the Venetian and struck up a conversation with him at the Spa.  During that brief conversation I asked him what he does for fun. He answered poker and mentioned that he would like to win the World Series of Poker.

Since I knew I was going to be in Tampa for the Superbowl, and my friend Roger Salem was throwing a party at a 38,000 sq foot house in Avila, I reached out to Seth Joyner who I knew was in Tampa at an event during super bowl week. I asked Seth if he needed a place for his poker tournament, and invited him to the super bowl party Roger Salem was putting on at the big mansion.  I then told Seth, I would be more then happy to reach out to people I know who like poker to connect them, so ultimately more money would be raised for charity.

When I was in Tampa I saw Seth doing a TV interview and I called him on his cell phone immediately after and told him he did a great job, and asked if he wanted to attend the P. Diddy Superbowl party.

I put him on the phone with Rosy Conty who I just met thru my friend Brock Felt. Rosy was helping out with the P Diddy and Deion Sanders party and was looking for more celebrities to attend the event.  Seth Joyner was a good connection for her, because he had connections to Lawrence Taylor, Jim McMahon, and Dr J, to name a few of the celebs who played at his event.

Then I connected Seth Joyner with Jerry Yang – the 2007 world series of Poker Champion and John Alm, the former Chairman of Coca Cola Enterprises, because they all share a passion for poker.

Had I not asked, I would have never found out that John Alm loves poker, and wouldn’t have known that Seth Joyner does poker tournaments for charity.

It didn’t take a lot of  time. It didn’t cost me any money. They are all new people I have recently met, and the nice thing is you can do the same.  Maybe not with celebs yet, but who are the celebs in your home town that you can connect? 

It is very easy to leverage your time, ideas and connections to help others get what they want. Give without thought of getting anything back in return and you’ll be amazed at the things that will come your way.

Serve others first, and you can build trusted relationships at the speed of light.

I wanted to share a 10 step formula to help you have your best year ever.

We are 16 days into the new year. How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? Are you still on track
to meet your goals. By February most people decide to drop many of their; I hope you’re not one of them.

I have been hard at work at putting together an event where 100 of the worlds top business thinkers and thought leaders will be attending.

Some of my business mentors will be in attendance; such as Tony Robbins, Les Brown and Alex Mandossian.

Heck I just found out one of the A list superstars on the # 1 tv show in the country has expressed interest in attending.

But, I don’t tell you this to brag, simply to prove that when I am telling you that anything is possible, I mean it. I started out in my business with no contacts, nobody that I could call to “get me in” with important people. And if I can build my list of contacts to include some of the most successful business people in the country, then you can too.

So, below I’m giving you ten things you can do to make 2009 your best year ever.

Rule # 1
You can accomplish anything if you focus on it How clear are you? Do you really know what you want

Rule # 2

You attract what you think about-The Law of attraction really does work If you think about attracting prosperity and good things into your life and you take action towards those things, you are increasing the chance that will happen; or something even better.

If all you do is think about how shitty things are, that you are broke, and how there is no opportunities available, then I promise you that you will attract more of that.

Rule # 3
Create a great environment for yourself. f your current environment doesn’t support you, change it. If your current environment doesn’t inspire you go to some place that does. Heck it can be in the lobby of your favorite hotel or down to your local Starbucks. As I write this I am in my friends 8,000 sqare foot home in Deer Valley Utah-the place is gorgeous and the views are incredible.

Rule # 4
Raise Your Standards – Do you ever notice some people no matter what the circumstance always seem to make a lot of money. That is because they have raised their standards and refuse to not live below a certain standard.

Check out Harv Ekers book – “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind“. It is a quick read and he goes into great detail on how the brain works especially when it comes to money and your beliefs.

Rule # 4

Get an accountability partner, Speak every day, and hold each other accountable to what you said you were going to do.

Rule # 5

YOU NEED TO HAVE CONSEQUENCES
If you don’t follow thru on what you said you need to have some type of consequence.

Rule # 6

Focus on serving others. This is good for two reasons. One because the most successful people are the biggest givers. Think of Oprah, Richard Branson, and Bill Gates. They serve others, help tons of people, and look at the fruits they bare.

When you focus on other peoples needs and help them, you are less likely to worry about your situation; especially if it isn’t as perfect as you would like it to be.

Rule # 7

Get very good at Connecting and Adding Value To Others. This skill will help you add value to anyone.

Remember it isn’t what you know often times it is who you know.

Rule # 8

Focus on looking at what the opportunity is, and not all the challenges you have.

Rule # 9

You need a strategic relationship plan

Who are the key people you want to do business with? Who are the strategic partners you need to achieve your goals?

Who are the friends you need to help you get to the next level in business and in life?

Do you have a plan to interact with these individuals and companies thru out the year, and how will you add value to them?

Rule # 10

Make Sure You have Fun Doing What You Love

If you aren’t having fun, start today to figure out how to incorporate more fun.

For years I slaved away working, missed out on tons of fun things I enjoy doing. Today I design my life around things
I enjoy. Heck I like movies and fun, parties with friends, so as I write this I am at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah and will work remotely this week.

Then I will head to Tampa to give a speech and spend 10 days in Tampa for the Superbowl and entertain friends, clients, strategic partners on my friends yacht and a 38,000 sq foot house.

This is all done by design, and if you plan things, it doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money to have fun at what you do.

So, please start implementing those ten steps, make a conscious effort to do them every week and you will see the results you want. It works for everybody who works it.

She told me that there was a restaurant nearby and she was sorry there weren’t too many places available due to the fact it was so early. Because I always like to find out who I’m speaking with, I asked her name. Marilyn Thompson was her reply.

Since I was there scouting locations for my next Speaker Author Networking Group meeting, I took every opportunity to discover reasons why I should choose the Bellagio for my event instead of the Wynn or Caesar’s Palace or any of the other fabulous hotels.

So, I asked Marilyn what made the Bellagio special. What happened next absolutely knocked my socks off. She told me about its five star restaurants, about the myriads of other amenities, the high level of customer service, on and on she went about why I might want to select the Bellagio for my event. She concluded by assuring me my guests would have a fantastic experience if I chose this hotel.

I was so impressed; I asked her who the CEO of the Bellagio was, because I wanted to send him a note to let him know how great a job she was doing on behalf of the Bellagio. I do that because I’m a big believer in creating magic moments for others. When you create magic moments for others, not only will you feel good, but the people you’re coming in contact with will feel good and it will have a ripple effect.

I then asked her what she actually did for work at the hotel, because she was wearing a red suit and I couldn’t place her position there from that. She told me that she was the overnight security guard. And, no more than 30 seconds later, a gentleman appeared nearby, he had his back to me, was wearing gym clothes and was about to enter the gym. Marilyn exclaimed that it was Jim Murren, I had no idea who Jim Murren was, but because Marilyn pointed him out, I assumed he was an influential person at the hotel. Well, I called out to him and asked him to come over to us. He did and I proceeded to tell him how what a wonderful employee he had in Marilyn and how she was a great asset to the Bellagio.

He replied that they prided themselves at the Bellagio for having employees like Marilyn; it’s what makes the Bellagio so great. He then excused himself and went into the gym. I thanked Marilyn again and headed into the gym myself. I took a second to google Jim Murren. I was stunned.

Turned out, he is the number two executive at the Bellagio.

Remember that just moments before I asked Marilyn who the CEO of he Bellagio was, so I could tell him about what a great job she was doing? Well, I had done even better, I had told the COO – face to face!

A few weeks after my departure from Las Vegas I received an email from Marilyn. She reminded me of our meeting and took the initiative to personally invite me back to the hotel!

Now, it’s no coincidence that when I read the most recent annual report of the MGM Mirage that the Bellagio hotel was doing just fine, operating at something like 96% occupancy with very high room rates. Do you think there is any correlation between the level of intimate customer service that people like Marilyn are able to provide?

Here’s my question to you. Do you have Marilyn Thompson’s in your company? Do you have employees that are so enthusiastic and passionate about your company that they’ll take the time to send an email to a prospective client?

Well, you can start today by creating magic moments for 5-10 people a day that you come in contact with. Make them feel special, call them by their first name; tell them what a great job they’re doing. Encourage your employees and co-workers to do the same. You’ll start creating a culture that both delivers and receives magic moments.

Until we connect again.

What is also interesting, the Wynn hasn’t been as effected by the recession, they are still doing pretty well. I got off the phone with some friends of mine yesterday, Jimmy V and Travis Miller of Gravitational Marketing.

You know what is interesting.

They are serving an industry that has been beaten up badly, the Automotive industry. You know what I found most interesting? They had their best month ever. Let me repeat that, they had their best month ever. Why?

They haven’t bought into the sky is falling, and you can’t sell into an industry that has been beaten down. Heck car dealerships are going out of business left and right and the American auto industry is having some major issues.

Travis and Jimmy know how valuable their services are, and they have been creating the connections, the sales and marketing, that has allowed them to flourish.

Are you buying into the stories of your customers on why they don’t need your product or service, when you know in your heart of hearts they need what you have desperately. Are you buying into your own stories on why things are bad for you?

I used to do that, and guess what things didn’t turn out so good.

When I changed my outlook on life, business and helping others my life changed before my very eyes. How is your attitude? Does your attitude match your goals and objectives for the year?

Connect with me, let me here your comments.

Until We Connect Again,
Larry Benet
The Connector