The New Networker

Social and professional networking has really taken the Internet by storm. LinkedIn, the largest of the US professional networks, has more than 20 million professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. There are many smaller professional networks such as BizNik, FastPitch networking and Xing just to name a few. Recruiters and corporate recruiters were the first ones to jump on the professional networking bandwagon. Examine the top “connected” folks on these sites and you will still find an overwhelming number of them in the recruiting field. And it is no wonder, before the days of business networking - the recruiters always carried the largest rolodexes. Online networking created a new platform for recruiters to tap not only the folks in their network, but also the contacts in their network. Private wealth managers also account for a healthy segment of this user base. These folks spend a large portion of their day cultivating new clients and landing one produces significant fees.

Recently, a new breed of online networker has emerged – the ‘power networker’. The power networker doesn’t tap into his network to sell his/her product line. The power networker doesn’t tap into his/her network to find potential candidates. The power networker in fact doesn’t sell anything to contacts in his/her network. Rather, the power networker derives revenues from simply having amassed the collection of contacts. How does the power networker make money?

(a) The old fashion Internet way – Ad revenue. Pretty amazing that we treat ‘old fashion’ in Internet-speak as advertising revenue but so it goes. For the power networker to earn advertising dollars he/she invites their network over to platform that provides them a share of the advertising revenues. Xing has put together a great platform for doing just that – creating a true partnership between the social networking site and the creator of the network. Facebook and LinkedIn both have group functionality and this resource has been leveraged by the power networker to collect users and then bring them over to another site that provides them revenue. Given people affinity for joining social and professional networking sites joining yet another one is not a far stretch. A similar approach (even easier) is to drive ones social network traffic to ones own site where advertising revenues could be earned. [it should be noted that we found a number of power networker’s home pages are actually their social network profile].

(b) The business developer. This clearly is the favored approach and most likely the reason that professional networking exists – to help drive business. For the power networker with rolodexes exceeding 10k professionals, the odds are the person that you are seeking is in their rolodex. Requests are made to power networkers throughout the day requesting introductions and access to their rolodex. The power networker is entitled to ask the requestor for a fee in exchange for making the introduction. Though this functionality is not built into the traditional professional networks, these fee based transactions are occurring and are growing in frequency and size.

(c) Referral Fees from 3^rd parties. As anyone who has purchased a lead list before could attest to – just obtaining a name is valuable. Zoominfo, Hoovers and Spoke are just some of the firms that provide contact information (of course for a fee). Well, the power networker also has valuable contact information and could easily leverage their network. Of course the power networker needs to be careful how many times they tap their network for promotional purposes but it is a great source of revenue. Many online publications derive lots of revenue from dedicated emails, sponsored promotions and newsletters. The power networker has access to the same base of users and in many instances outweighs the smaller publications.

If you missed the boat on buying up 1800 telephone numbers, registering thousands of domain names, or setting up an offshore development company, chances are you are too late to become a power networker. We are already seeing a significant amount of cross over in terms of contacts from power networker to power networker. But, as new people are joining social and professional networks everyday it shouldn’t take long for anyone to amass enough of an online network to drive some real revenue.

LinkedIn Lion Taps Salesconx to Monetize Network

NEW YORK- April 14, 2008--Salesconx.com, the online business referral marketplace today announced that Moshe Weiss, a master rainmaker and leading networker with over 16,000 direct business connections, has joined the Saleconx Partnership Program to monetize his network.

Salesconx helps businesses drive more revenue by providing a platform for qualified lead and deal generation by leveraging the 17 million sales professionals in the United States. The member base currently consists of 1,800+ frontline experts across numerous industries and disciplines including finance, banking, real estate and business services. These members are compensated for introducing qualified decision makers in their individual networks to other Salesconx members seeking these connections.

"Salesconx is all about delivering added value to the sales cycle - from the buyer, to the seller and the decision maker," said Evan Sohn, CEO of Salesconx. "Shortly after launching, we were approached by companies who wanted to deliver similar value to their members. This served as the foundation for our Partner Program."

The Salesconx Partner Program was launched this past March to make the platform more accessible to new sales, marketing and small business professionals. The partners consist of small businesses and networking individuals interested in adding value to their network by providing their members, users or contacts with the opportunity to buy and sell business referrals on Salesconx.com. Salesconx Partners are looking to help their existing contacts drive more business, while profiting from these relationships they have cultivated over several years.

In a world of web 2.0, sales 2.0, social and professional networking, Weiss is a new breed of networker. In past a truly “connected” person has a few thousand relationships. Weiss by leveraging and focusing on online networking tools has amassed an online ‘rolodex’ of over 16,000 professionals. Moreover, Weiss spends his time cultivating and nurturing his contacts. “These aren’t merely names in a list,” said Weiss, “I spend most of my day communicating with my contacts, listening to what relationships they are seeking, and helping them grow their business.” By leveraging Salesconx, Weiss is now earning income while helping his connections drive revenue for their business and for themselves. “I am always looking for new ways to bring value to my network,” Weiss continued. “By inviting my contacts to join Salesconx I am now enabling them to drive revenue for their business and for themselves.”

About Moshe Weiss
As a master rainmaker and leading networker with over 16,500 direct business connections on LinkedIn alone, Moshe Weiss (http://mosheweiss.com) is always looking for ways to support and offer value-added benefits to his network, especially with people whose companies and products have a stake in the successful rollout of Relationship Capital. Interested networkers looking for a way to monetize their contacts can join Moshe on Salesconx at http://www.salesconx.com/mosheweiss.php?reff=1003. Join Moshe’s growing network here.

About Salesconx
Salesconx, Inc., the leading marketplace for business referrals, provides an online platform for qualified introductions, pay-for-performance deal generation and appointment setting. Salesconx has helped small businesses, sales professionals and marketers across the country drive more business, adding more clients and customers in a broad range of industries and disciplines including financial services, banking, computer services, real estate and marketing services. Visit Salesconx at http://www.salesconx.com.

Brainstorm Host Monetizes contacts using Salesconx

I was interviewed recently by the host of Brainstorm (www.brainstormbusinesspodcast.com) Penny Haynes, who also happens to be a successful member of Salesconx.com. Listen here: http://quikonnex.com/search/displayenc_pop.php?itemid=30609.

Penny is actually the founder of Online Communities Magazine (http://www.OnlineCommunityMagazines.com).

Thanks Penny.

Lessons from the First Salesman – The Serpent

The serpent is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made,” Genesis 3:1. The serpent is indeed the original salesman. It is no wonder that when being derogatory about a person’s characteristics one might say that they are slippery like “snake oil”. But (for our purposes) the serpent must have been one heck of salesman. God, as the story in the bible goes, created for Adam and Eve the ultimate in luxury. Think of the Ritz Hotel, Naples Florida with all expenses paid. Everything, from food to worldly pleasures was merely a touch a way. There was but one rule – do not eat from the forbidden fruit.

So let’s review the selling environment for the serpent; no compelling reason to purchase, no purchasing authority at the local level (we can assume God’s commandment was the guiding principal), not a very big market (although 2 out of 2 would be considered 100% market share) and decision making shared between two people. The odds were certainly stacked against the serpent being successful in making his sale. As the story continues, the serpent convinces Eve to bite from the fruit and God punishes Adam and Eve by banishing them from the Garden of Eden. How was the serpent able to convince or sell Eve on eating the fruit? Taking into consideration all the elements working against the serpent – he must have been some salesman.

Perhaps there is something to learn from this salesman #1:

• Get your customer to start talking. The serpent didn’t start his dialogue with Eve about eating the forbidden fruit. Instead, he asks her a question about all the trees in the garden of eden. Listening to your customer or moreover getting them to speak about their issues and concerns is far more important than you rattling off your pitch. Perhaps by actually listening to your customer you could on-the-fly adjust your pitch accordingly.

• Deal with arguments one at a time. The serpent jumps on one of the facts that Eve states – that touching the forbidden fruit will kill her. By focusing his argument on this one issue the serpent is able to get Eve to let her guard down. There are always barriers to a close but getting your customer to state them in detail and then dealing with them one at a time until there are no barriers left.

• Portray a compelling image post purchase. After dealing with the arguments against eating from the forbidden fruit the serpent immediately began to paint a picture for Eve what her world would be like if she ate from the forbidden fruit. Giving tangible examples of revenue generating or cost cutting solutions is critical to selling success. Most folks want to be a hero in their organization (or at least to themselves). How will buying your product/service make them a hero? Make sure that have a clear image of what will occur once your product/service is deployed. Is their life easier? Are they able to earn more money? Save time? Be clear and specific. The serpent convinced Eve she would be Iike a God if she ate the fruit – now that’s a compelling argument.

• Get the customer engaged in a trial. The serpent didn’t ask Eve to take title to an entire forbidden fruit tree, he merely convinced her to take a bite a see what happens. Make sure it is easy for your customer to try out your product/service. Everyone likes to try before they buy and while some services don’t work well in a trialing environment perhaps you could package a subset of your product/service for a trial. Making it easy for your customer to chew on your product/service will help them get a taste for what it will be like when it is fully deployed.

‘You could always learn something from everybody’ as the phrase goes. While most symbolic representations of the serpent are indeed that of evil let us not forget the caduceus or Wand of Hermes - a staff entwined by two snakes in the form of a double helix. The caduceus represents the authority to quickly deliver vital or wise information to aid, assist, negotiate, and enlighten. Perhaps there is something to learn from the serpent after all.

Does Salesconx Really Work?

Since launching this past fall, many of my former sales and marketing colleagues have asked me ‘does Salesconx really work?’ Despite my conviction the ability to prove my theory of Salesconx was a bit limited.

Meet Nat Silverman. Nat is a telecommunications sales rep in NYC selling for nearly 20 years. Though Nat is typically limited to selling a single product line (a T1 line or telco equipment) Nat has a wealth of experience in telecommunications and general IT services.

“I realized that there were better opportunities for me to make money by leveraging my network,” Silverman said. “I am always trying to play the role of business consultant to my clients, advising them on services outside my company’s service portfolio.”

Silverman did what ever good sales person is supposed to do – he listened to his customer. He asked questions about what additional products or services his contacts were interested in, these products ranged from marketing materials to web services to telephone equipment. In understanding the immense value of these conversations, of these opportunities, Nat was able to make over $1,700 dollars in a few short weeks by listing his customers requirements on Salesconx.

After his first post was quickly sold, he posted a few more and watched the bids roll in. After a week of posting “Connections for Sale” on the site, he was over $1,700 richer - but he wasn't the only one benefiting. According to Nat, “Of course I’m making money and building my network and repertoire, which is important as a business consultant. But equally important, I’m making my clients happy by introducing them to people that they want to work with.”

We are always told that listening to our customer is a key to making a sale – it couldn’t be more true.