If you’re attending the ASAE Tech Conference next week in DC, please come by and say hello.  Here is also a great offer from PBD Worldwide and Association Press on the new book, Return on Impact: Leadership Strategies for the Age of Connected Relationships (ASAE, 2012).

Holiday are a really good time for introspection.  Not just what you’ve accomplished but who you’ve become and where is your next stage of personal and professional growth going to come from?  Which relationships will you choose to invest in – personally and professionally and why?  How will you grow into the stronger manager, leader, professional, or even the better human being you aspire to become, not just tasks or functions you seek to accomplish?

This thanksgiving holiday season, I’m grateful for family, friends, clients, partners and colleagues.  I hope in some small way, I’ve positively impacted your experiences.  Thank you for your support of my passion to remain a life-long student of business relationships.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones,

David

p.s.

A friend emailed me the cartoon below – thought you’d enjoy it as well…

The November issue of Harvard Business Review highlights Kevin Peters, Office Depot’s president for North America and his bewilderment at a puzzling set of facts – declining sales but customer service scores going through the roof.  How could they be “delivering phenomenal service to customers, yet they weren’t buying anything?”
What he discovered, by spending several weeks walking around 70 stores in 15 states, was that the customer satisfaction scoring was asking the wrong questions!  They were asking about clean floors and bathrooms, none of which customers cared about.  What they did care about were being ignored, lack of relationships, inability to find what they needed or solve a problem they came into the store for.  So Peters came up with three insights:

1. He had to reduce the size of the stores – give them less of what they don’t want!
2. Improve the in-store experience for customers – in a commodity world, the only real differentiation
3. Look beyond office products to provide other services customers wanted – like copying, printing, and shipping; help installing software and fixing computers.

What can you take away about your strategic relationships?  They become relevant when you start asking better questions and become a priority on their radar.  I’ve found a direct correlation between other people’s responsiveness, investment in the relationship, and longevity of the relationship with how much value you provide in every interaction.  You become of particular value if they can’t get that value from many (or any) other sources, and your value is particularly impactful to their aspirations.

So if you want to build more strategic relationships in 2012 and beyond, start asking better questions.  Only then, will you uncover opportunities to become a strong asset to their efforts and build a solid foundation for the relationship moving forward.

I received the email above from LinkedIn and it reminded me of great friends from Emory’s Exec. MBA program several (OK – thanks to the LinkedIn reminder – 11 years ago).  Beyond their names that I have in my address book, their faces reinforce that social is highly personal and social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) are simply an enabler of that personal interaction.  I’m amazed every single day with people who confuse the two.  They abdicate their interpersonal interactions (the essence of any relationship) to status updates, connections, followers, fans, and “likes.”  Email and social is one-dimensional; phone conversations are two dimensional because I can gauge your tonality; in-person is three dimensional and nothing will ever replace that interpersonal interactions.

Bottom line – pick up the phone and call a business relationship you haven’t in some time just to say hello and ask how they’re doing!  If you find a way to become an asset, amazing how often they’ll reciprocate!

ASAE is hosting its Annual Tech Conference, December 6-8, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, other technology staff, and marketing and membership professionals will learn how to leverage mobile and digital content for their organizations.

Here are some of the 50+ topics on the agenda: how to create a profitable mobile application, how to handle challenges with an online community, how to develop a user’s experience using a cloud strategy, and how to use Google Analytics.  The three-day technology conference starts with a keynote from AAIM’s CEO John Mancini. He will discuss the social (So), local (Lo) and mobile (Mo) and the implications of “SoLoMo” as well as tactics CIOs should adopt to be “business value producers.”

On Wednesday, December 7, I’ll do a luncheon keynote on the quantifiable business impact of social.  I also hope to challenge the attendees to rethink their strategic use of social tools and context in order to achieve social market leadership. I’m really excited about my forthcoming book published by ASAE’s Association Management Press, Return on IMPACT: Leadership Strategies for the Age of Connected Relationships.

Closing General Session speaker will be David Weinberger, senior researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for the Internet and Society, who will address the future vision of knowledge in a connected world and how government, business, science and education are learning to utilize network knowledge to make smarter decisions.

To register or find out more information, please visit ASAE’s Annual Technology Conference and Expo website.

By the way, ASAE is a membership organization of more than 22,000 association executives and industry partners representing more than 11,000 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in nearly 50 countries around the world. With support of the ASAE Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity, ASAE is the premier source of learning, knowledge and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession, and provides resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community. For more information about ASAE, visit www.asaecenter.org.

One of the best approaches to spreading a viral change campaign is to court key influencers. But recent research also conforms that the influenced may be as critical as the influencers. A recent study found that trying to track down key influencers – people who have extremely large social networks – can in some ways limit a campaign and its viral potential. Change agents instead need to realize that the majority of their audience, not just the well-connected few, is eager and willing to pass along well-designed and relevant messages.

Interested in learning more? Be sure to take advantage of the additional resources Relationship Economics has to offer:

• Sign up for the Relationship Economics Monthly Newsletter and receive poignant, practical and insightful advice regarding business relationships and social networking best practices.
• Attend the next Relationship Economics @ Work Webinar series and learn ways your company can experience unprecedented growth!
• Text ‘RETip’ to 90210 and receive real-time business relationship insight and tips. Opt-out at anytime.
• Join the Relationship Economics Group on LinkedIn and join in on the conversation.
• Follow me on Twitter.

Are you wanting to start an enterprise level conversation about implementing Social Alignment in your company but are not sure where to start? Here are five more questions have been devised to help start a dialogue in your organization:

 1.    How do we describe our corporate culture? Do you or your employees have a clear idea of your culture? It will come out, so be prepared. If your management team is more paranoid than North Korea, don’t expect to see a rosy picture put forth to potential customers. Corporate culture is one area that definitely shows up on social media.

 2.    What is the line between personal and professional branding? If an employee posts information concerning their company on their personal page, who owns the content?  Can we influence what someone posts in his or her spare time about himself or herself? The short answer is that if they share with the world that they are an employee of the company, then they are responsible to the company for protecting the brand.

 3.    What do we want the world to know about us as a company? Our employees are ambassadors for our company, for better or worse. For many prospective buyers, their first point of introduction may be through the social interactions of an employee, whether professional or personal. If we don’t have a clear message, what do you think will happen in the market?

 4.    What are our expectations around professionalism for our employees? If you have a dress code, code of conduct, etc., then it would be logical to have a more restrictive code for social media conduct. If you have loose expectations around how employees are expected to engage, then you probably don’t expect to have a corporate image projected from your employees.

 5.    Who owns the relationship / account? If your junior account team person connects to one of your customer’s employees, what happens when that employee leaves your company? Who owns the customer when a sales rep leaves who is directly connected to the customer on LinkedIn? How about when they have built their pipeline over social media? What happens when your customer service people build a following on Twitter with a personally branded account? What if your employee starts an account on behalf of the company?

 Certainly not easy questions – but then again, social media is a disruptive force which we believe will evolve many industries.

Interested in learning more? Be sure to take advantage of the additional resources Relationship Economics has to offer:

• Sign up for the Relationship Economics Monthly Newsletter and receive poignant, practical and insightful advice regarding business relationships and social networking best practices.
• Attend the next Relationship Economics @ Work Webinar series and learn ways your company can experience unprecedented growth!
• Text ‘RETip’ to 90210 and receive real-time business relationship insight and tips. Opt-out at anytime.
• Join the Relationship Economics Group on LinkedIn and join in on the conversation.
• Follow me on Twitter.

Are you wanting to start an enterprise level conversation about implementing Social Alignment in your company but are not sure where to start? The following five questions have been devised to help start a dialogue in your organization:

1.    What level of Corporate Transparency do we want to have? It is a spectrum, and you need to figure out how open you really want to be.

 2.    What is our definition of Intellectual Property? Your corporate IP is a corporate asset; think copyrights, patents, trademarks; but also corporate proprietary information, customer information, etc.  How do you define what is yours, your employees, your partners, your customers, and what do you share with the market?

 3.    What is the customer’s level of expectation around the customer experience? Do they expect to be engaged? Do they expect real-time feedback and response? Do they expect your people to be empowered to participate in social engagement? Knowing how much will also drive the organization’s view of how you should participate.

 4.    What is our employee’s level of expectation around employee engagement? Do they expect a wide-open policy for everyone? Are there industry regulations regarding participation? How is management participating?

 5.    Are there internal vehicles to vent for employees? Are you giving employees an outlet for voicing feedback? How is morale? Most who say, “I hate… websites” are actually ex-employees. Did you just go through a round of lay-offs? You may want to think about how your employee base will react.

Interested in learning more? Be sure to take advantage of the additional resources Relationship Economics has to offer:

• Sign up for the Relationship Economics Monthly Newsletter and receive poignant, practical and insightful advice regarding business relationships and social networking best practices.
• Attend the next Relationship Economics @ Work Webinar series and learn ways your company can experience unprecedented growth!
• Text ‘RETip’ to 90210 and receive real-time business relationship insight and tips. Opt-out at anytime.
• Join the Relationship Economics Group on LinkedIn and join in on the conversation.
• Follow me on Twitter.

Social media in many ways is reinventing ROI to return on influence, impact and integration. Whether you use social media to strengthen your brand, drive marketing efficiency, or increase sales, here is the second half of 6 best practices to enhance your online return on influence.

 1.    Know Your Social Media “Why”.  Your off-line and on-line presence must be in-line.  You must understand succinctly why you have a social media presence and how to most effectively utilize it as a platform.   To enhance your online return on influence, it is critical that you develop an online purpose – with both a defensive strategy (to protect your brand), as well as an offensive roadmap (to take your message to the market).

 2.    Invest With Unique Insights.  Some say ROI from social media is a myth.  Let me remind you of the three types of relationship builders; on – or off-line; givers who freely give, takers, who use social media as a personal billboard or a solicitation engine, and investors.  Digital relationship investors understand that the fundamental value in any social forum is the exchange of unique insights.  Although we may never completely agree on a particular topic or process, a healthy dose of dissent fuels the participants’ intellectual horsepower.

 3.    Who Are You Listening To?  Candidly, my first two weeks on Twitter were a complete waste of time.  I saw little value in the mundane exchange of useless information.  Then I quickly learned that Twitter ROI – for me – is heavily derived from following respected colleagues, industry thought leaders, and generally appealing personalities; those who shared insights I otherwise wouldn’t have regular access to.  Particularly if you rely on social media to source industry influencers, it is critical to ask yourself, who are you really listening to?  After all, we are the product of the advice we take.

 What other best practices have you found of particular value?

Interested in learning more? Be sure to take advantage of the additional resources Relationship Economics has to offer:

• Sign up for the Relationship Economics Monthly Newsletter and receive poignant, practical and insightful advice regarding business relationships and social networking best practices.
• Attend the next Relationship Economics @ Work Webinar series and learn ways your company can experience unprecedented growth!
• Text ‘RETip’ to 90210 and receive real-time business relationship insight and tips. Opt-out at anytime.
• Join the Relationship Economics Group on LinkedIn and join in on the conversation.
• Follow me on Twitter.

Social media in many ways is reinventing ROI to return on influence, impact and integration. Whether you use social media to strengthen your brand, drive marketing efficiency, or increase sales, here is the first half of 6 best practices to enhance your online return on influence.

 1.    Build a Relevant Relationship Bank™.  If you have ever heard me speak, or have had a chance to read Relationship Economics, I describe your portfolio of relationships as your Relationship Bank.  How relevant is your relationship bank to your social media strategy?  The three fundamental attributes in your relationship bank are its’ quality, diversity, and the investment efforts you choose to make.  It is seldom about the number of people you are connected to, but rather the number of interested people in your niche that you develop a relationship with.   

 2.    Toot Your Own Horn.  A mentor often reminds me that “if you don’t toot your own horn, there is no music.”  You must publicize your social media presence, consistently.  Create social links on your website.  Add social links to your email signature, or include them on your business card.  Include social networking profile links along with your forum signature.  Don’t forget to add a professional headshot where appropriate.

 3.    Become an Object of Interest.  Most people will make up their mind to connect with you – or not – in seven to ten seconds, based on your picture (face it, we are all shallow), robust profile, and the most recent one to three status updates.  Keep in mind that people online are browsers, not readers.  It is critical that you keep your status updates poignant, pithy, and of particular interest or value to your target audience.  Ideal if you stick to what you know and can intelligently articulate.  Post updates for the benefit of the consumers of that information, not yourself as the producer of it.

 What other best practices have you found of particular value?

Interested in learning more? Be sure to take advantage of the additional resources Relationship Economics has to offer:

• Sign up for the Relationship Economics Monthly Newsletter and receive poignant, practical and insightful advice regarding business relationships and social networking best practices.
• Attend the next Relationship Economics @ Work Webinar series and learn ways your company can experience unprecedented growth!
• Text ‘RETip’ to 90210 and receive real-time business relationship insight and tips. Opt-out at anytime.
• Join the Relationship Economics Group on LinkedIn and join in on the conversation.
• Follow me on Twitter.