Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Guest Post: The Holiday Networking Dance

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This week’s guest post is from my friend and master networker – Stephanie Arnheim of Stephanie Connects!

Do you ever find that when November comes and it gets darker earlier, you walk into a store and holiday decorations are everywhere? Your mind goes NO it can’t be!

Halloween is barely done and the stores are filled with holiday gear and yet your mind has to stay focused on business. How are you going to get motivated to go network with all of these distractions?

The thought of networking at this time of year can feel overwhelming yet it is actually a great time to make some key connections to help your business grow. Imagine that you are like the Sugar Plum Fairy and stay on your toes!

Here are some easy and fun ways to make the most of networking during the holidays:

Holiday Cards

Take the time to write special holiday cards to clients, potential clients and referral partners. Tip: Start now so that it doesn’t get overwhelming as your list will be larger than you think. Share something you really liked about working with them or meeting with them.

Events

Remember getting leads for your business can come from many places. A family gathering, a neighborhood holiday party or business holiday event can all be great places to meet potential clients or referral partners.

1:1s

Many networking groups don’t meet as often during this time of year. Take this opportunity to schedule some key 1:1s with people you’ve been too busy to connect with. Show that you are conscious of their time during the busy season: doing a Zoom call is a great way to reach others for a key meeting.

Social Media 

Use Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to wish others a happy holiday. These are great ways to stay in front of people so they remember you even if you aren’t at a networking event.

Be of Service

Many people feel overwhelmed as the holidays creep closer. Rather than concentrating on your business pitch, this is the time to be a good listener and ask questions such as “How can I help?”  This can be very comforting and show that you care and that you are a valuable asset to them, now and in the future, and chances are you will learn something meaningful about them and their business.

Balancing your time between family, fun and business can be a dance. Have fun with this time of year. Reach out to those by phone instead of email. If you have trouble figuring out what to say, where to go or how to do this kind of networking let me know. For other fun tips to help you get through the holidays, download my Holiday Networking Survival Guide to help you make the most out of this holiday time.

Happy Connecting!

Stephanie Arnheim is a Business Networking Strategist and Master Connector. With her business Stephanie Connects, Stephanie educates people on how to reach the next level in their business using simple daily practices. Her clients learn to overcome fears associated with networking and dynamically connect with their key customers and business resources in powerful ways.

October Pop Culture Round Up

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Happy Halloween! We are less than a week away from the election and although I have a lot going on for the campaign, thanks to a quick get away for my husbands birthday – I found some time to catch up on my pop culture this month…

Reading

I finished French Exit by Patrick DeWitt. He’s such a unique writer and I really enjoyed this book. Quirky seems too easy a description for it. His writing style and characters are great and very one of a kind. If you’re a writer (or a reader) I suggest starting with The Sisters Brothers, but I loved this story that took you from the Upper Eastside to Paris with a cat.

I finally started Outside the Wire by Jason Kander just as he dropped out of the election to take care of his PTSD.  It is a great book – he joked the alt title was “how to run for office without being an asshole” and he’d be the guy who knows. Holy GENUINE guy. I can’t wait to finish this book over Thanksgiving.

I also caught up on some comics including the new Nancy Drew series from Kelly Thompson (my current favorite comic book author). I like the West Coast Avengers (also by Thompson) and I am excited to read more of Maneaters by my 2nd favorite comic book author Chelsea Cain (who wrote the BEST Mockingbird comic you’ll ever read). Maneaters is hilarious and clever and every page has about 75 things going on. Pick it up (make sure to get the one with sparkles on the cover!)

Listening

Nothing better than the dulcet tone of Michael Barbaro’s voice to get you going in the morning. I love The Daily and the election reporting and this morning’s episode on Internet Outrage was fantastic. Pod Save America continues to keep fuel in the fire and I’m loving their HBO specials as well!

I’m also enjoying the new season of Serial which takes place in Cleveland and follows a courthouse – the judges the prosecutors the accused. It’s FASCINATING and sad and enraging. Just like the criminal justice system.

Watching

Obviously I binged the new season of Schitts Creek – it was, Simply the Best.

I started but haven’t continued the new season of Making a Murderer but I hope to catch up with it soon (probably post-election). I am however watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I do have to admit to watching Riverdale so I was more inclined to watch this version of Sabrina, having never watched the 90’s version (which looked terrible at the time, and still does). I will watch anything Kiernan Shipka is in – ever since Mad Men I have vowed to watch whatever she does, she’s an amazing actress, even if she’s overcast for this role. It’s fun, creepy and a perfect fall show to fill that Stranger Things hole in my viewing schedule.

This season of The Good Place continues to make me happy and I love each twist and turn. So far my favorite is the discovery of WHO Donkey Doug is in Jason’s life. <insert exploding head emoji here>

I am enjoying the Murphy Brown reboot and hated the Manifest pilot. And this season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has already had it’s perfect song…

What pop culture is keeping you sane this election cycle? Make sure to VOTE and get your ballot in early if you live in a mail in state. If you need to go to the polls – please make a plan and VOTE – the future of our democracy depends on it.

Ask Yellow Dog: Why Are My Unsubscribe Numbers Up?

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I recently spoke with someone about their newsletter. Their unsubscribe numbers were up and they asked me to take a look. Not a problem! I looked at a couple recent newsletters and noticed a very common mistake:

Too Much Selling

You may be scaring potential clients away because you’re trying to sell to them ALL THE TIME. Back up.
The point of your newsletter is to educate your network so they WANT to hire you when it’s the right time FOR THEM. Your newsletter is consistent so when they are ready to buy they know where to find you. (This happened again for me last week!)
If you only are ever selling me stuff I’m less inclined to buy. Prove it. Show me how awesome you are each and every month in your newsletter with the knowledge you have to share.
I agree that there’s a lot of selling, but then how do you let people know you’ve got stuff that could help them? this is what I don’t understand.
You can sell, but tone it down a notch (or 10). My suggestion in this case was to streamline the message and only focus on one offering a month. If you have 5 great offers that’s AWESOME – and put that into 5 months of content. Your readers have a million other things going on each day – I’d much rather read a quick newsletter with one clear option and realize “nope, not the right fit for me.” Instead of having to decipher which one of these 5 is the right one for me right now.

Be clear in what your newsletter is supposed to do for your audience:

  • Educate your audience about your awesomeness (you’re the expert, you can help them with this problem, you have the answers)
  • Give them useful tools and/or information so they can try it themselves
  • An option to work with you if outsourcing it or hiring someone is what they need
If you’re giving away too much information people will go in the opposite direction of what you want. Take a minute this week to review your newsletter – are you overwhelming people with options and they’re running away?