The Inquisix site for business-to-business referrals has shut down.  While the end is disappointing, it was a wonderful journey.  Starting a company is a dream Dave and I had since college and we did it.  Never did we enjoying working so hard.  Never did we learn so much in such a short amount of time.  Never did we meet so many great and passionate people.

Those great and passionate people we’d like to thank include our Board of Advisors; Pito Salas, Vic Leventhal, Stephanie Fox Muller and Bruce Weinberg.  They include our amazing VP of Marketing, Betsy MacKinnon, who embraced the social media side of Inquisix.  And most importantly, we’d like to thank the early members of Inquisix, like Shiera O’Brien in Ireland, Joanne Black in San Francisco and Rick Roberge here in Massachusetts.  They not only made our site better but told their colleagues about us and encouraged giving referrals within Inquisix.

Now that the Inquisix website has been shut down, we are offering up the software and the domains for sale.  If you are interested, please contact me.  What’s not for sale is the list of our members and contacts.  We promise our members that their private information will remain private and all contact information will be deleted within 90 days.  If you are a member and want a csv file of your contacts, please contact me via your Inquisix membership email address within 90 days of today.

Thank you to all our members, blog readers and fans of Inquisix for all your support.

Happy Connecting!
Michael Kreppein

2010 has been a whirlwind of activity.   We’ll see if the old cliche, “…where there’s smoke, there’s fire…” will be true for 2010 but it’s trending that way.  With all the activity, I’ve been more reactive than proactive on sharing my thoughts.  However, there have been 3 really interesting articles that I’ve stashed away to read again when I’m in a contemplative mode.  Here they are, what do you think?

• Guest Article: “Send Me a Proposal,” by Chris Lytle – I really liked this one. Many times, I see sales tips that are regurgitated from last year’s sales tips. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to get a reminder of the basics every once in a while. But this post by guest author Chris Lytle is more than that, which is why I want to share it with you!

• Fire Any Customers Lately? – When the economy is just recovering, are you ready to consider firing a customer? I’m sure your tech support department can give you a list of the high maintenance customers to cross-check that against your lowest value customers and there you have it … the customers that need to be fired.

• 10 Free Online Sales Tools for 2010 – Are you using these tools yet?  Of the list, we’re already using Google Analytics, Jigsaw, Hoovers and Zoho CRM.  I’ll have to nudge Geoffrey James on two things – why isn’t Inquisix included and why does he continue to force me to hit the <next page> link so many times?  10 tools & 11 (short) pages to click on.

While this post might be better posted in a site like SalesMarks, the ability for me to post my calendar online for others to share has been so beneficial that I want to share it with the Inquisix community. I coordinate my calendar with many other people (colleagues, partners, friends and family) and most of them are not Inquisix employees, thus I can’t share my Outlook calendar thru Exchange. By using Google Calendar, however, I have an easy and free way to share my calendar with those I need to, regardless of who they work for or what systems they’re using. It’s especially nice because it’s free for all parties. All you need is a Google mail account. They don’t need their own Google email or calendar, just a browser.  Coordinating meetings and events has never been easier!

There are 3 easy steps – create your Google calendar, sync it with Outlook and give your colleagues the link to your calendar.

Step 1: Create

• Sign onto your Google mail account
• Click on the “calendar” link at the top of the page
• Create your Google calendar by filling out the information and clicking “continue”

Step 2: Sync

• Once the calendar is created, click “sync” at the top left of the page
• Follow the instructions to sync with Microsoft Outlook
• This will download a small application to your desktop that will automatically sync Outlook to your Google Calendar.
• Select your sync option – either 2-way or 1-way from Outlook to Google Calendar. If you want read-only permissions to your Google calendar than it’s best to chose the 1-way option

Step 3: Share

• In the calendar list on the left, click the down-arrow next to a calendar and select Calendar settings. (Alternatively, click Settings at the bottom of the calendar list, then click the name of the appropriate calendar.)
• In the Calendar Address section, click the HTML icon. You’ll see a pop-up window with your calendar’s URL.
• Share this URL with your colleagues, partners, friends & family who don’t use Google Calendar.

As our final blog post of 2009, we are featuring Inquisix member Shiera O’Brien‘s article on The Power of Business Networking.

Best wishes for a wonderful, healthy and prosperous 2010!

In the early 90s, a film called Six Degrees of Separation built its story around the idea that we are all separated by six degrees from everybody else on the whole planet. Everybody is an open door into another world and knows the people you are looking to meet or companies you want to work with. Everybody is connected on this planet by a trail of only six people, whether you are famous or not. If you find the right people to make the connection with, distance vanishes and the right opportunities will come your way.

In thinking about this I decided to look on YouTube to remind myself of the key ideas in this film and whether it really does have any relevance to our business life today. To my surprise and delight, I found a documentary on scientists who have studied and written an algorithm to prove this network theory, which they worked on for years. It shows that nature has this hidden blueprint and structure that connects us all. The scientists mapped it out and tested it on people by taking parcels across the world and asking 27 people to only use their social networks to get the package to a person on the other side of the world. It was amazing how quickly the parcels moved closer to the addressee, who was a scientist working at Harvard University in Boston.

This is an idea worth experimenting with in our daily business lives. I apply it in my own business strategy by making my business networks help with word-of-mouth marketing and create the connections and opportunities I seek with particular companies. There is no better example of the power of networks than the latest Web 2.0 social media networks. If you test the theory within your own social circle, you will find very quickly that people have connections that can open doors for you. Many of your connections within your business circle either know each other or have a contact into a client or employer that you may be looking to meet.

Looking at our own economy and applying this to our client-building strategy or job search, makes me think that the traditional ways of building businesses and finding jobs is far too slow. In this day and age, you need to be tapping into your personal, social and professional networks, if you want to get faster results. Systematically searching for the right people through your networks, using a plan, will yield faster results every time than a traditional approach of throwing out a blanket of hopeful letters and calls. In human nature, people will always respond faster to people they know than to strangers.

You may be asking yourself, “How is that in any way relevant to me?” If you are looking grow your practice or find new opportunities, it is very relevant. My suggestion to you is to take it out and test the theory yourself.

Here are six steps to help you in your own Six Degrees experiment:

Step 1: Connect into the network hub

The scientists tell us that in every network there is a traceable hub, where the core activity takes place. It is the place where people gather and take information about you back into their world. Even more interesting is that within each hub, you will find the “human hub”, the person with the highest degree of influence and connectivity. They are important people to know and start building relationships with. What they do for a living is irrelevant, their social currency is what you really want to tap into! Identify this person within your networks. This includes your family and friend networks, professional networks, membership organisations, and most importantly your on-line networks. Ask yourself, “Who are the people gathering around me with the most influential links?” Make sure you set up your social media accounts (LinkedIn, Facebook, Inquisix and Twitter) to build your on-line treasure chest.

Step 2: Have a networking plan

Key to getting the results you want is deciding or naming the companies and roles of people you wish to meet through your network, whether at networking events or through your on-line contacts. Then identify a very good reason why they would want to meet you. Human nature is designed to act principally from self-interest, which is driven by the reptilian part of our brains. So people will always unconsciously ask “What’s in this for me?” Give your network and potential contacts a worthwhile reason to want to meet you. Perhaps it’s to share some information, opportunities, save them money or help them use your networks.

Following on from that, it is important to have something to share about you that’s of value to them, and sets you apart. Direct them to your website, literature, testimonials or information that you think they would benefit from. Ask them to do you a favour. Most people like doing favours for others and help their own business contacts. It helps cement relationships.

Step 3: Authenticity at networking events

There is no end of opportunities to attend networking events as we go into the autumn. Networking is not just about getting into a room to break the world record for the largest business card collection. Nor is it a popularity contest on social media. The most valuable asset you can bring to a networking event is your authentic self. Be real, be present, engage and listen to people as you would if you were at a social gathering. And avoid talking about yourself all the time. Ask great questions. They don’t have to be about business. Get to know people, because relationships are built on this. Even if you only meet 3-4 quality contacts and have agreement to follow up and meet, you will have done a great job. Set a goal of having at least 2 meetings come out of a networking event.

Step 4: The Follow-Up

The downfall of people’s networking strategy is either poor follow-up, no follow-up or the full- blown sales pitch in an email. Think of your follow-up as a “getting-to-know-you” phase of your relationship. It must happen within 24 hours to reinforce the connection you made. Acknowledge the meeting, the event and create the invitation to connect on LinkedIn, Inquisix or Twitter. You will need to explore which of these ones suits your business needs. And ignoring emails is a poor reflection on your business, so avoid it at all costs. Arrange a follow-up meeting, even if it’s for a coffee to learn more about each other’s business, in anticipation of opportunities down the line. This is always a great starting point.

Step 5: The Power of Reciprocity

Give without expecting something back demonstrates how powerful reciprocity can be. If you see an opportunity to share some information or introduce a contact to your contacts, “Just Do It.” This is building some credit for reciprocal behaviour from others in the future. I saw this recently when I did a favour for a business contact. In return, an out of the blue opportunity came my way through the person I did the favour for. I was the first person that came to mind. This is the power of reciprocity.

Step 6: Build it and they will come

People often give up before they reach the momentum that makes them a network hub in their own right. They are inconsistent or dismiss people as not being of value. I suggest a rule of thumb is to treat everybody you meet like your clients, even your “so-called” competition, as they may be a vital link for a joint venture in the future.

It’s far too easy to assume people in your network as not worth knowing, because they wouldn’t understand your business of have the right kind of contacts. The business people I have met are very intelligent so give them your time! And don’t be a dabbler by attending networking events, gathering cards, connecting on social media sites and then abandon ship. Use your 20:20 vision. See the value in everybody you meet as a chain in your network and a part of your most valuable asset: your contact database.

To truly understand the power of networking, read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, who writes brilliantly about Connectors, Mavens and Salespeople. These are the people turning their businesses around, making money and finding great jobs, when the masses are doing things the old way. Be a pioneer in your business or profession and tap in that that rich reservoir. Your best client or the perfect job is only six handshakes away.

Biography
About Shiera O’Brien: Shiera is an expert in sales optimisation. She specialises in consulting and training companies in sales and communication strategies to their clients. She offers training and coaching on business networking, communication skills, presenting and selling excellence. Contact her in Ireland on (086) 399-6601 or shiera@zenithtraining.ie Visit www.zenithtraining.ie for more information.

It’s the time of year when everyone’s getting ready for the holidays – cleaning the house, wrapping presents, bringing out the decorations, sending & receiving holiday cards. It’s a time to be with family and good friends reflecting on the past year and thinking about improving ourselves for next year.

And yet many of us also find that this is the most stressful time of year. Yes, retail employees and shipping clerks are swamped. Consumers are rushing to get last minute presents. But I’m thinking of all the business salespeople and their counterparts in purchasing that are just stressed out because their fiscal year end coincides with the end of the calendar year. As a sales person, I thrive on the high-stakes actions of winning and keeping customers. But when those actions often culminate in an end-of-year battle of budgets and competition that conflict with holiday time with family and friends? Not so wonderful. Wouldn’t it be nice to work for a company or sell to a customer who’s fiscal year doesn’t end on 31 December?

I’ve spoken to a few contracts officers this week and we all lament the same thing, that it’s really too bad we’re working on end-of-year deals when we really want to enjoy the holidays with our friends and family instead of being co-workers and vendors.

So in the spirit of balancing work with family in equal measures, we at Inquisix want to wish you all a wonderful and relaxing holiday time with those closest to you.

Bonne fete

Happy Holidays!

If you’d like to learn more about building and strengthening your business 100% thru referrals then I highly recommend you attending this special event from a master networker and early Inquisix member, Rick Roberge.

Rick’s program, “By Referral Only” will be offered on Wednesday December 30th, 2009 from noon to 1:30pm US ET. You have two options of attending  – you can be there in-person in Westboro, MA, USA or participate via webinar.

But act fast, as the first 24 people who register for each event using “RR1230” as the discount code will receive a $50 discount when they register.

Pick your option but don’t do nothing!

Join in-person

Join online

As the faithful know, Inquisix was founded on the principal that giving begets getting in business (and in life too for that matter.) The secret of the most successful business people is to ask “How Can I Help You?,”  and then actively connect others to the people, businesses and information they need.

We’re always pretty excited when we find others who think the same. Especially when they’re considered a leader in their industry. Brian Solis, Principal of the award-winning PR and New Media agency FutureWorks in Silicon Valley, is one. Considered an original thought-leader in Social Media, Brian’s latest book is Putting the Public Back Into Public Relations. Recently Brian extolled the benefits of “paying it forward” on his blog PR 2.0. Though his comments are specific to Social Media and “social economy” they are also transitive and work in any economy, be it business or social.

So we asked and received Brian’s full permission to repost it.

Enjoy.

Source: Shutterstock

So I believe if Social Media warranted a mantra, it would look something like this, “Always pay it forward and never forget to pay it back…it’s how you got here and it defines where you’re going.”

This is the credo I live by and something that has only been reinforced as part of my daily regiment, online and in the real world.

Paying it forward and paying it back is the balladry of reciprocity, the undercurrent of social media and the currency of the social economy. The words, “what comes around goes around” and the overall spirit of karma reminds us that there may be personal rewards and satisfaction for helping and contributing more than we take away from our environment.

In sociology, this form of alternative giving is referred to as “generalized reciprocity” or “generalized exchange.” In the same vein, the idea of giving something to one person by paying another is credited to Benjamin Franklin, which would ultimately serve as the defining foundation to “Pay it forward.”

According to the book, “The Support Economy“, by Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxin, corporations are failing individuals and the next episode of capitalism. The book speaks to the hopes and dreams of the modern individual and serves as a call to action for innovators across business, technology, social enterprise, and the public sector.

In a support or “social” economy, we are presented with an opportunity to showcase not only our own expertise, vision, thought leadership, artistry, or ideas, but also those of others.

It’s the power and unsaid significance behind a retweet on Twitter, a “like” on Facebook, the friending or following of someone to extend a social graph. It’s also expressed through the explicit act of commenting on posts and updates, engaging in online conversation, sharing the contributions of others as well as linking. These acts serve as the currency of social media.

It is through the dynamics of collaborative elevation that the true infrastructure for the creation of presence is fortified. In the process, we proactively exchange privacy for online recognition as we define our web persona.

In today’s social economy, it is our social, not financial capital that defines our stature across the landscape of social networks represented through the relationships we cultivate and establish. It’s the difference between curation and promotion, learning and ignorance, publishing and absorbing.

There is a balance required to engage, contributing as much or more value than you withdraw from each interaction.

The Social Web is powered not by self-promotion, but by the value of the community and the selfless act of recognizing, showcasing, and connecting the great people, content, and causes around us. And with it comes great purpose.

Not often that your C-level prospect will tell you how to sell to them.  They’ll hide behind email spam filters and executive assistants but won’t take the time to tell you what you’re doing wrong.  Until this CEO opened up with their automated email reply telling you to do more than just call the vendor hotline at purchasing – a voice mail no one ever picks up.

Top ways to get noticed:

• Let your prospect find you – ie Inbound Marketing
• Get introduced by someone they trust – ie Referrals

Top ways to annoy:

• Constant cold-calls
• Mass emails to entire executive team
• Trying to connect via social media

Thanks to Hubspot for the full article.

Ivan Misner posted on his blog – What Is the Number-One Trait of a Master Networker? this week and I thought, “Absolutely dead-on!”

Nothing frustrates me more than giving a referral to someone and then they DON’T FOLLOW UP. I’ve asked my colleague if they’d accept this referral to and now I have to explain why there was no follow up. This affects my reputation. That’s why Inquisix allows members to rate the referral in both ways – rating how well one party handled the referral and how well the other party gave the referral.

I came across Lee Salz‘s site earlier this week and really enjoyed his discussion on completing RFP’s. RFP’s seem to be causing quite a bit of discussions because I’ve spoken to several Inquisix members this week about RFP’s from the “I’m the new vendor” point of view to the “I’m the trusted incumbent, why are they doing this?” point of view.

You can see all of Lee’s articles on his Sales Architecture website.

RFPs can leave you feeling powerless. Before you decide to respond to your next RFP, read this article. You can regain the power!

Superman, as strong he is, is paralyzed by kryptonite. It brings him to his knees despite his superhuman strength. Sales people have their own kryptonite called RFPs, the dreaded Request for Proposal. An RFP process doesn’t have to be kryptonite. Superman has no choice but to fight this nemesis to survive. Unlike Superman, sales people have choices.

For one, there is no law that says you have to respond to every RFP that crosses your desk. You have the right to say, “No.” Some of you are now thinking that I’m insane, but it’s true. Let me turn the tables on you for a moment. The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If you aren’t the low price provider and you have no relationship with the prospect, how can you possibly win the business? You can’t and won’t. Therefore, sending in countless RFP responses under these conditions will yield nothing but losses. So, who’s crazy now?

Sure, when the pipeline isn’t as full as it should be, it is a natural reflex to want to pursue every RFP you can get your hands on. Yet, filling out an RFP is work. It also has a cost to both you and your company. While you are working on an RFP which you have little chance of winning, you aren’t prospecting for business that has a much higher chance of award. Look, we all get the same number of hours in our day. What you elect to do with yours determines whether or not you are successful in sales.

A couple of things you should know about RFPs. First is that there is a disconnect between Procurement and their customers (called users). Often times, Procurement authors the RFP and establishes the measurement criteria for evaluating the submissions. However, when you speak to the actual user, they say that the criteria developed by Procurement is inconsistent with their needs. Thus, a supplier is selected for a user based on flawed criteria.

Another thing you should know is that an RFP is not necessarily a commitment to make a change in provider. Some companies require that they source the business every x amount of time. Ever wonder how that RFP got in your inbox? Procurement will surf the web and pick a handful of providers to whom they will send the RFP and off it goes. It helps to know that Procurement folks are measured on their ability to reduce cost to the company. Just like a sales person’s scorecard is based on achievement of their sales quota, Procurement’s quota is based on cost reduction. The RFP that arrived in your inbox could very well be their attempt to put the squeeze on the current provider so they can show a 10% savings. Don’t kid yourself. This happens a lot!

One final thing you should know about RFPs is that they are sometimes used as a manager tactic. For example, some people are too nice to tell you “no,” so they hide behind the statement that their company only buys through the RFP process. Don’t buy that for a second. No company exclusively buys this way. Even the Federal Government, who is the most formal buyer, does not limit their purchasing to this means. Sales people, present company included, sell products and services to the Feds without an RFP being issued. It can be done!

There is also a safety net for managers when they buy through RFPs as multiple people are involved in the selection process. If the supplier fails to perform, the finger can’t just be pointed at one person. During your needs analysis discussions, you can often get a feel for who really wants the RFP, the company or the person with whom you are meeting. Don’t underestimate the fear of blame. Many managers try to stay off the radar screen so they don’t want to create risk for themselves.

Dealing with an RFP where you have a relationship with the prospect is the subject of a future article. Keeping us focused on the blind ones, as I said before, you have choices. You could just respond to every RFP. Or, you could just chuck it in the trash. Care for a third option? What if you called the Procurement person and had a conversation that sounded like this,

“Hi, I’m Lee Salz with XYZ Services. I just received your RFP in the mail and wanted to ask you a few questions so I can determine if it makes sense for us to respond. As you can imagine, we receive many RFPs and are very selective when determining to which we will respond.”

With that said, one of a few things can happen. She could give you permission to ask your questions. Or she could say, “Fill out the RFP, or not. It’s up to you.” My vote is to decline any RFP where the Procurement person won’t allow you to ask questions of them. How can you have a fighting chance to win if they won’t speak with you?

With permission granted to ask questions, what is it you need to know to decide if it makes sense to participate in this process?

• How did they get your name for inclusion in this process?
• Why is this RFP out now?
• Have they definitively decided to change providers?
• What criteria will be used to score the RFPs?
• What are the steps of the process after the RFP is submitted?

Sure, there are a ton of other questions you could ask, but this information will best help you to determine if you have a chance at winning this account. The rule of thumb is that the less information Procurement shares, the lower your chances of winning the account.

Yes, walking away from the mega-deal is hard and painful. But is this deal real or simply a mirage? Watch any Superman movie and you will see that he overcomes his kryptonite peril. Will you overcome yours? By the way, if you are a finalist resulting from an RFP submission, send me an email and ask for my Finalist Preparation tip sheet.

About the author: Lee B. Salz is a sales management strategist who specializes in helping companies build scalable, high-performance sales organizations through hiring the right sales people, on-boarding them effectively and efficiently, and aligning their sales activity with business objectives using his sales architecture® methodology. He is the President of Sales Architects, the C.E.O. of Business Expert Webinars and author of “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager.” Lee is a columnist and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Look for Lee’s new book in 2010 titled, “The Sales Marriage” where he shares the secrets to identifying, hiring, and on-boarding the right sales people. He is a results-driven sales management consultant and a passionate, dynamic speaker. Lee can be reached at lsalz@SalesArchitects.net or 763.416.4321.

Picture from Dreamspeak site.