I had an amazing Blog Talk Radio with Jon Hansen of PI Window on Business last week. We spoke over our allotted time, almost an hour, on the emergence of reputation networks such as Inquisix. With it being so easy to make connections on the web and trade recommendations, how can people who don’t know you really trust what they read about you?
Topics we discussed included:
Value of References
Giving vs Getting
Political Patronage and References
Verifying References
Integrity of Referral/Reference Process
Does Social Media Help or Hurt
Extending Your Reference Base with Integrity
Emergence of Reputation Networks with Social/Business Networking
If BTR podcast doesn’t show above, please go to Jon’s site to listen to it.
On a side note, talking with Jon was one of the easiest and most enjoyable online discussions I’ve had. Jon prepared me for the call by sending me some topics to think about prior to our interview. He was calm when we had a few technical difficulties to iron out before we went on the air. And his engaging demeanor and conversation made the conversation lively, interesting and valuable. I was certainly surprised to learn later that Jon’s only been a BTR host for a short time. Jon has written a book, “Your Show Will Go Live in 5 Seconds” about his experiences as a Blog Talk Radio Host. If you’re thinking of becoming a BTR host or are thinking of your personal branding via Social Media, you owe it to yourself to read this book. An excerpt is available at no charge at Jon’s site. Not surprising, his book reads as breezy and well as listening to him online.
During our beta period we’ve supported members in the United States and Canada. However, based on overwhelming demand (especially from Ireland), we’ve added support for the following English-speaking countries:
* Australia
* Canada
* India
* Ireland
* New Zealand
* South Africa
* United Kingdom
* United States
** Just added Singapore to the list of supported countries at the request of members **
We’ve also increased the capacity of our servers as traffic has been doubling on the site.
Inquisix becomes more valuable to you the more you use it to manage your referral-based business. Are you ready to get a referral on the site? Have you provided a referral to another member?
Jan Visser over at SalesTeamTools has written the Jan Visser has written the first review of Inquisix: Do You Need Sales Leads Or Real Introductions To Your Ideal Prospects? I was a bit nervous about the review because we just started beta and we’re constantly updating the site. But as I hoped (and sort of expected, given Jan’s successful sales career), he immediately understood the value of the referrals and introductions Inquisix offers and how important it is that we protect the confidentiality of your contacts.
Yesterday afternoon, we formally launched Inquisix private Beta. Many of you already received your invitations and are now members. It’s been a long time coming, but it is exciting to see so many people sign up so fast. The more members and contacts in the system, the better it is for everyone, so keep those invitation requests and contact uploads coming.
We have a lot of features and enhancements in the pipeline, but we can’t do this without you. Everything we do will be based on customer feedback, so please let us know what you think. Very soon, we will have Customer Forums up and running- you can have a real impact on making your product better suited to your needs!
If you are not a member, and you would like to participate in the Beta program, request an invitation. At this stage, we will not be open to everyone because the salespeople that join the beta not only need to share but also must have something in common – in this case an overlapping rolodex. If you sell into companies, industries or titles that no one in Inquisix does, then there won’t be anyone to trade with. So as we get a critical mass of salespeople that sell into the same industry or job title, then we will invite them all to join at once. You can help this process by inviting your sales buddies to join Inquisix too.
