Time2Market Business Development Coaching & Consulting

2008 Working Groups and Calls

Thanks to those of you who have inquired and attended monthly Coaching SIG meetings that I chair for the American Society of Training and Development in NYC.  These are members only meetings, but visitors can attend prior to joining ASTDNY.  Every month we have a two-hour meeting, for networking and to further your knowledge and practice build, with a member or guest presentation on a spotlight topic.  Thanks to Reuters for hosting us!  You can check www.astdny.org to register for current events, if you would like to join us.

This month one of our members will present:

Spring Training - Creating a winning sales team using proven coaching methods

Past meetings covered:

• Communications strategies to build coaching awareness
• Introduction to popular assessment tools: Personality, Interests, Communication Styles, Work Relationships
• Coaching in the moment: Using improvisational comedy exercises to help you be in the moment with your clients
• Transforming corporate culture for business results
• ICF annual conference debrief and Sales Coaching - The first 5-minutes of a sales call
• Coaching for leadership development
• Strategies to be a more effective coach
• Distinctions: Coaching vs. other sometimes closely related professional practices (e.g., consulting, mentoring)
• How it's done in Australia: A successful new approach to coaching

Creative development program - well received

This quarter we launched one creative development workshop program with a New York-based associate.  Thank you to the ASTDNY and Deutsche Bank for hosting us. And, many thanks to leaders and members for the great feedback we received. 

• Wow!
• One of the best ASTD meetings I've ever been to…
• Simply beautiful … from both a design and execution standpoint
• Insightful, Brilliant and inspirational

Contact (212)372-3256 or e-mail me here, if you would like to learn more and explore how we can help you with unique business and leadership development programs.

Use Art as A Start

Why not use art to start your work toward business and professional achievements this year? We're putting creativity to work for business and professional development results.

This quarter we brought two new experiences to the American Society of Training and Development in New York and showcased a few ways leaders can drive results with creative exploration to:

• Establish new professional and personal connections for effective networking and relationship building
• Inspire powerful conversations for team building with art-based learning

In collaboration with Barbara Barry, of Art for Self Discovery, we developed and delivered a joint program, to work through two short, creative sessions and put ASTDNY members in action, working together, to discover key insights and awareness for organizational, professional and personal development opportunities.

Thank you to the ASTDNY and Deutsche Bank for hosting us. And, many thanks to leaders and members for the great feedback we received. 

• Wow!
• One of the best ASTD meetings I've ever been to…
• Simply beautiful … from both a design and execution standpoint
• Insightful, Brilliant and inspirational

Contact (212) 372-3256 or e-mail me here, if you would like to learn more and explore how we can help you with unique business and leadership development programs.

Linkedin - Can it help you build a network to support your business and professional development efforts?

I think the answer to this is, Yes!  But, as with all networking, you'll likely see better results if you make it a two-way street.  And, this site makes it easy to do that.

As you focus on your professional and business development, you may consider Linkedin one good resource to explore, with tools and functionality, for relationship building. Here are 5 main reasons why I think Linkedin can help your development efforts:

1. It’s easy to find and invite others to join your network - get back in touch, and reach out to new contacts.  And, if you are concerned about the privacy of your network, you can keep contacts hidden.
2. Referral functions help you explore new career and business connections faster.
3. Question/answer features can facilitate your knowledge and network build faster.
4. Changes in your network can be viewed daily, so you can stay up-to-date easily (if that feature is enabled by those in your network)
5. You can move your information out to others quickly, with forwarding, pdf, and messaging capabilities. Or, others can find you as a professional match with key word searches, and communicate quickly as well ....

Marketing Innovation for Today's Publishing World

January has been an exciting month, with Gabriella Goddard, a UK-based Executive Coach who is part of the Time2Market team of experts, launching Gulp! in the US and visiting New York. I'm receiving my signed copy this week! I've known Gabriella for about ten years now and loved the UK version, which was fun and inspiring. I also learned some very funny expressions that stick with me today. One of those was "nut it on the head", which I'll write about later. But for now, if you need to nut your book marketing on the head (if I can actually use the expression that way), here are a few tools to help make your mark:

• Blogs
• Book trailer videos
• Podcasts
• Interactive facebook

Gulp! is a great example of marketing innovation in the publishing world, with these on-line tools in action. Check out www.gulptoday.com, and give up living passively. Your marketing campaign can take on a whole new look, integrating these digital tools.

10 Business Building Strategies - Grow

Looking to build your business in the New Year? Here are 10 strategies to grow your business in the next 12 months:

1. Expand the number of locations
2. Franchise
3. License your products
4. Form an alliance or partnership
5. Diversify your offering
6. Target new business markets (i.e., consumer, business, government, etc.)
7. Target new customer segments
8. Buy a new business or merge
9. Expand your business footprint internationally
10. Build your online presence

Time2Market’s business development coaching and consulting services focus on these very things, but this list is from Karen Spaeder, who wrote 10 Ways to Grow Your Biz for Entrepreneur.com. My terminology here is slightly different, but it's a great list and article to share.  Contact us to help.

Brand You - One way to drive business and professional development results!

Well, it is here!  The Power Up Brand You Program from Gabriella Goddard, an Executive Coach based in the UK, and part of the Time2Market team of experts.  It’s one way to drive your personal, professional and business development results – fast. 

Looking to:

• Build your business and drive more sales or new business referrals? 
• Get a promotion and move forward in your career? 
• Get that pay raise after working so hard? 

Then, Power Up Brand You to build your visible impact and drive business, professional and personal development results you want.

You can be the smartest and most productive person in your profession or company and still be overlooked for key business sales opportunities, projects, promotions and pay raises. To get where you want to go faster, you need TALENT + VISIBLE IMPACT.  Powering up Brand YOU, is one way to increase your visible impact.

Creating and developing your personal brand is not that much different from the branding process to effectively market and sell products and services.  And, as you know, the products and services that are marketed most effectively, make the most money.  But, you need to be visible and establish unique positioning to drive sales, bring new opportunities, and set yourself apart from the competition.  So, if you want to work on leadership positioning and rise to the top, you have to make your talents highly visible to your colleagues, managers, customers and those in your business network.

The way to make yourself more visible is to power up your personal BRAND.

Building your personal brand is fundamental to success in the workplace today. This is true whether you work for a company or work for yourself as an entrepreneur. And that’s what this program is all about. Get started today! You can listen to Gabriella's insights, learn more from her BBC interview, and start the Power Up Brand You program here to move forward fast.

Start up and Small Business Tips - Lessons Learned

9 small business owners share what they would have done differently starting their businesses today and the following tips result:

• create a marketing plan to promote e-commerce and build your customer base faster
• focus time and money on search engine optimization, especially if you are in a competitive market that is closely tied to on-line shopping and/or information gathering
• emphasize employee commissions as incentives to drive more business
• seize multicultural product offering and/or marketing opportunities
• consult your board of directors to sound out ideas for growth
• have a marketing and PR budget
• create a local, scalable, sales development program/model
• have a partner to work with
• get help/staff to support the business and pick up some of the work

Check out the article from Entrepreneur.com, which highlights e-commerce, real estate, health-care management, restaurant, hair care, catering, video game, and apparel retail businesses.  And, contact us, if you need to move forward fast with tips above for business growth.

International expansion – Are you prepared?

If your business is expanding internationally, look closely before you leap.  Both large and small companies sometimes underestimate the requirements and difficulty of expanding operations abroad.  Recently noted examples in the press include Google’s experiences with Orkut in Brazil, as well as the experiences of smaller firms.

Apart from understanding the business environment from a marketing perspective (e.g., business/consumer demographics, competition, etc.), examine key areas, such as:

• country specific practices and regulations relevant to your business operations and industry
• cross-border, as well as, local taxes and duties
• labor laws and practices
• foreign currency, in the context of local and global economic trends

You can read about how these factors have impacted some large and small businesses by clicking the links above.  Be sure you are prepared to create detailed market analyses and entrance plans for growth.  And, find a dedicated local person, or firm, to help establish your local presence in target markets before launch.

Professional Development: Internal or External Career Mentor/Coach? Which would you choose?

Would you like to work with an internal Mentor (i.e., manager or executive inside your company), or an external Coach (i.e., independent professional outside of your company), for your career progression?  I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

A Wall Street Journal article on the subject noted that internal “Career Mentors Today Seem Short on Advice” and pointed out that internal mentors don’t usually work out for a number of reasons, such as:

• already being overworked themselves, and not having time for you
• no chemistry or connection with each other
• awkward or conflicting situations sometimes arise and end the relationship

What has your experience been?  What does your company offer (if anything)?  Which would you prefer and why?  We’d love to know.  Please drop me an e-mail and share your thoughts!