5 Things You Need to Change Now to Create Your Own Luck!

Did you ever see that girl across the room that you were just mesmerized by? You know the one…..she has a beaming smile and gals and guys alike are very interested in her every word. She is not overly good looking, average to some standards, but she is attractive because of an air of confidence around her…… she is the one that you wish you were like. What you don’t realize is that you can be just like her! Have confidence, conviction and positive energy surrounding you at all times. In fact, studies show that the majority of success and good fortune is actually in your control. Those same studies show that a shift in your mindset can produce the positive results you are looking for each and every time and if you practice these tips with daily discipline for 21 days, you will form a habit of thinking positively and be one the road to designing the life of your dreams.

1. Think Positive, Think Bold!

To grow yourself and your business you need creative ideas. You need to think out of the box and get out of your comfort zone. To create powerful ideas, you need to think boldly. Bold thinking is the art of reaching out of your comfort zone and developing solutions to do things quicker, faster and cheaper or to set yourself apart from your competition with a new product, new brand or a new process. To be able to think boldly, you need quiet time away from distractions. Allow yourself time each day to shut down, no t.v, no kids and no phones and just think. Open your mind to possibilities. Our brains are pre-wired to be creative and to solve problems and if you give yourself the opportunity, you can create innovative ideas that will change your business

2. Change Your Way of Thinking.

Did you ever notice that great things usually happen when you stop trying so hard? Or if you take the time to notice the good in every situation? Every time something happens to you, you have the choice to see it negatively or positively. How you think and how you approach life has a direct link to how successful you will be. If you dwell on the negative side of experiences, you will attract more negative experiences into your life, but if you accentuate the positive side of every experience, you will open yourself to more opportunities, have more confidence the next time you encounter a similar experience and be able to respond proactively. Next time you are having a bad experience, view something positive from it. Chalk it up to a learning experience or find something good in the bad. Changing the way you think, will bring more positive experiences into your life.

3. Visualize Your Future Self.

Each of us carries a mental blueprint of ourselves and our future programmed deep into our minds. When you can bring these visions of your future self to the surface and focus in on whom, what and how you would like to be, you will begin to “act like” that person therefore achieving all of your goals. The power of visualization is well documented in the book and video “The Secret” where countless people recant stories of success using positive visualization to change their lives. Visualization helps you focus in on exactly what it is you want and keeps you motivated until you reach it. You want to start small and focus on real attributes and character traits that you future self would possess. You will slowly begin the transformation into your future self and create a positive, winning attitude along the way.

4. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.

As my teenage daughter would say “take a chill pill”. Don’t sweat the small stuff. So much about success and positive thinking come from living in the moment. If you focus too much on the small stuff and the things that can go wrong, chances are they will. And if they do, so what? This tip is hardest for those that are serial planners who need to be organized to a fault and create plans and to do list and are troubled when they don’t get to everything on their list. Avoid micromanaging every aspect of your life and let things just happen. You will be surprised at how much freedom you will experience when you don’t sweat the small stuff and that freedom creates positive energy and time to spend on pampering yourself.

5. Change Your Environment, Change Your Results

How many times have you heard a success story that started “I was just in the right place at the right time?” When you expand your universe and venture out to other places, you open up the possibility for new experiences and new adventures. You cannot create new experiences sitting around waiting for something to happen. You need to change your environment in order to change your results. If you continue to do the same thing, each day in the same manner, you will always get the same results. Remove the routine of your life and try something new. Meet new people and leave your comfort zone. The more changes you make, the more positive things will happen and the better luck you will experience.


©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/.

6 Worst Presentation Mistakes Made by Millions

Each time you engage in a conversation, dialogue or speech with the intention of convincing another person to do, think or act upon anything, you are making a presentation. You
don’t have to be in front of large crowds to be giving a presentation or using visual aids such as PowerPoint to be giving a presentation. Presentations are given everyday and are one of the most powerful communication tools exist and has the ability to propel your business, career and sales to ultimate levels. Master presenters get their status by mastering the art of delivery from setting up their content, structuring the flow, controlling non verbal and verbal actions and delivering a powerful message that is engaging and memorable. They master techniques to ultimately reel their audience in and leave them wanting more so why do 99% of the presentations fail?

Mistake # 1: Failure to Focus on the Audience

How many times have you sat thru a presentation where the entire focus was only on the person presenting? Did you feel as though you were sitting thru a “sales presentation”? You know the ones, “My company is great, we do this, and we do that and blah, blah, blah…. Most likely you tuned most of their message out. One of the biggest mistakes presenters make is focusing all of their presentation on an “introduction to my company” with historical data, statistics and overview of why they are so great” versus focusing on the audience and their reasons for inviting you to present. To avoid this mistake personalize your presentation to demonstrate that you have a complete understanding of the audience needs, objectives and decision criteria. Customize your presentation to hit on your audience’s objectives and deliver your key messages in a way that your audience feels that those key messages are just for them. Lastly, successfully connect the dots between the audience’s objectives and your own objectives with clear and concise delivery methods that create an emotional connection.

Mistake # 2: Lack of Clearly Defined Objectives

Too many times, presenters fail to successfully connect the dots between the audience’s objectives and their own objectives. They have a tendency to focus on features rather than highlighting benefits and never clearly state what they hope to get out of the presentation. If you are not clear, your audience will not know what specifically they should be focusing on. You need to develop an uncanny skill to present from a benefit position and clearly build the roadmap to the audience’s goals. As Craig Valentine states in his Free Audio Series “7 Step World Class Speaking Toolkit”, It is important to make a “Big Promise”. What specifically brings you here today, what will your audience gain from listening to you today. Lay the framework for their audience and clearly state what their audience can expect over the next 45 minutes and keep your presentation on task to support that objective.

Mistake # 3: Information Overload

One of the first questions I am always asked by every presenter is” How Many Points should I include in my presentation”? Or “How Many Slides”? Another big mistake presenters make is
they try to squeeze too much information into one presentation. Rather than your audience retaining your key messages, they will retain nothing because of information overload. There is an old wise saying “when you squeeze your information in, you squeeze your audience out”. Selecting the right balance of information for the timeframe allocated to your presentation is a critical decision that a all presenters need to master. As a rule of thumb, most audience will not retain more than 3 key points in an hour presentation. If you are asked to present with less time, adjust your key points down. It is better to be focused and deliver concrete information and leave something out (that you can always direct them to) rather than jam too many points, facts and theories into the time that you have. Too many times a presenter will not adjust their presentation and focus on trying to communicate everything. Be sensitive to the time, adjust your material accordingly and master the art of follow up for the additional points.

Mistake #4: Putting the audience to sleep!

A presentation that is not engaging and exciting is a complete bore. Nobody wants to be subject to a boring presentation and if you do not make your exciting, chances are you’re your
audience will be angered at the fact that you wasted their time. Remember, time is our biggest asset and people do not give it away freely. Bad presenters fail to grab the audience’s attention and make that emotional connection that connects their key messages and usually leaves their audience feeling bored and unfulfilled. Master Presenters know how to use techniques that tease and make their audience wanting more, they know how to adjust the tone of their voice and to pause at the right moment. They effectively use images to reinforce the emotional element of their presentation and they use stories and provocative questions to engage the mind as the audience waits for the answer in the presentation. Master Presenters are skilled at creating an event and making an emotional connection with their audience each and every time. I often refer to Steve Jobs and his product presentations which are exciting, engaging and powerful. If you have never seen this master at work, I would recommend visiting Apple’s website and taken a look at one of his videos.

Mistake # 5: Death by PowerPoint

Misusing visual aids is a common mistake many presenters make. They try to take all their content and jam it into a slide so they don’t forget what they want to say. To make it worse, they stand up in front of the crowd and read the entire slide deck. Chances are your audience is wondering why they are being read to and are not connecting to the material and the content. Visual aids should be used to enhance a presentation, not be the presentation. The use of images can be one of the most effective ways to stimulate emotion and when used correctly, can really hit home a key message. An example would be – Suppose you want your audience to answer the question “how big is an acre of land”?, you could put statistics up on the slide that state the numerical dimensions and square feet and hope that your audience can relate to numbers, or you could put up a photo of a football field and state “it’s about the size of a football field”. The impact would be completely different! To go a step further to making an emotional connection, you could tell a simple story about the football field and make it relevant to reinforce one of your key messages. Learn how to drive the message home using images without overwhelming content and you will avoid this common mistake.

Mistake #6: No Call to Action

The last mistake focuses on failure to ask for what you want. If you were invited to do a sales presentation, ask for the business. If you were invited to introduce your company, ask for the next meeting. Every presentation must have a call to action or the audience will not know what you want them to do with the information you are providing. Give them a task to do after the presentation. This action will reinforce your key message and get them thinking about what they have just learned. Master presenters know how to leave their audience with a task to perform and always go for the close.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/.

5 Reasons to Publish Your Own Ezine

What if you had the power to increase your marketing reach by thousands for a fraction of the expense of traditional direct mail? How about the ability to position yourself as an expert in your field simply by writing an article? This is was publishing an ezine can do for you in just a matter of weeks. An Ezine is just a fancy way of saying E-Newsletter and is one of the best marketing tools available to business owners today. Now there are a dozen of reasons why an ezine can help build your business and drive profits, but here are my top five.



1. An ezine helps you position yourself as an expert in your field.An ezine is a great medium for communicating to your clients and prospects. Through articles you establish yourself as an expert in the topics you write about and by supplying informative and great content, you can create a loyal base of readers who are all potential clients. You create credibility, expertise and trust with each article by showing your readers what you know, how much you know about that topic and providing them with insight into you as an individual. By showcasing your knowledge and expertise, not only will you attract more clients, but you will also attract other media attention resulting in your articles being published in other ezines, directories, newspapers and magazines and overall, increasing your reach beyond your current client list. If you content is good, people will want to read more from you and will find out how to subscribe to your list to get it.

2. An ezine provides you a very effective way to promote your business and to stay in touch with your customers and prospects. Staying in touch with your customers is one of the most important techniques in retaining customers. You need to remind them that you are still around and that you still have a valuable product and/or service to offer. An ezine provides you with another way to reach out with very little effort. It is noninvasive and contains valuable resources with great articles and recommendations that your customers will begin to look forward to. It is great way to keep them informed of what you have been up to and what your plans are to move the business further. Do anything to stay out in front of your competition and in front of your customers at all times.

3. An ezine provides you with a method to grow your customer and reader list to market and sell your products to over and over again. The most effective way to build your business is through creating relationship and recurring revenue. One of the biggest assets a business has is their client and prospecting list. People buy from people who they like and trust. Not only will they buy from you once, if you are providing true value in your product and/or service, they will buy from you again and again. They will become your greatest cheerleaders and sales people by promoting you and your business to everyone they know, forwarding your articles and providing you with an opportunity to start the list building process over to your new audience. The greatest thing about an ezine is that you can stop marketing one to one and begin marketing to hundreds, thousands or even millions at once. Law of averages, if you increase your reach in terms of numbers, chances are you will increase your conversion to sales.

4. An ezine allows you to grow your business outside your market and allows you to spread the word about your product and/or services.The World Wide Web has had a tremendous impact on the way business is conducted today. It has provided opportunities for the little guy to play in the same ocean as the big fish. The internet has provided boundless opportunities to expand your reach and to evolve your business beyond your local radius and beyond your four walls. A reader of my ezine, brought an opportunity to me to expand my ice cream store into a mobile cart business located into the city. Another reader forwarded my ezine to a friend who happened to own an internet gift service business. This individual contacted me and together we created http://www.sayitwithicecream.com/ a place on the web where you can order ice cream cakes for your kids away at college, business associates or family members. An ezine is the catalyst for growth. Once you connect with your readers, the connection keeps on growing and your list continues to build and your reach will go far beyond your wildest dreams.

5. An ezine is inexpensive and easy to publish. Most likely you are using traditional marketing methods to spread the word about your company including direct mail campaigns. Maybe you are sending out postcards, newsletters or product announcements and go through the process of designing your piece, creating and verifying your addresses, creating labels, stuffing envelopes and bringing to the post office for delivery. After your campaign is said and done, you have spent a lot of money on design and postage and no way to verify receipt. In some markets this is a very effective marketing technique but with the onset of e-mail marketing, there is a less expensive way to accomplish the same goal and verify receipt. Email marketing allows you to consolidate your marketing for a fraction of the cost of traditional direct mail methods and gets the word out faster. In addition, with the fancy systems out there geared towards the novice but created to capture data, you will have a complete understanding of your delivery rates and even can easily measure and track who opened your email, who forwarded your email and who bought from your email.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/.

“Navigating the Changing Winds: 6 Master Strategies to Building Customer Loyalty”

The winds – “they are a changing my friend”…. The current state of the economy, a new President, failing financial systems, fluctuating prices and high unemployment have caused many of us to pause and evaluate opportunities to reduce expenses and to optimize our performance. As our economy continues to fluctuate, controlling expenses and optimizing service levels from partners and vendors is going to become the focus for all of our customers. We all must be sensitive to these “changing winds” and enhance the experience of our customers each time we interact with them. We must go back to the basics of serving our customers and take the actions that make a difference. The simple actions – a patient ear, a please, a thank you, a quick update on status (even if you don’t’ have update to give – the fact you are reaching out to let them know you are working on their problem goes a long way) and a smile that can be heard over the phone are all simple things that we can do each and every day to stand apart from our competition.

The art of hospitality can be very profitable, but it does take some practice and effort. To succeed, you must be dedicated to customer service first, always demonstrating that you care about their issues. Although customers may not always be right, we all must agree that it is okay for them to be wrong. Treat everyone with concern and compassion. After all, our business is not about us – it’s about the people we service and that single fact is more critical now as we navigate the changing winds…

Below are 6 strategies that when applied, will evolve your customer service to the next level – customer loyalty.

Master Strategy # 1: Know your customer

Customers are not a dime a dozen…they come with a variety of different characteristics, desires, needs and expectations. It is important to know everything that you can about your customers to ensure you are offering the most value. From basic information, name, address, title and area of responsibility to wants, needs and pressures and everything in between, it is important to understand your customer to enhance communication, articulate your proposition and to develop the foundation for trust.

Master Strategy # 2: Develop a customer strategy

Companies spend a lot of time and money developing strategic plans for their business, their technology solutions, operational strategies and financial strategies but rarely develop a customer strategy. Developing a good plan to enhance each client’s individual experience will result in uncovering areas for improvement and areas where you excel that may easily translate to another client. By writing a strategy on each client and personalizing that strategy based upon what you know about your customers (Master Strategy #1), you will memorialize a systematic approach and philosophy that will be easily followed by all in your company.

Master Strategy # 3: Deliver on your promise

Customers bought your product or service based upon a promise that you or your company has made. Make sure that you always deliver on your promise and therefore maintaining trustworthiness with your customers. Customers want to purchase from companies and people they trust to deliver the product and/or service they need and with the value they expect. According to the book, Trust Based Selling, Trustworthiness consists of four factors: Credibility, Reliability, Intimacy and Self-Orientation. The combination of these factors used in the right combinations will develop a connection with your customers that will lead to a long time relationship.

Master Strategy # 4: Educate your staff

Educate your front lines with your customer knowledge. The characteristic of your customers, what they are buying, the promises that were made and train your staff on how to not only deliver customer service but how to go over and beyond the basics. They should know how to react in all situations and be empowered to respond to the customers’ requests. They should know it is okay to tell the customer that they don’t know the answers, but will find out and get right back to them. Customer service is a culture and a theme that must permeate your entire organization.

Master Strategy # 5: Over Promise and Over Deliver

Make sure you provide true customer service. In today’s market, service has become a buzzword thrown around by every company, but it is important to understand that customer service is now a baseline expectation and not considered an added value. Customer service is no longer a key differentiator but going over and above the call of duty, well that will set you apart. I recently heard of a story of a retail store owner, selling women’s clothing, overheard customers in her store looking for a place to eat. She not only made a recommendation but picked up the phone and called the local restaurant to make a reservation on behalf of her customer. – She went over and beyond the basics. Here is an great opportunity to over promise and over deliver. Set yourself apart from the competition and be unique. Be creative and personalize your service specific to your individual customer. One size does not fit all in this case and offering personalized customer service will assist you in developing your unique brand.

Master Strategy # 6: Make it easy for your customers to do business with you

Leave all the guess work out and make it easy for your customer to do business with you. Have your staff go through the same process and channels that your customers will so they can experience the same exact experience your customers will have. Make adjustments to your current process if needed and always put on your customer hat and understand how your services are being evaluated through the customer eyes. Is it easy to request your product or service? What if there is a problem? Is it easy to escalate an issue? Is it easy to check on a status? Is there a long wait time? Is there a consistency each time the customer calls? These are all important questions that you must understand in order to make it easy for your customers to do business with you.


By taking the time to apply some or all of these strategies, you will create a culture centered on top notch customer service. By educating your team on expectations and providing them the roadmap to deliver the serviced you expect, will not only make your customers more loyal but will make your business more profitable. Simply stated, happy customers buy more and tell more friends about their experience. Use that as an opportunity to build upon your already stellar brand!



©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/

7 Pillars to Business Success

Who doesn’t want to be successful in business? I don’t know one person who wakes up and claims “I want to fail today”. So why do many businesses or business systems fail? Whether you are an entrepreneur, an executive, a small business owner or an employee, there is a standard blueprint to business growth and success – 7 core strategies that are the foundation to every successful business.

1. Bold Thinking

To grow your business you need creative ideas. To create powerful ideas, you need to think boldly. Bold thinking is the art of reaching out of your comfort zone and developing solutions to do things quicker, faster and cheaper or to set yourself apart from your competition with a new product, new brand or a new process. For example, if you traditionally sell on a one to one basis, how can you sell to a group and maximize your time – a hair dresser who traditionally works with clients one at a time can host hair parties and do hair in groups. If you are in a transaction type of business, how can you reduce your transaction volume but increase your unit cost while maximizing your profits – how about increasing your fees? If you are in information marketing, how can you develop the next ebook, membership site or workshop that sets you apart from your competition? To be able to think boldly, you need quiet time away from distractions. Allow yourself time each day to shut down, no t.v, no kids and no phones and just think. Open your mind to possibilities. Our brains are pre-wired to be creative and to solve problems and if you give yourself the opportunity, you can create innovative ideas that will change your business.

2. Access to Learning and Information

New information is available every day and if you are not learning new things all the time, you and your business will not evolve and grow. I work with many businesses and to my surprise, investing in education is not a priority with some. One area where you are certain to get a return on your investment is in education. Surround yourself with a power team and share ideas and information. Don’t be afraid to reach out of your industry. Sometimes something that works in one industry can translate into a power new idea for your industry. Enroll yourself and your staff in classes and mastermind groups and read about emerging trends. Unless you are constantly learning, you may never come across the next best great thing…

3. Opportunity Discovery and Deployment

The ability to identify opportunities and more importantly, to act upon them is critical to continuing success. Too often, businesses deploy the same practices over and over again and they are so surprised then they get the same results. If you could envision a brick wall and a man running towards it and crashing up against it over and over again in an attempt to get to the other side. He continues to go towards the wall in the same manner he always had and fail to recognize the opportunity to walk around the wall or climb over it. Be open to new opportunities and willing to try new approaches.

4. Strong Support System

You cannot grow your business on your own. You need a team or a strong support system to help create and implement new ideas. One of the principles in “Good to Great”, is get the right people on the bus. As business owners, you need to consistently evaluate your support team and be comfortable with their skill, their contribution and the innovation. You also need to be resolved to the fact that your legacy people may not be the right team to get you where you want to go at the speed you want to get there anymore. They may have done a wonderful job in the past but may no longer have the skills, motivation or talent required to keep you moving.

5. Networks and Contacts

No matter what area of business or what industry you are in, your contacts, prospect lists and networks are the lifeline to business expansion and growth. Actively building your network is one of the strongest pillars and requires your attention personally. Business is based upon human interaction and connection and your ability to cultivate relationships will most likely be the source for your next great opportunity, joint venture or business idea.

6. Inspiration and Motivation

Staying focused requires motivation. As business leaders, we carry a large burden on our shoulders to create an energy that will inspire everyone in our circle to perform: Employees, vendors, clients and partners. To maintain the required energy level, we must be motivated and inspired ourselves. Surrounding yourself with positive people who build you up is one of the final pieces of our foundation. Too many times, business owners allow the opinions of others and the judgments of many, dictate their mood. You need to move away from things and individuals who do not inspire you. You need time to recharge and reflect on your core values and translate how those values impact your business. Positive energy create positive outcomes.

7. A “Can Do” Attitude

All the bold thinking, new information, opportunities, strong support system, large network and motivate on will be worthless without a can do attitude. In order to make change and be successful, you need to take action. Many business people come up with wonderful ideas but fail to take action and fail to grow their business at the speed possible and most times out of fear of failure. In business there is much failure and it is important to understand that failure is okay. Not every idea will work and it is imperative that you do not let past failures shake your can do attitude. Continue to create and implement new ideas and continue to believe in them. You need to believe that you can achieve anything and focus your energy on accomplishing your goal. That energy will turn to action and you business will evolve.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at www.kelliedandrea.com.

The Impact of Saying Thank You

I recently wrote about a recent mishap I had when I sprained my ankle and tore a ligament in my foot. It was St. Patty's Day, so we were certain it was going to be a busy night in the emergency room. Sometimes Irish tempers and alcohol do not mix. To my surprise, the emergency room wasn't as busy as I thought, but it was busy enough. I was extremely upset and pushing through a lot of pain as I waited in the emergency room to be seen by a doctor at my local hospital. There was a wait and tempers around me were beginning to rise. I witness many people verbally attacking the receptionist in the ER and just basically being rude.

When it was my turn, I hobbled over and they quickly came to my aid with a wheel chair, ice and a smile. The receptionist turned to me and said two simple words "thank you". It was so surreal. Here they were helping me and I was the one being thanked.... I was touched. That simple gesture was so powerful and absolutely made me feel like I was appreciated.

How often do we take the time, in any situation, both good and bad, to say Thank you to our customers? How about our employees? What would their reaction be when they hear those two simple words?

In today's fast pace business climate, keeping up with basic manners almost seem impossible but taking the time to say "Thank You" to your customers can give you a competitive edge. With our economy in such turmoil these days, how about reaching out to your customers to say thank you for your business, we are here with you to the end. I recently had a client do this and the reaction from his clients was unbelievable - not to mention the retained business.

Simple tasks you can take to thank your clients:

·Simply say thank you. "Thank you for calling", "Thank you for waiting", "Thank you for doing business with us" or just "thanks"

·Send an email or even better a hand written note.

·Throw a client appreciation day and offer discounts, increased services or just a luncheon or party.

· Send a thank you gift, something small but memorable. The more personalized you can make it versus the same gift for every customer.

· Send a unique piece of literature, a poem or an article that you think would touch your customers.

· Donate to a charity in your customer's name

Gratitude is such a simple way to build your business and stand by your brand. Be the company that cares about its clients and take a moment to say Thank You to your customers and let them know how much you appreciate them. to all, will have a bigger impact.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates
Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes "The Marketing Edge" a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at http://www.kelliedandrea.com/.

Are You Leveraging the Power of LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is an online social network of experienced professionals from around the world with over 37 million members in over 200 countries. Executives from all the Fortune 500 companies and well know experts, authors and leaders are all LinkedIn members, so the question is, are you?

Do you remember the old saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? Your professional network is one of the most valuable assets you own that will yield you a return. It is your personal network that you turn to for job inquiries, introductions to new business opportunities, collaboration on joint ventures, research on new people you meet or new companies you want to engage in business.

In the past you relied on human to human networking where you would speak to friends, family and colleagues, stating your purpose and hoping they could either assist with another introduction or at least point you in a direction towards an introduction. Your goal to find someone who may know someone who can help you make a connection typically took going through many individuals on a one to one basis and was inefficient and took valuable time.
In today’s environment of real time access to information, social media and limited personal time, LinkedIn provides you a way to find, be introduced to and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to reach out to in mass therefore saving your most precious resource – your time.

If you are looking for new business, new partners, new referrals, to stay in touch, to research candidates or partners, recruit new employees, or find a new job, than you need to be leveraging the power of LinkedIn. So what can LinkedIn do for you:

• Direct Recruiting – You can find people who are potential candidates for hire, or at least find someone who knows someone who is looking.

• Lead Generation – With a growing network of qualified links, you have a direct audience to use LinkedIn tools to keep them informed of what you are working on, blast emails to your network and presentations tools to generate interest.

• Expert Positioning – LinkedIn provides you the ability to join groups or mini communities of like minded individuals where you can not only ask questions to collaborate with peers, but can answer questions as well. In addition, obtaining recommendations from business partners, employees and peers will provide you with a foundation to build credibility and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

• Research – In LinkedIn, there is an open source to search a company’s name, location and individuals associated with this company. It is a great resource for tracking down previous employment information, other partners and who people are networked with.

• Google Search – When you make your profile public in LinkedIn, search engines such as Google picks up your profile and makes it easier for people to find you. If you are in business and trying to establish a presence or build credibility, enhancing your page ranking in Google is always a good way.

• Job Search – When you get the itch to start looking for a new position, people always turn to their network first. Here your network is expanded. Since you are connected to your connections and your connections have connections and so on. This provides you with the opportunity to cast out inquiries to a larger net.

LinkedIn is rapidly becoming the largest business-oriented online social network and since it is a professional audience, the focus is on business. It is about making the necessary connections to boost your business and build referrals well beyond any network you can develop using human to human networking. The time is now for you to join LinkedIn and harness the power of business connection that is easy, real time and the next wave in business networking.

Stay tuned for next month where we will share with you Tips of How to Leverage the Power of LinkedIn.

Join me on LinkedIn. And Twitter.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates
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