Kristie T’s Home Business Blog Fun, mom-geared work-at-home tips and advice on making money on the net.

Who is waiting to hear from you? When is the last time you wrote a customer to tell them how much you appreciate them?

One of my biggest discoveries this year is the power of relationships. I have made a big effort to focus on deepening my business and personal relationships.

Keeping in touch with your customers is key to creating trust and loyalty. That’s why It’s critical to have a keep in touch system in place to cultivate relationships of your current customers and well as with prospects.

I have found that keeping in touch with customers helps you stay top of mind so that when they are ready to do business, they remember that you are there to help. Handwritten greeting cards with a personal message that shows appreciation and build rapport. Whether you send holiday cards, thank you cards, even birthday cards, regular notes makes your customers more likely to think of you first.

Here is a new article I wrote on 10 Keep in Touch Marketing Secrets.

I’d love for you to try my favorite keep in touch system to send out cards for free here.

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I hope you will join me in attending the Office Depot Success Strategies for Women Event. It’s called “Branding Yourself for Unstoppable Success“. There’s a killer line up of speakers including:

- Sandra Yancey - author of “Relationship Networking: The Art of Turning Contacts into Connections”
- Cynthia Kersey - best-selling author of “Unstoppable” (I have always wanted to see her speak!)
- Rosalyn Taylor O’Neale - CEO of Barnes, O’Neale and Associates
- Susan RoAne - author of best-selling books “How to Work a Room” and “What Do I Say Next”
- and “George Fraser” author of “The Complete Guide to Effective Networking”

There are also upcoming tour dates of March 27 in Washington DC and April 25 in Philadelphia.

Should be a stellar event. I will be attending with my press pass as a blogger covering the event. So be sure to stay posted for live “from the event” coverage right here on the Webmomz blog.

For complete details visit OfficeDepotSuccess.com or call 800-745-0398.

If you plan on attending the event, let me know. I’d love to meet you in person!

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Friendship is such a precious gift. The Internet is pretty special in that you can make friends with people from all around the world. And I feel so blessed to met some really amazing women online who are part of the mom entrepreneurial community. Yesterday one of my dear friends, Jane Deuber from the Direct Selling Women’s Alliance was in town so we got together for dinner. Here’s a picture of us at this great Italian restaurant called Carlucci’s.

It’s really funny how Jane and I met. We ran into each other online and were fans of each other’s work. Then we attended Big Seminar together and became fast friends. And ever since we’ve had a blast supporting each other to “Go Big” with our dreams.

Isn’t it nice to have a friend that you can be your whole self with? Sometimes when you work from home, your life is really different from the lives of other stay at home moms and corporate working moms. And it feels wonderful to have someone who understands what you are going thru. They know the thrill of releasing a new product or service, the challenge of juggling work and home, and the great satisfaction of giving it everything you’ve got in your business.

If you are feeling a bit lonely and would like to make friends who can support you in business, I have been a member of Mom Masterminds for over and year. It’s really felt great to make friends with other mom entrepreneurs. We all have learned so much from each other. And my day is always a bit brighter because of my online buddies. Why don’t you come check it out Mom Masterminds for free and see what you think? I hope to see you in there!

Have you met any really wonderful women online? Have you gotten a chance to meet? What do you do to keep in touch with your special friends?

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If you’d like to know how to turn your rolodex in thousands of dollars of business, you’ll want to check this out.

In a recent interview I did with Andrea Nierenberg on Speaker Success Talk Radio, Andrea shared her insider secrets on how you can network like a pro!

During the revealing interview, Andrea shares:

- how to conquer the biggest fears around networking
- the worst networking mistakes you’ll want to avoid
- simple tips for remembering the names of people you meet
- why you need a networking toolkit and what’s in it
- how to track and manage key details of your contact list
- and more!

Listen to the interview with Andrea Nierenberg on Networking now here:

Or get instructions for how to listen to the interview with Andrea with your Ipod, MP3 player, or favorite player here:

Happy Networking!

Kristie T

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I’m sure your library is probably as crazy as mine. But sometimes I think I have so many awesome resources, that I forget what I have. Someone once said that the only thing that will be different 10 years from now is the books you read, the people you meet, and the experiences you have.

I have more the enough books that I’ve read - that’s for sure. My goal for next year is to IMPLEMENT what I have read. No more learning (which will be hard - I love learning)

Well, here are the books I have in my library. I have read 80% of them. The others, need to sit down and read.

Is your library as big as this? - And there are LOTS of ebooks and books in the basement haven’t even accounted for here.

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My friend Alice Seba is an awesome mom marketer. I have learned a lot from her. And one of the biggest lessons I have learned from her is about “Sweetieism”. You see, when you meet people you should never think about, “What can they do for me?” That’s all backwards. When you start first to instead think how you can help the other person.

Business is about building relationships first. And that starts from building connections and trust. And there’s nothing like showing a genuine act of kindness to someone to get a friendship off on the right foot.

In the book “Dig your Well Before You’re Thirsty” by Harvey Mackay that I am reading, he says, “If there is a single rule to follow under these circumstances, it’s not ‘How can I get the other person to do something for?’ It’s ‘How can I do something for the other person.’”

After I read that, I chuckled, and it was a great reminder of the power of “Sweetism”.

Alice has a great guide that shows you how it’s easy to kill them with kindness and fatten your wallet at the same time.
Take a peak here to learn how to be an Internet Marketing Sweetie.

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Having a personal network is a must in business. It is about developing key relationships with people. Through networking, you can have an instant list of people to help you out in times of need, whether it’s a new product launch, needing expert advice, or needing a favor.

I am reading a book called “Dig Your Well Before You Are Thisty” by Harvey Mackay.

Here are the 16 types of people that Harvey Mackay says you’ll want to have in your network.

1) Real estate broker
2) Source for hard-to-get-tickets
3) Travel agent
4) A leader in every religious and ethic group
5) Headhunter
6) Banker
7) Elected local official
High-ranking cop
9) Firefighters
10) Celebrity
11) Veterinarian
12) Insurance expert
13) Divorce Lawyer
14) Auto mechanic
15) Media contact
16) Best friend

That got me thinking about who the key people have been in my personal network as an online business person.

A) Business coach - for business strategy questions
B) Life coach - purpose, balance, personal development questions
C) Techie - for tough technical questions on software, computers etc
D) Speaker hall of fame members - to learn about breaking into the speaking business
E) Author - what it really takes to approach publishers, write a book proposal, market books
F) Spiritual Mentor - someone to keep me on track with faith walk and living out my purpose
G) Millionaire Mentor - to give me wealth building strategies and shape my financial beliefs
H) Affiliate Mentor - someone who knows what it takes to build a solid affiliate program
I) Affliate Marketing Mentor - someone who knows how to make a good passive income with affiliate marketing
J) Financial Mentor - helps me to track business financials, understand them, and build net worth in business
K) Marketing Mentors - help me stay on track with latest marketing techniques and strategies
L) Mastermind - group of friends who believe in me, support me, share ideas with me, joint venture with me

Who is in your personal network? Do you have any additional “mentors” or types of advisors in your personal network? What are your best ways of meeting people for your dream team while networking? Share your networking tips and ideas here.

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Going to seminars is not only a great way to stay on top of “what’s new” in your industry, but it’s also a great way to connect with other entrepreneurs. Earlier this year at the Dan Kennedy seminar in Chicago, I ran into a couple gal pal marketers of mine - Lorrie Morgan Ferrero , Alexandria Brown and Michelle PW. In a sea of men marketers, we girls had fun sitting in the back row, sharing M&M’s, giggling, and getting in trouble for passing notes.

Here’s a pic from a nice lunch to visit and talk about what we were all up to.

Lorrie’s got a great Speed Copywriting workshop coming up that you’d be nuts to miss. Copywriting is really the core of what makes all your marketing work — and she’s one of the best copywriters out there. I’ve taken one of her copywriting courses before and will tell you it’s worth every penny (and then some!).

It’s a 3 day event that will show you how to create a successful copywriting and marketing roadmap. She’ll show you her technique for writing copy that grabs attention FAST. And it all takes place in Los Angeles! Perry Marshall (The Google Adwords guy) and James Roche (The Info Product Guy) will be there too! Besides what you’ll learn, it’s going to be world class networking for sure! If you attend 1 event this year, make it be this one. Find out more about Lorrie’s Speed Copywriting Workshop Here.

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Have trouble striking up a good conversation at networking events? People love to talk about themselves. And asking questions to get to know them better draws you closer. What if I told you there were 10 “magic” questions to could turn even the quietest person into a social butterfly - would you want to know?

Bob Burg offers these 10 Networking Questions:

1) How did you get started in your business?
2) What do you enjoy most about your profession?
3) What separates you and your company from the competition?
4) What advice would you give someone just starting out in your business?
5) What one thing would you do with your business in you knew you couldn’t fail?
6) What significant changes have you seen take place in your profession through the years?
7) What do you see as the coming trends in your business?
Describe the strangest or funniest incident you’ve experienced in your business?
9) What ways have you found to be the most effective for promoting your business?
10) What one sentence would you like people to use in describing the way you do business?

These cleverly insightful questions help you see to the heart of this person’s needs so you can offer whatever resources and information you have that might be helpful to them.

So next time you are at a loss for words, start from a place of curiosity and ask away. Do you have any favorite networking questions? Share your networking tips here!

P.S. Are you wondering why I have been sharing so many tips on networking lately? I have recently been appointed Director of Education for my local BNI chapter. So it’s my job now to learn about and teach networking tips. So I’ll keep sharing the good stuff with you here!

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Wish that when someone needed a service that you were the one that came to mind? A memory hook helps people to remember who you are and what you do. Would you like some tips that make it easy to make a clever memory hook?

Networking expert Ivan Misner of BNI offers these tips for creating a great memory hook. I added some of my own insights too!

1) See It, Hear It, Feel It - Appeal to the senses
“For balloons with a flair, remember the bear in the air.” - for a retailer who sells balloon bouquets
“Come fly away with me” for a travel agency

2) Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry - use humor
“We check your shorts” for an electrician
“We’re dyeing to save you money” for a company who dyes carpet

I know a guy who owns a carpet business and says, “Our vacumns really suck!”

3) Create a Pun with your name
For websites that suit you to a “T” ask the website expert, Kristie T
Bob Howe a mortgage lender says, “Know Howe to get your next loan”

4) Verse or Worse - using poems and rhymes

“When things go blurry, don’t stop to ‘ponda’ stumble to 17th Street and see Dr. Honda” - for an optomitrist
“When cops are in the foyer, call Marchese, your friendly lawyer.”

In my own BNI group my Mary Kay gal says, “If you’d like a check up from the neck up, call me”
And there is a personal banker who says, “If your finances are in the trash, let us help you with your cash!”

5) Piracy or Parody - reworking familiar sayings or lyrics from songs

“Old bankers never die, they just lose interest”
“When you’re in commotion, who you gonna call? Law in motion! (a paralegal firm)

6) The Old Double Reverse - In the same sentence you phrase the first part, and then reverse it to make a different point.

“A business without a sign is a sign of no business”
“If your hair is not becoming to you, then you should be coming to me”

Do you have a great memory hook that you use for your networking or 30 second introduction? Have you heard any good ones? Share your memory hooks here.

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