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March 2013  

Event Spotlight

Speed Networking: Dating for Suites

 

How do I look? Is my hair okay? Am I dressed up enough? Oh no, maybe too much. Uh oh, my palms are sweaty…

 

Relax, it’s only speed networking.

 

Similar to speed dating, speed networking is an efficient, face-to-face encounter for participants to make new contacts through one-on-one conversations lasting between two to five minutes.  It’s quick, focused opportunities to meet others who may be able to help boost your business. These events tend to be a fun, exciting and effective way to make a lot of initial connections in a very different environment from the standard business networking meetings.

 

Speed networking offers many benefits because it can allow you to find out what you don’t know and what you’re missing. Making new contacts provides access to information and the inside scoop into what is happening in your industry.

 

Since speed networking attendees only spend two to three minutes getting to know one other before moving on to the next seat, it’s important to be prepared. Here are a few tips to make your speed networking experience a success:

 

1. Come well prepared – Since there is little time for small talk, set goals and outcomes that will allow you to deliver the message you want to communicate. Also, don’t forget to bring a stack of business cards and even a one-pager that clearly describes your company.

 

2. Have a 30-second elevator speech prepared. A well-crafted elevator speech could include the following:

     - Your name.
     -
Your company name.
     -
The values you create for your clients (Describing a typical problem, what activities you used to solve it and the actual result.)
     -
Something about your goals and the results you wish to achieve from the meeting.

 

3. Always have an end in mind – Make sure you set clear and concise goals to help guide you during the different meetings. Making a new contact in a local market may be an objective, but the overall goal needs to be more specific.

 

4. Forget about the time – Focus on the person in front of you, not the bell. While it can be frustrating to know you don’t have a lot of time to say or learn much about the person across from you, you need to remember this is an opportunity to introduce yourself. Concentrate on that.

 

5. A good handshake still counts – Remember the assumptions you have about others when receiving their “dead-fish” or “bone crushing” handshake? Begin each meeting with a good handshake because it counts!

 

6. Be honest and show respect – Introduce yourself and exchange business cards before starting. Also, allow the other person to speak first. While speaking first can have its advantages, the one speaking last can adjust the presentation, allowing you to touch on the common denominators and create more interest.

 

7. Ask: How can I help you? – Networking isn’t just all about you. It’s also an opportunity to see how you can help others accomplish their professional goals.

 

8. Take notes – Make sure you bring a pen and paper to write down any points of interest and common denominators.

 

9. Follow-up – This is one of the most important aspects to networking. If you don’t follow up, then you’ve only succeeded in wasting your time.

 

Join us on May 8 for Speed Networking with fellow SMPS members and guests. More information to come!

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CPSM

Gain the Competitive Advantage for Your Career and Company

 

Become a Certified Professional Services Marketer

 

Thinking about becoming a CPSM? You may be asking yourself:

  • What can becoming a CPSM do for me?
  • What can it do for my company?
  • What kind of commitment am I in for when preparing for the test?
  • Do I have to be a SMPS member to get my CPSM?

 

SMPS Indiana will be putting together a study group for those interested in taking the exam. The study group is designed to help you to manage the reading assignments required to prepare for this exam and provide a group discussion atmosphere. Throughout the course of the study sessions, we will review the Six Domains of Practice:

  1. Marketing Research
  2. Marketing Planning
  3. Client and Business Development
  4. Proposals and Qualification Statements
  5. Promotional Activity
  6. Information, Resource, and Organizational Management  

 

Are you Eligible to take the Exam? To be eligible for the CPSM Program, a candidate must meet the following educational and professional experience requirements:

  1. Possess a bachelor’s degree or an advanced degree plus four years of experience in marketing or business development for firms providing professional services in the design and building industry
  2. Or possess an associate’s degree plus six years of work experience in marketing or business development for firms providing professional services in the design and building industry
  3. Or without a degree, have eight years of experience in marketing or business development for firms providing professional services in the design and building industry
  4. In addition, all candidates must pledge to abide by the CPSM Code of Ethics.

 Visit www.smps.org/Certification for more detailed information about the CPSM program.

 

The SMPS Indiana CPSM study group will begin May 1, 2013! Contact Meg Butcher, mbutcher@cbbel-in.com or (317) 514-5459, if you are interested in joining this group, or would just like more information about the program.

 

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Industry Article

Are you in the top 1% of LinkedIn?
12 tips for making your profile work for you.

If you’re actively using social media to market your professional services firm, you may have seen a recent campaign from LinkedIn announcing they had hit two hundred million members. As part of that, they acknowledged the two million most-viewed LinkedIn profiles.

If you were among the top 1%, congratulations!

If not, does being one of the top two million viewed profiles matter all that much? Maybe not. But what does matter is whether you are effectively putting LinkedIn to work for you.

So how can you make better time of your efforts on LinkedIn, regardless of where your profile ranks? How you choose to use LinkedIn is up to you.

First, consider your goals and strategies, just like any other marketing tactic:
- Will you accept every invitation, or use it as a very selective, online rolodex?
- Do you check in daily, weekly, or monthly?
- Do you post regularly, or just read other posts?

Next, take some time to improve your profile:
- Be sure to use a professional headshot.
- Write a strong headline for your profile—something more compelling than just your title.
- It’s your story—write your profile in the way you'd wish for it to be told.

Now that your profile is up to date, consider how and what to post:
- Like just about every other social network, posts that contain images get more attention.
- Post really interesting things to Twitter as well using “Share with LinkedIn + Twitter”.
- Remember, just like in real life, it's okay to ask for referrals!

Once you’ve mastered the basics you should also consider:
- Spend some time with your company profile—are your coworkers linking to the correct page?
- Link back to your company website and any other social networks.
- Schedule some time at least weekly to check in, accept requests, and reply to messages.

Remember LinkedIn is not Facebook and it's not Twitter. It is a very unique social network. And if you want your profile to work for you, give it at least 1% of your attention.


Josh Miles is the author of “Bold Brand - The new rules for differentiating, branding, and marketing your professional services firm,” and founder of Miles Design, a branding firm specializing in design for professional services and software firms.


www.boldbrand.com |www.milesdesign.com | josh@milesdesign.com

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Restaurant Reviews

The House of NOM:  Unexpectedly Extraordinary FOOD!

By Cassie Anderson, Apogee Consulting Group

 

 
As with many folks in Business Development, a large portion of role with my company is spent entertaining clients or prospective clients.  Over the last 4+ years dining out on a daily basis, I’ve become quite familiar with Indianapolis’s food scene.  As a self-proclaimed amateur foodie (defined as an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink), I will even go so far as to take pictures of outstanding presentation and foods while dining out and post them to various social media sites, including my own (sadly delinquent) food blog.

 

I digress.  At my previous company, I had the oddest thing happen.   I accidentally connected my LinkedIN profile and my Twitter account for a short time.  As I would check into a restaurant on Twitter, my professional contacts would get a status update as well.  (Hey this is why I’m in BD rather than Marketing)!   Someone finally pointed it out to me, but not before I received a couple of great emails from clients and, now, friends.  The first email was from a client wanting a ‘date night’ restaurant recommendation for he and his wife.  How complimentary, that he thought to ask me!!! The second was someone asking that our next lunch be at one of my ‘dives’ of choice.  My definition of a ‘dive’ is as follows:  a small, informal restaurant with unexpectedly, sometimes inexplicably, wonderful food.

 

Food critics and writers tend to write on the newest and trendiest fares and hotspots, so in an effort to keep this reoccurring column fresh and fun, I’ve decided to write about a couple of my favorite unassuming restaurants in town; those joints you think are only good to quench your thirst at happy hour or over a game but actually have amazing food that you should indulge in while pounding that pint!

 

Twenty Tap – 5406 North College Avenue Indianapolis

 

One of my most favored spots for a beer in Indianapolis cannot be contested.  With their 38 rotating taps of regional craft brews, you never know what they’ll be pouring at Twenty Tap located on the northwest corner of 54th Street and College Avenue.  Now, I’m a light (color not calories, don’t be silly) beer drinker.  You’ll typically find me with a Belgian Wheat or a tasty Saison in hand, but Twenty Tap never fails to have a healthy selection of stouts, porters, wheats, APAs, IPAs and all of the frothiness in between.  As if that’s not enough reason to wait on a table or bar stool in this just over a year old establishment, their menu is out of control craftiness.   Excepting one other, Rob Coate (head chef at Twenty Tap) has created my favorite burger in the city: The French Breakfast Burger.  A beautiful all beef burger topped with pickled onions, shoestring potatoes, brie and bacon jam.  Yes, you read that right…BACON JAM.  Always order fries aside these tasty burgers, for two reasons:  1) They’re delicious with a side of TT’s Sriracha aioli and 2) you’ve already ordered this decadent burger, are you really considering ordering a side salad with it?

 

Other awesome Twenty Tap menu items include: The Wrath Burger (covered in an ale blue cheese sauce and bacon), The Cuban (same one they were making at Northside News!), pimento mac & cheese (add Bacon because what wouldn’t you?), the cheese curds, and the Brisket Sandwich.  For you vegetarians out there, Rob is whipping up a Bahn Mi that I constantly hear rave reviews about.  Now, I cannot attest to that since I can’t pass up meat, but even my carnivorous friends tell me its tops!

 

Maxine’s Chicken & Waffles – 132 North East Street Indianapolis

 

I already know what your reaction to this might be as it’s the same as everyone’s that I tell about this place, “It’s a restaurant in a gas station. NO!” Frankly, you’d be wrong.  Maxine’s is not located inside the Citgo on the southwest corner of Ohio and East Street downtown Indy, but is just a few inches and a wall away.  Honestly, after my umpteenth visit there for brunch last weekend and the crowd that followed, I’m not sure why I’m sharing this gem with any more people as it will surely just increase my wait time during my next meal.

 

The mission at Maxine's Chicken and Waffles is to provide a "taste of love in every bite." NAILED IT! Understanding the following statement might elicit some pushback, the fried chicken served at Maxine’s is the best I have found in the city.  If you think that those are fighting words, please grab a table between the indoor fountain and Rubbermaid covered homemade cakes at Maxine’s and place your order.  I anxiously await your rebuttals.

 

Nestled in the menu between chicken salad, fried green tomatoes, a myriad of sandwiches, catfish basket (which I must go back and try as soon as I can fit into my pants again) and a Fat burger is this restaurant’s namesake: Chicken and Waffles.  Three jumbo chicken wings fried to a moist perfection and served with your choice of one of their signature waffles.  Go with the sweet potato waffle and make sure to ask for the peach butter.

 

Although the décor looks more like they should be serving a Mexican fare, don’t be fooled.  With impeccable service, Maxine’s will put you in a comfort food coma of epic proportions.


Cassie Anderson is the Business Development Manager for Apogee Consulting, a SDVOSB Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Design & Engineering Company.  In her free time, she organizes philanthropic dining events as Vice-President of Twenty4Change (www.twenty4change.com) and writes a recipe blog (which doubles as the namesake of this column: www.thehouseofnom.blogspot.com).  She is a huge advocate for the Farm to Table movement and loves dining out any place local.  Email her directly for restaurant recommendations, but be warned that she will talk your ear off about the local food scene.  Canderson@acg-pa.com   

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Upcoming Events

April 10, 2013 - Taking Your Message Mobile
Presented by RJ Talyor, Vice President of Mobile Products at ExactTarget

 

2:45 to 5:00 PM
Skyline Club
1 American Sq
Indianapolis, IN

 

April 24, 2013 - Half Day Workshop - Winning More Work
Presented by Matt Handel

 

8:00 to 11:30 AM
Indiana Wesleyan University - Indianapolis (North) Education and Conference Center
3777 Priority Way Drive South
Indianapolis, IN

CPSM & AIA Credits Available

 

May 1, 2013 - CPSM Study Group Kickoff Meeting


8 - 9:30 AM
BSA LifeStructures
9365 Counselors Row
Indianapolis, IN 46240

 

May 1, 2013 - Marketing FUNdaMENTALs - Become a LinkedIn Power User
Featuring Michael Reynolds, President/CEO SpinWeb

 

4:00 to 5:00 PM
Somerset CPAs
3925 River Crossing Parkway
Indianapolis, IN

 

May 8, 2013 - Speed Networking Event

 

3:00 to 5:00 PM
Location TBD
Indianapolis, IN

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Summer Kickoff/New Member Party

Ralston's Draft House
3:30 PM - 6:00 PM

05-29-2013

Managing and Leading a Successful Business Development Team

Indiana History Center
8:00 AM - 4:30 PM

06-06-2013

1970's Golf - 24th Annual SMPS-IN Student Scholarship Golf Outing

Plum Creek Golf Course
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

07-11-2013

In this issue