Business is a Contact Sport

I am a huge fan of college sports, especially football and basketball. I suppose what I like about both of them is the way teamwork is combined with individual skill, conditioning, discipline, and effort to produce positive results. One other thing that both have in common is that they are contact sports. That means if you are not in touch with the players on the other side of the ball, you can't succeed. The parallels for business are striking.

Successful businesses are the ones that find ways to make contact and stay in contact with their prospects and their customers. I know this sounds obvious, but it is not as clear for everyone as it might at first seem. It is certainly not easy to accomplish, at least not for most of us. The traditional forms of contact are not as effective as they used to be. The newer forms of contact are not easy to understand or implement. What's a business owner to do?

First you need to decide what kind of contact is most appropriate for your business. If you think about it, there are really two forms of business contact. Let's call type 1 transactional (T) and type 2 relational (R). Both forms can work to produce sales for the right business. Transactional contacts are most common in high volume retail sales and are especially prevalent on the internet. They are generally about product and are driven by advertising, pricing, branding, and availability. Relational contacts are more about people and service and are driven by credibility, service, information, and relationship. If you are operating a big box retail store, you can probably depend on transactional contacts. If you are any other kind of business, relational contacts are critical.

Building and maintaining relational contacts is more involved now than ever before. It used to be that your relationships were built on local networks and referrals supported by marketing and advertising to increase your number of contacts. All of that is still very important, but more and more local businesses need to know about and take advantage of the tools available for internet based "Social Media" networking. There is so much here that I can't even begin to go into it all in this message. I do want to point you toward one activity to help you get moving.

The longer I work with this new media networking the more certain I am that the best place for a business to get started is with Twitter. But I don't mean you should immediately start sending out your updates or giving out information. No, what I think you need to do is use Twitter first to learn how to best take advantage of social media for your business. Make it your tool for continuing education in electronic networking.

Here's a tip. If you don't have a twitter account, create one today. It is simple and free at http://www.twitter.com. Once you have the account, find the search window and do a search for social media marketing. You will see a list of "tweets" that offer information and connections to blogs and articles about this whole new world. Read through some of the options there and find what is interesting to you. When you find someone who has information you can use and a style to can appreciate, follow them. And while you are at it, sign up to follow me at @businesscoachk.

Plan to spend 30-60 days just following and learning. If you take this approach you will discover the tools and resources of the web that are most valuable to you and, at the same time, begin to build an online network that is meaningful and relevant to your business.