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Erik Holmes Group moderator
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Biggest Problem with Business Networking Sites?
I am creating a business networking/prospecting site and would love your input.

What is it you like about business networking sites?

What is the biggest problem with business networking sites?

Is there a feature that you wish they had to help you make more sales?
This post was modified on 14 Aug 2008 at 08:14 pm.
- 14 Aug 2008, 8:10 pm
Erik Holmes wrote: > I am creating a business networking/prospecting site and would love > your input. > > > What is it you like about business networking sites? > > > What is the biggest problem with business networking sites? > > > Is there a feature that you wish they had to help you make more sales?
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Erik Holmes Group moderator
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Re^2: Biggest Problem with Business Networking Sites?
Thanks Marc, I have considered this as one of the big problems, lots of contacts doesn't help your sales if they are not targeted. There does need to be more places to make offers.

My site is quite different, your profile will be more of a sales pitch, with video, testimonials and an auto responder sign up. You will optimize your profile based on your keywords and people will find your profile from all over the internet vs. just in the network. You will be able to clone your profile and optimize it for different keywords and drive organic and pay per click traffic to your profiles.

The biggest difference is that the site will educate users on how the internet works and how to use it to get qualified leads looking and their profile and how to turn those leads into paying customers.
- 14 Aug 2008, 10:47 pm
Erik Holmes wrote: > Thanks Marc, I have considered this as one of the big problems, lots > of contacts doesn't help your sales if they are not targeted. There > does need to be more places to make offers. > > My site is quite different, your profile will be more of a sales > pitch, with video, testimonials and an auto responder sign up. You > will optimize your profile based on your keywords and people will > find your profile from all over the internet vs. just in the network. > You will be able to clone your profile and optimize it for different > keywords and drive organic and pay per click traffic to your profiles. > > The biggest difference is that the site will educate users on how the > internet works and how to use it to get qualified leads looking and > their profile and how to turn those leads into paying customers.
Michael Sloyan Group moderator
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Re^3: Biggest Problem with Business Networking Sites?
Hi Erik & fellow members,

The biggest problem with business networking sites can be found in those two words "Business Networking". There are a huge list of websites that promote themselves as "business networking" platforms but it is not really the case. The majority of users are not business decision makers at all and as such there can be no business done......

That was the reason I launched The British Business Club back in April 2000. The membership is made up exclusively of "Business Decision Makers":

Business Owners
CEO's
Directors
Partners
Senior Executives

Outside of that circle there is very little business done. There are plenty of websites where sales people talk to sales people & managers talk to managers.... on it goes, but whilst they are making contacts they are not actually doing business. They are just talking shop.

The British Business Club now has over 7,500 UK genuine business decion makers as members and a further 4,500 overseas members. We have our own built in business networking platform called "The Boardroom" and these guys/ladies are genuinely doing business. They each know that every contact they meet can actually make a business decision and that is the magical step.

I have been involved in sales & marketing for over 30 years and have learned from experience that business owners do all they can to avoid talking to sales people, so if you can create a platform that both business owners & sales people would be interested in joining you will be a very rich man :-)

Have a great day!

Michael Sloyan
The British Business Club
http://www.britishbusinessclub.com
- 15 Aug 2008, 09:10 am
Michael Sloyan wrote: > Hi Erik & fellow members, > > The biggest problem with business networking sites can be found in > those two words "Business Networking". There are a huge list of > websites that promote themselves as "business networking" platforms > but it is not really the case. The majority of users are not business > decision makers at all and as such there can be no business done...... > > That was the reason I launched The British Business Club back in > April 2000. The membership is made up exclusively of "Business > Decision Makers": > > Business Owners > CEO's > Directors > Partners > Senior Executives > > Outside of that circle there is very little business done. There are > plenty of websites where sales people talk to sales people & managers > talk to managers.... on it goes, but whilst they are making contacts > they are not actually doing business. They are just talking shop. > > The British Business Club now has over 7,500 UK genuine business > decion makers as members and a further 4,500 overseas members. We > have our own built in business networking platform called "The > Boardroom" and these guys/ladies are genuinely doing business. They > each know that every contact they meet can actually make a business > decision and that is the magical step. > > I have been involved in sales & marketing for over 30 years and have > learned from experience that business owners do all they can to avoid > talking to sales people, so if you can create a platform that both > business owners & sales people would be interested in joining you > will be a very rich man :-) > > Have a great day! > > Michael Sloyan > The British Business Club > www.britishbusinessclub.com
Erik Holmes Group moderator
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Re^4: Biggest Problem with Business Networking Sites?
Hi Michael,

I agree with you about the problems with networking sites. I like that fact that you decided to stand for something and not try to be all things to all people with your site.

I spoke to a guy who used Linkedin to build a network of 12000 in 6 month, when I asked him if he had any business from the network his response was "not yet " .

My model is a business Prospecting site, I only want business owners and sales professions that want sales leads, not network builders. I am starting with an existing site I purchased with 5000 members that is already ranked #1 in Google in the US for "Sales Leads" "Free Sales Leads" "B2B Sales Leads " . I am in the middle of redoing the site, here is a rough version of the new home page http://mortalmoney.com/2dddr.html any comments on the home page would be greatly appreciated.

Erik
- 15 Aug 2008, 11:37 pm
Erik Holmes wrote: > Hi Michael, > > I agree with you about the problems with networking sites. I like > that fact that you decided to stand for something and not try to be > all things to all people with your site. > > I spoke to a guy who used Linkedin to build a network of 12000 in 6 > month, when I asked him if he had any business from the network his > response was "not yet " . > > My model is a business Prospecting site, I only want business owners > and sales professions that want sales leads, not network builders. I > am starting with an existing site I purchased with 5000 members that > is already ranked #1 in Google in the US for "Sales Leads" "Free > Sales Leads" "B2B Sales Leads " . I am in the middle of redoing the > site, here is a rough version of the new home page > http://mortalmoney.com/2dddr.html any comments on the home page would > be greatly appreciated. > > Erik
Anupam Pathak Group moderator
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Re^5: Biggest Problem with Business Networking Sites?
Hi Erik,

I just went to the link and it looks quite impresive and I am looking forward for it's launch. As I am new to to the professional networking websites ( 6 months on LinkedIn, Konnects, Internations, Ecademy, etc.), I think it wold be too early to suggest to something specific. But here is a generic idea. Usually the few prfessinal networking sites are very interactive but they you do not get quality leads form them and few of them has quality people/leads but they are not very interactive, so it is very important to have a balance between interaction and quality to make sure that it is fruitful for everyone.

Best Reards,
Anupam
http://www.brickred.com
- 20 Aug 2008, 1:17 pm
Anupam Pathak wrote: > Hi Erik, > > I just went to the link and it looks quite impresive and I am looking > forward for it's launch. As I am new to to the professional > networking websites ( 6 months on LinkedIn, Konnects, Internations, > Ecademy, etc.), I think it wold be too early to suggest to something > specific. But here is a generic idea. Usually the few prfessinal > networking sites are very interactive but they you do not get > quality leads form them and few of them has quality people/leads but > they are not very interactive, so it is very important to have a > balance between interaction and quality to make sure that it is > fruitful for everyone. > > Best Reards, > Anupam > www.brickred.com
Erik Holmes Group moderator
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Re^6: Biggest Problem with Business Networking Sites?
Anupam, Thanks for your input. I have never had any luck sitting on the fence in business, you can't be everything to everyone and do well.

I really think I have to stand for something to make the site different and worth going to. TradePals will be about getting high quality Leads, if you want to network there are plenty of great places to go already. Tradepals is a pure Social Prospecting site with only limited networking functions within local leads exchange groups.

The website will be for...

Sales people
Business Owners
Service providers

The website is not for...

Job seekers
networkers
Employees (non Commission)

Here is a link to a quick video describing how the profiles will work.

http://www.screencast.com/users/Enid/folders/Jing/media/c75f...
- 21 Aug 2008, 9:00 pm
Erik Holmes wrote: > Anupam, Thanks for your input. I have never had any luck sitting on > the fence in business, you can't be everything to everyone and do > well. > > I really think I have to stand for something to make the site > different and worth going to. TradePals will be about getting high > quality Leads, if you want to network there are plenty of great > places to go already. Tradepals is a pure Social Prospecting site > with only limited networking functions within local leads exchange > groups. > > The website will be for... > > Sales people > Business Owners > Service providers > > The website is not for... > > Job seekers > networkers > Employees (non Commission) > > Here is a link to a quick video describing how the profiles will work. > > http://www.screencast.com/users/Enid/folders/Jing/media/c75f037a-a004-456d-b844-f63a6289150b
Fred B. Thompson
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Re^7: Biggest Problem with Business Networking Sites?
Erik,
Personal experience would lead me to say that you are on the right track. Define your site's purpose well and work to gain brand recognition for what your users can accomplish through participation. Sales, lead generation, etc. should not have a negative connotation, but when pressed most people would say it does. In my mind simply because the wrong people are most likely involved in the process. I think Michael from the British Business Club is correct with the concept of putting decision makers together.

My frustration with many sites in regard to lead generation is that I have a very difficult time identifying prospective clients/decision makers who are seriously open to establishing productive dialogues regarding how we can truly become a valuable trade partner with them. We design and manufacture products in China to be exported for use in large multi-family, resort construction projects. We are good at what we do. We deliver quality products that are engineered to bring value to the ownership groups, but for us to sell, because we operate outside of the normal distribution channels, we have to have open communication with decision makers.

If your site does not become diluted with multi purposed participants and truly is made up of active trade partners it would refreshing, however for my needs I have become somewhat skeptical of pursuing qualified leads on networking sites. The time invested far exceeds the results gained.
Fred
- 27 Aug 2008, 4:27 pm
Fred B. Thompson wrote: > Erik, > Personal experience would lead me to say that you are on the right > track. Define your site's purpose well and work to gain brand > recognition for what your users can accomplish through participation. > Sales, lead generation, etc. should not have a negative connotation, > but when pressed most people would say it does. In my mind simply > because the wrong people are most likely involved in the process. I > think Michael from the British Business Club is correct with the > concept of putting decision makers together. > > My frustration with many sites in regard to lead generation is that I > have a very difficult time identifying prospective clients/decision > makers who are seriously open to establishing productive dialogues > regarding how we can truly become a valuable trade partner with them. > We design and manufacture products in China to be exported for use in > large multi-family, resort construction projects. We are good at what > we do. We deliver quality products that are engineered to bring value > to the ownership groups, but for us to sell, because we operate > outside of the normal distribution channels, we have to have open > communication with decision makers. > > If your site does not become diluted with multi purposed participants > and truly is made up of active trade partners it would refreshing, > however for my needs I have become somewhat skeptical of pursuing > qualified leads on networking sites. The time invested far exceeds > the results gained. > Fred
Leo Cussons
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Biggest Problem with Business Networking Sites?
This truly is fascinating thread, as a web entrepreneur I do believe there are limitations to closing deals over the internet. For example you can do the research get your back ground information, but closing the deal of any significant amount they going to want face to face contact. So you need to adjust your plan accordingly. Make your contacts where you can jump in the car and visit them.
This post was modified on 29 Aug 2008 at 05:45 pm.
- 29 Aug 2008, 5:27 pm
Leo Cussons wrote: > This truly is fascinating thread, as a web entrepreneur I do believe > there are limitations to closing deals over the internet. For example > you can do the research get your back ground information, but closing > the deal of any significant amount they going to want face to face > contact. So you need to adjust your plan accordingly. Make your > contacts where you can jump in the car and visit them.
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