GKIC London Chapter September 2014 Meeting
The latest meeting of the GKIC London Chapter took place on Tuesday, 23 September 2014. On this occasion, and it appears for the rest of the year, we were back at “The Anthologist” in Gresham Street. The “Eight Club” unexpectedly raised their room hire rates rather drastically so the meeting was relocated to our previous home. The meeting room at “The Anthologist” is a little smaller but still a comfortable venue.
A small lesson in resilience from this incident. I believe that organiser and the all-round mastermind behind GKIC London, David White, only got the bad news late last week. Undaunted, he quickly made arrangements to return to our previous home and the show went on. In business, you may well confront obstacles but successful people find a way to overcome them with the minimum of fuss…as demonstrated by David White!
Back to the meeting and the guest speaker was Nigel Risner. Nigel is a respected author, television presenter and speaker who specialises in coaching top executives to improved performance. He’s the author of two books, “The IMPACT Code” all about living the life you deserve and “It’s a zoo around here” a somewhat different take on getting your message across more successfully.
Nigel spoke for about an hour and his presentation can best be described as an introduction to, and brief overview of the material covered in his books. The first part was all about how to make more of an IMPACT in both your business and life. Some of the points Nigel made are, on the face of it, quite straightforward. For example, at a business meeting…
1. Do you have a name tag so that people can quickly know who you are (and be more likely to remember you)?
2. If you have a book (and if not, why not?!?) do you have copies easily at hand?
3. Do you simply have your normal all-purpose business cards or do you have a set of cards more likely to make an impact with the specific group at that event?
These might seem straightforward but, as with so many things, do you actually do these kind of things? Most people do not, of course, which means it’s relatively easy to stand out from the crowd with some simple actions.
Nigel also talked a little about some key success principles and the importance of the right mindset. As an illustration here’s a little exercise. Take a look at the following…
OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE
“Opportunity-is-nowhere” or “Opportunity-is-now-here”?
If you have had any exposure to the classic personal development and success literature, the ideas Nigel talked about will be familiar to some extent. But, once again, it’s all too easy to forget or neglect these fundamentals. Fundamentals such as being very careful about who you associate with and who you spend your time with. Not everyone has your best interests at heart and a surprising number of people close to you actually don’t want you to be successful.
Nigel moved on to talk about how to get your message across more effectively by understanding how different types of people prefer different ways of communicating.
Now, typology systems are not new. There are many different systems based on the broad idea that people can be grouped into (often 4) categories that share the same general patterns of behaviour. For example, DISC, Myers-Briggs and the Jungian archetypes. Nigel’s approach uses animals as symbols of the different groups. Specifically…
- Lion (visionary and single-minded)
- Monkey (playful and extrovert)
- Elephant (careful and analytical)
- Dolphin (caring and supportive)
Each of these groups sees the world in a particular way and have their own language. So, speak to people in a way that makes sense to them and you’ll be more successful in getting your message across.
A fun, fast-paced and informative presentation by Nigel that covered a lot of ground. More about Nigel at www.NigelRisner.com.
Moving on to the second part of the meeting covering an area of GKIC-style marketing in more depth…
…David White took the floor to talk about “Factors Limiting Your Marketing Success”. Normally the specialist topic is all about new or different ways to boost results. This time the emphasis was on removing obstacles or correcting mistakes that may be costing you either directly or in opportunity cost.
For example, it’s often hard to decline business even if you now that it’s not really your ideal type of work or client. And yet all too often that kind of project results in all kind of costly and frustrating problems.
Marketing success is the result of successfully matching up…
1. The right prospect
2. The right process
3. The right proposition
If something isn’t working or if results are not what you would like, then usually one of these factors is out of alignment or in some way needing to be improved.
Let’s take a simple example. If someone doesn’t have the money to pay for your product or service, it doesn’t matter how great your process and proposition are.
Or, if your proposition is plain vanilla and lacks any kind of differentiation from the competition, then it’s going to be very hard to achieve great results.
Much to think about from David’s presentation…as was demonstrated by the lively small group discussions at the end of the presentation and the wrap-up general discussion.
As always, an enjoyable afternoon with the opportunity to catch up with like-minded business folk. One other BONUS from the return to “The Anthologist” was the tasty food provided at the end.
Next month’s meeting will be on Tuesday 21 October 2104 and details are at the GKIC London page.
UPDATE (27 September 2014):
There is now an expanded format for the GKIC London Chapter.
If you are NEW to GKIC and want to find out a little more, then David White is hosting some FREE introductory training events to cover the foundation principles of GKIC-style marketing. You can get all the details and reserve your place at this GKIC London – Introduction link.
For existing members, the regular link at GKIC London remains the place to reserve your seat at the next meeting (on Tuesday, 21 October 2014).