Build Community Among Your Clients

One of my clients recently hosted an educational event for its clients and prospects. Their goal was to provide meaningful content in a new area of expertise, specifically, how to "green" your office environments.

They received tremendous mileage from this event. They demonstrated:

• Leadership in their industry;
• That they have developed expertise in a new area that has a lot of buzz;
• A willingness to showcase that expertise early in their learning curve.

The venue was a panel, which I moderated. They chose credible experts to share relevant knowledge with the audience. After the panel, their guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d'oeuvres while mingling in a pavilion of products and services that reinforced the green theme.

The whole experience was a home run.

On a deeper level, they gave a message that they are smart and cutting edge, a company that their clients want to affiliate with. They're building a community.

Are you venturing into a new area where you want to establish expertise? Any business can adapt this example.

You can host a similar educational forum for a new area of expertise or a new line of business. Don't get caught in the trap of trying to be the expert/guru. Instead, do as my client did, and invite credible experts who can subliminally reinforce your emerging role in the new area. Some additional thoughts:

• Create a committee across the functional areas of your company to build knowledge about the new area.
• Offer resources and ways for people to brainstorm as they build their knowledge.
• Listen to what the audience says. In this case, a real niche market emerged from the questions asked.
• Walk the talk. If you do something like this without applying the concept in your firm, you won't have the same credibility.

Feel free to email me if you'd like to brainstorm how to employ this strategy in your company, or if you're interested in learning about bringing me in as a moderator.

 

Have a great week!

 

 

Copyright 2009 Lisa M. Aldisert

 

 

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Our goal is to provide you with timely tips so that you can more effectively run your business. We know you have a ton of mail in your inbox, so we're committed to brevity and practicality.

 

 

Be "present" when you speak one-on-one with your people. If your eye contact and attention wander, you'll disconnect and lose any benefit from the conversation.

 

 

If things are spinning out of control, take stock of your commitments, reprioritize, and (for now) cut out the least important commitment. 

 

 

And speaking of green, did you know that having a green culture can be a great retention strategy? Members of our youngest generation in the workforce, Gen Y, feel strongly about environmental issues.

 

 

 

 

Julia E. Rosenbaum