Madison Who’s Who Blog

Sales are frequently developed through the relationships we have created with other people who are in your same industry.  Knowing who’s who within your industry can help in building and growing your business, as well as your credibility.   Networking functions provide the opportunity to expand your contact list, and discover who’s who within your professional community. These peer networking opportunities are valuable, particularly when we create and nurture quality relationships. It is not enough to visit a networking group, talk to dozens of people and gather as many business cards possible. However, every networking function has tremendous potential for new business leads.
The best results come from attending the appropriate networking events for your particular industry. This should include trade shows, conferences, and associations dedicated to your type of business. For example, if your target market is a Fortune 500 company, it does not make sense to join a group whose primary membership consists of individual business owners. You can also participate in groups where your potential clients meet. A friend of mine helps people negotiate leases with their landlords. He joined the local franchise association because most franchisors lease their properties.
Most people have experienced the person who, while talking to you, keeps his eyes roving around the room, seeking his next victim. This individual is more interested in passing out and collecting business cards than establishing a relationship. My approach is to make between two and five new contacts at each networking meeting I attend. Focus on the quality of the connection and people will become much more trusting of you.

With all the demands on our time made by our business, professional and personal lives, it is tempting to assign a lower priority to peer networking as an activity designed to meet new people. After all, we have so many commitments at the office and at home — to colleagues, family and friends – that it is difficult to set aside extra time to bring even more people into our lives.
This thinking would be wrong, however, on two levels. For one, we are constantly being introduced to new people anyway, every day, with no disruption to our schedules. .
Secondly, by not consistently widening our circles of acquaintances and contacts through peer to peer networking, we may be severely curtailing our chances for advancement and success. It is estimated that the average person knows about 250 people. And each of those people knows, in turn, another 250 or so people. This means that for each new person you meet, you gain access to a potential pool of 62,500 people separated from you by just two degrees!
Imagine the odds, then, that out of so many people, you would NOT find one person who would be a source of information about a better job, additional clients or customers, a speaking engagement or writing assignment, an investment opportunity, where to shop for better value, and much more. In all likelihood, you would find many more than one.

Many partners in a small start-up company have planned on only networking locally in years past, but small businesses today have to plan for an effective global networking strategy as well.  Are your products or services marketable overseas and at what juncture do you envision expanding globally?  Is your service executable via an effective global network and what are the implications for your business if you deal on an international level?
Businesses a decade ago, or even five years ago probably didn’t think in terms of effective global networking.  Prior to today’s technological and telecommunications capabilities, effective global networking was the concern of the internationals or the rare local business that had commerce outside of the country
To those who make the cyber world their own, networking globally is almost standard practice.  The web designer might live in England, but be designing a site for a Florida business while the content for the site is being written by someone in Canada.  Because of the possibilities of effective global networking, it is possible for these three parties never to meet in person and yet execute a complete and successful project.

Lime Wire LLC, maker of the popular LimeWire peer to peer network software, announced that it will open a digital music store.
Initially the store will be a stand-alone website, also accessible from links in the file-sharing software. Subsequent releases will enable users to browse and purchase music directly from within the LimeWire program. The first partners in the new digital channel are IRIS Distribution and Nettwerk Productions. These companies have signed deals with Lime Wire to provide music from their extensive catalogs. Lime Wire is banking on the popularity of peer to peer networks in marketing their new concept.
Songs in the LimeWire Store will be sold in the universally compatible MP3 format. Customers will be able to buy songs and albums “a la carte” or as part of monthly subscription plans.

Finally after a lot of deliberation, we finally know who’s who of the USA basketball team for the 2008 Olympics  Hopefully, this basketball team is all set to redeem itself after the poor show at the 2004 Olympics when USA won the bronze medal.

The list includes 21 NBA stars and has the names of some of the finest NBA players. They are Carmelo Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, Shane Battier, Chauncey Billups, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Antawn Jamison, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, Brad Miller, Lamar Odom, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Michael Redd, Luke Ridnour, Amare Stoudemire, and Dwyane Wade.

J J Redick and Adam Morrison have also been invited; taking the roster to a total of 23 players.

The exclusion of Allen Iverson has raised a lot of media attention. However, it is felt that it could be because of Iverson’s age and his style of playing that made the selectors exclude him from the roster. This is despite the important role he played in the 2004 Olympics.

According to national team manager Jerry Colangelo, the USA basketball is looking to form a team not of individual stars but of athletes, shooters, role players and distributors. Colangelo also hopes that Greg Oden, the high school basketball star, would be able to join the team for training this summer.

Who’s Who or Who is Who is the name of a number of publications, generally containing concise biographical information on a particular group of people. It is also used as an expression meaning a collection or group of noted persons. Mostly who’s who lists are a register living people, very often those who publish that way themselves their biographical information having paid a subscription to the book.
Examples of Who’s Who publications include:

• Who’s Who (UK), a listing of prominent British people since 1849; people who have died since 1897 are listed in Who Was Who

• Who’s Who in Australia, a listing of prominent Australians since 1923

• Who’s Who in American Art, a listing of prominent American artists

• Who’s Who in Gemany, a listing of international prominent people since 1999

• Who’s Who in France, a listing of prominent French or people living in France since 1953

• Who’s Who in British History

• Who’s Who in Scotland, a listing of prominent Scots since 1993

Almost every organization or institution also keeps their own who’s who.  There’s a who’s who of outstanding students in America as well as a Who Who’s of the most recognized teachers and even a Who’s Who of lawyers and a Who’s Who’ of athletes.  Every company has its own roster’s of who’s who and every profession looks within it’s own ranks to spotlight their most brilliant with a who’s who designation.

The new profile features added to Digg.com are the first of many new peer to peer networking capabilities that will be added to the site. Officials said the new capabilities will let Digg.com users better interact and share content similar to other peer to peer network sites.
The user profile will allow users to personalize their Digg identity and to interact with people they designate as “friends” on the site, said Jay Adelson, Digg’s CEO.
With these changes, Digg.com is giving users the ability to say a little bit more about themselves [and] to establish for the first time ever private messaging between themselves and other users on the site.Users can also use the feature to select stories by topic, and to access stories their friends have submitted on commented on.
Before the end of the year, Digg plans to launch a an alerting feature to allow users to get email alerts like weekly or daily digests about stories on a particular topic or stories suggested by friends.  The site will also add a dedicated images section that will let users submit images to Digg, as well as an engine that will be used to recommend stories to individual users based on what that person’s particular interests.
Currently, Digg.com has so much more information coming in from all of these different peer to peer networking communities that they need to respond to that by giving these communities a place to thrive and allowing them to discuss things with each other or the public in general.

Sometimes I’ll hear business owners say that they don’t network any more because it doesn’t work. Maybe this is because they don’t understand the importance of effective global networking, or maybe they just don’t know how networking really works.  Usually, when I hear this, I know that person has committed at least one, and perhaps all three of the cardinal sins of networking.
1. The first cardinal sin of effective global networking is selling. Some of you may think that selling is what networking is all about.  You’d be wrong.  Although networking can be an integral part of the selling process, the two are distinctly different. Have you ever been circulating happily at a networking event (even at one of your own conferences or tradeshows), when suddenly someone has you backed into a corner trying to sell you mutual funds? That’s sin number one.  If you meet someone who seems to be a good prospect for your services, tell the person you have some information they might find useful and would like to meet or speak on the phone later to discuss it. If the person seems open to this, be sure to get their business card and make the call as arranged. That’s the time to go into selling mode.
2. The second cardinal sin of networking is asking for or offering someone a job. Certainly, job hunting is another reason for active networking, but once again it’s only part of the process. If you meet someone who seems a good candidate for a position you need to fill, follow the same process described above. If you begin discussing the job opportunity in detail, neither you nor the other person will have an opportunity to mix and meet others, which is the reason you are there. If your new acquaintance seems to be in a position to offer you a job, this is definitely not the time to begin an in-depth job interview! Again, express your interest in talking later, get the card and make the call.
3. The third cardinal sin of networking is spending time speaking to the wrong people.  I’m referring to the people you came with, or the people you see every day at work. Of course it’s a lot easier to chat with friends than make conversation with strangers, but it’s not networking. I’ve seen many people spend the valuable networking time at conferences with their friends, and then sitting with the same people at the education sessions and again at mealtimes. What a waste of an opportunity!
If you are there to develop business contacts and you spend all the time with your friends, don’t complain later that effective global networking doesn’t work.  It may just be the case that you’re doing it all wrong.

Madison Who’s Who recognizes top professionals in their field.  This includes teachers and professors. I’m certain that almost every one of us has that special teacher, coach or other adult leader who took the time to lead, inspire and demand excellence. Our lives and accomplishments are testaments that serve to honor those teachers who have contributed so much.
Henry Adams said, “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” Madison who’s who recognizes the importance of recognizing those professionals that have made a significant impact in our lives, and in the lives of our children.
Where Madison Who’s Who separates from their peers in the industry is that Madison Who’s Who has not been content with merely offering a beautifully bound leather book of members names.  They have made every effort to bring that book and those names alive and accessible as never before to their esteemed membership.
Madison’s Who’s Who also boasts a diverse membership base that includes artists, academicians, engineers, and realtors to name a few.  Providing those member’s biographies and credentials along with the multiple benefits of online exposure was just the first step of many that Madison Who’s Who has taken to providing Madison Who’s Who members increased value.

If you’ve heard of the term “peer to peer network” you probably associate it with a network of computers that share information.  However, the term peer networking, or peer to peer network is also becoming synonymous with a social networking or virtual communities.
A virtual community, e-community, or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via some form of mechanism such as letters, telephone, email or other social networking site rather than face to face. If the mechanism is a computer network, it is called an online community. Virtual and online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. A computer-mediated community uses social software to regulate the activities of participants. Significant socio-technical change has resulted from the proliferation of Internet-based social networks.
In fact, social peer to peer networks are so important to business that many marketing experts agree that businesses that ignore this new form of social marketing do so at their own peril.