Boston tweet-up in August

Following the great success and interest in our first Social Media seminar, I am planning to organize a tweet-up in the first half of August.

Please get in touch with me by email or leave a message below, and suggest topics of discussion as well as preferred day/time.

Wahyd Vannoni
Director of New Media / Coach

http://speechimprovement.com/pages/wahyd_vannoni.php

The Speech Improvement Company, Inc.

1614 Beacon Street
Brookline, MA 02446
USA

Phone: +1 617-739-3330
Fax: +1 617-232-9430

http://www.speechimprovement.com

Connect: http://www.linkedin.com/in/vannoni

Sales tips from Dikram Husseindjian

Dikram Husseindjian is a former VP of Sales at Apple Inc, Canada.

Dikram is now senior partner at Embrase a consulting firm in Montreal, QC. “For the past eight years he was National Sales Manager at Apple Canada, leading the sales team to top performance in revenue and profitability growth. Prior to joining the information technology sector, he spent 5 years in marketing and product management in the manufacturing sector for companies that include Honeywell, Bristol-Meyers and Hunter Douglas.”

He was invited by iNovia Capital and gave a one-hour long presentation on sales strategies.

One of the mistakes Dikram says sales representatives make, is that they keep the CEO of the company they are trying to sell to, involved throughout the sales process.

While Dikram says that a sales representative should start to enter as high as possible, including CEO level, he recommends that after this initial step, the CEO be not involved with details in the middle parts of the sales process. Instead, he should be called again in the closing stages of the process.

The sales process itself is composed of six steps:

Discovery -> Qualifying -> Evaluating -> Decision -> Purchase-> Deploy

Throughout this process, three key variables will have varying degrees of importance.

Solution Fit: critical at first but decreases in importance.

Price: important at the beginning and end of the process.

Risk: rises for the potential purchaser as time passes.

In short, sales is about strategy and formalising procedures rather than a series of improvisations.

Dikram Husseindjian is a partner at Embrase.com

Hearts, minds, wallets

During this second day of presentations, Austin Hill, suggested a way for start-up companies to think about their pitches to investors.

HEARTS –> MINDS –> WALLETS

The key he says, is to first appeal to the “hearts” of the potential investors through a narrative that will get them excited about their service of product. Then you have to back the story with data and a concrete business plan to win theirs “minds”. If these are performed convincingly, they are the way to the money; or their “wallets”.

Incidentally, Austin doesn’t think start-up companies not to mention valuation at the end of their pitch. Instead, he suggests they say that there are different ways of valuing the company and that “we will be happy to discuss these in more details in a further meeting”.

What transpired from this second day is that start-up companies need to develop a narrative around their service or product but that they shouldn’t give away all that they have. Rather they should think about their pitch as “teasing” the VC’s into wanting more.

Wahyd, Austin Hill and Josko Bobanovic

J’arrive a’ Montreal

Earlier this year, I had been invited by iNovia Capital to be among three panelists to assess a series of presentations by start-up companies.

iNovia Capital “has over $158M under management across two seed and early stage funds (MSBi Investment Fund, L.P. & iNovia Investment Fund II, L.P.) and MSBi Valorisation.”

My host is Joško Bobanovic, a principal in the firm. Some of the presenting companies form part of his portfolio. These are:

Metafoam
Nanoledge
Plastic Knowledge

I will be joined by Austin Hill and Bernie Li.

Wahyd at CIBC Tower, home of iNovia Capital

Speech and the City

Announcing a unique event in Boston…

The Women’s Connecting, Learning, and Empowering Forum.

As the job market grows even more competitive, learning how to communicate effectively and present a professional image in the best way possible is crucial. Learn how to strengthen what makes you unique and market yourself and your personal image to get that dream job! The Speech Improvement Company of Boston invites you to join us in this unique “First” sponsored by Boston University to celebrate and redefine how women communicate in the new millennium. This event will be a dynamic opportunity for women to network, learn, and socialize, while strengthening their professional and interpersonal communication skills.

This amazing event will offer a consortium of speakers, interactive workshops, demonstrations, and one-on-one personal coaching experiences with leading industry professionals.

Hosted by the College of Communication Student Assembly and Women and Finance, this exciting event will take place at Boston University, The College of Communication, 640 Commonwealth Avenue, on Saturday April 4, 2009 from 11AM-4 PM. We are pleased to provide a pool of experts to help you communicate for success! Workshops and meetings will help you leverage your communication strengths in the challenging job market to enhance your personal image and style.

Here are just a few of the innovative and energizing workshops and speakers we have lined up:

“Communicating with Confidence in a Difficult Job Market”
“The Power of Your Professional & Personal Style/Image”
“Mastering the Interview”
“Finding work through Social Media & Personal Branding”
“Effective Presentation & Speaking Tools to Keep You One Step Ahead”
Please RSVP and pre-register for this event by going to our dedicated page and receive a discount ticket for $5.

Drop ins are most welcome on the day of the event and you may purchase your
tickets at the door for $10. All proceeds will go to Heading Home in Cambridge, MA. Check out our exciting spring lineup of communication programs designed specifically for women at Speech and the City Executive Women’s Certificate Program!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Please contact me directly at 617.739.3330 or email me at

Lau Lapides, Executive Speech Coach & Program Coordinator

lau@speechimprovement.com if you have any questions or innovative ideas!

1614 Beacon Street, Brookline (Boston), MA 02446 (617) 739-3330 1-800-LETS RAP fax (617) 232-9430

www.speechimprovement.com • email: info@speechimprovement.com

Using social media to find a job

A panel discussion hosted by: The Speech Improvement Company, Inc.

An increasing number of anecdotes are surfacing about people landing jobs using social networks, such as twitter (See “How Twitter can help at work by the New York Times http://shiftingcareers.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/how-twitter-can-help-at-work/)

What are the opportunities, threats and strategies job-seekers should be aware of when using social media?

There will be three short presentations from hiring and social media specialists to spur the conversation on. The discussion will be moderated by Wahyd Vannoni, director of new media at The Speech Improvement Company, Inc..

Please join us at our offices in Brookline, MA on Thursday, March 12th, from 10 AM to 12 PM.

Seating is limited.

Please contact: The Speech Improvement Company, Inc.

1614 Beacon Street
Brookline, MA 02446
USA

Phone: +1 617-739-3330
Fax: +1 617-232-9430

Social Media Landscape

Comment garder son poste en temps de vaches maigres?

Les rumeurs d’un prochain plan de restructuration vont bon train;

que faire pour eviter d’en faire partie?

Soyez pro-actifs!

Utilisez cette nouvelle année comme une excuse pour demander à votre patron et collegues, comment vous pourriez améliorer votre performance. Puis, essayez de suivre leur conseils et documentez vos efforts autant que possible.

Faites-vous remarquer!

Même si ce n’est pas dans votre nature, soyez toujours présent. Contactez vos clients, participez aux reunions (eh oui), proposez des projets et si possible, faites en sorte que ces projets vous rendent indispensable. Trouvez les moyens de vous faire apprécier.

Mettez à jour vos compétences!

Regardez autour de vous: quels sont les competences qui vous manquent pour accéder à votre but? Est-ce:

• une langue?
• un langage de programmation?
• un certificat?
• un stage?

Si votre employeur n’est plus en mesure de vous aider, peut-être y-a-t-il des associations qui peuvent vous aider. Sinon, il vous sera profitable (dans tous les cas de figure) de le financer vous-même.

Gerez et exploitez votre réseau!

Linkedin.com: rejoinez-moi!

Si vous ne l’avez pas encore fait, reprennez contact avec vos anciens collègues, copains, patrons et même professeurs. Attention ne soyez trop aggrésifs au début, prenez d’abord de leurs nouvelles; ils finiront bien par s’enquérir de votre situation.

Glanez toutes les informations possibles et tachez d’exploiter leurs réseaux. Pour cela, joigmez aussi LinkedIn, le meilleur reseau professionel sur internet.

Puisque nous parlons d’internet, soyez prudent. Si vous postez votre CV sur des sites tels que monster.com, optez pour l’option qui vous offre l’anonimat le plus complet.

Tout ceci, bien-sur doit faire partie de votre strategie de mise en valeur de votre image de marque.

Par Wahyd Vannoni, Directeur des Nouveaux Médias et Consultant.