Great company, fine weather and lively conversations were had by all!

The post 4th Annual Leads & Leaves a Big Success! appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Lunch, Networking and Fall Colors

Date & time:  Thursday, October 2, 2025 | 12:00 – 2:00 PM

Location:  3 Timmothy Road, Sunapee, NH

• Complimentary light lunch & beverages
• Round robin and open networking

Enjoy lunch and a short, scenic hike with other businesspeople!

• Dress for fall weather.
• Wear your hiking shoes.

Registration is required. To register, contact us online or call 603-345-7223.

A few scenes from past events…

Event Sponsor: Chuck Sink Link

The post 6th Annual Leads & Leaves Networking Event appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Networking and Direct Marketing may be thought of as completely different areas of business but when you marry them together, magic happens.

There’s a craving for authentic human interactions in business dealings. I know this because I see relationships develop and grow whenever I’m at an in-person networking event or business meeting. People are glad to connect closely and nurture their relationships in a deep and enduring way. Of course, there are those who prefer the semi-anonymity of occupying a controlled camera view on a screen, the safety of mute, and the convenience of staying put.

Take Your Pulse!

Intentional business networking is a skill that no software or AI can replace or enhance in any meaningful way. It takes you and you alone to make networking an effective part of your marketing mix. Should you ever lose sight of this fact, it will likely stem from a lack of curiosity, a desire to “have it now,” and most regrettably, a fading interest in serving others face to face.

Principles, Not Reverse Psychology

Networking is all about listening to others and serving them while expecting nothing in return. And get this. You might go to a few networking events, say and do all the right things, and not get a single direct sale out of the effort. And if you conclude that it was a waste of your time, then you weren’t really listening to anybody there, especially the influencers.

Do I sound like a Pollyanna or a dreamer, or does this principle make sense?

We were created to serve one another, not exploit our gifts. The instinctual goodwill of others proves this over and over again. Think about all the helping hands throughout your life, and all the times you’ve come to the aid of others, especially when they really needed a hand.

The networking groups in which I participate welcome people in all sorts of roles. We actively look for opportunities to do business or refer business to people we get to know in our groups.

Your Networking Strategy

Clearly, it’s important to join the organizations where you’ll find clients, suppliers, and influencers in your industry. The more you participate in the events, the more influence you’ll have, and the better people will know you. Perhaps you will even join the leadership to help steer those organizations.

BNI, Chambers, Trade Associations, Professional Associations including local chapters, service organizations, private groups… the list of networking opportunities is long for just about every profession.

Go to events prepared to learn and put a stopper in your mouth except for asking good questions. Then listen with both ears and take an interest in others’ experiences. Relax and you’ll be asked about your business too. Make it all about your customers, not your company.

When you have a valuable message that’s relevant to clients of your industry, those people will want to hear it and likely will spread the word. If you sell professional services, networking provides your first and best opportunity to succeed. This is because when you start out in sales or start up a new business, you cannot get far without having relationships in the market. Robust networking is the fast track to building relationships.

Grow and Protect Your Organic Audience

Let your direct marketing have the power of an actual human relationship behind it. When people know that it’s really you who are writing and sending them content, then you have just distinguished yourself among all the spammy players out there.

The best potential marketing leads in your sales database are the people you’ve met personally through networking and direct selling efforts. You’ve opened a conversation with them, and you were given their contact info. Treat it like gold. When you reach out to them, put some relevance and meaning into the message and you could experience immediate results. And don’t we all want results?

The post Networking is Direct Marketing appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Have a blast making new business connections!

It’s what Networking in Motion is all about!

Join us for lunch, networking and a fun activity on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at Thrive Outdoors in Manchester, NH. It’s free!

Event Details

Date & Time:  Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 12:00 noon – 1:30 PM

Location:  Thrive Outdoors – 190 Elm St, Manchester, NH 03101

• Complimentary lunch and beverages served
• Open networking and round robin business introductions
• Fun team-building exercise on indoor low ropes course – a blast!

Registration is required! Contact us online or call 603-345-7223.

You can also register by contacting Jake or Melanie at Thrive Outdoors – (603) 625-6600

The post Networking in Motion May 3rd – Manchester appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

200 Elm Street | Manchester, NH 03101

Enjoy a fun and lively Business Networking Event in this 8,000 square foot fitness and training studio in the heart of Manchester, NH.

• Open Business Networking
• Lite Bites & Beverages Served
• Learn a fun and easy self-defense move!
• Meet top area trainers and other great people!

This event is invitation only and registration is required.

To register, email chuck@chucksink.com or call 603-345-7223.

You can also register by contacting Christina Dow at The Training Station – (603) 505-0048

The post Lunch with a Punch – Networking in Motion Event appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Having “followers” in business is a good thing. And what are followers, exactly? Think of having fans interested in what you do, what you think and what you have to say. They would say positive things about and recommend your brand in a heartbeat. And they literally choose to “follow” you on social media because they value your insights.

Celebrity or Influencer?

Celebrity status is by degrees. There are local, national and worldwide celebrities. We can all be celebrities of sorts when we’re doing the kinds of things people celebrate as praiseworthy or valuable. If you’ve been in the same profession for 5 years or more and have a successful track record, the people who know this about you will value your thoughts and opinions about your industry. If you write about it publicly, you’ll attract a following of curious and likeminded people, and you’ll begin to influence their thinking. This is known as your “tribe” in business vernacular. To these folks, you’re known as an influencer which is akin to being a celebrity among that select group.

Can you attract people to an event or influence them to share your message? We all have a circle of influence which can wax and wane depending on our commitment to proactively offer value in every business situation. The more you engage people with value, the wider your influence grows in the market. That influence can fade quickly the moment you ease up and back off from proactive market engagement. I’ve seen this happen in my own business life repeatedly over the years which is why I keep writing blogs, columns and newsletters as well as attending events in my market, even creating them.

Innovation Gets Attention!

Last year I started a new local event series called “Networking in Motion” which keeps my brand and others’ in front of people like you. Having recruited a couple of influencers in my network – people who have their own tribe, we easily attract a dozen or more people to fun and “kinetic” business networking events. We build relationships and expand referral partnerships which you know are super valuable! So far, 3 successful events with another one coming up in early December! Stay tuned for details.

Would You Follow Yourself?

Whether you’re a buyer, seller, connector or just an observer, the amount you engage other businesspeople in meaningful conversations is usually in direct proportion to your current business success.

If people respect what you say, they are likely to follow you in the market, in your industry, at events, and it extends online. The key is to publish content and make sure it passes the value test! Do people get value and are they entertained when reading or listening, watching?

Proactive Market Engagement

Consider the ways in which you engage with people for the purpose of growing your business.

• How many networking events per month do you attend?
• Are you considered a “regular” in the groups you belong to?
• Do you sponsor or host events that bring businesspeople together?
• Do you lead workshops, seminars and educational events?
• Do you have an email list you regularly send newsletters and updates to your followers?
• Do you join boards and committees so you can contribute to and influence the groups you belong to?
• Do you invest time to build individual relationships with key players and influencers in your market?
• Well, do ya, punk? (See Dirty Harry)

Answer “yes” to as many of these questions as possible and you will develop followers who will help you succeed by advocating for your business success.

Real Followers do more than like and click!

Mere clicks on your links and likes or comments on your social pages indicate that some people are noticing your messages. It’s better to have engagement than not but how far does the engagement go? For some in your audience, it’s no more than a like, click or comment hoping they will get noticed on your profile.

Your real followers will take more actions on your behalf. They’ll make direct business referrals, share your posts to their networks, hire you for services and show up to your events, and they will invite their friends!

If you want real followers in the market, get out there and lead. Reread the section under Proactive Market Engagement and make plans to answer “yes” to the questions. If I can do it, so can you!

The post Who Follows You and Why? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Marketing and selling on LinkedIn is a big deal for business today. Just about everyone in business is now on LinkedIn (over 300 million users) and most are staring at their screens thinking, “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Salespeople who have moved away from cold calling are turning to LinkedIn as a new opportunity for canvassing their markets. It’s a fine prospecting tool for certain, but LinkedIn will not work as a “target rich” environment to pick off prospects. People on LinkedIn are just like you. They want to sell, not get picked off!

I’ll offer you in this article what I’ve experienced using LinkedIn since about 2006. A visit to my profile will inform you of my content, connections and online resume. LinkedIn calls me an “All Star” for whatever that’s worth, and I only have a free account.

My professional network on LinkedIn is among my most precious business assets. I’m connected with most of my identifiable business prospects in my market. LinkedIn is the perfect searchable Rolodex, and when I need to contact someone for any business inquiry, that’s where I go. There’s tip number one! Make LinkedIn your interactive business connection database. Okay, but then what?

How do you grow your business and earn more money on LinkedIn? 

The answer is simply this: Use all of LinkedIn’s features for searching, connecting, networking, branding and publishing. Do you want some bullets? Here they are:

• Brand
• Profile depth
• Content value
• Connections – quality and volume
• Presence and interaction

LinkedIn does its job very well. In fact, it will continually prompt you to be a better user. The rest is up to you. How interesting are your messages to your connections?

Humans behave pretty much the same online, no matter where they are. For example what gets more likes, comments and shares on Facebook? It’s usually family and personal drama, controversial topics, frivolous musings, cool pictures and videos. That’s what gets them buzzing.

People want to be entertained no matter what, and on LinkedIn, some even want to be educated. These are your LinkedIn watchwords for post content: Wise, Fresh, New, Bold, Disruptive and Valuable.

Asking a timely and baffling question will get you more interaction than a technical blog post or sharing a typical business article.

Writing a controversial LinkedIn Pulse post will get people commenting and direct messaging you while sharing your latest newsletter will simply be another brand impression.

It’s fine to post something relevant to your business audience every day and those impressions will only fortify your personal and company branding. Don’t expect the floodgates to be opened, but rather a gradual rise to “top-of-mind” status within your LinkedIn network.

Use LinkedIn like I do and trust me, your messages will be seen and noticed by hundreds and potentially thousands every week! Your brand will be reinforced and you’ll be short listed by your connections when they have a requisition and budget for your services.

Your quality professional network will keep growing as long as you stay active on LinkedIn. You will begin to form relationships inside the minds and hearts of your wider online network without even knowing it.

There’s bad news for those thinking of LinkedIn as a replacement for the telephone which was once a fairly effective “dialing for dollars” machine. Social media including LinkedIn discourage spammy or unsolicited sales messages. Connecting socially and fostering relationships online is the purpose for LinkedIn and other social media.

Look at LinkedIn from the relationship, not sales perspective! Get acquainted with fellow professionals and make friends just as you would on Facebook. Just be authentic about it and remember to keep the tone professional, even when using humor.

LinkedIn is actually a very sociable platform. It’s just dressed for professional life instead of a back yard barbecue. Once you have someone in your network, it will be natural to contact them with relevant, valuable business information. An invitation to lunch through a LinkedIn direct message is more likely to be accepted than a meeting request from an unexpected phone call.

Continuous thoughtful updates and interactions with your LinkedIn Groups and Connections will improve your business development results, without question. It’s not a matter of IF it will work, it’s a matter of spending the time and doing the work to actually generate the results.

The post LinkedIn Does its Job. What about you? appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

According to the SBA, over 70 percent of registered American businesses are sole proprietorships. The vast majority of these businesses have one employee, the sole proprietor himself or herself. They are the self employed. The “one man band” industry is big, and more lucrative than many sales people may realize. It may be more accurate to refer to this group of small businesses as an economic sector, rather than an “industry.”

The variety of services and products this diverse set of entrepreneurs provides puts them in a class of business consumers that’s impossible to define narrowly. They fall into no vertical market category. The only common denominator among this group is the number 1. They work independently but not alone. They have dynamic organizational structure in the form of a network. Their relationships are necessarily strong for them to sustain their businesses.

Successful solopreneurs tend to be trusted advisors to their clients and therefore have significant influence in the market. Some examples:

• An independent management consultant could make recommendations that influence major industrial contract decisions. Winning his approval could be required to land a huge sale.
• A local real estate agent could be the connection you need to sell software to the largest mortgage company in the region.
• The busy carpenter you meet at a Chamber mixer could be your first bookkeeping or CPA client.
• A freelance writer working from home could bring you a couple of your largest website clients.
• The self-employed professional (with no recent pay stubs) could grow to become a solid commercial banking client.

The moral of these bullets is that you just never know who’s who until you find out whom they know and work with. There’s a type of customer referred to in old sales jargon as a “sleeper.” A business person you discover working from home or from a small office with no staff could be assumed to have no real budget behind their humble operation. While there are many struggling start up solopreneurs who seek freebies and might waste your time, you can’t tell by appearances alone whether they offer opportunity or not. You need to have a conversation and hear what they do. Check out their business network and work history before deciding whether it’s worthwhile to engage in business. A real “sleeper” could end up being your best customer or referral connection.

Small Power!

The solopreneur sector is growing out of the necessity of “the new normal” – the economic conditions that have stifled growth and permanently eliminated many corporate jobs. Highly talented and skilled people have, in record numbers, discovered they can put their ambition and talent to work in a newly frugal marketplace that welcomes smallness, simplicity, low overhead, nimbleness, cost effectiveness and independence.

When people suddenly get laid off without another job lined up, most of them file for unemployment compensation and start looking for a new job. There is a perceived dependency on steady income, healthcare benefits, vacation time and a regular work schedule. The organization feels like a safe and comfortable place to work and becomes almost like a parent provider for the family. The prospects of starting a business with no immediate income and predictable stream of paying customers is horrifying to most people with a mortgage, college loans and car payments. I know this feeling intimately because I’ve been there. The aspiring entrepreneur with high family expenses and no start up capital needs to believe it can be done. They need faith in something bigger than themselves because no unaided person can build an organization by himself.

Economic modesty is privately disparaged by some in the professional community. Nobody wants to admit they can’t afford to replace an old car or take a trip whenever they feel like it. It’s a cultural thing. Some people with means may perceive that those who haven’t yet turned the success corner probably never will and should be avoided as time wasters. Body language often conveys this attitude. Thankfully for entrepreneurs, there is usually a curious person with an open mind somewhere in just about any crowd.

An Untapped Niche?

I’ve personally seen distressed individuals lose jobs and take the leap to start a business. They came across as a bit needy at first. They persevered through the startup struggles during the first few years and now operate vibrant, growing businesses, buying all kinds of products and business services to keep running. A few of my compatriots fit this profile and we can tell you our stories.

For the start-up solopreneur, there is nothing more empowering than other solopreneurs or small businesses willing to mentor and provide affordable needed services. Here, relationships are better than cash. Money, once spent, can’t keep providing anything. Strong relationships and mutual collaboration are the wellsprings of business sustainability and growth.

Every bootstrap business founder in the world can look back to the early relationships that saved his butt and provided springboards to profitability; profitability that today is reinvested through the purchase of capital assets as well as operational supplies and services. Many of these business owners like to remain small, nimble and independent. They don’t usually have the visible trappings of other businesses but they do have money to spend and colleagues to recommend.

In some cases, it’s a good idea to help support the one-person startup business that has a need for your services by loosening firm prices, waiving tight credit terms or spending a little more time with him or her. As their company grows, so will your business as they remember who their real friends are.

The post Tapping the Business Network of One appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

3/27/14  |  11:45 AM – 1:00 PM

Eastpoint Executive Center, 264 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03113

Register FREE

Meet Kevin personally and hear him speak on how to sell more in today’s changing markets. Email me if you have questions chuck@chucksink.com

The post Learn to master sales in 2014 appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Sometimes this blog brings some hands-on marketing technique information to readers such as better SEO practices, how to use Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. But it focuses mostly on building skills that help business owners, marketing directors and salespeople do their jobs better. Let’s look at just a few key skills that will help you in your business, whatever category you’re in; professional services, manufacturing, construction, business services, retail, legal, real estate… you name it.

3 skills every business person needs to succeed:

1.  Networking & Building Relationships:  If you can’t listen well and carry on a mutually pleasing conversation with someone you may as well go back to your cubicle and fight carpal tunnel syndrome. That may be fine if you program or crunch numbers better than anyone else but chances are you’ll always work for someone else or need someone else to help you grow your business. There is no substitute for people doing business face to face. Clients and customers gravitate to people they enjoy being around and prefer to do business with people they like.

2.  Consistency:  Stay focused on what you do best. The jack of all trades is master of none and today’s customers want the best that’s out there. If you try to be all things to all people, you will be known for nothing. None of us can be best-in-class in more than one or two specialties. Resist the temptation to position your brand as an expert generalist. There’s really no such thing and customers know it. Business owners often fear they will miss out on opportunities unless they cast the broadest net. It may work in politics but not business. When you carefully develop your business strategy and clearly communicate your brand positioning by being known well for one thing, customers from all over the place will be attracted to that message because they want that one thing from the best in the business.

3.  Customize experiences:  Do your homework! “When you walk in empty headed, you’ll walk out empty handed.” There’s another brilliant quip from Jeffrey Gitomer. It means preparing for every unique customer interaction. If you have an appointment with a prospect or new customer, go in knowing about them and what makes them tick. How can your product or service experienced be customized to fit them like a comfortable glove? This takes research. It takes extra time and work on your part. Do the extra work and you’ll stand up head and shoulders above your competition. Your genuine confident smile will set your clients at ease and let them know they made the right choice when they called you.

We subtitled this “3 skills…” but here’s your bonus: Believe and have faith in the power that is greater than you – from whence all success is derived. Whatever your understanding of this power, know this. It exists and it isn’t you. I choose to call Him God. All of your skills and talents are given life to serve others and you are the instrument through which they are carried out in service. The most precious habit you can nurture is prayer and meditation to start your day – every day.

The post Soft Skills that Deliver Hard Assets appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.