Marc Bolick President Dmarc8 International
N glob al
ot long ago, planning a meeting with a new business partner required a flurry of letters, faxes, “long-distance” phone calls and time with a travel agent. The barriers to doing business globally were very high indeed. Today, building relationships is not only cheaper and faster, it’s entirely feasible to do business with far-flung partners you’ve never actually met in person. Establish your own global network with a process in mind and the help of a few powerful, cloud-based tools. Discovery Finding the right person with the experience and expertise you need in a particular market is key. Industry newsletters, conference websites and web searching are obvious places to start. But, the most powerful tools by far are social media platforms, particularly LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+. Force yourself to dive into each of these networks, learn what works for you, and make new contacts there. Engaging Once you’ve identified someone of interest, it’s time to engage and begin a relationship. Don’t be shy. Social media people are, well, social people after all! Invite the person to connect on LinkedIn, follow him on Twitter, post a comment on her blog – these are all starting points.
The World is Your Network
About the author...
Marc Bolick replanted his native roots in Greenville after living in Europe for 13 years. He has worked in all aspects of product and service creation for companies ranging from Fortune 100 multi-nationals to mid-sized European firms to startups. For the past nine years he has run Dmarc8 International, a consulting firm that helps clients to qualify, plan and implement innovative growth strategies.
Build rapport with your counterpart, and when you feel the time is right, setup a phone call. Skype and Google Talk work great for this. The idea is to keep a conversation going and delve deeper into areas of mutual interest. Let’s Meet At this point you’ve engaged with a few people who you want to take to the next step. But, instead of hopping on a plane, do a videoconference. While a voice call gets you part of the way there, seeing your counterpart “live” on screen takes the level of engagement way up and you’ll feel you have actually ‘met’ a new friend. It’s surprising how few people use video calling these days, yet it can be done for free using the built-in camera of your PC or smart phone. Both Skype and Google Talk support video calls. A bit of careful planning and, voilà, you’ll be doing Buck Rogers with Günter in Munich in no time flat. Build the Relationship Now that you’ve met, it’s time to start extending the relationship. Learning more about each other’s business via web conference is a good place to start.Two services that are free are join.me and vyew.com. As you use the net to keep in touch and engage ever deeper, it’s likely that you will come up with a collaboration project that will help you both grow business. Collaborate Since collaboration is the most valuable part of business relationships, there are many cloud-based tools you can use. If you want a simple, task-based project collaboration tool, Basecamp is worth a try. Another app, Yammer, can act as a hub for all your interactions with distant partners. Other collaboration tools you might want to use include Google Drive (documents), Zoho (CRM) and MindMeister (brainstorming). Building relationships with international partners need not cost a fortune. It just takes an investment of your time and energy. Go ahead, plug yourself in to the global network of potential partners!
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