A shout out to my co-founder and CTO at Inquisix, Dave Dupre, for being nominated for WINNING the 2012 CIO of the Year Award from MHT and Boston Business Journal. No surprise to me, Dave was clearly the best engineer back while we were getting our degrees at Boston University and he accomplished amazing things at Inquisix by building a pretty sophisticated application behind the covers that was so simple to use. He’s got didn’t even need my vote for winning the award next month!
Tag Archives: Inquisix
Shout Out to Dave Dupre for CIO of the Year Award
13 MayMeet Master Networker Rick Roberge, Inquisix Member
10 Jun
This is the second in our series of meeting our Inquisix community members. Thank you to Rick Roberge, master networker and sales coach with David Kurlan & Associates — and an Inquisix member since December 2007. Rick spent some time to answer a few of our questions about trends in business and networking and we’re much obliged.
General Inquisix
What is your business?
We, at Kurlan & Associates, are sales development experts. We evaluate salespeople, management, systems, policies and procedures to determine WHY sales aren’t what they should be. Once we determine the WHY, we can train or coach salespeople or managers, develop a more effective sales process, recruit stronger people or a dozen other solutions with laser focus and a predictable ROI.
Why do you network?
The average person doesn’t take calls from strangers. I’ve found that a minute or two, face to face conversation that’s all about them will increase the odds that they’ll take my call and be open to having a more substantive conversation at that time. Problem is, face to face networking can be time consuming.
What types of networking were you doing previously?
Face to face at Chamber of Commerce mixers, Business expos and home shows. Visiting BNI and other networking groups. Inviting my clients to private (my client only) business card swaps. Volunteer groups. Service organizations. Weddings, funerals, graduation parties. If I’m with people, I’m ON!
What was missing from your previous networking endeavor(s)?
Face to face networking can be time consuming and you have to get dressed.
What made you join Inquisix?
I liked the idea. Like-minded, centers-of-influence, trusted advisor-types that can ask each other for introductions with the expectation that they’re talking to a similar type professional.
What do you like best about Inquisix?
In my opinion, LinkedIn has been ruined by the “LION” attitude (note: LION refers to LinkedIn Open Networker, which means you’ll accept an invite from anyone in LinkedIn.) I know every connection well enough to know whether I should introduce and how to introduce and give the person that I’m introducing a clue as to how to tailor their approach. I’ve refused many LinkedIn invitations from chance encounters if we haven’t interacted enough (or we’ve interacted enough to know that I shouldn’t). I also like the fact that I can say, “Yes” or “No”. I’ll usually have a conversation with the member asking for the introduction to determine fit.
Promise fulfilled? Have you received a referral introduction? Was it successful?
Yes! Success is defined as, “The person took my call and appreciated the fact that their friend introduced us.” It does not mean that I sold anything because I may not think it’s a fit.
Do you give referrals? Why?
Yes. Lots. But not every time I’m asked. However, I sometimes give them without being asked.
What are the misconceptions about online networking? How does Inquisix address these or do them differently?
Quantity doesn’t matter. Quality matters. Inquisix insures quality by introducing the concept of “Reputation Points.” If you don’t or can’t make a strong introduction, everyone will know. So, it’s important to upload the people that trust you most and will follow your lead.
How do you see the future of networking?
I see networking as being the future. There’s a lot of buzz about in-bound marketing and lead generation, but NOTHING (unless you’re ‘click to buy’) happens until you have a conversation with a prospect who’s listening and open to your thoughts.
If you could get across one thing about Inquisix to a perspective member what would it be?
I’d rather have you upload 10 people that smile and feel good when I mention your name than 1000 people that will ask, “Who?” when I mention your name.
Thanks for speaking with us Rick.
Meet Shiera O'Brien – Inquisix Member Part II
27 May
This is Part II of our interview with Shiera O’Brien, Inquisix member since April ’08. Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, she recently started an Inquisix Group, The Dublin Chamber Business Referral Traders.
If you missed Part One just click HERE. Now on to Shiera…
About the Inquisix Group you started- The Dublin Chamber Business Referral Traders Group- please tell us more…
I started the Dublin Chamber Business Referral Traders Group because I was keen to bring Inquisix to my contacts there and try and replicate an on-line experience of the great networking events they put on around Dublin. I run a program at the Chamber called “Maximize Your Membership,” how to really get value from networking, because the consistent problem was that people let it all slide after attending an event. They never followed up. And that can be expensive. So I thought with Inquisix, we could keep the momentum.
Do you see a specific need that Inquisix addresses of your group?
Inquisix allows the group to start building their on-line network and continue the conversations they have had at the Dublin Chamber events. It will strengthen the ties within the group and encourage them to trade and conduct commerce between each other. It is still in the early adopter phase. We are planning to do an on-line event with Michael Kreppein to demonstrate the power of this tool to help our members. We hope to do that in the next month and really get the buzz going about Inquisix over the summer months.
If you could get across one thing about Inquisix to a perspective member what would it be?
Inquisix is like clean energy in on-line networks – no noise polution, no spam footprint & a cleaner world. It’s real and you do make connections.
I really love the clean way the information is presented, I’m not bombarbed with job adverts and spam, which is a serious problem with other tools, which devalue the experience of on-line networking. So keep it clean and it will build loyalty. With Inquisix, I can just get on with the job, which is to make connections and build a business network worth participating in and generate real business opportunities.
Thank you for talking with us Shiera, Happy Connecting!
For more information on how you can start your own group or about our affiliate program, contact Michael Kreppein.
Meet Shiera O'Brien- Inquisix Member Part I
20 May
We were lucky to grab this very busy power networker – meet Shiera O’Brien, Inquisix member since April ’08. Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, she recently started an Inquisix Group, The Dublin Chamber Business Referral Traders.
Hi Shiera, so tell us about your business.
Zenith Training and Development is my business. I work specifically with sales professionals, helping them have more powerful sales conversations and meetings. I offer training and coaching to clients in the psychology of buying and selling and how to get better results from sales meetings and become a buying facilitator rather than a sales person.
Why do you network?
I network because meeting in person is powerful as an introduction to my company, and I am generally meeting people on the sales front line, so it’s the type of business introduction I want. I use on-line networking to back up my off-line/in-person networking and am sharing this methodology to all my contacts. I need other people to create a business network, and I want technology to do the work for me after I’ve put time and effort into an event.
What made you join Inquisix?
As an active member and Ambassador at The Dublin Chamber of Commerce, in Ireland, I found the on-line networking tools to be lacking in process, when it came to post-networking follow-up. Linked-In was too public; would I want to put all my contacts on public view? I loved the idea that I could keep my contacts in a Vault, yet allow others to tap into the contact pool and return the favour. The real attraction is holding contact privates, yet opening the doors of opportunity to others and vice versa. We get a glimpse at the potential for real connections via this tool.
I found Inquisix mentioned in a blog and then was travelling to the US and met Michael Kreppein. I really liked how he communicated the vision of what they wanted to achieve with Inquisix and so far they’ve been loyal to this vision, willing to invest in supporting users in Ireland. Inquisix went a out of their way to make the address fields work for us here, which was the only way we could kick start things and build a community.
Prior to joining, I was doing lots of in-person business networking through local business groups. I found it to be useful, yet the missing link was an easy to use on-line follow-up tool- a system to follow-up that I could have on-line, that would keep track of all my contacts and referrals. The follow-up process and technology was the big missing link- I couldn’t work with the tools that existed out there, because of the public way it displayed contacts and there was no proper referral tool. Inquisix came across my screen when I did research on it for the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.
What do you like best about Inquisix?
The layer of anonymity: I can see what’s happening in the world of my contacts. Somebody asks for a referral, and if I don’t see the real value in the connection, I can make a decision anonymously whether I want to give the referral or not, and relationships remain intact. I also like the pro-active referral tool. I meet people every day that I think should hook up and it’s great to be able to go in, hit a button and send on referral contact details with a note. Pure Magic. Like a gift in their In-Box. It’s a very powerful way to say “Hey, I am serious about helping you with your business, ” without always looking for a return favour. This helps build a reputation, which Inquisix tracks and profiles, so people can see how committed I am to networking in the local business community.
Easiest thing about Inquisix is, it does all the work I don’t like doing; keeping track, sending emails, and putting all that information on referral into somebody’s inbox with a few clicks. And it shows me graphically what is happening. It’s very well designed and takes the effort out of passing on contacts.
Any great examples of using Inquisix Trusted Referrals™?
I had a request from somebody in the network, who knew me, but I didn’t know them as well. I got the request one morning, called him, asked about his business, thought it was good fit, so I hit the referral button; 30 minutes later he was on the phone talking to a contact he had been looking to meet for 2-3 previous weeks. I gave him an additional contact in same business arena. So he got two targeted contacts from one request through Inquisix. This demonstrates the power of Inquisix and got me very excited about the possibilities it can bring to businesses in a way it hadn’t existed before.
What are the misconceptions about online networking?
The misconceptions in this part of the world are based on people’s perceptions about social media in general. Can we trust these people? What if I give a referral? What will happen to my reputation?
The reality is, the next generation don’t have that at all, so as they come into the work force, Inquisix will be a natural tool to use; they will want to use it and won’t think twice about asking for a referral into a network they don’t personally know, they will make the connection and move to the next one. When somebody really embraces this technology they will experience rapid business growth.
Do you like the direction Inquisix is going? How do you see the future of networking?
Yes, Inquisix is going in the right direction. I like how it has closely replicated the real world of networking. Networking on-line is the way forward.We are in a time-poor work society, where connecting to the right person is absolutely vital. I can see that the next generation are going to drop all concerns and embrace this like no other group of people. They do not have the same “perceptions” around relationships. On-line relationships are as real to them as off-line relationships.
I see it being an integrated part of a Sales Strategy, CRM strategy and people will build profiles and businesses rapidly by embracing it now rather than adopting a wait-and-see-attitude. I am an early adopter and I am willing to put the effort in and harvest the reward over time. Like everything, Inquisix will reach a tipping point and create the snowball effect that will bring in the wider web community.
Next post : Part II, Shiera talks about starting an Inquisix Online Networking Referral Group.
For more information about how you can start your own group or about our affiliate program, contact Michael Kreppein.
First Review of the Inquisix Referral Exchange
21 FebJan Visser over at SalesTeamTools has written the Jan Visser has written the first review of Inquisix: Do You Need Sales Leads Or Real Introductions To Your Ideal Prospects? I was a bit nervous about the review because we just started beta and we’re constantly updating the site. But as I hoped (and sort of expected, given Jan’s successful sales career), he immediately understood the value of the referrals and introductions Inquisix offers and how important it is that we protect the confidentiality of your contacts.
If you’re already an Inquisix member, please comment on his review.
If you’re not yet an Inquisix member, please read his review and then come join us!
Either way, if you have not already visited his site, you should.
Happy Selling!
All About Referral Selling 