The Hidden Edge

I have just reached 101 direct connections on LinkedIn. That means I am one removed from two thousand connections and three removed from 375, 000.

I know that I am a very sad person but …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-DcNPFWhbk&mode=related&search=

LinkedIn is an online social community - a bit like Friends Reunited but for professionals.  It is designed to be a tool that makes six degrees of separation work.

If you want to get started on LinkedIn, the first thing you ought do, after getting registered, is to complete your profile.  As you do this LinkedIn will identify those ex colleagues who are registered that worked in the same companies as you, during the same period of time.

It is good to reconnect with those; as people do business with those they know, like and trust.  These people already know you from your history together.

So send them an automatic invite.  I have reconnected with the CEO of a previous employed position, which in itself is quite wow.  I nearly killed him on the M25 when I was driving him around my region and talking too much at the same time.  Who says women can do two things at once?

It is easy to gain critical mass by engaging with those who are already registered on LinkedIn, as they already have accepted the value of connections.  So have a look around to see who you might already know, and then who they have connected to them.  If you know these people too and have their email addresses you can easily ask them to link up with you too.

When you have a critical mass, you can start to invite those who are not already on LinkedIn within your own network.  This may require composing your own emails rather than using the box standard ones that LinkedIn provide.  If your intended recognises that it is you (due to the way that you write or what you have written) then they will be more open to the suggestion that they link up with you. 

Personally, I think it is also important to address the fact that in the most part belonging to LinkedIn is completely free.  It only costs if you choose to upgrade.

Now, please don’t ask me what I am going to do with the potential 375K contacts that I have, because I have no idea.  I just know that if I did need them that they are there in my current and up to date network of contacts, which would take months to build if I were starting from stratch.  Not a bad contingency when you think about it!

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This Blog is about ironic trope – I know WHAT?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trope_(linguistics)  It’s a figure of speech, or a play on words that has persuasive power. 

I asked my husband what he thought was meant by the term Flaming June.  For him, June is the height of summer.   

If you check it out on Google you get Fredrick Leighton’s glorious piece of art:  http://www.art.co.uk/asp/sp-asp/_/pd–10019635/sp–A/Flaming_June_c1895.htm 

For me it has a completely different connotation. At the beginning of the month, the dishwasher broke down; I duly sourced another from the internet which was delivered 5 days later, only to find it was the plumbing at fault not the dishwasher itself.  However, I now have a nice new and shiny dishwasher! 

A week or so later at 5.30 in the morning I jumped in the shower, screamed and leapt back out again.  Three visits later, the boiler man, has yet to discover the cause of the problem.  However, it turns out that we have an emersion heater that was quickly put into working order by a really good and decent electrician friend for the price of a beer! 

Week three and the vacuum cleaner stopped working – phew I wept in relief!  That’s the third thing.  Plus, I hate vacuuming; any housework actually! 

Then driving home on Friday to meet the plumber for the fourth time, broke down, called the AA out, to be informed that there was a hole in the clutch pipe.  (I am sure there is a technical term).  I have yet to discover the ‘that’s great’ response to this piece of fate, especially as the cost is close to £600! 

I lost internet connection on Saturday – does that mean only one more financial encumbrance looming.  Flaming June!  

However, I have found this great trance track … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZlLIEAiJR8  

What do you reckon to Flaming June? 

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I have spent this weekend clearing out oodles of paper that I have stored over the years.  The recycling men are not going to be impressed with the extra work from me this week!! 

Hidden away amongst training notes and other erroneous documents that I have saved over the years, I found several testimonials about my own work.  These are ones that I have not asked for but had been given willingly by the sender. 

I had forgotten that I kept them but having read them, realised why.  I couldn’t believe that it was really me they were talking about?

 It is well known that the power of a testimonial can have an equal effect on one’s client base – and yet if you are anything like me, you fail to use these wonderful testaments to your worth. Is it a British thing? 

Of course a testimonial can be as damaging as useful, if it is considered to be part of a sales ploy.

“Satisfied in Cambridge” is unlikely to win over any hearts and minds.  However, if the writer of your testimonial is related in some way to your target reader then it lends considerable creditability.

So when using testimonials to support your sales pitch, do ensure you have permission to use the authors name, their position, their company (if B2B) and their geographical location.  To add further kudos you might consider adding a link to their website.  If there is a reciprocal link – better still.

If a customer thanks you verbally for the work you have done for them – as part of the acceptance process; ask them what specifically was so good.  If they can qualify their praise, ask them, whether they would be prepared to endorse their own recommendation for your promotional purposes, if you put it in writing?

I know, I know – it’s easier said then done but then, if someone has gone to the trouble of thanking you for good work done, it is likely they actually want you to do well.  Not to mention it is quite rude not to accept a compliment.

One of the best I have ever read was one that was part of Tony Robbins sales team in an envelope.  This newspaper cutting covered what is obviously one of Robbins’ biggest objections for attending his sell out seminars - the walking on hot coals thingy.  The author spoke of his scepticism for the need to walk on hot coals, especially when he was asked to sign a disclaimer for any injury he may incur.  Nevertheless he did the hot coal walk and lived to tell the exuberant tale with healthy feet to boot.

I have heard that volume of short testimonials is important.  I disagree!  A few that tell an important story will work better than many with general compliments.

I leave you this week with the whole reason for getting it in writing ….

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIqwN9YgVxM  

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In previous Blogs I have alluded to poetic licence for using language, words and grammatical punctuation for comic or dramatic effect.  This week I want to talk about oxymora, the plural of oxymoron, a pretty ugly word in its own right – don’t you think? 

Oxymora are a proper subset of the expressions called contradictions in terms. What distinguishes oxymora from other paradoxes and contradictions is that they are used intentionally, for rhetorical effect, and the contradiction is only apparent, as the combination of terms provides a novel expression of some concept, such as ‘cruel to be kind’. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron  

Many oxymora are used as a matter of discourse and are no longer considered to be contradictions; let alone a novel expression of concept.  I site the following in that list: the living dead, old news, seriously funny, near miss, same difference, together alone.

A couple of my favourites are: ‘your silence is deafening’ and ‘the silence sales person’.  I prefer salesman but recognise that it is not politically correct!  Mmm politically correct – is that not now an oxymoron? 

I also like the idea of ‘tax return’ and ‘doing nothing’, but hate the concept of ‘one size fits all’ or the ‘non-alcoholic beer’! 

How many oxymora can you identify in the following clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_bfPGHuOu4

At first count I have 31?

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Those of you, avid readers, of my Blog might be wondering if I am on holiday again.  Alas no!  I have Blog Block.

And, of course, as soon as I realised this, I thought - hey I’m on to something!  This is another of those words/phrases for the alternative Oxford Dictionary or the MacMillan Dictionary whoever picks it up first.  A bit like the ‘new word’ WAGS  (wives and girlfriends) which of course is in particular reference to Footballers!

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/New-Words/060619-WAG.htm

However, I am not going to make my fame in this respect, as following my usual trawl around You Tube I found this!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbkmgUqICH8

 Huh!

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