With this change of attitude, people realize that mobile is not just a means to talk to each other, but serves as your personal assistant, your camera, your mobile office, and a lot more. For business professionals it offers great deal of productivity and usability. And with over 10,000 new apps being developed each week, it’s certain that apps will drive the future of the mobile/wireless industry.

What do you think?

I had the privilege of speaking with Liz Gold at WebCPA about mobile marketing. Check it out >>

Mobile Marketing Podcast with Liz Gold at WebCPA

How much are your connections, your relationships, worth to you and your business? How much time do you spend seeding, weeding and feeding? Wait a minute; are two analogies too much for one blog? Let me explain…

Finding the Mines = Seeding = Lead Generation
Digging the Gemstones = Weeding = Qualifying Leads
Polishing the Gemstones = Feeding = Adding Value on a Regular Basis

Just as you would want your diamond to have the best cut, clarity and color; so you would want your garden to produce award-winning fruits and vegetables throughout the year. Just as “a diamond is forever,” so should your goal of providing value to your connections forever be your #1 priority.

The use of Social Media to do all of these things is increasingly (and exponentially) gaining in popularity and acceptance by all traditional target audiences…including yours. You can use these sources to monitor your “friends” and “connections” to know what they value so you can regularly and unselfishly provide said value to your relationships. You can and should also use these resources to communicate regularly with your Centers of Influence in meaningful ways. If you do these things, the business will come. Remember…

“All things being equal, people want to do business with friends. All things being not quite so equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends.” ~ Jeffrey Gitomer

Marketing Budget = 3% of firm budget
Social Media Marketing = $0 (staff time, yes)
Building strong and lasting relationships (aka friendships) with clients = PRICELESS

All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends.

All things being not quite equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends.

HINT: To climb the ladder of success, you don’t need more techniques and strategies, you need more friends.

From the book, Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Connections

I think social media can play a large part in helping you build stronger relationships with those in your network; additionally, they will introduce you to the folks in their network (which is outside yours) for you to cultivate and further grow your network.

Accountants know this better than anyone; the higher up on the Value Ladder you are with your clients (where you are a friend and integral part of their business), the lower the price resistance for services rendered (because your service is not a commodity) AND the greater the likelihood of continuing to doing business with that client long term. Really great accountants are in the business of relationships, not bean counting!