How to avoid being networked to death

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How to avoid being…
NETWORKED TO DEATH
And instead do things…
That Open Doors
May 16, 2013

Or
How I became an accidental marketer
and ended up talking to you today
May 16, 2013

 Managing Director with
Cambridge Partners & Associates
– M&A advisory
– Valuation and appraisal
– Management consulting
 Author of Mergers & Acquisitions
For Dummies
– Available everywhere
– Led to and result of my accidental marketing
– Please buy a copy, I’ll make 75 cents
Your Host: I’m Bill Snow

Networked to Death or NTD
[net-wurkt to deth] or [en-tee-dee]
Idiom
 1. the act of hanging around with your peers, competitors, and friends
and expecting them to buy something from you
 2. extreme career weariness resulting from the failure to sell your
product or service despite your endless participation in events with
your peers, competitors, and friends
 3. an unsold TV show idea created by Bill Snow whereby an insurance
sales person and an IT sales person are locked in a room and not
permitted to leave until one sells something to the other one.

Million Dollar Advice about Networked to Death
 Bad
 Avoid it

Doing things that open doors
[doo-ing things that oh-pun dohrs]
Completely generic idiom I thought of, I know, it’s weak
 1. offer something!
 2. you’ll never stand out if you strive to be the best at fitting in
 3. the modern tools, they rock

Doing Things That Open Doors
 Good
 Plagiarizing my father – “life is a series of doors”
• You can’t open any of the doors
• Can’t ask for a door to be opened
• Unless you’re the son of a N Korean dictator
• All you can do is present yourself in the best possible light
• Someone opens each door for you
• Having something to offer increases odds of a door opening

My confession. Hello, my name is Bill…
 [audience]: “Hello Bill!”
 …I Was Once Networked To Death (NTD)
 Didn’t know what I was doing
• Spent way too much time with competitors and peers
• Beer was involved, so not a total loss
 Stumbled upon something
 Here’s my story

Venture Capital 101
• Had an opportunity to raise money for a company – door was ajar
• Chairman pointedly asked me, “what the #$%@ do you know
about venture capital?”
– Door slammed shut
• Incensed, I wrote Venture Capital 101, and I admit, I did it only
because I was, well, incensed
– “Anger is an energy” – John Lydon
– Claimed the book used Keith Richards’ guitar tuning from Brown Sugar
as a paradigm for venture capital
– Loaded with pop culture references (Mick, Keith, Brian, Charlie, Bill)
– Takes reader on a funding journey
– From idea to venture capital to exit and all points in between
– Latest version has a nice picture of my dog (RIP)

Iggy Pup
June 5, 1996 to October 23, 2010

The Accidental Offerer
 I was “between opportunities”
• Or since I was from a failed dotcom, “between servers”
 Networking scene
• Everyone said the same thing – they asked (money, job, advice, etc)
• Since I’ve never been a joiner, I rejected that
 “Nice meeting you…here’s that book I talked about”
• I stopped asking, I had something to offer
• Free! And worth the price

VC 101 Post Mortem
 People thanked me!
 Venture Capital firms contacted me!
• Downside: VC101 is basically a “what not to do” book
 Periodicals contacted me!
• Column with ePrairie (“candid, abrasive, and refreshingly hip!”)
 People said I should sell it!
• So I sold it (website, now on KDP)
 Dog caught car
• eBook before we had eBooks, no Kindle Digital Press
• Didn’t know what to do with my modest bit of renown and success
• Prior to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media

And Years Later…
 Wiley Publishing, Inc., a behemoth “don’t call us, we’ll
call you” type of outfit
• Called me
• Venture Capital 101 found its way to Wiley
• Thank you Internet
 LBOs for Dummies
• Target was Wall Street guys doing Enormo-Dome deals
 I suggested M&A for Dummies
• Middle market has smaller deals, but many, many more
 “Naw, Bill, that doesn’t make sense”

And even more years later…
 Wiley came back - they had a new idea
• All theirs, not mine, I didn’t think of it
 Mergers & Acquisitions for Dummies!
• Remember, they thought of it, not me
 Aim it at the middle market
• Again, their idea, not mine

How to Write a “For Dummies” Book
 Spend the summer of 2010 writing outlines
• Make sure every one gets rejected (page counts)
• Let the Acquisitions Editor take a swag (“Dummies-style”)
• Fed up, tell him to submit the complete disaster he wrote
 The Grand Poobah at Wiley green-lights the disaster
• Oh, shoot. Now I have to write it
• “Write it.” “Pay me.” “Write it.” “Pay me.”
• They paid me. Then I threw out their outline and did it my way
• The only other “For Dummies” book I could write is “How to Write a
‘For Dummies’ Book For Dummies”

The Accidental Marketer
 Rec’d my first copy - just before book was released
• Proud of myself, bucket list, patted myself on back
• Lasted about a second and a half
 “What do I do with it?”
• A clue was when Wiley sent me a, “How to Market Your ‘For Dummies’
book For Dummies” pdf
 Strengths and weaknesses
• Lazy interview question begets generic answers (“I work hard”)
• We all were asked this at 22 (phrase weakness in the form of a strength)
• In reality, typical kid: strength drinking beer, weakness getting up in the A.M.
• Into my 40s before I could provide a reflective, insightful answer

Strengths and Weaknesses
Written Visual
Oral/phone Email
Marketing Sales
Meeting in person Phone conversation
Student/Learner Educator
Solver Learner
Advisor Listener
Solver Implementer
Idea generator Plan executor
Offerer Asker
Negotiator Follow up
Research Insights
Maintaining Creating
Compiling Analyzing
Design/format Content creation
Telling Doing
Create original content Update and maintain
Gather info Find connections & insights
Conflict Consensus

And thanks to Larry Gard…
 What sort of learnin’ are you yearnin’ and burnin’ fer
• Visual learners
• Auditory learners
• Reading (or writing) preference learners
• Kinesthetic learners
o Learn by doin’

Bill’s Marketing Aside/Complaint
 Marketing often akin to getting dressed up on NYE
• Trying to impress peers (essentially NTD)
 Complex messaging a lots of big words
 White noise (Everyone is asking)
 Marketing should be aimed at your target, not
peers/competitors
• Write so your intended target can understand it
• They’re not in your business. Write so your mother or a child will
quickly and easily “get it.”
• Who cares if your peers/competitors think you’re a simpleton?

PE World Example
 Unleash the newly minted MBA
 They all say the same thing
• “We’re different”
• “We have money”
• “We have industry experience”
• “We want to buy* your company!”
*In a proprietary, non-competitive, underpriced, seller note, earn out sort
of way

PE Messaging – Big Whoop!
 Harvard MBA class
 Myopic – “Perfect for me!”
• The buyer perfectly defines a perfect target and why that perfect target
is so perfect…for the buyer
o High growth
o Fat profit margins
o No customer concentration
o Barriers to entry/defensible market position
o Owner willing to sell at a low multiple
• Rarely spend time communicating what the target gets from the bargain

My Marketing (work in progress excuse the dust)
 M&A for Dummies is a unique “leave behind”
• 3rd
party validation
• Has backfired on occasion
 Writing and Speaking
• Newsletter, article, books, universities, soapboxes...anywhere!
 Connecting with influencers
• Wealth managers, lawyers, accountants, commercial bankers – they
have the ear of my targets – need to offer them something
• I don’t waste my time with de facto events (peers & competitors)
 “Networking days” – standard meeting times
 Golf

Where I need to improve
 Website
 Social media
 More consistent newsletter
 More books – Probably self publish

Self-Publishing Tips
 Descriptive title
• VC101 stroke of lucky genius (keep it simple, Snow)
• Similar to cover boxes in video retailing
 Kindle Digital Press, iTunes, Lulu, others
• Forget paper – printers happy to take your dough
 Price point: 99 cents (2 or 3 to 100+/mo)
 Get a graphics person to design cover
 Hire editor and proofreader
 Fire up your marketing machine

Combat the Networking to Death Syndrome
 Know what you’re getting into before doing it
 Avoid peers/competitors
 Network with whom you want to do business
• Targets (or influencers)
 Do things that build your personal brand
• Jump at every opportunity.
o VC101 begot M&A For Dummies begot my newsletter begot Harvard begot
Dan Kennedy event begot Kellogg begot DePaul board opportunity begot
curling begot speaking to you today begot…? Oh, skeet shooting later this
month
• The modern tools – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Udemy, Google+
• Self publishing – Amazon Digital Press – great way to differentiate

 Have something to offer (think of the other guy)
• Stop asking, start offering
• Do favors, open doors for others
 Truly understand your strengths and weaknesses
• BS question we all got asked at 22
• Shore up your weaknesses by finding team members who
compliment (not duplicate) your strengths
• Segue from doing into telling
• Need a team
• Otherwise you’re a one legged man at an rump kicking contest

 Don’t wait for the world to bestow a title
• DIY – but make sure you do your homework
 Be genuine, be honest
• Avoid putting on airs, being “fake”
• Direct answer, not what you think the other person wants to hear
• Speak from your heart, don’t worry about offending
o No matter what you do, you’re gonna tick off someone
 Don’t be afraid of being different
• You’ll never stand out if you strive to be the best at fitting in

My Email Signature
Bill
William R. Snow
Managing Director
Cambridge Partners & Associates – Investment Banking
500 N. Plum Grove Rd.
Palatine, IL 60067
Mergers & Acquisitions Valuations and│ Appraisals Consulting│
Office: 847-776-1976 x 242
Mobile: 312-282-1738
Email:wsnow@cambridge-partners.com
Internet:www.cambridge-partners.com/Investment-Banking.html
Authorship: www.amazon.com/author/billsnow
Stay in touch: Join my mailinglist
Connect with me:
Author of Mergers & Acquisitions For Dummies

The Follow up
 Have a reason or goal – avoid “let’s stay in touch”
• Personal friendship, business, asking, offering, etc.
• Talk about stuff people talk about
 Fuzzy or concrete
• Fuzzy (no timetable, not urgent) – Use stasis marketing
• Concrete (a decision will be made) – Bakeoff city, baby!
 Bill, what can I offer!?!?!?!
• Gotta figure that out yourself, I can’t do everything
 Develop rapport
• Avoid charging up the hill – target may become influencer
• Staying in front – often the last person wins

The End. Finally.
 If you’ve successfully avoided NTD…
• You’ve conveyed value to others
• People will meet with you
• People will contact you and offer you things
• More doors will open
• You’ll be invited to speak to networking groups

What You Can Offer (Me)
• If you liked my presentation, please connect
with me via LinkedIn
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/billsnow
• Give me a recommendation

How to avoid being networked to death

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