70% of our new clients actually come from Alignable. Here's how we do it
If you are a digital marketer that's just joined Alignable, welcome to the best business tool of your life. My business partner and fiancé Jeff and I use Alignable to connect with local business owners and support their digital strategy needs. We've found that business owners are more willing to chat and meet up through Alignable than they are through Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. It’s more efficient than drop-ins, cold calling, paid advertising and physical networking for our business. We've met some of our greatest clients, but on top of that, Alignable has allowed us to become connected to amazing opportunities in our local community. For us, that's Raleigh, NC.
The Big Step One: How We Succeed
Alignable is only as great as you make it. My first day, I spent hours poring over our profile, filling in every section, storytelling and tagging and picture-adding. We filled out our products and services with relevant images. We added personal pictures to the gallery to show that we’re real people living in the same city. Jeff and I each created a profile under our business. And then, finally, when the profile was perfect, we started to add people in our area that we thought we could help.
The Big Step Two: Local Online Networking
- Use the "My Network" tool to find business owners in your area
- You can click "category" to sort businesses by industry. I used this tool to focus lawyers, doctors, landscaping, HVAC, etc. It's especially great for when you want to target a seasonal business.
- Clicking the "new businesses" tab ensures that you are reaching out to active profiles.
- I don't typically type up a personal message until a business owner friends me back. The premade Alignable messages are too cute not to use! Once they connect, I know they are interested in a relationship. I pull up their website, "like" them on social media, and gather enough information that I can send a personal message. I send a kind, honest and short note out, usually asking to grab coffee at a local joint. (Everyone here loves coffee.)
- Import your contacts from LinkedIn or your email address book to find more friends you know. These don't count as "used" connections either.
- Utilize the forums. This is a GREAT way to get your name known in the community, both online and offline. Spend some time coming up with a well-thought-out response, and you will have people continuing to thank you and ask for your business throughout the year.
- We use our out-of-network connections to connect with local towns, rather than expanding our reach nation-wide. We operate in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle, but we only live in Raleigh! Out-of-network connections allow us to connect with business owners in nearby towns, too.
- Once you've connected with a bunch of businesses, start a promotion. Alignable will alert your entire network!
Recommend Your Favorite Businesses! (They'll probably return the favor)
It's nicer to recommend businesses than just asking for them to recommend you. Here's your chance to say some really cool things about your favorite local spots and services.
Why We Succeeded
You know that saying: Never, never, never give up? Jeff and I are on Alignable every day, adding new businesses in our area and welcoming them, responding to forum posts and being a resource in general. It was a no-brainer to upgrade to Premium: one lead a month covers the cost and then some (and our efforts give us many more than one). Our premium status allows us to reach out to tons of local businesses.
Final Advice and What We Learned
Alignable was created to be a simple tool that brings business owners together. After you connect with them, it's up to you to take that connection to the next level to make a relationship and maybe even a sale. Like many things in life, you get out of Alignable what you put into it. Try spending three hours one day personally connecting with local business owners. I guarantee your schedule will be filled for the next week, and you'll unlock amazing opportunities and relationships in your community.
Have a question? Comment below!
Comments (31-40)
Outstanding Post!
Jenny -- Excellent article. I'm printing this out for future reference. Speaking of Raleigh, NC, I have someone you may want to connect with -- if you don't know him already. I've done some work recently with Chris Gann, whose company Gann Memorials makes "plush toys" (stuffed animals). http://gannmemorials.com/ Let me know if you'd like me to make an introduction! -- Tom
I would recommend joining Alignable. This is a great way to target your areas of interest, as well as your community to create partnerships. Many companies are looking for exposure who are struggling with this. Alignable it a great way to start this process.
Jenny, Wow.....this really blew my mind....you have taken relationship building to a new level....Congratulations....I will definitely take many of your tools to build my business....Thank you....Carolann the Bookkeeper in Lake Worth FL
WOW! Thank you for sharing! I too have had great success using Alignable. When I first joined one of the Alignable Editors posted a helpful article (which I can't find at the moment) on the set up and use of Alignable.
It really helped set your business up for success. Networking is one of the most effective methods for growing your business. Alignable Premium monthly rate is in line with other paid networking groups (BNI, Chamber, etc.) so what I'd advise people to consider is 1) Are the businesses in this network the customer's your business is looking to work with? 2) What value can you add to this network? 3) Is the ROI on this marketing effort worth your time?
As with all investments (time, money, resources) defining the expected return (whether it be personal fulfillment, professional exposure, financial gain or whatever you have defined as important) on investment is important.
Assuming the Alignable Audience are good referral partners &/or clients - here is a rudimentary example (all figures made up) for calculating ROI:
Jenny & Jeff each spend 3 hours/day on Alignable (6x5=30hr/wk x 4 wks in a month) x $80/hr (internal labor rate) + $30/mo Alignable Premium rate = $9,630/mo expended. (Note: Many businesses don't include the cost of their time when calculating their networking expenses. "Time can be translated to Money" when it is being spent on non-value add activities.)
Let's say Jenny and Jeff both bring in two new clients this month with billable rates of $2,000 for 3 months. (4 x 2,000 x 3) = $24,000 in revenue. They need to deduct their time and expenses, lets say $3,000 total expenses this gives them a gross profit of $21,000.
Now they have to deduct the Alignable costs (time & membership) - this gives them an ROI of $11,370.
All this being said, each business professional has to decide the value Alignable site has for them and their business.
As an introvert, yes a consultant who is an introvert is somewhat of an oxymoron, Alignable has given me a platform of meeting people I wouldn't have met otherwise. It opens doors for me to virtually meet people before putting my physical self out there.
I will wholeheartedly agree with Jenny - as with any relationships - you get what you put into them and I'm invested in this network.
Enjoy!
This is a fantastic protocol, I am impressed and sure it is very fruitful for your business. I was wondering, though, how do you find the time to tend to your business specially for a one man, one woman show? I find it difficult to find time to do everything required of me and my wife just to complete the daily tasks for our clients and serving the new clients with new websites I can't imagine how we could spend much time in the forums, etc.
thanks for the encouragement, im trying to use Alignable yet i only need local business (Los Angeles) - any recommendations or tweeks.
I dont mind contributing and helping others nationally.
Cheers
Page Howe
We've found that the Promotions feature on Alignable sometimes works. You might consider trying that out. Alignable's promotions get aggregated to a site called CouponBirds. I've gotten a few sales through CouponBirds (i.e., actually saw "couponbird" as a referrer in my Google Analytics). Now I try to always add our promotions to Alignable. Sometimes you have to wait a long while before you get a sale through CouponBirds, but it's happened a like 3 or 4 times over the past few months.