Matchmaking for Business: Joyce Schwarz, author and Futurist Speaks about Getting to the Heart of 21st Century Dealmaking

It's Valentines week and it's time to learn about the romance of business -- where new online technology and offline marketing techniques are advancing how companies find talent, source materials and do deals. Expert Joyce Schwarz offers tips for Matchmaking for Business to help jump-start your business partnerships and customer acquisition. Schwarz created AOL's Workplace of the Future forum and is the founder of Futurework www.futurework.com and also Matchmakingforbusiness.com.

(PRWEB) February 13, 2006 -- Matchmaking for Business: Joyce Schwarz, author and futurist speaks about getting to the heart of 21st Century dealmaking.

Getting to the “heart of a deal’ in the 21st Century involves much more than just toting up potential revenues on an old-fashioned 10 key adding machine. “We’re dealing with an international marketplace that demands that multinational firms around the world employing sophisticated networks of M2M (machines to machines), advanced extranets and multilingual video conferencing to just keep pace” explains Joyce Schwarz, AOL’s Workplace of the Future forum founder, creator of Futurework corporate seminars and author of several published books on careers and new media. Schwarz heads Marina Del Rey based JCOM (www.joycecom.com), which specializes in business development, marketing and partnerships and alliances for emerging media and technology firms.

MATCHMAKE FOR BUSINESS NOT JUST ROMANCE

As Valentine’s Day rolls around, Schwarz reminds entrepreneurs and executives that it’s crucial to begin to ‘matchmake for business” not just romance. “Networking at cocktail parties and gathering up hundreds of business cards is just so 20th Century,“ she explains. The real secret to engaging customers and getting to the heart of the deal is to build partnerships and alliances and harness the power of new online and mobile social networks and linking software to generate effective business opportunities and collaborations.”

In her presentations this week at the WITI (Women in Technology International Conference) in San Diego Schwarz will be covering such innovative collaborative solutions as virtual workspaces, tele-immersion, social networking, MoSoSo (mobile social software) solutions and also focusing on the ‘softer’ side of business, which touches the heart, and soul of people and ideas. Schwarz will be speaking on “New Career Frontiers” and “Beyond the Office” at the confab to be held at the LaJolla Hilton Conference Center in La Jolla, California February 13 & 14.

Schwarz is a veteran in putting together partnerships and deals in the worlds of advertising, media, tourism and technology. She and her firm JCOM list more than $200 million in deals between funded start-ups, major brands like Revlon and Sheraton Hotels and corporate conglomerates like AT&T.

HEART OF THE NEW DEAL: WOM, AFFILIATES & SOCIAL SOFTWARE

Just attending conferences and exhibiting at trade shows is not enough in todays fast pace economy, according to Joyce Schwarz. She encourages her clients to use such updated methods as WOM (word of mouth) campaigns, affiliate networks, viral marketing solutions, and even go so far as hiring an outside consultant for business development.

Although business matchmaking is just beginning to flourish in the US as an effective way to grow your firm or extend your brand; it is well recognized in countries like China who use the word Guanxi to describe how a personal relationship is leveraged to for business introductions from a trusted third party. In Japan,“Keiretsu” is a term used to describe an age-old practice of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholding. Shadkhen is a Yiddish term for matchmaker and in America we’re more likely or not to simply call a recommendation, a referral, when it is rally much more than that.

WOM (WORD OF MOUTH) 5000 Times More Effective Than Advertising:

By just looking at one of the new tools WOM, Schwarz explains that businesses can understand the importance of third party endorsements. At a recent conference studies were released showing that WOM marketing is 5000 times more effective than advertising. People take action on only 1 in 15,000 ads they see while studies show that consumers will take action on 1 in 3 recommendations they receive making WOM 5000X more powerful. That may explain why Affiliate Programs online are increasingly popular inspired by bookseller Amazon.com’s ability to leverage the power of recommendations from more than 900,000 affiliate partners who refer business to the online site in return for a small percentage of the sales that evolve. “Matchmaking for business is not only lucrative but enjoyable, it shares the burden of growth and emphasizes the strengths in the relationship between two partners whether they are major corporations or sole proprietors. No one wants to face a new century alone," Schwarz says.

To get a copy of Joyce Schwarz' 7 tips for Matchmaking for Business, please email her at joycecom @ aol.com.

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