SAN FRANCISCO – FEBRUARY 8, 2012 – Mingly, Inc., creator of technology that enables professionals to build and maintain meaningful relationships, announced the launch of two new products today: Mingly for Web and MyPeople. These new offerings, along with Mingly’s first product, Mingly for Gmail, are powered by the company’s Social Interaction Mapping (SIM) engine to help users stay both informed and proactively in touch with the people important to their success.

Mingly was founded with the belief that our relationships are our most valuable assets. However, with contacts and interactions scattered across email and social networks, it’s increasingly difficult to stay in the loop. Too often, we miss key life events and business opportunities, and fall off the radar of potentially important contacts. Founder and CEO Tyler Koblasa explains, “I think we can all relate to the irony of being very well ‘connected,’ having access to information 24/7, and yet still losing touch with people we care about.”

Mingly is on a mission to help people unlock the full power of their network and make it easy to stay in touch with important contacts in genuine ways.

Last fall, Mingly announced the launch of its first product, Mingly for Gmail. With this browser plug-in, Mingly created a unified social address book that merges contacts from Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Users can stay in the know about their network and engage across the various platforms without leaving their inbox.

Today, Mingly for Web extends the product capabilities outside of Gmail, giving a much broader audience access to Mingly’s relationship intelligence from any browser. After connecting social network accounts, users quickly get the personal assistant they’ve always wanted.

Mingly for Web dashboard

• Alerts users before they fall out of touch with important contacts, across email, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
• Surfaces and notifies users about key events in their contacts’ lives (job changes, birthdays, relocations, etc.), providing genuine ways to reach out and build relationships.
• Keeps track of new connections, and encourages users to follow up, set keep-in-touch reminders, and tag people in groups.
• Captures important information about contacts (time since last contact, bios, social updates, and conversations), and makes it readily available in a brief contact snapshot.

MyPeople is Mingly’s new personalized email digest that gives users everything they need to keep informed and in touch, whether at a computer or on the go. With a choice of receiving MyPeople daily or weekly, users can plan their outreach accordingly and quickly send email, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter messages from one place.

MyPeople personalized email digest

“There’s a huge segment of independent professionals whose needs have been neglected,” explains Koblasa. “After countless conversations with entrepreneurs, small businesses, consultants, realtors, and financial advisors, we’ve learned that their business depends on cultivating real relationships that generate a solid base of referrals. These professionals are frustrated with current CRMs because while they are great for deal and revenue tracking, CRMs don’t help in the crucial ‘above the funnel’ need for building true connections.”

Mingly’s products demonstrate the power and potential of its SIM engine, which currently tracks nearly 10M contacts, 3M social network profiles, and 100M total interactions to surface a multi-dimensional analysis of social connectedness. Koblasa explains that this is only the beginning: “Mingly is focused on the next frontier in technology, which will turn these disjointed pieces of information across the social graph, into actionable intelligence that helps us build lasting personal bonds and drive business goals.”

Mingly for Web, Mingly for Gmail, and MyPeople are available at getmingly.com. A mobile version and integration with popular CRM software is currently in development.

About Mingly
Mingly is dedicated to turning social-network information overload into valuable and actionable insights. With so many fragmented sources of information and communication, staying connected with the people that matter is increasingly challenging. Mingly makes it easy to nurture new relationships and sustain existing ones. The company was founded in 2010 by Tyler Koblasa after winning Startup Weekend L.A. Mingly is based in San Francisco and is a network company of Idealab, a creator and operator of technology companies.

For more information, please visit: getmingly.com or follow the company on Twitter @getmingly or Facebook at: www.facebook.com/getmingly

Press contacts:
Dana Byerlee
Business Development and Marketing Manager at Mingly
415-967-0655
media@ming.ly

No matter what kind of business you’re in, no matter what size your company, it turns out that customer referrals are the key to growth. We hear a lot of buzz about customer loyalty, which encompasses all sorts of metrics from retention to satisfaction, but the best indicator of loyalty that drives bottom line results comes from one simple behavior: the willingness for a customer to put their own reputation on the line and recommend your product or service.

It’s common knowledge that small businesses owners and independent professionals, such as freelancers or financial advisors, must place great importance on building a steady pipeline of referrals. (For example, national statistics show that 82% of real estate sales come through an agent’s previous clients and referrals, and referrals usually account for about 50-70% of a local fitness club’s business.)

But what inherently makes a referral so valuable? And are they valuable to large companies on a grand scale?

In the famous study, The One Number You Need to Grow, Frederick Reichheld, Bain and Company, and Satmetrix teamed up to look for a correlation between customer survey responses and real customer behavior such as repeat purchases, or recommendations to friend and peers. Based on 4,000 customers, they ranked a variety of survey questions according to their ability to predict this real life behavior. Across multiple industries, the top ranking question was, “How likely is it that you would recommend Company X to a friend or colleague?” This “likelihood to recommend” question proved to be the first or second correlate to actual customer behavior 80% of the time: if customers reported that they were likely to recommend a particular company to a friend or colleague, then these same customers were also likely to actually repurchase from the company, as well as generate new business by referring the company via word-of mouth.

The Power Behind a Single Number, 2009. http://www.satmetrix.com/pdfs/NetPromoterWPfinal.pdf

The Power Behind a Single Number, 2009. http://www.satmetrix.com/pdfs/NetPromoterWPfinal.pdf

Finally, even when a business invests in a a referral program and offers financial incentives, the program can still pay off because of the unique value of referred customers. In the 2010 study, Referral Programs and Customer Value, market researchers followed the customer referral program of a German bank that paid customers 25 euro for bringing in a new customer. The study found that referred customers were both more profitable and loyal than normal customers, with referred customers having both a higher contribution margin and retention rate.

In short, referrals are like gold and should be an everyday priority. How many of your customers are actively promoting your business? Take the time to get to know and understand your clients, and provide them with easy and enticing ways to become brand ambassadors.

Dana Byerlee is a corporate strategist and relational marketing expert to both Fortune 500s and startups. She has worked with Ferrazzi Greenlight, and is passionate about leveraging new technology to break down barriers and build deeper connections. @LADLynn

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Before the Conversation

1. The Law of Authenticity  Be your true self. Sharing what is real about you is the key to building real relationships, as it lays the foundation for mutual understanding and growth.

2. The Law of Self-Image  Before you can expect others to like you, you must like yourself. The ways you perceive yourself become your reality, so ditch the negative self-talk and instead remind yourself regularly of your accomplishments and strengths.

3. The Law of Perception  Just as we create first impressions, we create perceptions based on them. Be authentic and also observe the different communication styles of others to avoid misperceptions.

During the Conversation

4. The Law of Energy  The energy you give off is what you get back. This doesn’t mean you have to be ecstatically happy all the time – we can be genuine and connect deeply with others, even when faced with difficulties and challenges.

5. The Law of Curiosity  Curiosity creates connections, so harness it to open up new avenues of dialogue. Remember though that discussions are, by definition, two-sided — sharing yourself is a key part of building a real connection.

6. The Law of Listening  You have to listen to understand. To build meaningful connections, you need to listen from other people’s perspectives, and be open to looking at the world through different lenses.

7. The Law of Similarity  People tend to like people like them. Though it may not be obvious at first, look for common interests, backgrounds, and beliefs to help you connect with others.

8. The Law of Mood Memory  People are more likely to remember how you made them feel than exactly what you said. As mentioned above, pay attention to your words and energy so you can be your genuine self.

After the Conversation

9. The Law of Familiarity  Stay in people’s minds through social networks, notes, personal recommendations, etc. Leverage technology to stay updated about what’s going on in people’s lives and increase your opportunities to interact.

10. The Law of Giving  Be proactive about determining how you can help the people in your circle. Whether it’s making introductions, sharing resources, giving advice, or extending invitations, there are countless ways to create value for others.

11. The Law of Patience  Friendships evolve over time, and kindness repays kindness, even if it’s not in obvious ways.

Take a moment to consider how you stack up in each of these areas. Perhaps you could be a better listener? Maybe you can leverage tools like Mingly, so you can stay better in touch? When you start from a place of self-awareness, you will inevitably strengthen your relationships, productivity, and finally, results.

Dana Byerlee is a corporate strategist and relational marketing expert to both Fortune 500s and startups. She has worked with Ferrazzi Greenlight, and is passionate about leveraging new technology to break down barriers and build deeper connections. @LADLynn

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To celebrate Community Manager Appreciation Day, we sat down with Kibibi Springs, the Community Director of myGreenlight. myGreenlight is an online training platform that teaches business executives the fundamentals of relationship mastery.

Q: What makes the myGreenlight community different?
myGreenlight is a private community for those enrolled in our 30-week business relationship mastery curriculum. It’s a very accomplished and smart group, with 90% of our members being executives at or above the manager level, or entrepreneurs. Because it is a private community, I have the opportunity to get to know individuals and groups a bit more intimately than one probably would as the manager of a larger, public community.

Q: What are your top three pieces of advice for successful community management?
1. Don’t mistake quiet for disinterested  I’ve learned that even at times when there doesn’t appear to be much dialogue going on, people are still paying attention. Our community includes extremely busy professionals who are committed to achieving new levels of success, so I must be proactive and show them our committment to their goals. Every time I reach out about content they are working through, I’m met with a great deal of immediate appreciation.

2. Ditch the cookie-cutter mentality and customize your outreach  I have the advantage of being able to categorize our members by corporation and industry, and it can give me clues as to how I can best communicate. Understanding a company’s corporate culture, especially regarding their view on the role of technology, is important – just because a company signs up for an online resource, doesn’t necessarily mean the current corporate culture supports the use of it. So I must carefully listen and observe, read between the lines, and consider how we can best integrate with members’ current work rhythms. This can mean cutting back or stepping up communications, presenting information in different ways, and customizing touch points and content for different groups.

3. The phone is still a powerful social tool  I’m also lucky to have phone numbers for our clients, and in many cases, this is still the best way to connect. Sometimes when I see a member respond to something online, I maximize the moment right then and there with a phone call. Or if someone takes the time to send a long email, they certainly deserve a focused discussion. These are the times when I learn the most – why the person is here, what is working for them, and what we can do better. Time spent getting to know your customers is always time well spent.

Q: How do you define and measure success?
I believe metrics are the roadmap to success. I’m sure many people can relate to the feeling that there is just so much to do, and so many interesting things that could be done, but you have to pick your battles and evaluate which will have the most impact. Now that we’ve had some time to watch what drives the myGreenlight experience, we’re taking the time to build customized tools around the following:

1. Engagement  We have a dashboard that monitors engagement, which we define as a combination of both lesson completion, and community dialogue and interaction. Each day, I take the time to go through this dashboard, at both an aggregate level and by forum, company, group, etc. I reach out to both front-runners (those who are moving quickly through the program or getting very involved in forums), as well as to those who are moving more slowly. I try to learn what is either driving or prohibiting their progress and share these learnings with the team.

2. Qualitative feedback  We also have important qualitative indicators. We collect success stories and try to understand how we tangibly affect our clients’ lives. Our members tell us how myGreenlight has helped them increase sales, build better prospect pipelines, and broaden their spheres of influence.

3. Content value  We are building tools to better understand which pieces of content are being accessed the most and what sort of results they are driving. This will help us better filter and provide our members with the most valuable resources possible.

Q: What are some similarities between building relationships on and offline?
1. Virtual facetime is valuable  I’ve learned a great deal from both managing a virtual community and being a member of a virtual team. For example, at first I wasn’t sold on the importance of video during meetings, but over time I have learned there are advantages. I’ve attended many webinars without video, and when you have a dynamic facilitator or guest, you want to see their face. You feel more deeply connected. That being said, just as you would prepare to meet with someone in-person, there is a bit of production work everyone should do when presenting themselves on video. Treat it as if it’s a television broadcast: check how you look, your lighting and background, and the sound level and quality.

2. Get leaders in your corner  Another important similarity between the real and virtual worlds, is that leadership buy-in goes a long way. We see better results when a company’s management team takes the time to explain why they have invested in myGreenlight. When leaders articulate how they hope it will address a particular goal, or tell employees just why they were selected to participate, the program gets much more attention and respect than without that kind of context.

3. Connect with your members outside of the community platform  All relationships are about understanding the other person, so even if you connect within the walls of the community or spend time in-person, you should also leverage social media and other communities. Though our members each have a profile page, this is just one piece of their story. I’ve found LinkedIn and Twitter really help me get a better picture of who they are, what they are interested in, and that enables me to better help them.

Q: Which new myGreenlight product feature do you find most exciting?
The ability to share your progress, goals, and action plans with others, even if they are not a member of the myGreenlight program. The more people you have cheering you on and holding you accountable, the more likely you are to succeed.

Passionate about helping people “move into positive action”, Kibibi Springs brings 15 years of corporate and marketing communications experience to the myGreenlight team. Previously, Kibibi held senior management roles where she directed internal and external brand, culture and communication strategies for organizations such as Edelman Public Relations, The Milken Family Foundation, Procter & Gamble Beauty and The Virgin Entertainment Group. Kibibi completed her B.A. in Communication Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara and her M.A. in Industrial/Organizational & Consumer Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Connect with Kibibi and follow her @KibibiSprings 

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1. How to Sell: Some Tips From Ogilvy
David Ogilvy wasn’t just one of the most accomplished advertisers of all time. He was, at heart, the consummate salesman.

2. Stop Cold Calling: Tactics to Attract Qualified Sales Leads
A comprehensive list of tactics and tools, both online and off, to bring qualified leads to you.

3. Sales Eye for the Nonprofit Guy: 
Sales isn’t just a profession, it’s a skill set. Communicating and winning support for our ideas is a necessity.

4. The Agony and Ecstasy of Building and Scaling Inside Sales
Understand just what inside sales entails, and the skills and metrics that matter most.

5. The Referral 7 – Why and When a Referral Happens
“Referrals aren’t given easily. If you don’t take the time to establish credibility, you’re not going to get the referral. People have to get to know you. They have to feel comfortable with who you are and what you do.” – Dr. Ivan Misner Founder and Chairman of BNI

What sales lessons have you learned? Please share your favorite tips and stories below.

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I had the opportunity to chat with Mark, and posed this question to him: How can one successfully build relational capital and create powerful alliances in 2012? So without further ado, here is Mark McNeilly’s advice for growing your sphere of influence and getting important people in your corner:

Define your goal  Before you start any project, you must clearly define your objective. Are you trying to make a sale or influence someone else? Are there political motivations or social reasons? What is the timeline? Different outcomes will require different strategies and methods of outreach,especially since no two people are exactly the same.

Identify both decision makers and their influencers  First, you need to find out exactly who holds the keys to your goal. Perhaps you need to determine who has the final say in approving certain initiatives at your company, or who at your prospect’s organization really has the power to purchase your services. And since everyone is influenced by someone, you should go one step further and figure out to whom your decision makers turn for advice. Talk to your network and use social media to identify and connect to these influencers as well.

Connect in a genuine fashion  Sun Tzu wrote, “To be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.” If you want to develop a real relationship with someone, you must take the time to understand him. Today this is easier than ever. Leverage social media to figure out people’s interests, views, and goals, and find ways to engage on these personal levels. Remember birthdays, congratulate achievements, and help others be successful.

Influence the influencers  The trick to being valuable is to provide people with something they can’t get anywhere else. Have a unique point of view, and share this expertise. Whether it’s a blog or well-managed Twitter feed, create a dedicated space where you can lay out your views of the world and build credibility.

Mark McNeilly is the author of two books on Sun Tzu’s Art of War. His most recent book is George Washington and the Art of Business: Leadership Principles of America’s First Commander-in-Chief. Mark is currently an adjunct professor of marketing at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, and prior to that was a marketing executive at IBM and Lenovo. You can follow Mark on Twitter @markmcneilly.

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Proactively step out of your silo  One of my favorite stories about Zappos is that when employees log in to their company account, not only do they type in an id and password, but they also need to identify the photo of another randomly selected employee. Afterwards, a whole profile about the person comes up! (I highly suggest reading Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness.) So next time you go for a walk or coffee, invite someone you don’t know very well to join you. Organize a small lunch with 4-5 people from different departments and different levels. Or volunteer to write and interview people for your company’s newsletter (and if they don’t have one, you can start it!)

Create a “Spotlight and Share” knowledge culture  Everyone is a “resident expert” in something. Is your co-worker a whiz at MS Excel? Organize a “Lunch-and-Learn” where he can share his most useful tricks and help others with their questions. Did someone in another department finally close a tough, but important sale? Invite her to your weekly meeting to share her strategies and insights about the company. By taking the time to champion the success of others, you will make each other more valuable and successful, and find new, innovative ways to achieve your goals.

Organize enriching experiences outside work  Group-buying and deals are all the rave, so why not put it to use for your company? Whether it’s a boat ride around the city, or a private tasting at a great restaurant, organize some not-to-be-missed experiences and you’ll get to know all kinds of different people you don’t usually interact with.

Dana Byerlee is a corporate strategist and relational marketing expert to both Fortune 500s and startups. She has worked with Ferrazzi Greenlight, and is passionate about leveraging new technology to break down barriers and build deeper connections. @LADLynn

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I’ll confess to having lost count of the number of times I’ve watched The Matrix. I never tire of it because I’m always reminded of some important lessons:

Follow your passion and you’ll make your own luck  “The answer is out there, Neo, and it’s looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.”  Neo’s relentless work coding in private brought him onto the radar of Morpheus and Trinity. I see it happen all the time: the more a person devotes himself to and believes in something, the “luckier” he seems to get – the right people notice and new opportunities suddenly unfold. Now more than ever, news travels fast, so do everything with excellence and you’ll be sure to create waves.

Information is power  “I know kung fu!” So says Neo after ten straight hours of uploading training files directly to his brain, and the crew marvels at his ability to digest such massive amounts of data. One of the characteristics of highly successful people is that they are constantly learning new things – they try challenging new activities, and pour over books and data. The result is a mental toolkit that enables them to spot strategic connections and opportunities, as well as the ability to adapt quickly. Push yourself to expand your knowledge-base every day.

Get out of your own way “You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief.”  The Matrix was a construct created to resemble a real world, but one whose rules could be manipulated, bent, and sometimes broken, by anyone with the proper awareness and belief. Most of us have gotten stuck in our own self-imposed Matrix at one time or another – throughout our lives we’ve been conditioned to accept many beliefs and eventually find ourselves saying “well, that’s just the way it’s always been done” or “this is what I’m supposed to do.”

Luckily, in the real world, you are free to “unplug” yourself at anytime, and can choose to design your life by your own terms. Dare yourself to live boldly, and refuse to let yourself, your family, or your business be mere examples of the status quo.

Dana Byerlee is a corporate strategist and relational marketing expert to both Fortune 500s and startups. She has worked with Ferrazzi Greenlight, and is passionate about leveraging new technology to break down barriers and build deeper connections. @LADLynn

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Set your sights  Identify who you would especially like to meet ahead of time. Find out who’s coming by checking out Plancast, LinkedIn Events, reading through attendee lists on your Eventbrite invite, or following the related hashtags on Twitter.

Make contact  Don’t wait until the big day. If you haven’t already, reach out now to introduce yourself and make plans to meet up. Whether it’s through an intro, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, or email, you can pretty much get in touch with anyone these days. Be fearless and take the initiative.

Do your homework  If you really want to connect, you’ll take the time to understand someone as much as possible – even before you meet. Social network updates, articles, blogs, Instagram, video interviews, etc are great ways to begin to understand who people really are, and what moves them professionally and personally.

Focus on people, not panels  Though there will certainly be some “not to be missed” moments on the center stage, generally speaking, you can watch videos and hear recaps later. Take advantage of being in the same place with so many like-minded people and use all your time, including breaks and meals, to connect in thoughtful ways. Make an email list, Twitter list, and/or GroupMe list ahead of time, so you can not only stay abreast of what people are doing and thinking, but you can also quickly pull together an informal meetup, drink-up, or after party.

Keep it going  Each night, or at least when you first get back home, get organized and in touch with everyone. Try an app like CardMunch to quickly read and import contact info from business cards. Follow up and follow through: define tangible next steps with people, and if you said you’d do something, like send info or make an intro, do it.

Finally, determine your long-term outreach strategy. After all, one initial follow up will not magically turn a contact into a real connection – you have to actively nurture and grow your relationships over time. No matter how well-intentioned you are, it’s extremely hard to mentally keep track of everything and everyone, so implement a simple system. I use Mingly to set all kinds of different check-in reminders: some alert me to do something very specific around a certain opportunity, while others simply remind me to take a moment, review what people have been up to on their social networks, and just reach out to say hi.

Safe and productive travels!

Dana Byerlee is a corporate strategist and relational marketing expert to both Fortune 500s and startups. She has worked with Ferrazzi Greenlight, and is passionate about leveraging new technology to break down barriers and build deeper connections. @LADLynn

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1. Speak in headlines – We all deal with information overload on a daily basis, so you must get your message across quickly and succinctly. First, your email subject should be compelling, simple, and no more than 6-8 words. Your pitch should also be straightforward and relevant, so avoid jargon that oversells. And here’s the most important part: don’t worry that you’re leaving out a lot of details. Your goal here is to pique your target’s interest enough to get a real meeting on the books, during which you can then elaborate on those finer points.

2. Provide unexpected value – Instead of using that precious lead paragraph to talk about yourself or your agency (i.e. “Here’s who I am,” “Here’s what we do”), lead with valuable insight about them right away. Tell your prospects what you understand about the company’s latest developments, an industry trend that affects them, or a new potential area for growth that they should know about. When you arm potential clients with valuable new information, they’ll be more likely to view you as a potential partner.

3. Be a resource – Relationships take time to develop, so in the meantime, focus on how you can become a trusted resource, even if you have nothing to gain in the short-term. End your email pitch by offering a free consultation, and then follow up later with useful research and statistics, or make a thoughtful introduction. If you look for opportunities to share your knowledge, you will not only gain credibility, you can be sure they’ll remember you when they need your services.

Emily Scherberth is the founder and CEO of Symphony PR & Marketing, a consultancy focused on early-stage startups in technology and digital media.

Prior to launching Symphony PR & Marketing, Emily was the vice president of the consumer technology practice at Allison & Partners where she provided strategic counsel for YouTube during the site’s meteoric rise from 2006-2008. Emily has also performed award-winning work for high-profile brands such as Yahoo!, Citysearch, Match.com, Nike, Nestlé, General Motors, and Ford.

Emily is also a part–time professor at Loyola Marymount University (her alma mater) where she teaches two courses on PR and social media.

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