Today my alarm went of 05:45 in the morning because I was invited to a breakfast meeting within BNI in Oslo. This network is for business professionals who are looking to expand their network and do business together. Every member gets 60 seconds to pitch their business idea. So it’s very important to have a great elevator speech or do something more different. One of the members, Jørn A. Jensen – FRAM Arrangement AS, really stand out by wearing a chicken-suit and due to that I’m now writing and talking about him.

I’m not saying that you should wear a chicken-suit to stick out but at this meeting it was perfect. Now everyone knows that Jørn is using unconventional methods to reach great results which of course is a good thing since he’s running a business in the event sector.

After running my business for a couple of years now I’ve realized the importance of listening to our customers. Instead of assuming that you know what your customers want you have a talk to them and let them into the development of the product. That’s why I moved to Oslo for a while. The last two weeks have been busy, up to six meetings per day.

To be successful in this strategy you have to be open minded. Try to think together with your clients and aim for a win-win situation. It´s quite easy to get new customers to buy our product but getting them to use it in the right way and reach the potential is the hard part. Unfortunately many companies are slow to adapt to new products. You need to be helpful and patient. It takes time.

This strategy of letting my clients into the process have resulted in that they often feel us like a part of their own company which lower their instinctive guard down. At this level you really feel the connection between you and your clients and you are now building up a trust that are very important when you are looking for long business relations.

Viktor Nord at Oslo opera house.

Just a few minutes ago www.Sverige-Norge.se reached 24.000 members, which means we now have 24000 swedish people looking for work in Norway. So do you know any Norwegian company that are expaning. Give me a hint.

This is crazy. About one year ago Twitter reached a huge milestone: one billion tweets. Four months ago, five billion tweets were served. And now, in about one day, Twitter should reach another very important milestone: 10 billion tweets .

I read a few days ago an very interesting article about how Twitter in the classroom is boosting studen engagement. Studies frequently discover that greater participation translates into better academic performance, motivation, and a likelihood of adopting different points of view, which is why it is so striking that Twitter can foster that type of communication.

Classroom shyness is like a blackhole: Once silence takes over, it never lets go! In a class of hundreds, the fraction of students who speak up is small, and a still tinier fraction contribute regularly.

For schools hit hard by the recession, Twitter is an inexpensive solution to the growing problem of increasing class sizes. It is a tried-and-true platform to let conversations flourish.

Watch this video with Dr. Monica Ranking of the University of Texas at Dallas. The Twitter Experiment: