Wednesday, August 23, 2006

When is Networking Not?

Today at the invitation of Barb McCoy (The Real McCoy), I spoke to the Monroe, Michigan Kiwanis Club that meets at the 1st Presbyterian Church at noon. Barb is Ass't VP at Monroe Bank and Trust and also the VP of this club. I knew that I would only have 10 minutes so I wanted to be sure to deliver a powerful, memorable message about networking. This group seems to have a lot of fun together and already have connections within the club membership.

I talked about two topics that are related within the networking realm. Concept one was the time it takes to develop trust with others and concept two was how to go about developing that trust.

After delivering my part, they had questions. One member was put up to asking the question by the other guys at his table. They wanted to know what I thought about networking when they meet with someone and that someone talks incessantly only about themselves. I explained that the scenario could be confused with networking but what was happening was that really the talker was selling, not developing trust.

They understood the answer, but didn't know what to do when they get caught in such a situation. I gave my answer, but I'm asking all you to suggest a way to quiet the talker.

What would you do?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would try to bring up a third person that is a common interest to both of us and change the subject.