Do you ever just connect with someone? Last week I visited with Mary Whittman, owner of Lloyd Brothers Walker Company, a monument company in Toledo. I had met Mary not too long before at the morning WEN meeting. At those meetings, everyone in attendance gets a chance to give a 20 second introduction. As I listened to those intros, I would note the names of people who intrigued me for one reason or another. Mary made the list. At the end of the meeting with list in hand I made it my goal to schedule appointments with those people to find out more about them and their businesses.
Now, I have to admit that I really don't know enough about USING PowerPoint to make an unbiased post here. But I have been a captive of PowerPoint presentations that are just god-awful. When I bought my new computer several years ago, I would not allow the software for PowerPoint to be installed, even though "it came with the package." It was a one woman crusade against evil software!
Seth Godin's post on Jan 27, is a story about Picasso and fakes. It made me think of Malcom Gladwell's book, Blink. The premise of the book is different from Seth's blog, but both discuss art and whether the piece is real or not.
signals that our brain is registering sub-consciously, before we ever consciously see those signals. There are the obvious ones; covering of the mouth with the hand, not making eye contact and acting jittery are just a few. But I think there are other subtle signals. I know that something is happening (it can be positive, too) when the size of the pupil of the person's eye changes. Probably the conversation hit a sensitive note at that very moment.
is here and nothing gets done without the mayor's nod. Because Scott was the guest of the former mayor (Lee is his son), Scott's importance was elevated way beyond his belief. He said that at one place he arrived, his name was on the marquee in lights.
Yesterday, my friend, Lynda Goodremont was named Athena Woman of the Year, by the Toledo Chamber of Commerce. I had nominated this very deserving woman and had a ball doing it. When I nominate people for awards, I don't keep it a secret, after all, I look at the nomination process as a way to strengthen an already strong relationship.
Yesterday I had a chance to meet with Cheryl Engfer, a DEO (Dedicated Equity Originator) for National City Bank. Of course I know about equity loans, but until I met Cheryl, I had never heard of a banker that focuses only on that segment of financial services. Basically, Cheryl helps people use the equity in their homes for purchases instead of using higher interest rate options.
r coffee, we both attended the lunch time WEN meeting (the rollover 50/50 raffle is still rolling over and the pot is up to a little over $1100.) I was able to introduce Cheryl to Megan Coyle Stamos, a funeral pre-planner. I missed another pre-planner in attendance because that person left before I could make the intro. But just by listening for clues in the conversation, I was able to at least begin making those connections.
There are people out there who really annoy me. They are the ones who milk the syst
em for all its worth. They are the TAKERS.
Before the holidays, I wrote a list of helpful hints for networking. Technical difficulties kept me from adding this e-book to the blog. But my knight in shining armor (my son, Greg) rescued me by doing the behind the scenes work to create the link. All mothers should be as lucky as I to have such a helpful son.
I mentioned my daughter-in-law, Lisa in a post recently. I am the luckiest mom in the whole world because I have two really, really great daughters-in-law.
Today I met with a member of a BNI chapter that needs to invite visitors. DJ Deiter is the president of this group. He is a financial planner, but for the category he represents in the chapter is a recruiter -- a recruiter of financial planners.
Because of a conversation yesterday, I knew what I would blog about and then I read Seth Godin's blog from Friday about the Glass House in Denver. While this post is not about permission marketing, it does talk about exclusivity. My daughter-in-law, Lisa, has just become the member of a non-profit board, her first. She is also a scientist (more about her in another future post) and is very data driven. She immediately began to do research on what types of fund-raising seems to work best. This is what she told me she gleaned from her couple hours of research.
What should happen in a one to one meeting?
blueprint of the meeting. (It provides structure for the conversation.)
s you work with currently and probably will help them to send similar clients to you in the future.
encourage continued development of relationships?
me when I speak at his Chamber lunch on Feb 6. He asked me to send the introduction now so he could review it . My introduction includes the fact that I have five grandchildren. Now Dave and I have known each other for several years, but his email back to me said, "I didn't know you had five grandchildren."
as casual not directed. I heard about his holiday trip to College Park, TX and we talked about CN community activities. I asked him to introduce me at a presentation I will be making in February to the Sylvania Chamber of Commerce. He told me that 2006 was his best year ever and that '07 is starting out to be even better. Nice. A luxury.
are more focused ways to meet with people. I do many more of those meetings. I want to know how I can help the person sitting across the table from me and if that person asks, I'm ready to give her a suggestion of how she can help me. While those meetings are rewarding, they take more energy. I am working! Don't get me wrong I enjoy them very much, just in a different way.
Tonight, just a few minutes ago, I printed some marketing postcards that I will use tomorrow as the visual for my referral request at BNI. What is really neat is that I immediately cut them to the right size. Until recently, I always had to go someplace to cut my stuff. Davis College, where we teach the Certified Networker, has a great paper cutter, but it was not always convenient being 30 minutes away from my office. I don't know what took me so long, but I finally bought one. It is absolutely wonderful and makes my life so much easier.
opment for Rudolph Libbe, a very large construction company in this area. Phil is a master of connecting. I needed some help for a sponsorship committee I am heading that is not doing as well as it should. With a ten minute phone call, Phil gave me the names and phones numbers of people to call, the words to use with them and to tell them that he said to donate. He also said that he would follow up. Additionally, he said that the person at his company in charge of giving sponsorships is expecting my call tomorrow. Just like the paper cutter.
Tomorrow is the early morning WEN networking meeting. People start gathering at about 7:30 AM. This meeting is about 30 minutes from my house. For many years this meeting time had the most attendence, but in the last several years it has had about 25 - 30 people connecting.
Yuk! Over the weekend I had the old-fashioned flu. Lying in bed all day sure does throw a wrench in the works. But even so, I did have time to think. Late Saturday PM when I still didn't want to take any pain reliever for fear that it would not stay on my stomach, Steve finally convinced me to try it. I could feel my body tensing, just worrying about whether I was going to throw-up
. (I would never make a good bulimic!) Finally it occurred to me that if there was some real quiet, soft, elevator music in the background, that I might be able to relax and feel better. Guess what? It worked! (Now, I know that for some, that type of music would be hateful, so choose your tune.)
ight be taking five or six long breaths in and out before entering the event, or it might be acting as the host, so you think about others, rather than your own discomfort. Gosh, it might even be listening to elevator music on the car radio on the way to the event.
I just never know what I'm going to learn.
basically the inner drive that some people have to do what is needed. Some people don't have that drive. They don't do their jobs very well. Business managers will sometime try to bandaid the problem with additional training and then wonder why the training doesn't work. Patti's future research should prove interesting.
Today, I was introduced to the BNI Silver Dollar chapter as their new AD (Assistant Director) by the previous AD, Jim. He needs to be relieved of this responsibility because his area is developing more to the south. This will be a first for me even though I sat through director training several years ago. Usually my function is to be the trainer for this area.
s interviewing people to get quotes about my friend, Lynda Goodremont, because I was nominating her for the Athena Award. Mary Arquette, VP for Advancement at Lourdes College said this about Lynda. "There is a saying from St Francis of Assisi that reminds me of Lynda. It is, 'Preach often; if necessary use words.'" I had never heard that quote, but I love it. And guess what, I figured if I shared it with Rich, his members might listen.
here are a few other financial planners in the community that are her competition! But I have yet to hear one say that they are focusing on the pet market. Could be a fun target market for her to get to know better. People are are a lot more likely to talk about their pets than they are about their finances. I think she's on to something.
hin out when using the computer. These are defensive users, ones who are expecting the worst to happen. You have to read it to laugh along with me. It made me think about what traits people might exhibit when they are networking that demonstrate that they are being defensive rather than proactive. I really had to think about it. Does handing your business card out to every person that you come in contact with show that you are defend
ing yourself? Or have you just gotten bad advice?
really had my business as usual brain in gear.
exciting note, my friend Michelle Donovan is coming to Toledo from Pittsburgh to deliver a half day session called Armed, Safe and Engaging for Subject Matter Experts. We already have about 23 people signed up for this January 19 session. Michelle is an expert in teaching and presenting methods for adults. So even though we don't start any Certified Networker classes series in January, this will ramp us up for the three class series starting in February.
