It's All About Me

A week or so ago I ran into a person I had not seen in a long time. This person is an acquaintance, not a friend.

This person is doing something new. Ask me how I know.

Thanks for asking!

He said, "Let me tell you what I'm doing," as he whipped out his business card and also a little promo piece that told about his company. "Come see me to get a discount on this service before the end of the month."

I'm sorry. Why do people think they can just throw up on others?

Not a question from him about what I was doing. Not a question from him as to how I was doing. Not a question from him as to what is going on in my life.

It was all about him.

Am I being too judgmental? I just wanted to turn and run.

Monkeys

Yesterday I attended the Milestones luncheon, the annual event that acknowledges seven top women in the community. Ann Baker, Director of the Toledo Zoo was one of those recognized. Ann's acceptance speech was very short and to the point AND so very right on.

Early in her career, she studied monkeys. She related that when male monkey approach adolescence, they leave the group and move from group to group. Just the opposite the young females stay with their group. Ann said, "Their success is directly related to the relationships they can build within the group. Those that do it better are more successful." She smiled and said that she thinks that's very indicative of today's women who make connections and builds those bridges.

Thanks, Ann, for the reminder of what is important.

It Made Me Laugh

I have been wanting to write about this for some time, but just haven't had to time. My apologies to my readers!

In the course that I teach (Certified Networker) one tenet taught in the class is that if you don't have a clear-cut target market or market segment that you won't know where to network. These scattered people tend to attend all kinds of networking events, getting more and more tired without any return on their investment of time. They may be heard to say, "Networking doesn't work for me."

The other day I was at a networking event where a new student of Certified Networker was also attending. She had two sessions of the 12 week series under her belt. In the past she would have told me that she sold to anyone, that each and every person in the world needed her services.

Here is the conversation I overheard. (OK, I was eavesdropping!)

Cindy asking a question of another networker, "So what do you do?"

Jim replied, "Well, we do this and this and this and this and this and this......" (I think you get the idea that each "this," was a very different offering to many equally different market segments.)

Cindy looked Jim straight in the eye and said, "So you haven't identified who your best prospect is?????"

I had to turn away because I didn't want either of them see me laughing. Poor Jim didn't know what had happened to him. But my bigger smile was about Cindy. Just like a former smoker, she is now the foremost proponent of having a target market!

I guess you just had to be there.

The Host With the Most

In the past week or so, I have attended several networking events.

What's new, right?

Well, here is my insight that seems to be so obvious.

Two of the many that I attended stand out. And they stand out for less than wonderful reasons.

At both, the host of the event did NOT welcome people with a big smile.

I felt like an intruder at both occasions. And I was an invited guest to both.

I know that in the past I have been accused of having a poker face. I have to actively work on making sure my smile is part of my make-up.

The lesson here for all of us is to set the other concerns of the world aside for that few minutes we need to show people that we are happy they are attending our event. If not, we can be sure we won't have to be the host in the future because we won't have guests.