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.