Picky Eating and Bonding

OK, so here's the deal. I am on the Thin and Healthy Solutions Weight loss Plan and it is really, really working well and it's easy. So I am a little compulsive about what I am putting into my mouth. I had an appointment scheduled today with a fairly new contact, Luigina Boes. In the past we had been at some of the same networking meetings, but always had missed connecting with each other.

Now you have to get the picture.

I was standing at the counter at
Flying Joe Coffee Shop in Perrysburg, OH trying to figure out what to order. I'm supposed to have decaf, which I'm stomaching, but not loving. Additionally, I had just done a quick workout, so I was hot and thirsty. I was asking the barista all kinds of questions about what she thought I could have that was cold, low-fat, no sugar, low calorie and yet tasted good. (I don't want much!) Luigina, basically was doing the same. Right away, we bonded! It was just too funny. She's an exercise nut, and while I can't call myself that yet, I am headed in that direction.

Without even beginning our official chat, we had found our level of commonality. And it was interesting to see how much more we shared with each other in the next hour. We were comfortable with each other.

Finding a common point of interest (or as Scott Ginsberg puts it, CPI) makes for a strong relationship that begs to be developed even further.

Thanks, Luigina, for not thinking I was crazy with all my food questions!

Hope or Fear?

I was having a conversation with my friend, Don Kardux, about the reasons prospects might choose him to help them be more successful. Don owns Business Navigators, a long time, very successful, business consulting company. Don is not your usual stuffy type of consultant, in fact, he couldn't be any farther away from the word stuffy. He also uses a system he developed called Reverse Flow, where business owners listen to what their employees think are the best ways to "makes things better."

Don told me that he thinks business owners choose him because he represents hope. Now, I do think that might be part of the reason, but I do think underlying the hope is a big dose of FEAR!

Don is an expert in the Heating, Cooling and Ventilation industry segment and many of those businesses are family-owned. So here's my theory.

If the first generation is still at the helm, he's afraid that the business won't survive for the next generation.

If the second generation is now in charge, he's (or she's) afraid that he or she will take the business down and then what will everyone think???

Yes, Don does provide hope with his system, but really, fear is what fuels the decision to work with Business Navigators. At least that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it.

Part of a functioning word-of-mouth marketing plan is knowing what it is that makes your prospects choose you. Do you know what it is?

Are you sure?