Skuttle Butt

My friend, Scott McBride, Ray of Life Healing Center, attended a seminar that I co-presented with my friend, Jenn Wenzke, on Wednesday evening this past week. Of the 30 attendees, Scott was the only guy and he knew this going in. I call that brave!

But here's the reason why he wanted to attend. Many people who he respected had told him that he needed to meet Jenn. And while he could have asked for an introduction, what better way is there to get to get to know someone than to hear and watch them present?

After the presentation Scott was able to talk with Jenn and compare the areas that their careers might cross.

We can all take a lesson from Scott.

Who do you want to meet?
Are they presenting anytime soon?
Can you attend the event?

Obviously, if the answer if "no" you'll have to move to plan B, but if, "yes" then get your butt in the seat!

Do You Want Me To Tell You How Wonderful I Am?

Today I read something that made me cringe. From another consultant's column was the suggestion to wake up every morning asking, "Who am I going to be introduce myself to today."

Why the yucky feeling?

While I'm sure his advice didn't mean this, I sort of got the picture of a networker going out and handing out his cards willy-nilly to make sure he was introduced to newbies. The old deal the deck routine.

Instead, I'd like the advice to be, "Who are you going to introduce to someone today?"

I'm sure you get the slight difference. Helping others first is the hallmark of a great networker....in my opinion, of course!

What's your take?

Winter Wander Land!

Finally, we got some snow and it is a Saturday! Yay!

I know many of you probably want to strangle me for this glee, but I spent my growing up years playing outside all day, all year long in Western NY. That meant playing in the snow drifts and having a ball. So there!

Anyway, I strapped on the cross-country skis this AM for the little tour of the back ten! It was pretty quiet out there and I didn't see any animals, but I did see lots of tracks. It was fun trying to create a story for each set or marks.

"Oh dear, did all the mess of tracks mean that there are a fight for ones life? Don't know."

"Oh dear, did the two sets of tracks represent a rabbit with a coyote in pursuit? Don't know."

"Oh dear, where the two sets of rabbit track went separate ways, mean they were playing tag? Don't know."

Then I got to thinking. What if all these tracks represented networkers? Was the muddle of tracks a picture of one networker over powering another with their sales pitch? Or was the larger set of tracks following the smaller representing, someone stalking another business person. And did the third set represent networkers having a lot of fun, but not really being strategic about their time spent.

You can see why my friends think I should not be let out alone very often!

That said, what would your networking tracks look like?

This past week I met with a new networking friend. She happens to represent a direct sales company and I'm always a little hesitant when meeting with folks who are independent representatives of such businesses. I don't know whether they are badly trained by the companies or just don't know better in the way they act sometimes.

I can say with great approval, that the coffee meeting went very well. We were both relaxed and just took the time to get to know each other. We found out that neither of us are the sorority type and that we just like the easy ordinary way of life. I want to get together with this person in the future and am already thinking about how I might help her.

Conversely, recently I met someone who represents the very same company and the meeting was entirely different. This person had dollar signs in her eyes and commission breath. I mean, she just couldn't stop talking about (or actually selling) her product. You can guess that I really don't want to meet this person again any time soon.

What can we learn from this? Relationship-building, which is the hallmark of great networkers, takes time. It typically takes a few meetings before each participant feels comfortable with the other. Those who try to "rush" the relationship, never get to the second or third meeting that will help to develop helpful friends, because they have scared those very people away with their overbearing sales job.

What is your experience with this?