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.

Life is a Surprise

I would never have guessed that our almost 16 year old dog would outlive one of the younger ones, but that is how it went down today.
Dillion II, our Springer Spaniel, died today around 2 PM. He was 11 years old. He had been in constant pain for about a week and we made the decision over the weekend. We know that it was the right decision because he was so incredibly unhappy and
sick.

We will remember all the good stuff about this dog: the fact that he would sit in front of Steve staring at him in devotion; or that if Steve was in the hammock, there should be room for Dillion, too; or that Dillion also liked to ride in the kayak trying to kiss me right on the lips when both of my hands were busy paddling. He liked to play Frisbee, but he never picked it up, instead giving way to his elder, Gable. We got Dillion and his brother, Owen, to replace Steve's first Dillion. We think that the day we put Dillion I down is the day the new Dillion was born.

It is quiet around here tonight, but it is better not to hear Dillion moaning. I'm sure he is happier.

Product Design and Target Marketing

Tom Fishburne has done it again.

While his cartoon below is actually about the lack of innovation in product design, it also demonstrates the concept of having too broad of a target market.


To network effectively, business people must narrow their focus. You can't be everything to everyone nor can you be everywhere all the time!

Also, without become an expert for some segment, you look exactly like all the other people who are selling what you sell. It makes it difficult for your consumer (customer) to decide why they should buy from you rather than just blindly picking "off the shelf." Also, you have to be a gerbil on the wheel trying to network where everyone is rather than selectively picking out the right places to be.

What's your take on this?

Does Your Dealership Speak YOUR Language?

Last week at the International Networking Day event in Pittsburgh, I met Anne Fleming, the dynamic owner of Women-Drivers.com. This is a website that among other things, rates dealerships as to how friendly they are to women.

Cool idea, right?

The website is just chock full of fun stuff and information. There is a test you can take to find out your negotiating personality. I am a Bold Babe! It says I like colorful clothing and probably the same in cars. Surprise, surprise -- my YELLOW Mini is a fav of mine!

There's also His and Her car reviews for the same car. They cracked me up because of what was important to the guy as opposed to what was mentioned in the gal review.

Check out this site and if you've visited a dealership recently, go ahead and perform a review.

Zip Ze Lips

A few days ago I was preparing for a sales seminar that I am delivering this week. I rarely teach about sales these days, preferring to focus on word-of-mouth marketing, but this is a favor for my friend John Bauer, Director of the Bluffton Center for Entrepreneurs.

One aspect of the training will focus on the act of information gathering. The same day I worked on this presentation, I also introduced one of my networking contacts to another. I smiled to myself when I realized how the two (networking and selling) are very alike.

You see, back when I was a sales manager, I accompanied my sales staff to their appointments sometimes. We had an acronym that we used to help us to remember to ask the right questions. What I found with new sales people was that they would quickly stop asking questions and start SELLING the second they had gathered a piece of information that meant they could be of benefit to the prospect.

What happened as a result is that many times the prospect shut up entirely and got defensive. All of a sudden, instead of being asked all about their wants and needs, they were having to think quickly to deflect the hard sell.

In networking appointments the same can happen. If two people are being introduced by a third, it is better to let that third person do complete introductions and promotion before even opening your mouth! First of all, if you start to talk to early, you may miss an important piece of information and secondly, the introducer won't get to brag about you as much as possible.

So no matter whether you are selling or networking,

BITE YOUR TONGUE!

The calluses you develop will pay off in the long run!