Thursday, February 21, 2013

You Sold My Dead Bird to a Blind Kid?

Now that I have your attention, I would like to apologize for the time I've spent away from the blog. February has been full of floods and fires that have kept us very busy. But let's get down to it here and try to figure out why on earth, I would title a business article "You Sold My Dead Bird to a Blind Kid? ". There are a few reasons I went with this twisted title: 1. I love the movie Dumb and Dumber;  2. Have you ever felt as though someone was interested in talking to you, only to try to make a sale or close a deal?

All jokes aside, there is a valuable business lesson to be learned from Harry and Lloyd. Any of us who are in business, are typically networking. Networking happens whether you realize it or not. You may get tossed in to a networking situation at a mixer or other function and feel like you have to make a sale, close a deal, or sign on new customers. Going in to a networking function with that feeling of having to make sales or close deals can put a tremendous amount of pressure on you. You may find yourself on edge, scanning the room to find anything with ears and a pulse so you can drop your sales pitch on them. Forget that, they don't even need ears or a pulse. Before you know it, you're pitching your business to the magazine rack in the corner. You are so desperate to make that sale, that you wouldn't hesitate to sell a dead bird to a blind kid. STOP IT!!!! That is no way to network. That is no way to sculpt a positive image of yourself. That is surely not a way to grow your business. Sure, you may get a couple sales out of it, but chances are they wont be good sales. You will not have created a relationship that creates a lifelong customer.

Now, lets take a look at another type of networking. We'll look in to how we can take the pressure off networking situations, and make them fun! Allow me to introduce you to Positive Networking ®. Positive Networking ® is a term coined by the great crew over at workthepond.com. It is an approach to networking that takes the pressure off of you. Instead of focusing on your needs, you focus on the needs of others. Ask yourself, “What can I do for others?”.

This new approach lets you grow relationships as well as form new relationships. Also, since you aren’t pitching a sale, trying to close a deal, or brown-nosing, you are under zero pressure. You’re simply being nice and genuinely interested in the person you have engaged in conversation. By getting to know someone in more detail, it helps us to better answer the question “What can I do for others?”.

Once again, thanks for reading! Be sure to check out www.workthepond.com for some great Positive Networking ® information. Get out and network! I’ll leave you with a quote from Maya Angelou: “People will never forget how you make them feel.”