Every day we meet with people. Some of these people we have
never met before, and we may have met others previously. We have chance meetings
on the street, in a coffee shop, or during grocery shopping; we engage in
conversations with strangers frequently. We also engage with others with whom
we have an ongoing relationship, a networking partnership.
There are all types of people in our universe, with more
people coming and going in and out of our lives each and every day. From total
strangers to long-term acquaintances, these people may include our friends,
family, prospects, customers, clients, or former customers. We have varying
impacts on their lives, and they have varying impacts on ours. We do not live
in a vacuum; we cannot ignore the impact of these meetings.
How do we impact these people; how are we seen by these
people as a result of these meetings? What type of impression do we make on
others, even if during a one-time, short encounter? We must understand that our first impressions,
as well as later ones, can make or break a networking partnership and can cost
us customers, and referrals.
Are we interesting or are we interested? Do we try to “sell”
those whom we meet, even on the first occasion, or do we ask questions that
allow us to discover what the other person needs to succeed? Do we endeavor to
help the other person make their business, or their personal life, better? Do
we instead strive to make our own life better through trying to sell whatever
we offer to everyone whom we meet in the first 5 minutes of the conversation?
How many of us follow the philosophy of making 100 phone
calls each and every day to total strangers, attempting to drum up new
business? How can we ever believe that anyone will buy from a total stranger
who calls them out of the blue, touting products or services? Instead, wouldn’t
they be more interested in the marketing of long-term networking partners who
build relationships first?
Do we really believe that making phone calls to people who
may have never heard of us, or our business, will result in increased sales?
What happens if we don’t make all the (100) calls that we have been told to do
each day? Maybe the prospects that we miss are involved with networking meetings
where others inquire as to what will help their businesses actually prosper.
What is the impression that we leave with others? What do
other people say about us to themselves, to their networking partners, after
they have had a chance to converse with us? Do we really understand that we
should be interested in the other person’s needs and not doing whatever we
believe will line our pockets with sales figures?
Gratitude Marketing can make our meetings memorable
in a great way with our networking partners, whether we meet with them once or
we have multiple meetings over a longer time. People will do business with
those that they know, like, and trust, and they will refer business to those
same people. Total strangers working hard to “sell” will not succeed over the long
haul.
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