SWH; Is it Marketing, or Leadership. Both?

Staying in contact with people you meet, is that good leadership, or a marketing tactic? Can it be both?

There are more questions than answers...the answers are in the questions!

I have to ask...what is your mission? Your purpose?

My mission statement includes "....make a difference." To make a positive difference one must connect well and connecting well takes time and effort.

Building relationships can be difficult, even down-right hard.

I meet a fair amount of people; what difference am I trying to make? What's the depth of the relationship I trying to create?

Lot's of questions.......short time to write this post.

Comments?


ps...this stems from a Facebook post by Kary Oberbrunner that encouraged me to not confuse people with my marketing message - to have one frequency.

Stop-Wasting-Handshakes....is that marketing, or leading? Both? Confusing?

Worth working through?

 

Stop Wasting Handshakes - Part 2, in the present

I ended the previous Wasted Handshakes post with a simple process of sending emails to people I've met.

The post also mentioned I input their name into a database. The buzz-word for a database of contact information is CRM (contact relationship manager). I've written about CRMs in other posts and will come back to that in the near future, but remember this....

......you really should keep some sort of database.

 

It doesn't have to be fancy...for years I used nothing but business cards glued or stapled to a worksheet in a 3-ring binder (I'll come back to that 3-ring binder and the worksheet also).

This is email simply let's them know it was good to meet them...you're NOT selling anything.

It normally simply says..."It was good to meet you and hope to see you again soon."

 

The signature lines include

 

- my name

- my job title

- my phone number

- at least one link that lands on the platform/website I want them to land on. LinkedIn is perfect for this purpose.

 

At this point, if you're making choices to stop wasting handshakes, you've sent an email, input the basic info into a database and have a process to follow-up in the next couple of weeks.

Now....have you received any emails from people you've met in the past week? If so, be sure you've responded to those emails. You don't need to say anything more than "you're welcome" or "thank you," whichever is appropriate. This isn't the time to start selling just because someone has reached out to you.

My experience is that only 3 in 10 people will actually respond to an email I've sent to a new person I've met.

Warning!! Don't get your feelings hurt if you don't get

any responses back. Remember....this is a process

YOU control and you can't control others!

A good source tool is John Maxwell's, "Everyone Communicates, Few Connect." Following John's suggestions is a great way to Stop-Wasting-Handshakes.

To that end........stay tuned for the next part of what I do to stop-wasting-handshakes.

Wasted Handshakes, looking backwards - Part 1

A question poised to the group by Michael Hunter at a Netstorming event was something like "why do people come to networking meetings to just meet, shake hands and there's no follow-up"

My experience shows most people network to sell. Let's say I meet you, an IT guy, and I don't need IT right now, nor do you need a mortgage loan, nor a home listed, nor a.........right now. Thus, we both move on around the room shaking hands, collecting cards, smiling, nodding and wondering "what's the use." And it all starts over again tomorrow at yet another networking meeting. Yes, there might be a one-to-meeting scheduled.......might, probably not. Even then, there's very little relationship building. I'll resist the urge to compare the way most people attempt to network the same way many men go to bars; each are trying to pick up a sure thing (I resist the complete analogy..LOL).

Successful networking is based upon marketing, NOT selling. The basics are this -

1. I come to a networking event with a marketing mindset. My purpose is to start developing relationships through a series of events (processes I control) to draw attention to the benefits I offer, and I know this is going to take a long time.

2. When I meet someone, I begin asking them questions about their industry, what product or services they offer, what brought them to Austin, etc. My purpose is to start a relationship and if the original questions lead into discussions about Family and Hobbies, we have more to talk about. Many times the questions lead to assistance I can offer in terms of information or other needs.....but they probably won't even know that, at-that-time.

I don't have to tell them right now because I trust my process.

3. I have a process I control. That process includes how I handle business cards; mine are in my shirt pocket (not in my hand), theirs go into my right. I write notes, in front of them, on the back of their card.
 

Many times, I don't even give a card because the other person didn't even ask for it. Again, I'm ok with that because I trust my process. My business card, along with all the others they have shoved at them will be dropped aimlessly in the trash...I'm sorry, in a desk drawer anyway.

4. These cards stay in my right pocket, even changing pants, until I get to my desk. They are then put in a SPECIAL spot on my desk.

5. At some point in the next 2 to 3 days....NEVER the same day, I will -

a. put their name in my database and
b. send an email thanking the person for the visit.


This is part One. In the next post I will go deeper into my process and experience and what I will continue to do to try and NOT have wasted the handshake.


To that end....

Danny

512-773-6528

www.StopWastingHandshakes.com

Don't just habit your day away

Motivation gets you going, discipline keeps you growing  (from the Law of Consistency). I looked this morning to see what I'd be covering in a Lunch & Learn today, and you know.....things happen for a purpose and I don't believe in coincidences.

Before I read the lesson, I was in a blah blah mood. Going through the motions, not motivated. Dragging. And then, just reading that title (and having read/taught this chapter 8-10 times), and in a heartbeat, the thoughts about goals vs growth, motivation vs discipline came on and BAM!!
 
Great chapter. My favorite.

Discipline keeps you growing (and going I guess?). Discipline...choices....discipline is about making choices to off-set habits; choices of hope, growth, widening my SOI, thinking into my results.....choices. Make choices, stepping out of my comfort zone....understanding that the fear of change isn't real, but only a product of my conditioning..

Discipline, making choices, understanding, stepping out.

To that end....make choices, don't just habit your day away.

Stop Wasting Handshakes

Coincidences? Not when you're trying to become more aware

"You must know yourself to grow yourself."

- John Maxwell

That's the statement John uses to introduce his chapter on THE LAW OF AWARENESS.

This book has been a big part of my growth the past two years, and this chapter has probably caused the biggest gulp. Being aware.

I wasn't planned (by me) that this is the chapter we studied this week in our Leadership lunch & learn...you see, many at lunch on Tuesday were also in an Empowerment Mentoring lesson on Monday night. The lesson was Authentic Journaling.

I didn't plan it, but getting into the law of awareness is a perfect follow-through after a deep dive into authentic journal.

"The danger isn't in knowing, but in not being aware of what you do know." Awareness..being aware. Journaling can...can...help with that.

James Russell Lowell said "no one can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself."

What are you struggling with? Career, family, money, direction.......

What talents and skills do you possess that support your desire?

Do you know what that desire is, or do you know it's just something....?

Proverbs 25:2 says "In His glory, God conceals matters. The glory of kings is to search matters out."

To that end...struggle to become more aware. It's worth it.

Danny
512-773-6528
www.EmpowermentMentoring.com/DannySmith
 

Choice #10 - Hope

Choice #11 - Clarity and Simplicity

Hope and tasks; a strong combination.

What causes me to miss goals?

You're correct if you said 1. Not putting In the Time, bad Attitude, lack of Skill, not enough Knowlwdge and/or a Style problem.

Or, if I have these T.A.S.K.S. in order and just didn't have HOPE. 

Hope overcomes the real obstacles. With hope I have a sense of victory and will drive through the doubts and that subconscious gremlin that's doing everything it can to shut me down.

With HOPE I can

- find the Time

- improve my Attitude

- develop the Skill

- improve my Knowledge

Thinking before circumstances

So much truth in this.....

"Men are anxious to improve circumstances yet unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound." - James Allen in "As A Man Thinketh" 

I see a lot of new processes, systems, techniques and gadgets (circumstances)...but as another wise man said.., 

"If we don't spend at least as much time improving our thinking as those processes, systems, techniques and gadgets, we'll wonder about our lack." 


#ChooseAheadOfOpportunities