Powerful Networking with an Effective Introduction by Larry Baltz
You're sitting in a room full of eager business owners at a networking event. One by one, everyone stands up and introduces themselves, hopefully gaining the opportunity to find one or two new prospects in the crowd.
Unfortunately, most business people stink at Introductions.
Take for instance the remarks made at a recent event I attended. A hotel sales rep introduced himself and stated that his hotel offered beds, meals and meeting rooms. Oh really? How many hundreds of hotels offer that, I thought. What he said was essentially the same introduction used by all the hotel sales people in the room that day.
What if one of them had said something like this?
"Hi, my name is Bob, sales manager with Big City Hotel. Sure, we have meals and beds and meeting rooms like all the other hotels. But they don't have Ruth, our front desk supervisor who's been serving our guests for more than 22 years. Her only responsibility is to help you have an extraordinary stay at our hotel."
Which hotel has the best chance to get your business? The one with meals, and beds and rooms, or the one with all that, plus a great staff.
And Bob can strengthen his relationship with his audience at the next meeting. What happens if he brings Ruth with him and lets her introduce herself during the Introductions? Talk about making an impression on the crowd! By the time the meeting is over, everyone there will be best friends with Ruth.
As good as that is, Bob isn't done yet. He can make a bigger value statement at the next meeting. This time Bob quickly introduces himself and then plays a short recording:
"Hi, this is Tom, sales director at XYZ Company. We had our annual sales meeting at Big City Hotel a few months ago and it was the best we've ever had. Ruth and her staff waited on our people and took care of everything we needed. She was fantastic."
Now that's an Introduction. So the next time you're attending a networking event, can you introduce your value to your audience when you introduce yourself? What is a benefit you can highlight that none of your competitors can claim? What is it you do better than everyone else?
That's the best place to start.
More info is available at: http://www.moresales-moreprofits.com.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
What are the first, second and third words that come out of YOUR mouth?
What do rich people have in common?
What do rich people have in common?
Okay then, besides having a lot of money, what do rich people have in common?
No, it’s not intelligence or education. Look around. The world is littered with unrewarded geniuses and every store has at least one clerk with a master’s degree or a doctorate.
No, it’s not conservatism, courage, luck or wealthy families. And no, it’s not even passion, instinct, timing or greed.
The single characteristic that rich people tend to have in common is an unusually long time horizon.
In other words, rich people get rich because they think further ahead than the rest of us. As a matter of fact, research indicates that the length of your time horizon is the one characteristic that most accurately predicts where you will land in the socioeconomic strata.
Ask him how he chooses investment properties and George Stakis, the renowned multimillionaire real estate magnate, will tell you, “There’s one question that I ask myself when looking at a property, even if I plan to own it for only a few hours... ‘Is this a property that I would want to own 20 years from today?’ If the answer is ‘no,’ then I don’t buy it.”
Wealthy people routinely plant seeds that won’t bear fruit for months or even years. But counter to what you may be thinking, wealthy people don’t share this characteristic “ because they’re rich and can afford to think ahead.” They become wealthy because they have this characteristic.
The average person thinks ahead exactly one paycheck. We know what must be paid with the one that’s coming and we have a plan for what to pay with the next. Needless to say, this is not a plan for building wealth. This is a plan for being average.
How far have you been thinking ahead? (It’s never too late to change.)
The Wizard
Making Ads Work – A Wizard of Ads ® Guide www.makingadswork.com.au
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