In the days when I had a ‘proper job’ and wore a suit most days, I used to help entrepreneurs and business people with their Sales, showing them and working with them how to be better sales people and improve their business bottom line.
I ran a series of Networking Skills Workshops, and this is the story, with which I always started.
Imagine if you will that you are a woman. Now I know that for some of you that’ll be no problem, but for the guys you’re going to have to use your imagination.
I’ll leave the physical description to your imagination; you can be blond, or brunette, tall or short – it’s your imagination…
But to help you, you’re aged late twenties / early thirties, you’re a professional business women and a successful entrepreneur, you own your own business, you’ve an executive style house on a private estate, you have a wide circle of friends, and socialise extensively, you take holidays to exotic locations and have a very nice car (possibly Mercedes CLK Cabriolet), in fact you are one pretty foxy lady.
You have an almost perfect life; except that you feel there’s something missing…. There’s something not quite complete…
You don’t have that special person in your life, you’ve nobody to wake up with in the morning, there’s nobody to have a glass of wine with and talk over the day….
One bright and sunny day, you’re driving into work and in the distance you see a man standing at the bus stop and in a heartbeat you know this is the man of your dreams.
You know instantly this is the man you want to spend the rest of your life with, you know that this is the man who you want to be the father of your children. The blood is coursing through your veins; you’re consumed with lust for this man.
So what do you do… obviously you slam on the brakes and screech to a halt. You lower the window, lean over and shout out to the man of your dreams:
“How about it, big boy!”
Now he’s standing there minding his own business, so what does he do?
He does what any other red-blooded male would do when accosted in such a fashion.
He turns bright red with embarrassment and legs it down the road!
That’s it – you’ve blown it; your Mr Right is heading off into the distance in a cloud of dust, never to be seen again.
So what can you do…. Let’s rethink the situation and rewind the day….
There he is at the side of the road – the man of your dreams, your Mr Right, so you need a strategy to attract him.
You know he’s waiting for a bus and that the bus is going into town, so you follow and find out where he works, you don’t know anyone in the company he works for so you have to think of something else…
The next day, it’s raining, there he is again at the bus stop, so you pull over, slid the window down – and say “Hello, I’ve seen you in town, you work for so & so, can I give you a lift – it’s pouring down…”
So he gratefully accepts, and with a little idle chat, you find out he’s unmarried, not in a relationship, has a good job, etc etc, in fact, every thing that you need in a man – he’s just perfect.
Now you’re playing it cool – a lift the next day, and you subtly hint that a coffee would be welcome, and one thing leads to another….
Move forward a couple of years, you’ve walked down the aisle in the big white meringue and you’re living together as man and wife in wedded bliss….
Business Networking is about building relationships with like minded business people, it talks time and no business can take place the first time you meet someone.
Now, with a saucy glint in your eye, when you shout out “How about it Big Boy” – you’ll probably get the result you are looking for…