For the last couple weeks, ever since it finally got cold here in NW Ohio, the birds have been feasting at our various feeders. We have lived in this home for a little over 14 years now. When we moved in it was not much more than a house on a former farm field. If you were nice, you could have described it as prairie. What that meant was there were no trees or other plantings, just flat ground.
We've added many trees and bushes and plants over the years. Even so, our feeders were mainly populated by house finches and sparrows. Ever so often we 'd get a Blue Jay, but not regularly. You can imagine my delight at this year having, several different types of wood peckers, Blue Jays and the best of all, a pair of Cardinals.
What's that got to do with networking?
Well, I've put a lot of investment time into making our property be bird friendly. My hubby takes on the responsibility of keeping the feeders filled and the suet cakes available. It's taken a lot of investment time to get the delight of the flash of red as the male Cardinal flies around the house. It's the same with relationship development, it doesn't happen overnight and certainly not at one networking event. But over time, the investment will pay off.
I am always amused when I ask sales people if they are using a referral method to gain sales and they answer with, "I tried that once and it doesn't work." I think the most difficult aspect of sales and relationship development is to keep on, keeping on, when the payoff feels like it's never going to happen.
Have you had a Cardinal payoff that you'd like to share?
No comments:
Post a Comment