Want Members?

Several Business Network International (BNI) chapters in Findlay, Ohio want more members. They could have a traditional "visitor day" (and have in the past) but these chapters think outside the box. They want to help all organizations in the area to be more successful. With that being said they are planning a group networking event. They are inviting the local service clubs, GreaterFindlayInc., Hancock County Leadership and any other groups that solicit for members to be involved.

It reminds me of my friend, Tom Fleming's, BNI chapters in his Tampa, Florida area. All his chapters help each other to be successful. If one chapter falls below 25 members, all his other chapters work to help this one chapter to regain its strength. They realize that if every chapter is healthy, they all will benefit.

So without knowing the "Tom" story, this group is planning a similar task. They want all groups in their area to enjoy strong membership.

Do you want to bet that they will be successful?

Keeping My Commitment

Busy, busy week, so no posting.

I'd like to share a trick with you.

Well, it's really not a trick.

It's more of a strategy.

Yesterday my schedule said that I was supposed to go to Defiance (Oh) for a Chamber networking event starting at 4:30 PM.

Now I had gotten up at 5:30 AM and had a full day. I just knew that by the end of the day, I would find a reason not to go.

But to better develop our classes out west of Toledo, I need to be out there.

What to do?

Here's the trick. I invited one of my BNI members to take the 50 minute trip out there with me. It was a win for both of us. I got to know Cheryl Minifie even better than I did before and also was able to introduce her to a couple people including the director of the chamber and a Realtor friend of mine, Beth Sigg. Since Cheryl sells insurance for Allstate, that was a good connection.

Since I am most uncomfortable at these types of events, pretending that I had a job (intro'ing Cheryl to people) helped me to calm the nerves.

I can honestly say that if I had not had my commitment with Cheryl that I would not have gone, using a very "valid" excuse of being too tired.

Thanks, Cheryl, for keeping me on purpose.

You Don't Say

Friday I had a meeting with Gary Bright. He works for Century Health and is an ambassador for the GreaterFindlayInc. This means that he wears a red blazer to GFI events and welcomes participants as they come in the door. So I knew who Gary was, but I didn't really know anything about him.

VP of Business Development for GRI, Jeremiah Gracia, suggested that Gary would be a good person for me to get to know. So I contacted Gary and he graciously agreed to meet Friday afternoon at Coffee Amici's in Findlay.

Now, let me tell ya', I had wrongly assumed the Century Health was a durable medical goods company and I figured that Gary was a marketing representative, selling wheelchairs and hospitals beds and other medical things. That's where it is really important to connect with people.

Because of our meeting today, I now know that Century Health is a non-profit mental health agency, focusing on emotional wellness and recovery for adults. This is Gary's second stint with CH and he made the decision to return because of the integrity displayed by both the agency and the executive director. His job is to get out into the community to let people like me and other people know of the services they can provide.

We also talked about how funding is always a challenge for non-profit agencies today and that he's always open to ways he can help bring in more money. He said that he is confident that the money they do spend is done in a manner that is very stewardship-like.

Gary talks R-E-A-L slow. I am more of a hard charger. I can tell you that after spending 45 minutes with Gary near the end of a very busy week that I felt very calm.

So, stop assuming that you know what someone does. At your next networking meeting seek out one person to really find out what they story is!

Speed Networking

Last week I went to my first ever business speed matching. Or as a friend of mine put it, speed dating for business!

I have always avoided this type of marketing because it didn't seem to fit my way of marketing which is to develop relationships.

It worked like this: There were twenty participants. At the start, people are sitting facing one another. At the signal, we had five minutes to talk with the person we were facing. At the next signal we all moved to the right, having a new person to communicate with for five minutes.

I had no goals set going in to this event, other than to experience this type of marketing.

I found it a frustrating experience for me, but I told Jeremiah Gracia, VP of Business Development for GreaterFindlayInc that I will try it again. Here are a couple of my frustrations.

1. Each person handed me their business card, whether I wanted it or not. I do not hand out business cards unless someone asks for it. I gave out two. Is "dealing the deck" better in this situation?

2. My style is to ask questions when I meet someone for the first time, to find out more about that person. Consequently, most of the 19 conversations I had were focused on the other person -- not a bad thing, but I would guess that for most of the participants, they don't know what I do. Is there a format to follow as a participant of one of these events?

3. One participant gave everyone a fairly large gift of a beautifully wrapped dish of taffy candies. They were lovely and they were also cumbersome. I met with this person fairly early so I had that, plus my portfolio, my purse, my coffee, etc. to move each time. I felt like the one-handed paper-hanger. Should gift items be given at the end of the event?

4. Five minutes went quickly. There was no midpoint signal to suggest the conversation focus move to the other person. Or should there be a smaller group, so that there are two rounds with the first round focusing on one person, and the second round on the other?

Now, even with the frustrations, I did accomplish two future appointments and have since scheduled a third. I must tell you that the third was sort of reluctant to schedule when I emailed. I was thinking, "why bother go to these events if you're only going to skim the surface?"

So what do I think of this type of networking? The jury is out. As with anything new, there is a learning curve. I will register for the next event to see if this is an option for me.

What advice do you have for me?

Later:

(Okay, Since I wrote the above post I've done some additional research looking for actual hints on what to do at a speed networking event. While there is not a lot of info out there that specifically addresses that topic, one article did give me a lightbulb moment. The article was giving the benefits of speed networking with one being "Professional Development." Specifically it explained that a speed networker will "learn to perfect their 30 second elevator pitch" That's when I realized my frustration. The elevator pitch signifies selling for me and that is NOT networking. I was trying to network when most everyone else was selling. Just having that realization helps me to realize that I'm not crazy!)

Nametags, Both Sides of the Story

As you have read, I was at a conference these past couple days. Also last week I graduated from Leadership Toledo. I want to compare the name tags of both organizations.

As with many groups, both had laminated name tags that were to be hung around the person's neck.

Where each was different was that one group printed the same information on both sides of the name tag and the other group only printed on one side. And you guessed it, more times than not, when I was trying to remember a name, all I could see was the blank white of the backside.
I noticed that I was a little more shy in this situation.

So my suggestion for conferences or any groups, is to print on both sides. Probably takes a little more ink and slightly more time, but the value to the people using them in priceless!

Fun, fun, fun!

It's been a busy time and still is, but I am going to squeeze in a short post.

We had a Certified Networker graduation on Tuesday night for our most recent two classes. The room was buzzing with high energy level.

I think it says a lot about the students and the guests they invite. I think it also is helped along by the fact that we always have a question of the event.

This time Leasa Maxx of Maxx Grafx was in charge of bringing us the big Q. Her choice?

"What's your favorite pizza topping?"

We also officially ask everyone in attendance to introduce themselves as we begin the formal, sit-down part of the evening. Everyone is asked to give name, company and the answer the the question.

That one extra bit gives us an additional window into people. It's amazing. By the end of intros everyone is relaxed and we can proceed with a fun, energized program.

It's the best!

What question would you suggest for one of our events?

Three or One, Which is Better?

This morning I drove south to Findlay before our ice storm hit. I attended the chamber's monthly Fresh Brewed event. It is a combo of both networking and information. Since I am attempting to get to know that community better, it is a great place for me.

One thing they do at this event which I don't really like, is about midway through the event they tell everyone to get up and "trade cards with three people they've not met."

For me that is like hearing fingernails screech on the blackboard. (I know, some of you don't know what those are!)

You see, I'd rather talk with one person during that short, three minute period.

And that's what I did today.

The lady I sat with was someone I had not yet met, so I got half of it right. We intro'd ourselves to each other. She owns a gift shop on Main St and she mentioned that she has toys and table linens. As a grandma, I wanted to see what she had. I also happen to love tablecloths.

After Fresh Brewed and another appointment, I crossed Main St and entered her shop, DorAnne's Gifts & Gourmet. Oh boy! The puppets are to die for, the color saturated tablecloths are unbelievable, but let me tell you about the purses. There were just three on display and I want all three. I didn't buy any today, but I will be in Findlay each Tuesday teaching a Certified Networker class, so I may be in "trouble!"

I'm glad I didn't follow the directions this morning.

What rules have you broken this week and did it work to your advantage?

No, I Don't Want To!

Yesterday morning, the first appointment on my schedule was to attend a networking event that I had never attended before. To add to my anxiety it was at a location that would take a little bit of thought to figure out where it was.

I also had a second networking event at the same time that I usually attend each month that was on my schedule. I knew where that was and knew who would be there.

Listen to a recording of the voices in my head yesterday morning:

"Oh, you don't want to go to (new event) because you won't know anybody."

"You should go to (familiar event), it's safe and you'll meet people you're comfortable with."

"You know you're going to get lost."

"What if they act like you shouldn't be there?"

"Is it really a good use of your time?"

"No, you'd better go, because MB (a friend) invited you."

So I ignored the voices and did go. Guess what!

They didn't look at me like a had two heads.

I actually carried on conversations with a couple people I already knew.

I ran into someone that my presence triggered a question from him.

I made acquaintance with a new person who lives in a area where we are filling one of our Certified Networker classes.

Lesson Learned?

Do the difficult, scary stuff an it won't be so difficult and scary. It might even have a future ROI.

When did you push yourself outside your comfort zone and how did it turn out?

Packed Week

Okay, this is Saturday morning and I am glad I made it through the week. Not only was every day packed to the gills, but I had a meeting or event every night.

I have several reasons to write quite a few thank you notes this weekend, which feels like a chore, right now, but I will actually love doing it when I get into it!

Wednesday afternoon, I attended a Toledo Chamber of Commerce function in downtown Toledo. BNI was a Silver Sponsor of the event and as such, received tickets they could give away. John Meyer, Co-executive Director of Team Ohio offered those tickets to all the Assistant BNI Directors and also asked them to invite a member from one of the chapters they oversee.

I invited DJ Deiter, from the Silver Dollar Chapter in Bowling Green, Ohio. Now, I have to tell you that I was not looking forward to spending these four hours in this manner. It had nothing to do with DJ, in fact he was the one reason that it was palatable. He is smart and we know each other pretty well, as he had just stepped off the leadership team of his chapter after a year.

There were several outbreak sessions listed in the brochure and many had the title, "To Be Announced." That was telling me that this was all a crap shoot.

Okay, I'll make this short.

I did meeting some interesting people.

I did connect with people I have met in the past who could be helpful.

I did sit through two rather ordinary (read boring, bad PowerPoint) sessions.

But this is all about me.

DJ actually went to three sessions. He is a financial planner for Modern Woodmen of America. The extra one he went to was about 401(k) planning and he went out of curiosity to find out what was being said. There were only three people in the audience for this session. One of those asked a lot of questions. DJ shared that he had introduced himself to this person and as a result had an appointment with this person to see if he could help sort out all these questions.

That was shared with me as we were walking out.

Duh! I realized that my attitude was all about me. "What was I going to get?????"

Double Duh! My attitude would have been a heck of a lot better if I had gotten out of my own way and just thought about others.

Hit me!

What a Difference a Day Can Make

This past weekend Steve and I had the pleasure of walking early both mornings of the weekend. One day we took our yellow Lab, Gable, with us and the next day we took the two Springers, Dillon and Owen. (They really should be called Dumb and Dumber.)

What a difference between the two days.

Both days we went to the same park and traveled the same path.

Gable is now 13 years old -- a fine dog. While, as far as I'm concerned, he is still very handsome, he is getting slower. I think the hearing and eyesight are not what they used to be either. During our walk we saw about 20 - 25 deer, some very close. Gable could have cared less. And the deer just stood their ground not running away.

Owen and Dillon are seven years old. But you'd think they were still little puppies. The whole time they were walking they were pulling on the leash. I think my one arm is a couple inches longer than it used to be. Owen always makes noises, too. I liken him to the Little Engine that could. He just keeps chugging and panting along. We only saw about five deer, and those were at a distance. I'm sure that any that were around were scared away by Owen's noises.

So what's this got to do with networking.

Well, as I was being pulled along on Sunday, I thought about how some people are like Owen and Dillon when they go to a networking event. They scare people away. And then there are the calm attendees, like Gable, who people like to be around.

That's all. After all, my brain was on "weekend."

The Ultimate Tribute

I have to tell ya'.

I have some pretty amazing people in my life.

This past Wednesday evening, there was an event in Toledo to celebrate the book, Masters of Sales, being published. I am a contributing author to that book. So the event could have been a boring book signing, but no, a committee of wonderful friends knew that I would like something bigger (and less focused on me) than that.

With that said, what you need to know is that Sandy Pirwitz, Sandy's Stuff for Women,

and her committee of Leasa Maxx, Maxx Grafx;
Linda Kuns, State Farm Insurance;
Merri Bame, Breaking Down Barriers;
Lisa Laskey, Image.com
Ellen Critchley, Critchley Creative and
Anita Dotson, Corporate Intelligence Consultants designed an evening to celebrate literacy.

Sandy and the team knew that I hold literacy very dearly in my heart and that I also collect children's books. (I also give only books to my grandchildren for all birthdays and holidays.)

So instead of the evening being barely palatable by the attendees, it was an evening where we were raising money for two libraries and also a center that has children's literacy programs. In addition, each attendee received not one, but two copies of the Masters book -- one to keep and one to give.

It all put some electricity into the air.

But let me tell you more about this event another day!

Just know that I think the team excelled in this project and as the numbers are being finalized, it looks like the charitable money goals are going to be realized.

It couldn't be a better tribute.

Thanks to all who made it happen.

More On Questions

Thursday night was the third official meeting of our new investment club. Joy MacLeod, of Artistic Memorials, was the one who sparked the formation of this group. We now have nine members and are hoping to add a few more in the next couple months.

What is really neat about this group of women is that we all don't know each other. Joy starts each meeting agenda with one new question for us to answer about ourselves.

This month the question was, "When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?"

Again, it is so amazing how just one question can tell so much.

Our age range is 30s - 70s. Unfortunately our 30 year old was not able to attend the meeting. But it was fun to hear how each decade had answers that were similar.

Those in their 40's were proving that they could go to college and be something other than a nurse or teacher.

Those of us in the 50's were able to choose either nurse or teacher.

Those of us in the 60's had to receive special permission to do anything that smacked even the slightest masculine.

Those in the 70's were channeled into marriage and motherhood.

How times have changed!

That one question helps me to better understand and also to quickly get to know better everyone sitting around the table.

I think these individual questions should be adopted by every networking group as part of introductions they request. Along with just name and company, think how much more interesting the whole thing would be if you learned that one more piece of info about each person?

What do you think would be some good Q's to use?

No, I Don't Want to Play

I was talking with a friend the other day about the networking event we are going to have in the fall for the launch of the new book Masters of Sales. I am a contributing author to this book. Page 250, just in case you wanted to know!

This friend is also a published author. In my opinion her book is great because it makes me laugh out loud. She is self-published, but she paid the extra money to have a cover designed and also had some stiff editing done to make it read better. I have purchased several copies of the book to give to friends.

So there you have the background.

In this conversation she mentioned that she still had several hundred books in her garage.

I shared that at our event, we were thinking of asking other local authors to be in attendance. We want to support their efforts, too.

She said that she didn't think that it would be good for other local authors. It is her experience that BOOK FAIRS don't work. She explained that people only bring a certain amount of money and she didn't think people would budget for other books besides ours.

Now, she has probably done a lot more work of promoting that book of hers than I will ever personally think of doing for Masters of Sales. After all, we have the whole BNI network behind us. But why would she kick a gift horse in the mouth?

If you were an author and had some books you needed to sell, would you want to be a part of this networking event which is not a book fair?

Quiet Visitors

This morning hubby, Steve, was leaving the house before me. Of course, the dogs went out the back door with him. Seconds later he was shouting, "Debby, quick, look out the window at the deer."

The dogs were at the invisible fence line, barking up a storm at the four deer that had been right at our property line. Now, I have to tell you that of the three dogs, two are really not very smart.

Our dogs are hunting dog breeds, Springer Spaniels and a Yellow Lab. They are not the best hunters, though, as they are frightened of guns. Makes me laugh.

This morning they probably just wanted to play with the BIG DOGS.

Of course by the time I looked, the deer were farther north, figuring the better part of valor was not to stick around for the dogs.

But it made me think about how sales people scare away prospects, going after the prospect in full force, instead of being quiet and letting the prospect lead the way. It is especially so at networking events, where sales people mistakenly think that it is the time to sell.

Where and when have you seen prospects scared away by networking dogs?

How Can I Help?

My client, Fred Schmitts, owner of Mobil Lube, did a huge favor and invited me to the Fresh Brewed Business produced by GreaterFindlay, Inc. I was impressed. They combined networking, dissemination of important community information and a little bit of education mixed in for glue.

And they stayed on their timeline.

Another client, Kendra Saldana, Smart Sites by Kendra, was asked to deliver the networking educational moment. She did a bang-up job. She first gave the "Webster's" definition of networking, reading from her notes. Then she looked up and said, "but really what we need to do is to find out what each of us needs." In other words, "how can I help you?"

Immediately after that on the agenda was the four-minute networking scramble. In the past, I've heard from my students that it is just people passing their business card as quickly as they can before they move on to the next victim. Kendra of course had asked us to use her question.

Interesting.

Everyone I asked that question, either had no idea or just said, "I could use some more business." (Or even funnier, one guy said, "I really don't need any more business, I've got all I want in Findlay."

Interesting.

Come on world. Get a little creative. Find an answer to that question before you attend your next networking event. If you don't know what you need, then no one else knows how to help you.

Round Table Networking

In my previous post today, I talked about people sitting next to each other at networking events.

Now I want to focus on a group that has it figured out.

WEN - The Women's Entrepreneurial Network to be exact.

This 360+ member organization in NW Ohio offers five networking opportunities per month and the lunchtime session in Toledo had reached such success that a problem was created.

You see, somewhere between 70-100 people are showing up. You question, "So what?"

The so what factor is that in the past, everyone got an opportunity to have 20 seconds to introduce themselves, their company name and one thing they needed from the audience. With people passing the microphone, and getting ready to speak, figure only two people per minute made intros. For those of you math whizzes out there, that's somewhere around 35-50 minutes of individual intros. Introductions generally began at shortly after noon, leaving little time for other WEN announcements at the end at 1 PM.

The two Co-directors, Linda Everhardt Kardux and Linda Fayerweather, put their heads together and came up with a solution.

Now, we all get to say just our name and company name. (Figure 5 to 6 people per minute.) Then, at each round table, each person gets two minutes to talk about what they do just to the people at the table.

Obviously, it makes sense to sit at a table where you don't know anyone, or at least some of the people. Or your in-depth commercial falls on ears that already know you.

Ingenious.

Without saying so, the Linda's figured out a way to get people to sit with those they don't know.

Chances of Meeting

If I were to tell you that I was going to take away a 50% chance of you meeting someone that could help you be more successful, what would you say to that?

This past week, I attended a networking event, where there was a lunch. People sat at round tables.
I said "hello" to two people I had met when I was asked to speak to their sales meeting several weeks ago.

They sat next to each other.

They cut in half their opportunity to meet someone who might help further their success.

It always blows my mind when I see this happen.

Why don't they just stay in the office to develop that relationship further and save the cost of the lunch?

Yes, I know, there was an opportunity to either side of each of the offenders.

But what if that one person was not helpful? There was no fallback. They were done.

Tell me. Why don't networkers get it. Sitting next to people you know is limiting, unless that person is someone who can help you be more successful in the future.

And believe me, if your table mate is your office mate doing the same thing you do, you're really dumb.

Comments?

Camp CEO, Part II

It important to know all the rules!

My friend, Lori Cannon and I learned the Girl Scout rule about backing our car into the parking space at Camp Libby in the winter when we provided a presentation skills training for a group of girls. Our friend, Angela Tennaro, Program Director for the Maumee Valley Girl Scout Council kidded us because we had not noticed that we were the only car "headed' in. They park backwards because if there is an emergency, it is easier just to jump in the car and drive.

Makes sense.

So we knew that rule!

When we arrived at camp for the Camp CEO (read part I) weekend, a car was there before us, parked frontwards. It was Theresa's red SUV. She soon came up from the cabin to greet us and of course with all our knowledge about the proper way to park we were giving her grief her about her parking skills. She laughed and said, "Well, I've already been busted for my shoes!" Open toe shoes are a no-no at camp.
Knowing the rules is so important not only at camp but especially when you visit a networking group. Unintentionally breaking a rule, making that awful faux pas, will make you memorable.

Unfortunately, it might not be the type of memory you want!

Ask your friend who has invited you to the event, what you need to know before you go. It will help you to look like you belong!

What rules did you find out after the fact?