Monthly Archives: March 2022

415) Be Welcoming

Posted on by
Reply
415) Be Welcoming

When you invite someone into your home, you go to great lengths to make them feel welcome. You try to make them feel comfortable and relaxed. You endeavor to create a standard of hospitality. You want them to want to come back. Moreover, you hope they share about their experience, so others know of your hospitality.

Obviously, you can’t have everyone to your house. After all, much of the day you’re not even there. So, while you can’t invite everyone into your home, you can and do invite people into your presence.

Be welcoming to them to. Make them feel comfortable and relaxed. Exhibit a level of hospitality for being around you so they want to come back to visit. Create an experience that they share about with others.

If you consistently do this, you’ll have no shortage of great people in your presence. And nothing but good can come from that.

Like what you’ve read? Prefer to hear it as a podcast or daily flash briefing? Subscribe to the Networking Rx Minute podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

414) Polite Or Honest

Posted on by
Reply
414) Polite Or Honest

Wharton School of Business Professor, Dr. Adam Grant shares that “When you’re torn between being polite or being honest, err on the side of sincerity. It’s better to be disliked but respected than to be liked but disrespected.” Grant goes on to indicate that in the long run, the people we trust the most are those with the courage to tell the truth.

The reality is that the truth may sting, but, done right, the truth you share offers value. This is because your candor can really provide a path to improvement. Depending on the situation, it allows someone to be better or do better.

This does not mean that you should be brutally honest with your thoughts and opinions. After all, no one likes to feel injured. But there is that middle ground. You know: Where the feedback you share might not be complimentary, but is constructive and well-intended in nature.

Like what you’ve read? Prefer to hear it as a podcast or daily flash briefing? Subscribe to the Networking Rx Minute podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

413) Networking Arithmetic

Posted on by
Reply
413) Networking Arithmetic

Simple math says if you subtract a larger number from a smaller one, you get a negative number. If you spend more money than you make, you go broke. Yet in networking, you give more than you expect to get and somehow that formula leads to prosperity. How can this be? Simple.

Much of what you give to others – referrals, information, and contacts – is not depleting you.

If you referred a job-hunting friend to an ace executive recruiter, what are you really out? Nothing, beyond a little time. To the two people you have connected, however, you have conveyed real value. And, in time, what will likely come back to you are things of significant value to you.

This is incredibly powerful stuff. The gist of this in networking terms is that what you give may not compare to what you get. It’s not an exchange of like-kind items. For this reason, networking arithmetic doesn’t follow conventional wisdom. So, you can’t go broke by giving to others.

Like what you’ve read? Prefer to hear it as a podcast or daily flash briefing? Subscribe to the Networking Rx Minute podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

412) Life Is Not Fair

Posted on by
Reply
412) Life Is Not Fair

No one ever said that life would be fair. Some people have more money. Others are taller. Some have super blue eyes. Still others seem to be in the right place at the right time. Life is “not fair.”

However, as much as life is “not fair,” it is “not unfair” either. That is, there is no great scheme to defraud you from getting your piece of the American dream or derail you from the goals you aspire to.

Understanding this, you should generally avoid the temptation to carry on as if somehow you have been cheated. You haven’t. Moreover, this attitude is counterproductive. You see, few people can really identify with this “I have been wronged” attitude and even fewer people want to associate with those who believe this. And those who do, you don’t really want to be around.

No, things are not perfectly equal. Accept that. And then move on. Everyone will respect you for it.

Like what you’ve read? Prefer to hear it as a podcast or daily flash briefing? Subscribe to the Networking Rx Minute podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

411) Ben Franklin And The Internet

Posted on by
Reply
411) Ben Franklin And The Internet

In her book, The Networking Survival Guide, social capital consultant Diane Darling shares that in 1727 Ben Franklin and other American patriots formed a sort of networking club for the purpose of mutual improvement. In fact, the group valued education so much that the members were instrumental in starting the University of Pennsylvania.

Darling queries, “Imagine what it would be like to meet each week with people of the caliber of Benjamin Franklin. The value of their intellect and viewpoints was so high that they wanted to learn from one another and share their knowledge.”

Darling goes on to make the point that in the 21st century you are in a better position than Franklin and his network colleagues ever were. Think about it. The Internet opens up an entire world of great minds, information and resources to benefit from. You just need to be committed to exploring it and connecting with others.

Like what you’ve read? Prefer to hear it as a podcast or daily flash briefing? Subscribe to the Networking Rx Minute podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

How To Become A Referable Brand (EPS 455)

Posted on by
Reply

How referable is your brand? Test it at www.myreferabilityrater.com. Consultant Michael Roderick shares how he helps his clients get others talking about them when they are not in the room, using a methodology that took him from being a high school English teacher to a Broadway Producer in less than two years.

For more great insight on professional relationships and business networking visit https://www.amspirit.com/blog/ or contact Frank Agin at frankagin@amspirit.com.

Check out this episode!

Using Understanding To Better Capitalize On Relationships (EPS 454)

Posted on by
Reply

Frank Agin shares insights from University of Rochester professor Harry Reis that to cultivate successful relationships you need to love and appreciate others, but you also need to invest time in understanding them.

For more great insight on professional relationships and business networking visit https://www.amspirit.com/blog/ or contact Frank Agin at frankagin@amspirit.com.

Check out this episode!

410) The Leading Edge Of Branding

Posted on by
Reply
410) The Leading Edge Of Branding

If you’re an entrepreneur, sales representative or professional, no doubt a business card is part of your daily attire. That is, you feel a sense of anxiety – just like when you forget your phone – when you don’t have an ample supply of cards to share with that next prospective client or strategic business partner.

Your business card, however, is not just a functional component of doing business day in and day out. Done right, it’s also an integral part of your corporate identity strategy. Most times, it’s the first visual impression you make about your professional image.

For that reason, it’s important that you invest in a business card design that represents your brand well. In addition, be sure to coordinate it with other aspects of your visual brand, such as letterhead, envelopes and brochures, as well as your website and social media.

Let your business card be the leading edge of your corporate identity.

Like what you’ve read? Prefer to hear it as a podcast or daily flash briefing? Subscribe to the Networking Rx Minute podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

409) Ubuntu

Posted on by
Reply
409) Ubuntu

Ubuntu (oo-boon-too) is a traditional African philosophy that explains how we are bound in each other’s humanity. And it can be roughly translated as “I am because you are.”

It embraces the idea that humans cannot exist in isolation. That we cannot be without each other and that you and everyone else depends on connection, community, and caring. Moreover, ubuntu instills the mindset that “When you do well, it spreads out. And the benefits to you are really for the whole of humanity. Everyone is better off.”

With the ubuntu mentality, strive to put goodness into the world. When you see suffering or someone with an issue, look to help them, as helping one person really helps everybody, including yourself.

In addition, celebrate the victories of others. Remember, under the notion of ubuntu, another’s achievements (not matter how small) somehow lift everyone, including you.

Remember, you are because we are.

Like what you’ve read? Prefer to hear it as a podcast or daily flash briefing? Subscribe to the Networking Rx Minute podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

408) Personalize, Personalize, Personalize

Posted on by
Reply
408) Personalize, Personalize, Personalize

On a January 2020 episode of the Networking Rx podcast, author and speaker Bill Cates said, “In real estate, it’s about location, location, location. When it comes to reaching out to new people it’s about personalize, personalize, personalize.”

Cates went on to elaborate that personalization is not simply inserting someone’s name or company information into a merge file, then hitting a button to shoot out a canned e-mail or letter. Rather, personalization is about really gaining a sense as to who a person is and then incorporating what you’ve learned into one-on-one individualized communications.

There is no doubt that in the computer age, you can become extremely efficient in communicating with dozens, if not hundreds, of contacts with just a few keystrokes. However, as Cates implies, don’t confuse efficient with effective. Personalization is not at all efficient, but it is highly effective in winning over the hearts and minds of your contacts.  And in the end, that matters most.

Like what you’ve read? Prefer to hear it as a podcast or daily flash briefing? Subscribe to the Networking Rx Minute podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.