I meet with a networking group every Tuesday morning. Yes every Tuesday. At 7AM.
It’s a bit of a chore sometimes but more often than not, it’s well worth it. We are at the same place, at the same time, with the same people. That’s one of the reasons why it works. We get to know each other over time and develop accountability and camaraderie.
Recently we had a couple of categories become free. We were blessed to have multiple applicants for each position. This led to an interesting development, we had to learn as quickly as we could about all the candidates to make a choice between them.
Some people commented at the time that it’s a tough choice because you hardly know anyone and it’s really difficult to make that sort of snap decision based on a five minute presentation that each gave right before the decision.
But frankly, the winner in each case was the guy who called for face to face meetings with the people he saw as potential business partners in the group. He invested his time with no expectation of return, made his objectives to win the slot known and then did so. He did this over and above the five minute presentation he and his competition shared.
That’s the kind of partner I want to be in business with, and want to be. How about you?
