Greg's Right FIT #471

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Random thoughts this week 
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Random thoughts this week

• “To do two things at once is to do neither," said Publilius Syrus. Taking his advice, don’t book important meetings back to back. You won’t be fully present at either. 
• When it comes to solving your people's problems, don't deal in the theoretical. What are they dealing with right now that you can help with or make suggestions on? 
• ROI comes in different flavors. There's preventing loss (opportunity, losing ground), getting more (revenue, profit, market share), or adding what's missing (productivity, eliminating waste). It helps communication to be specific.
• If your salespeople only discount money, they are probably not talking about solutions that are "exactly right" for the client. The exact right solution requires time, resources (people, money), and a defined scope. Change one part, it changes the others. Give equal weight to time and scope.

Being Human - Networking

“What's that like?" – an expert communicator, to me

A new year's resolution on my list is to get back into networking, or networking with a purpose. When I help others with networking, I split the discussion into four parts:

• Where will it happen?
• What will we say?
• How will we transition to opportunity development?
• Follow up

To network more, pre-plan where and when it will happen. Look ahead, look back, do more of what you did and add some new activities in. If people in the roles we target are in attendance, even better. If we're not sure who will be there, we'll still go. People know people. 

When it comes to being interesting while networking, be interested. The best thing for us to bring to networking isn't an elevator pitch, it's a list of questions. "Tell me about. . .," "What's challenging. . .," "What's that like. . ." are all good questions to keep people talking. Be curious. 

For point three, in my experience, it's hard to do opportunity development while networking, so I don't. If I'm talking to a good prospect or someone who might know a good prospect, going into sales mode at the event is usually awkward. Have a transition. "This is interesting. I have a question. Would you be open to a visit at another time/place when I can ask you more about your business and tell you a little about mine?" is roughly what I say. 

Then follow up! Most people I work with that attend trade shows, association events, and social events struggle with follow-up. Including me. The follow-up is where the magic happens! Give them a call, send them a note, get on their calendar. It's why we network in the first place. 

I need to do a few more of these things in 2025. Just a few. I'm a work in progress. I don't want to over exert myself. 

Random Stuff

“Let's get a clamp on that." – Tom Silva, "This Old House"

Before our kids came home for the holidays I took an inventory of things around the house. Not the kind of inventory where I'm keeping track of what's where, more like a running list of projects to be done. We remodeled our main upstairs bathroom a few years ago and I noticed the door sticking. On investigation, the upper door hinge was loose, so I grabbed my trusty screwdriver and tightened it.

As I was doing this, a memory kicked in. Since our house is getting up in age, what has happened will happen. The last time I struggled with a sticking door/loose hinge I learned how to drill out the old hole, insert a dowel, drill a pilot hole, and re-attach the loose hinge. The perfect solution to prevent this problem from recurring during the busy holidays. I went to the garage, found the glue (dried and frozen solid) but couldn't find my little bag of dowels. I made a mental note to get that taken care of. 

Yesterday, as I sat down to breakfast, I hear a loud crash and my lovely bride screams, "Greg!" I jump up and hobble upstairs (my knees aren't what they used to be) to come face-to-face with an angry, naked woman desperately holding up a door. My mind races as I try to figure everything out and take action. It's a lot to take in, and I may or may not be a little light-headed after racing up the stairs. It seems that as she was hanging up her robe to get into a warm relaxing bath, the loose hinge decided it had enough and set the door free. A very exciting way to start the day. 

Needless to say, I stopped by the hardware store, grabbed a dowel rod and fresh wood glue. The door is secure and that angry woman is calmer, but is convinced the door could have killed her.

Good thing she's strong.