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Networking
– the Human Kind
Around
the halls of Promethius Consulting, we generally think of
bits and bytes, cables and internet connections when we hear
the word “networking.” But in reality, our more
than six years of growth as a company were just as much aided
by our people skills as they were by our technical knowledge.
In short, we understood a long time ago that we would never
grow, no matter how advanced our technical knowledge was,
if we didn’t know anything about dealing with people.
More than
90% of our business today is fueled by the people we know.
Our personal connections far outperform our advertising, our
marketing, our PR and our sales efforts. What’s most
exciting about that mix is that people are doing business
with us because they know us, they like us and they know our
reputation. What a relief to be able to convey our company’s
values through personal interaction rather than some fancy
brochure or sales competition.
We strongly encourage you to take a look at
your own networking efforts. Here are some internal guidelines
or rules that we have developed for ourselves:
1.
Be committed – If you are going to reach out
to people in the community, be committed to doing it long-term.
Networking with people and organizations is a long-term investment,
not a quick fix.
Several
Promethius staff members have belonged to groups like the
Indianapolis Jaycees, Big Brothers Big Sisters and others
for years. We are all in it for the long haul, and we wouldn’t
have it any other way.
2.
Don’t sell – Networking is NOT SALES.
Networking is about forming relationships. If you do it right,
you will be too busy having fun and making fabulous friends
to worry about the bottom line. The sales will come, but that’s
not really why you are there.
When we started our business years ago, we
naively thought of networking as a way to sell our services.
You know what? We were horrible at it! I think people could
smell it a mile away. Who could blame them?
We turned
the corner long ago when we stopped focusing on sales. I can
honestly say that we all would still be involved in our special
networking circles today even if we never saw a dime in return.
At some point, we became much more interested in the people
and the causes than our own sales. Ironically, the orders
started pouring in once we made this important shift in attitude.
Again, sales is not why we are there!
3.
It’s all about people – Networking with
people is a magical business endeavor because its biggest
payoff is personal. Just think - you essentially get paid
to make wonderful friendships. What job could be more enriching?
Once again, when you are out in the “trenches,”
be it a Power Networking Breakfast, a Church meeting or volleyball
night at the YMCA, make sure to focus all your attention on
the people around you. Feel their pain. Listen to their jokes.
Learn something from them. You just never know when a new
relationship will take root.
O.K. Now that you have done it right by focusing
in on giving rather than receiving, by reaching out to people
rather than looking for sales, you can take a moment to enjoy
the professional return in the form of referrals and the like.
It’s nice, and you deserve it. But remember, that’s
not why you are there! |
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| Tony
Valle featured Artist in this year’s Midwest Music
Summit
We
are excited to invite you to see Tony Valle perform
all original music for this year’s Midwest Music
Summit on this Friday, July 22, at
Morrison Opera Place. The show starts at 6pm and Tony
takes the stage from 7pm to 8pm.
The Midwest Music Summit is the region's
premier music event, showcasing emerging artists of
every musical genre, and transforming Indianapolis into
the live music capital of the world for one weekend
each summer. This year will be their biggest yet, as
dozens of clubs welcome hundreds of bands, thousands
of music industry professionals, and innumerable fans
to an electric festival atmosphere.
Morrison
Opera Place
47 South Meridian Street
Indianapolis, 46204
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Definitions
of the Month
Courtesy
of Webopedia.
time
sharing
- Refers to the concurrent use of a computer by more than
one user -- users share the computer's time. Time sharing
is synonymous with multi-user. Almost all mainframes and minicomputers
are time-sharing systems, but most personal computers and
workstations are not.
hotlist
- A list of frequently accessed documents. The term is often
used to describe a list of Web pages that you keep in one
place for easy access. In Netscape Navigator, the hotlist
is called the bookmark list. In Internet Explorer, it's called
the Favorites folder.
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