Show interest in that person, you may be surprised what that person has to offer you.
I can say that I am a people person, I know it, and people who know me will tell you I am Miss Chatty. It’s not that I want to know anyone’s business; I just love to meet new interesting folks. My business is a people business. As a financial advisor, I do business with individuals, so I have to network. I need to build relationships. For me, everyone is a prospect. Everyone needs my services no matter how small.
By not pre-judging, but building relationships over time, I scored my biggest single client. Between 1999 and 2000, Carla and I went to the same church and our sons played on the same soccer team. While our kids practiced we would just talk about life on the sidelines and the concerns that mothers and women normally talk about. Carla was a stay-at-home mother who had recently gone through a bad divorce. She had two boys: one in elementary; the other in middle school. Both boys were in a private Christian school. At the time, I was working on my Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation. Carla had been trained as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) prior to staying home with her kids.
During our conversations, Carla would always have interesting questions about the stock market. One day Carla asked me to meet her for lunch. This ordinary, conservative investor pulled out her brokerage statements at the restaurant and asked me what I thought. I was surprised that a restaurant was the place she chose to show me that she was a millionaire. After a brief discussion, we agreed for me to do a more in-depth analysis of her portfolio. I was then living in an extended stay hotel, waiting for my son to finish school so we could join my husband in Atlanta. Carla ended with wanting me to manage a portion of her portfolio, even after I mentioned that I was moving from Florida to Atlanta in just weeks. Did this stop the deal? No!
We can also take the example of Susan Boyle, the woman on the recent ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ show who was pre-judged by most. Susan Boyle, a plain 47-year-old woman who said her dream was to be a professional singer, at her own admission had never been kissed. The audience was sneering, and the judges thought she was slightly nuts. The surprise was as soon she opened her mouth and sang like an angel.
So when I meet someone I always engage that person, regardless of who he or she may be, because as I have found in the past you cannot judge a person by his or her appearance. When one is networking, people tend to navigate to the flamboyant people within the room. What I am saying is: consider who may seem reserved. Show interest in that person; you may be surprised by what that person has to offer you.
If you do not judge people by their appearance, and instead build relationships, you may be surprised at the trust you can build. I closed a $600,000 deal with Carla.