Thursday, July 19, 2007

Do You Only Watch One Channel?

Anyone who watches TV every night probably 'surfs' hundreds of channels a week. Me too. Jerry Seinfeld even put the topic in his act before. He stated that while women want to find something to watch, men always search for 'something else to watch'.

What does this have to do with networking, you ask? I've said more than once that when you join a networking organization like AmSpirit Business Connections, why would you only go to your chapter meetings and never go anywhere else? There are monthly luncheons, Business to Business Meetings, Chapter socials, other chapter meetings throughout the week, The CONES tradeshow, the AmSpirit Golf Outing, etc. All of these events are other opportunities to build relationships with other business professionals.

If you only invest 1 hour and 15 minutes each week to your chapter, it's just like buying cable TV (or a satellite dish) and only watching one channel! Why limit yourself when you can either help others by referring to them or helping your own business by promoting yourself?

Obviously, I'm not advocating going to chapters where your business category is already represented. But if you look hard enough, I'm sure you will find chapters that might not have your category represented. Or go to area wide events and market yourself all you want! Who cares if you're a realtor and there are 5 other realtors there? Convince people that you're the best of the bunch! It's also possible that your perceived competitors may be referral sources if you find that you each specialize in different areas/products/services.

So stop watching one channel and SURF AmSpirit Business Connections to get the most out of it!

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