Lessons Learned from John Miller

There's a wonderful book written several years ago entitled 'QBQ: The Question Behind the Question', by John Miller (http://www.qbq.com). In the book John writes of an experience he had while visiting a restaurant. He placed an order for a diet Coke only to find out that they only served Pepsi products. He changed his order to water with lemon and thought nothing of it.

Minutes later his meal arrived along with a diet Coke. To make a long story short, the server had his manager go around the corner to a local store and bought a bottle of diet Coke. The lesson is one of going the extra mile to provide service.

Every week I meet with my AmSpirit Business Connections Chapter at GameWorks at Easton. This past week we had near full attendance plus 9 guests attending. GameWorks staffers were doing the best they could to bring in extra chairs and tables. Our regular server was off for the day, so the new server had his hands full to say the least.

We took a short break before our featured speaker. I left the room to go to the ATM across the hall (needed money for our weekly raffle). As I briskly walked back into the restaurant to re-enter the meeting, two elderly ladies motioned me over to their table. "Could we please have some menus", they asked. I guess because I was wearing a name badge and walking briskly I looked like one of the managers. I responded that I did not work there, and started to walk away. It's at that moment that the QBQ lesson hit me.

I saw a stack of menus sitting next to one of the registers and grabbed a couple and delivered them back to the two ladies. The expression on their faces was priceless! "I thought you didn't work here", one of them said. "I don't, but I knew where the menus were. Your server will be right with you", I replied. I smiled and walked back to my chapter meeting.

How many of us go out of our way to be servants for others? What I did was very little effort on my part. But I bet the two ladies will remember it for some time.

Making an extra phone call, connecting people who can help each other, doing the little things to make a difference for others. I was about to write 'that's what makes a successful networker'. It's not, though. That's what makes a successful life!

The Tale of Two Chapters

I attended two chapter meetings today. One in the morning, one at lunch time. The morning group had no guests, the lunch group had 9 guests. What's the difference?

It's amazing to see how two chapters with relatively the same professions can act so differently. The morning group wants badly to grow the group, but always looks for some magical formula that requires little or no effort.

The lunch group never really discusses 'we need to bring guests'. They just do it. No complaining, no whining, no 'let somebody else do it'. Members of the lunch group are so proud of the chapter they belong to and are genuinely thrilled to be there every week. They can't wait to showcase their chapter.

The morning group has the demeanor of 'this is such a chore' that they appear bored at the whole concept. It's not hard to see why guests are NOT chomping at the bit to visit the chapter. The members aren't even thrilled to go, so why would they bring guests to see it?

The bottom line is that everyone in AmSpirit Business Connections wants to be in a chapter with someone who is enthusiastic, brings lots of guests, and generates lots of referrals. What's stopping you from being that very person? Why not be your chapter's savior, rather than looking for someone else to do it?

If you can fill a room with like-minded people that have the 3 characteristics above (enthusiastic, bringing guests, generating referrals) you may just find a culture like the lunch group I mentioned here.

Underestimating 'Socials'

I often wonder why more people in AmSpirit Business Connections do not attend 'Socials'. Whether they're in their own chapter or even other area wide socials that chapters promote across the organization.

One chapter last year had very poor attendance at their monthly socials. Several members came up with the solution to the problem. Stop having them. What??

Rather than correct the behavior of 'bad networking behavior' stop having them? For the last 15-20 years it has been said that the chapters that 'play together, stay together'. I just attended my chapter's social this past Friday evening and I couldn't believe how pumped up I was afterward. Not only was it a lot of fun, but I got energized seeing others in our chapter bond at a deeper level. It all feeds into the "know, like, and trust" concept that leads to more referrals for everyone in the group.

The culture in my own chapter, or at least my guiding statement that I've shared is this:

We will create a chapter of members where each member will not hesitate for 2 seconds to provide a referral to their best clients with any member of the chapter. If we all feel the same way about each other and have the utmost confidence in each other's professionalism, we can not lose!

Every opportunity you get to socialize with your chapter, seize upon it! Until you make it a habit, you may not even know what you're missing.

Here are some tips for 2009!

By now most of us have settled back into a regular work routine. Isn't it nice to have a Monday with regular hours again? I guess I need the structure of a work week to get me focused and have the ability to get done all the things that are important for my business and my life.

Ever notice that AmSpirit Chapters with the most structure more often than not also have:

• larger member rosters
• more referrals generated
• more enthusiasm

Has anyone ever visited a chapter with little or no structure that has any of these 3 items above? I know I haven't. Let's all commit to rolling up our collective sleeves, helping fellow members, and putting our best networking efforts into our chapters in 2009.

Here is a link to an article that I thought was truly insightful as well as entertaining. Do you recognize any of the behaviors listed in this article? Let's all be aware and not fall into any of these behaviors ever.

Enjoy this article. I know that I did. http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/02/perfect-way-to-lose-at-networking.html