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IT’S YOUR MOVE: THE VISIBILITY
HAND
An excerpt from the new book, It’s Your
Move: Dealing Yourself the Best Cards in Life and Work, by Cyndi Maxey and
Jill Bremer (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003)
Show Up
Winners show up. If you’ve ever planned a
meeting or event, you know how grateful you are when people actually arrive.
You remember them. Showing up is the basic step to visibility. You will
never be noticed if you’re not there, even if it’s not always a comfortable
place to be. Stepping outside your comfort zone is instrumental to finding
your potential.
Think of all the opportunities you have to
show up. If you’re employed, required meetings and events are part of your
job. Everyone has an abundance of association meetings as well as
educational and social events of your profession and hobby. Finally,
community, church, and school events outside your work or hobby are within
your reach. Attending these can help you reach your potential. Don’t worry
at this point about whether the program topic relates to your needs. You
will always learn something or meet a new contact. Chalk it all up to your
personal and professional development.
It’s easy to talk yourself out of showing up,
especially if the event isn’t required. If you’re a free agent, a
telecommuter, or unemployed, it’s doubly hard to pull yourself out of the
friendly confines of the home or home office. For example, if you’re
starting a consulting business after years as a salaried employee, you could
feel a bit fearful about joining groups where you don’t know anybody. But
cocooning yourself in your office won’t help your business grow. Try to turn
your negative self-talk into a positive push out the door.
Be Visible
Seek opportunities to be visible. An old
Spanish proverb states, “The dog that trots about finds a bone.” You have
daily, weekly, monthly, and annual opportunities to be noticed and meet
others.
Daily Plan
Look at your daily to-do list and check to
make sure that it includes a non-required personal contact, perhaps to check
in with a former client or to make a new connection with an old friend.
People notice when you do things that aren’t mandatory. Who do you know who
just got married, had a baby, got a promotion, graduated, or experienced a
loss? Take a moment to contact that person in some way. Our friends tell us
repeatedly that it’s those unexpected contacts that people remember.
Weekly Plan
Check your calendar, giving special attention
to any meetings. Confirm the time, date, and location of each with the
meeting planner. Priorities change quickly in today’s fast-paced
environment, so it never hurts to check. Ask what you can bring or what you
should do to prepare. Most people won’t take this step. It will surprise the
meeting planner and give you added visibility.
Monthly Plan
Plan to attend regular events in your
industry or area of interest on a monthly basis. Attend both large and small
group events. You reap different rewards from each. Size doesn’t always
equal power in the networking world. Monthly industry meetings also provide
great opportunities in invite a client as a way to say thanks or to build a
relationship with a potential customer. Make it your goal to bring a guest
to every other meeting.
Quarterly Plan
Every few months, attend an event outside
your field or interest area. In Japan, some executives are required to have
lunch with someone in another industry at least once a month. Paula, a
financial consultant, once attended a conference on telemarketing, and,
because she was the only financial person there, was able to make a
valuable, life-long client contact. She stood out because there was no
competition! Gary Hoover, the founder of Barnes and Noble, often speaks
about how his stores became successful because they stepped outside the
traditional bookstore paradigm and offered other services for busy people.
Stressing that all successful people are curious, he challenges, “What might
happen if a doctor went to a dentist’s convention?” He has a point. Be
curious.
Annual Plan
Yearly, attend at least one conference in
your field. Conferences bring you national and international visibility,
which is difficult to get in your office. They also provide valuable
relationship-building opportunities. The keynote speeches and breakout
sessions are certainly worthwhile, but the real benefit comes from working
the hallways. You can usually find the stars of the industry engaged in
informal meetings and socializing outside the session room doors.
Talk to Everyone
Schmoozing is not a bad thing. You should
know the people you work with and stay in contact with former co-workers
because they’re important resources. A recent University of Cincinnati study
of eighty employees and twenty-two supervisors revealed that people who are
successful make friends with everyone. They get higher ratings on reviews.
They reach out and make contacts with a diverse network of people. According
to University of Cincinnati Professor Ajay Mehra, “People who serve as
bridges by connecting people tend to outperform those who don’t and are
therefore seen as more valuable by their supervisors.” Most organizations
are less hierarchical today and rely more on employees to build bridges to
get the job done.
Follow Up
Most people forget. Winners follow up. Years
ago, after attending a presentation by a panel of experts for her
professional association, Wanda, a real estate saleswoman, followed up with
letters to each panel member thanking them for their presentations and
expertise. She then called them all later to follow up on her letters.
Although two never returned her messages, one did. That one return call from
a vice president of a large financial services company resulted in a
meeting, igniting the beginning of a ten-year client relationship for her.
Think how simple this follow-up was: three letters and three phone calls.
Cost = less than one hour of time and $1.00 postage. Value = thousands of
dollars of profit, priceless relationship, and years of career support.
Face-to-face contact is the best type of
follow-up, although it’s not always possible. Follow-up via email gives the
impression of “work-as-usual” and is uninspired. Phone calls, notes, and
letters make more of an impact because they take some time and effort to
accomplish. If you don’t have personalized stationery, have some made.
Whether you’re an employee, a homemaker, or an entrepreneur, people will
recognize your personal touch when they receive your note.
The follow-up is a winning move that many
people consider but few actually make. Some are afraid of rejection; others
just don’t take the time for details. Consider this popular adage:
“Successful people do what others don’t want to do.” Remember that follow-up
steps complete the positive impression you want to make.
If you’d like to learn more about how to be
visible, have energy, start talking, sign up, reach out, and more, look for
It’s Your Move in bookstores or at
http://www.bremercommunications.com/image_site.htm
©
2004 Cyndi Maxey and Jill Bremer. All rights reserved.
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