Mastering the Membership Maze with Glen GouldDon't you love statistics? What I especially appreciate about statistics is how reliable they are. You can learn a great deal about things through the numbers.
We all know that a large number of statistics are made up on the spot. Ask Google what percentage are made up on the spot and you'll find that number seems to be made up on the spot as well. With such reliable statistics, I submit for you the following statistic:
Seventy-five percent of the readers of this article will have given up on their New Year's Resolution by the time this article is published. What's more, less than half of all Americans (forty-five percent) will make even one resolution this year. Statistically speaking, we are not very likely to make a New Year's Resolution, and we are even less likely to stick with it if we do.
Which is why this article is so important to your success in 2009.
Resolving now to improve networking and relationship building skills and following through will put you light-years ahead of the competition. With a depressed population and a slumping economy, many people will resolve to accept less this year. You shouldn't be one of them. Ninety-nine percent of the people you encounter each day will want to do business with you if you show them that you are interested in them (O.K. I made this statistic up but it's close).
Many networkers resolved to attend more events with regularity this year. Some even resolved to do a better job following up with the people they meet at these events. And some even invested in new computer software, CRM systems, and follow-up training to ensure they will do a better job this year through networking. By now, seventy- five percent of these people have failed at their resolution.
Which means that right now is the best time to be your best. Only forty-five percent of your competition realized they needed to change and resolved to do so and now, seventy-five percent of them have failed. Most of your competition has failed and will be back to their old habits of trying to get more people to be interested in them when they should be getting more interested in the people they meet. Only being interested in others can result in truly helping them and thereby helping yourself. When you find interest in others they will find interest in you and you will develop a friendship. People do business with their friends.
The best news is that it is never too late to start. Right now is a great time to change. Set aside a few minutes today to evaluate your networking. Are you attending events regularly? Are you meeting new people and keeping contact with those you have met? Are you connecting the people you meet with others in your network? Are you receiving leads and referrals regularly? And are you developing new friendships? The answers to these questions will lead you to the actions you need to take right now.
Interestingly, I could not find a statistic on how many people make resolutions in the third week in January. That must mean that it isn't that many. Resolve to be a better networker in 2009 and you will weather any economic storm. Friends don't let friends go without business.
Glen Gould
770-745-5102
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