By P.J. Harston, Business Editor (Toronto Sun, May 9, 2007)
Anecdote: You head home from work, but stop at the bank machine to take out $80 so you have some cash in your pocket for the rest of the week. The machine gives you $80 and you never think of that moment in time again.
The next week, you do the same thing, but the machine gives you $120 instead. By the end of the week, everyone in your office is using that bank machine because they’ve heard it gives “extra” cash sometimes. It exceeds expectations.
Last week I attended a seminar put on by a local organization call TechAlliance. The theme was “Knocing Down Silos,” and some guy named Dave Howlett, who I had never heard of before, was the keynote speaker.
Now, I’ve been to dozens, if not hundreds, of these kinds of seminars, where speakers wax on eloquently about how to network and how to build a solid Rolodex and how to find leads and sales prospects.
I’m not a businessperson or a salesperson, so I usually just write about the event — if it’s important to my readers — and then forget about any information I may have picked up there. It just doesn’t help me much in my capacity as a journalist and editor — or as a person in general.
Howlett, who works in the insurance industry but has a life-sciences background, actually had some great ideas about creating opportunities — ideas that just might change my life.
When he talks about “opportunities” he’s talking about personal and professional opportunities, which is a refreshing change from those who only talk about making the big sales.
Howlett’s big secret? Handwritten thank-you cards. Yes, thank-you cards.
Now, I’ve sent a few of these myself over the years, but I can’t remember the last time I did so. Just doesn’t seem like a manly thing to do anymore and there just isn’t time for such an archaic form of communication.
Not so, says Howlett, who for the last five years has been spending less than $10 a month on thank-you cards and sending at least two out every week.
“A thank-you card stays on a person’s desk for months ... sometimes years,” joked Howlett.
He gets so many thank-you cards at work from the network he’s built on that one idea that his colleagues call him a rock star.
“But guys my age won’t send them,” he says, and he can’t really figure out why.
“It works and it makes you a better person for sitting down and writing this stuff out,” he said.
He sends cards to colleagues, friends, clients, students, you name it. And, while he genuinely wants to thank people for what they’ve done or helped him with, he’s also building an incredible network of people who he can draw on for business and pleasure.
Think about it: $10 a month, maybe half an hour of your time, and that great feeling that you’re going to make someone’s day. Not a bad way to start or end the week.
He’s got a few other tips, too:
Speak well of people and they will speak well of you.
WOMBAT: word of mouth beats all techniques.
Stop judging people.
Wear a lapel pin that expresses one of your passions, that way you’ll always have something to talk about while you’re networking.
Men: Stop talking so much about yourself and listen to the other person.
Be convenient.
Networking is taking a chance — it means looking silly sometimes, walking up to the person standing alone in the room and starting a conversation.
When you can’t think of anything to say to someone, ask them what they do for fun and adventure on the weekends. People love to talk about their passions.
After that, ask them what their greatest challenge is this week. Again, most folks like to talk.
Likeability is just as important as anything else — whether it’s in trying to land a sale, a job or a date.
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Opinion/Columnists/Harston_PJ/2006/03/27/1507845.html
