JLG-Networking Event September 23rd

This is a completely different topic. I was planning on blogging about different events that I have attended througout the course of the week and I felt that this was the topic for the week. I'm going to try to blog about different networking groups that exist within the Greater Cleveland area and my focus this week is on a group called JLG-Event Management Solutions http://www.jlg-eventmanagementsolutions.com/.

Now this small business/entrepreneur is a networking group that started out during the month of May. The idea behind this group is to get people to attend these meetings to share some ideas if your interested in your own business venture. Actually, I've found the meetings that I have been able to attend so far very valuable in that some topics could even benefit those who are currently in transition right now as well as small to medium sized business owners.

Today, I'm going to focus on the highlights of the meeting that I attended in Valley View. Marilee MacAskill from Dale Carnegie Training did a wonderful presentation based on the following book "How to Win Friends and Influence People". Some of the things that she discussed from the book would pertain to anyone who handles customers or works in a team environment with different work type personalities often found in Corporate as well as small business environments.

The topic discussed was "Gaining Enthusiastic Cooperation From Others" and how to gain trust from others when promoting your business. I think that this would also apply to how individuals would sell themselves and their particular skillset. She will be presenting at another event next week within the Greater Cleveland area.

Here are some of the principals that were discussed at the meeting:

1. Follow the 3 c's. Don't criticize, condemn or complain

2. Give honest, sincere appreciation (for example, if someone decides to buy some product or service from, take the time to thank them for their business through some form of communication)

3. Arouse in the other person an eager want

4. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid one.

5. Show respect for the other person's opinion. Never say, "You're wrong" (In other words, let's say that a customer calls in and says that they still have not heard back from someone at your company and the record shows that they have been contacted, instead of arguing with them, you can politely let them know that the records show that someone had contacted that person's place at a specific time. This would allow the person to go back to the individual who is responsible for handling their messages to make sure that they did receive that message).

6. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and empathetically.

7. Begin in a friendly way whenever handling any situation.

8. Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.

9. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking (practice good listening skills).

10. Let the other person believe the idea is his/hers.

11. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view. (For example, when promoting your business or yourself, don't go in with force and discuss things that might not be of value or interest to that potential client. Find out exactly what their needs are before explaining what you can do for them).

12. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.

13. Appeal to the nobler motives.

14. Dramatize your ideas. (In other words, paint them a picture of how your products, services, or you can meet their needs). This puts you in the chair for them to make the decision to buy your services.

15. Throw down a challenge.

Obviously she went into more depth than this, however, I found these points to be very helpful as I look forward to writing about other events. Her message was to emphasize that we must strive to follow these guidelines in order to keep business relationships flowing smoothly.

Your question might be, what value might I get out of this group? The answer is, to gain valuable information and find other ways to improve business if things are not going as smoothly as they could. There were many more guidelines from the tiny booklets we received and I would encourage anyone to attend any of the next events that she will be making her presentation.

This particular group, JLG-Networking Event can be found on meetup.com.