Peggy’s Pointers

What exactly are you trying to accomplish with your 30-second commercial or elevator speech?  You are attempting to paint a verbal picture in the minds of those in the room so they clearly and concisely know what you do and exactly how they can help you.

As the president of a business-to-business networking organization for 4 years, I had the opportunity to travel between 7 chapters to train and mentor chapter leaders as well as members on the fine art of networking.

Networking is a “learned skill-set” and with just a few pointers, you can reap maximum results the next time that you attend an event, go to a trade show or visit your local chamber mixer.

What I would see is two basic issues:

1. The attendees didn’t have a plan. They simply showed up week after week but really had no idea why they were there.
2. They thought about their 30-second commercial or elevator speech as they were getting out of their chair or even worst, when they opened their mouth.

The core to getting the most out of your networking activities is your 30-second commercial.  The whole point to a good commercial is to educate those folks around you so that they can help you grow your business.

Consequently, your commercial absolutely must be compact and convey a concise message that is powerful enough for others to want to get to know you better.

Here are a few of Peggy’s Pointers that you can use to spiffy up your elevator speech:

–Talk about only 1 product or service at a time.

–Create several different version of your commercial.

–Make it interesting or engaging by starting with a question to get the audience attention.

–Include some areas of specialization or certification that you or your company holds.

–Practice, practice, practice using a timer and mirror.

Let me know how you use some of these ideas the next time you go to a networking event.

Peggy P. Edge (c) 2015

Every one of you are experts at something.  Think about this for a minute.  There are a variety of things that you know-that-you-know deep down in your gut.  Several years ago I was asked at a seminar to write down 3 things that I could teach someone else how to do or I could develop a presentation covering 15-30-45-60 minutes.

Most folks would immediately write down something pertaining to their current job.  However, this speaker instructed us to think outside of our jobs.  For example, do you play an instrument?  Are you a master gardener?  Are you a skilled golfer or seamstress?  Do you know how to bake and decorate a scrumptious cake?

This story touched my heart today when I saw it on Facebook.  This just proves what I have said for years…You are never too old to learn something new but more importantly, you are never too old to go for your dreams!

95 year old Anthony Brutto will receive his college degree next week from West Virginia University! He is doing this after having started to college 75 years ago!  WAY-TO-GO!!!

Whatever you set your heart, mind and soul to do you can accomplish it.  It’s like how to eat an elephant…one small bite at a time.

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/75-years-enrolling-94-year-set-graduate-west/story?id=30937399&cid=fb_wn_sf

Yesterday, I received this Certificate of Appreciate for my participation last month in the 50 Plus Women2Work: Ready, Set Employed event which was made possible through the cooperation of Dallas County Community college District-Richland and the US Department of Labor Women’s Bureau.

Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this dynamic experience.

Certificate of Appreciation

What an exciting treat to received this signed poster today from the young ladies at Christie Elementary School, Plano ISD, from when I spoke to their class a couple of months ago on “What’s New in Packaging?”PISD Gadgert Girls Poster 2-2015

Many of my colleagues know me as an industrial packaging specialist.  However, when I started doing public speaking, many of my connections didn’t know about my expertise as a business networking expert, sales trainer or leader.  To build my speaking business, the one thing that I did was to write.

What areas of expertise do you have?  Many times, we have talents that have nothing to do with what we do for a living.

*Make a list of 3-4 topics that you are an expert at.  This can be either something that you are officially trained to do, certified or licensed, industry recognized as, talent or proficiency.  For example, Golf, SEO, sewing, play an instrument, wood working, etc.

*You can teach others to do.

*You can give a 10-45 minute talk or presentation about.

What’s next?

*Write a blog.

*Comment on other people’s writings in your area of expertise.

*Find articles on the internet and write a different viewpoint and post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ or other media.

*Write white paper for publishing in an industry trade magazine.

 When you begin to write, we are not talking about creating a novel or dissertation.  Basic writing guidelines include:

*Blog – 250 minimum words, no more than 500.

*Magazine article – approximately 500 words.

*Book – less than 100 pages.

 The easiest point from A to B is to write and post on existing social media.  It’s free and it’s an introductory means of letting your connections know about your other expertise.

Peggy P. Edge © 2015

Peggy Edge presented “How to get Recognized as an Expert in Your Industry” yesterday at the Dallas Holistic Chamber of Commerce.  Great group of folks and enjoyed meeting every one of you.

Don’t forget to identify your passion and create a plan to start writing and speaking about it.  Everyone has a message or story that someone else needs to hear.

Kathy Rushmore Schlund “And you were fantastic, Peggy! Thank you for gracing us again with your humor, knowledge and care.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please place your electronic devices in silent mode during the meeting today.”

Is it acceptable to make a phone call; send or receive text; or read your email while meeting with a prospect or client?  The answer is NO!

I would venture to say that none of us would ever think about doing this in front of a client or prospect.   Yet week after week many of my fellow members of my networking group engage in some form of cell phone usage during our meeting.

Why, then, has it become acceptable to text and read email it at networking events?

In reality, this is not an acceptable business etiquette at all.   It is just plain rude, disrespectful and very unprofessional.

Think about this for a moment:

• People make decisions about us, as professionals, based upon how you show up and act.
• Your networking partners are the ones who are in a position to refer you to others.
• My time is just as valuable as yours.
• When you text or read mail during a meeting, you are saying to those around you that they are not important enough to deserve your undivided attention.

We must, therefore, respect our fellow networkers just as if we are sitting in front of our clients or prospects.  After all, our networking partners are the very ones who will recommend you to their client base.

Consequently, the exact same rules and protocol of acting and being professional must be adhered to no matter what type meeting you are attending.

At your next event, go prepared to do business, looking and acting the part of a professional and turn off the cell phone!

Engage and listen otherwise you might miss an opportunity to make a connection.

Peggy P. Edge (c) 2015

How do you identify and track your personal successes in life?  Recently, a couple of business associates and I were talking about success.  These questions came up:

*  When do you know you have arrived?

*  When do you believe deep inside that you are a success?

*  Why to we have a tendency to compare ourselves to others when it comes to success?

I decided to do a little research on success.  What I found was that most all of the articles only addressed big accomplishments in life.  The discussions primarily centered on global success in life—attaining accolades in our industry, financial security, having children, power and position.

My question is–What about the little things in life that we do every day which make up our overall personal success story?  Don’t they matter?  How can we identify and track our successes?

Personally, I believe that success is not only about the big promotion to the corner office or being recognized by our peers as a thought leader in our industry.  Instead, it is the sum of the parts—it’s the little activities that we do every day along with the big events that comprise our overall success.

In Eric Jensen’s book, “Little Book of Big Motivation,” he lays out some pointers on how to identify and track our successes.

*  Create a daily list of your victories.

*  Track your triumphs for at least one week.

*  Your list should be all-encompassing from all areas of your life.

*  Include every single accomplishment, no matter how seemingly insignificant.

I believe the key here is to chart the most minuscule detail because once we get to the end of the week and reflect on the totality of our achievements, we will even surprise ourselves.

Finally, create and develop our own measuring stick of success.  After all, your personal success in life is made up of our own actions.  Don’t be afraid to take credit for your achievements.  In other words, “Let your Little Shine—Don’t hide it under a Bushel.”

I am going to work on my own list.

Peggy P. Edge © 2015

Leadership is not always easy to accomplish and truly the decisions that we make are not always as simple to do without consequences or regrets.  Truly Thomas Paine’s quote, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way” is not a simple thing to accomplish.

Do you wrestle with indecision when all options seem to be the best?  Or, are you hasty to make a decision only to find out later that you were a little too quick resulting in wrong decisions being made?

Some of us are better at simply deciding and moving on whereas others belabor points over and over for fear of making the wrong decision.

Some effective leadership pointers on decision-making include:

Make a Pro/Con list

-Divide a piece of paper in half and list all of the pros and cons on each side.  Assign a weight to each bullet point.

–Pointer:  Make sure to put your ideas down with pencil and paper.  It is so much easier to see a clear choice when you have your ideas out of your head and in print.

Weigh logic against emotion

-If you are a Type A personality, it is said that you only make decisions based on logic where as if you are a more laid-back Type B personality you tend to lead or make decisions on feelings.

–Pointer:  Do not discount your emotions.  We are human and it’s okay to listen to that inner voice more often than not.

Balance time spent and energy expended

-Weigh whether the desired outcome is a $10 decision or a $1000 decision.

–Pointer:  Remember don’t waste time or sweat the small stuff.  Use your time to deliberate on the things that are most important to your desired outcome.

Drill-down to the key alternatives

-Create a checklist of your crucial and relevant points and don’t deviate from that.

–Pointer:  Zero in on identifying the critical issues at hand.  Decide if each issue is an A-list factor.  If not, discard it from your options.

Determine the here and now

-Adopt the habit of thinking in current event terms.

–Pointer:  Often times we spend too much time mulling over “what ifs” or rehashing the past.  Decide and move on, after all, tomorrow is always a new day.

Peggy P. Edge © 2015