by Carol Ritter
I’m working this week, even if you might not recognize what I’m doing as “work.” But, trust me, I’m really working it at Musikfest in Bethlehem. The festival, now in its 31st year, features tons of great food, live music, comedians, and all sorts of other fun things. How am I working at this fun event, you may ask? Well:
- I’m networking; word-of-mouth marketing is the best kind.
- I’m observing customer service.
- I’m checking out local business reinvention.
- I’m reconnecting with clients.
How about you? The old way of networking is that you run around a room handing out business cards. It happens all of the time, but still seems so unnatural. It’s just easier to have networking become a natural aspect of everything that you do. While I was sitting on a bench at the fest, a gentleman came and asked to share the seat with myself and another woman – a stranger. She shot him the biggest evil eye I have ever seen, and immediately gets up and rudely leaves. “I wonder what’s wrong with her?” I said to him. My point is that she works somewhere, and likely has customers. Would you want to do business with someone like her?
Mannerisms and body language say it all. Be aware of your reactions to present and future customers. I’m reconnecting with clients at Musikfest, listening to music and looking for future clients all night long.
Carol S. Ritter, past President of the National Speakers Association in Philadelphia, is an accomplished professional speaker, coach and educational consultant specializing in innovative leadership, outrageous fundraising, million-dollar marketing and building organizational alliances throughout the country. FMI on Carol’s creative leadership with bulletproof ideas for recruiting more members, more money and better leaders: www.caroltalks.com, 610-442-4545, tellkids@aol.com, “Like” Carol on facebook at Caroltalks and CarolCoaches.
