A hearty welcome to the following My Pinnacle Network members:
My Pinnacle Network-Braintree
Chris Ernest
Blum Shapiro
My Pinnacle Network – Mansfield
Ben Hall
Overview Consulting
Beth Davis
Learning for Leaders
My Pinnacle Network-Marshfield
Jennifer Anderson
Cohesion
My Pinnacle Network-Newton
Paul Crossman
Professional Business Coaches
Great networkers don’t follow the same path. Some seem to know everybody and connect you at the drop of a dime. Others seemingly make it to every networking event within a 50-mile radius. And then there are those who uplift everybody in the room by their energy and propensity to connect and help others. These are the types of people who should be nominated for My Pinnacle Network’s third annual Networking Ninja awards.
For the third annual awards, My Pinnacle Network is seeking nominees in the following categories: Best Connector (helping bring people together); Most Ubiquitous (appears to be at every networking event); Most Altruistic (does most for others); and Brightest Beacon (adds energy to networking events).
You can vote for your favorite networker here or by clicking on the link in the My Pinnacle Network home page.
Voting began last week and will end on February 28. Nominees must be B2B professionals or small business owners whose customers are other businesses. Non-My Pinnacle Network members are also eligible.
Winners will receive a customized trophy, in addition to recognition at a My Pinnacle Network event and promotional materials.
Last year’s winners were:Greg DeSimone, owner of Catapult Advisory Group located in Mansfield, MA took home the honors as Best Connector; Mitchell Zucker of ConnectPay based in Concord, MA won the Most Ubiquitous Networking Ninja Award; David Allen, owner of Balance Wealth Advisors situated in Wellesley, MA won the Most Altruistic Networking Ninja Award; and Nicole Connolly of PhotoFabulousYou based in Westborough, MA won the Brightest Beacon honors for the second consecutive year.
“Networking, sharing information and opportunity, is what makes the world go round,” noted Steven V. Dubin, one of the founders of My Pinnacle Network. He continued, “The Networking Ninja Awards recognize the contributions of our areas best connectors, best networkers and encourages everyone to open their doors and databases to help each other. Both whimsical and pragmatic, these awards will provide recognition for many who typically do great deeds and humbly hang is the shadows.”
Click here to vote for your choices for the best networkers in the area.
My Pinnacle Network recently announced a full slate of business-to-business networking meetings for January. My Pinnacle Network meetings are as follows:
My Pinnacle Network – Westborough, Tuesday, January 3, from 8 a.m. – 9:30 a.m at Digital Federal Credit Union, 18 Lyman Street, Westborough, MA 01581.
My Pinnacle Network – Mansfield, Wednesday, January 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., 20 Cabot Blvd., Suite 300, Mansfield, MA 02048.
My Pinnacle Network – Marshfield, Thursday, January 5, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., 165 Enterprise Drive, Marshfield, MA 02050
NEW LOCATION – My Pinnacle Network – Newton, Thursday, January 12, 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m. at Social!, Crown Plaza Hotel, 320 Washington Street, Newton, MA 02458.
My Pinnacle Network – Braintree Third Thursday, Thursday, January 19, from 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m. at 100 Grandview Road, 3rd Floor Conference Room, Braintree, MA 02184.
My Pinnacle Network – Bourne, Thursday, January 19, from 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m., 550 MacArthur Blvd. (Route 28), Bourne, MA 02532.
Only one B2B professional will be selected for each category. Those categories can be found at http://mypinnaclenetwork.com/about/categories.aspx. Prospective members are encouraged to attend a My Pinnacle Network meeting before committing to join.
If you are interested in attending a meeting in your area, please contact Steven V. Dubin at SDubin@MyPinnacleNetwork.com or 781-582-1061 to RSVP. There is no charge to visit a My Pinnacle Network meeting.
It happens to every business person. You know you need to be consistent with your networking efforts but there are times when getting your work done gets in the way. In situations like this, you have two choices: get mad at yourself or simply do one networking activity to get yourself back on track.
You can even take it one step further and make up your mind that you will do one networking-related activity per day.
If you’re in a networking group, call up one person to see if they can get together for coffee.
If you have time constraints that day, drop an e-mail to somebody in your contact sphere to inquire if there’s any new product or service they are offering that could help you pass them leads or referrals. Use that e-mail exchange to pass along similar business about your business.
What you don’t want to do is let one day without a networking activity turn into two, then three and the next thing you know a week or more has gone by. There’s no need to beat yourself up about it and there’s no way you can make up for lost time. Just do one thing today and make a goal of doing one thing tomorrow.
For the best networkers, it’s a habit. It’s just something they do a point where it’s just part of their day and they don’t even think of it as an extra. If you’re not there yet, simply do one networking thing a day and you will get there. Make it the first thing you do every day if you’re concerned about your day getting too busy and forgetting.
And what if you miss a day? Guess what? You can do one small thing tomorrow and start the habit again.
We will not soon forget the year 2016 for some very obvious reasons. The less obvious will be the iconic figures who left us this year.
It started early this year with the passing of David Bowie, Prince, Garry Marshall, Muhammad Ali, Gordie Howe, Arnold Palmer, Leonard Cohen and finally Fidel Castro. Yet the most difficult to absorb might be the loss of Florence Henderson, AKA Mrs. Brady.
What’s happened with the passing of these iconic figures is we remember their contributions and express appreciation for their talents and what it meant to us (with the definite exception of the notorious Castro).
Celebrity deaths make us feel sad and remind us of our own mortality. It also makes you wish you had one opportunity to say thank you.
“Thank you” to Prince for, among other things, Purple Rain.
“Thank you” to Mohamed Ali just for being “The Greatest”.
Hallelujah for Leonard Cohen.
Happy Days to Garry Marshall.
And bless you, Florence Henderson, for being Mrs. Brady.
Every day presents opportunities for gratitude for the people in our lives, both at work and during our personal time. This year has taught us quite a lot, but thanking the people in your life is one lesson worth taking into 2017.
Thank you for listening.
In the 1990s, some college students created a game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. The thought behind the game was that you could connect anybody in Hollywood to the prolific star of Footloose within six steps. For example, you can connect yours truly within six steps to Kevin Bacon:
When it comes to your network, who is your Kevin Bacon? Who is that person who there always seems to be a lot of activity and knows everybody? Get with him or her for a one-on-one at least on a quarterly basis.
If you’re not sure about who in your network that might, go to your LinkedIn accounts. Check out the people in your network and your shared connections. It really will not take long to figure out who that might be. Better yet, do a search on some companies who might be prospects for your business and then check your network to see who might know somebody there.
Kevin Bacon may never win an Oscar, but the guy has never lacked for work and almost always in quality films.
Gratitude month continues this week with Veteran’s Day on Friday. If you know a veteran, give them a call or drop them a line to thank them for their service. And while a nice post on one of your social media pages is nice, how about going one step further and finding out if there are more people in your network who served?
How do you do that? Quite easy. Go to LinkedIn’s Advanced Search function. Under keywords, type in military or a particular branch of service, then check “1st Connections” under Relationships and then search. The results should turn up people in your network who served.
What next? Thank them, but also check in and see how things are going. Maybe even set up a time to get together and share some connections.
We admire our veterans for their service and their humility. Yet volunteering to serve your country is something that should be praised. This Veteran’s Day, take every opportunity you have to thank the veterans in your life. There are more than you know.
If you have attended a My Pinnacle Network meeting, you know the importance of gratitude in the meeting format. In fact, prior to a member or guest giving their verbal brand, we ask them to first offer thank you’s to fellow members for any or all of the following: new business; leads or referrals; and/or one-on-ones. In November, a month with two holidays specifically for expressions of gratitude–Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving–we are upping the ante.
To celebrate the month of gratitude, we would first like to thank our members and people who have attended My Pinnacle Network meetings over the past year. We have built something special over the past four years and we are grateful to each and every one of you.
Over the course of November, many people show gratitude in a variety of ways. For example, our partner Joe D’Eramo will be participating in Movember, growing a moustache and raising money for men’s health issues, including prostate cancer. As part of our November meetings, we are asking that members and guests share those stories in addition to your thank you’s for business.
What are appropriate thank you’s? Pretty much anything. Has somebody provided you a service this year that you truly appreciated and want to recognize? That’s perfect. Is there somebody you’ve been meaning to write a recommendation for on LinkedIn but haven’t gotten around to it? Again, that’s another something that would be perfect. When it comes to saying “thank you,” you really can’t go wrong.
So if you have made it this far in the e-mail, thank you. We look forward to hearing from you in November.
Think about the referrals you have passed. What was the genesis of that referral? It involved your listening skills more than anything else.
First, you probably heard a friend, colleague or peer talk about his or her business what their needs. If you were truly listening, that registered in your memory on a certain level.
Next, in your travels, be it at your place of business, networking group, coffee shop, etc., you heard somebody express a need for a certain product or service. You interject and say, “I know somebody who might be able to help you…”. And that is how a lead/referral is born.
So, if you’re in a networking group and you’re wondering why you have not received a referral, perhaps you’re not asking the right question. Maybe you should be asking, why have I not passed a referral?
While clearly there are exceptions to this rule, but when it comes to referrals you have to give to receive. And the only way you can give is to know what people want or need. That, you can only do by listening.
There’s probably not one of us who has paid attention to every single word every person has said at a networking meeting. We should, but we don’t. Fortunately, it’s an area where you can improve quite easily.
Make it a point to listen at your next networking meeting. Bring a notebook and be sure to write down at least one type of referral for each member as they give their elevator pitch. You would be surprised how much registers in your memory when you put it in writing. From there, all you really have to do is listen…
What’s the one comment you hear from people about e-mails? Typically, it’s about how many they get, that they just can’t keep up and about how much time they spend deleting. Now, you might think if you are in a networking group or have met somebody at a networking gathering that they will give your e-mail a bit more attention. Think again.
Typically, people will read the subject line and perhaps the preview pane if using Outlook. If it’s not something they are actually looking for or something they really want to read, they will click delete.
For those of you still reading, thank you. The reason you will be glad you did is the tip here is to keep your networking e-mails short—one, two, three paragraphs at the most. Don’t do a cut-and-paste of your company’s annual report. If you want to provide more information, offer a link. But if you want to establish a relationship, it’s not going to happen in one e-mail.
E-mails are really a tool to help start and continue a relationship. For example, it’s cool to e-mail an invite for a one-on-one and then a thank you for the one-on-one. It’s also fine to send a link to an article or potential prospect’s website that you think might be of interest. Yet don’t make the e-mail do most of the work.
Also, you probably want to establish some ground rules about your use of an e-mail. If it’s somebody you want to connect with, send an e-mail intro/invite and give it a few days. If you don’t hear anything, perhaps send another or give them a quick call or shoot a text if you have their cell. A third e-mail should be like the third strike. If you make a third attempt and get no response, move on.
The most important part of these ground rules is not to take it personally. You don’t know what’s going on in that person’s life. It could be a very busy time. Maybe they have some personal or family issues going on. Whatever the reason, hold no grudges.
Many times, the next time you see that person they will be apologetic and want to set something up.
Remember, keep your e-mails short and be direct about your intentions. It’s your best chance to start and continue a networking relationship.
