01 Nov Don’t Slack Off Now
I think most people think of slacking off as someone being lazy. A slacker is someone that cuts corners. They don’t do a good job. They always look for the easy way. Certainly those characterizations apply, but I’d put a different twist on the term. As we approach conference season you can’t be a slacker, you have to be an achiever.
It’s all about how you effectively seize the moment. As I said, its trade show season so go out there and succeed. How do you get the most out of this season? It seems elementary, but maybe it’s not. In my opinion, you need to engage people as much as possible. Past competitors may now be strategic partners. People that you thought were bright but you could never hire may now be looking. You have to connect with people.
Here’s how:
The reason it’s so important to bring this up is once people get to a trade show they have a full calendar in most cases. It’s not a waste. They’re time is spoken for. The busy mortgage technology executive may start at 6 a.m. and go through after hour networking receptions for three or four days straight. What happens along the way? People lose focus. They get tired. Meetings get cancelled. Meetings go wrong. That knocks you off track. So, it’s important to seize every opportunity and not let fatigue take over even during times of great adversity.
It’s all about networking. You need to get out there and tell your story. One mistake that executives often make in the current market especially is that people bring their baggage with them. They talk about things like how tough the year was. Everyone knows it was a tough year for our industry. Do you really need to remind them?
Another thing many talk about is how tough new regulation has been to keep up with. Again, everyone knows that Washington is cracking down. You don’t need to remind people about this either. These two story lines are downers. They don’t exude a positive atmosphere. You need to change the conversation. You need to explain how you’re proactively responding to the market. Talk about your agility. Talk about your market experience. The bottom line is people don’t care about the how tough your year was, they hear it all the time.
You still have to be genuine and deal with the reality of the situation but you have to keep your eye on the prize. Focus on the solution instead of all the problems. Seize the moment and every opportunity that may present itself with each interaction.