Being Connected

One of the best things about doing business in Calgary is the way that people do business in Calgary. I don’t know what your experience has been but mine has been truly awesome.

I spent 12 years in ministry and entered into the business realm with fear and trepidation about a year and a half ago. I was unfamiliar with business practices and really green in operational procedures. I had some ideas of how to do some modern marketing based on some experiences that I had and some great results that I had been able to achieve on a few projects. I felt that I could learn what I needed to, hire some experts and see some good things happen. It was not really a planned entrance into the marketplace so it is with great pleasure that I can announce that we are around and doing well at this time. We are beating the odds and seeing growth every month, hiring new employees and making a major impact in the marketplace.

Loyal2U is growing and with the acquisition of the Calgary Business Network we are in a very exciting place indeed. We are showing with the two companies an increase in profits each month and we are quickly establishing a market niche and seeing real results for those who choose to do business with us. This last month we took on beautiful office space in Douglasdale at the Destiny Business Centre. It has got to be some of the top lease property in the city. The whole building is absolutely gorgeous with floor to ceiling hardwood doors, glass and tastefully colored walls. There is a foyer, a marvelous boardroom and a great kitchen. If that is not enough the owner even provides coffee, tea and bottled water for us and our clients (There is space available if you need some 403-809-3146 and the address is 105, 11500 29 Street SE).

On top of all of that one of our clients for Loyal2U Jim Pescott has adorned the walls with his world renowned paintings. Jim is a pointillist who travels to Italy, New York and Toronto regularly. He has been written up in major third party magazines as a Master Pointillist and it is an honor to showcase his work here for personal and corporate viewing.

Things are looking very rosy for Loyal2U and The Calgary Business Network but did we do it all ourselves. It is true that over the last few months we have brought on some exceptional team players. We have a sales team that is absolutely gifted at relationship marketing making the customers interest the highest priority. We have some very competent people working behind the scenes as well getting out the message for ourselves and for our clients online. These are all good. However, our team is much larger than those that make the payroll.

I believe our increasing success has less to do with us and more to do with those that we have connected with. It has to do with people like Jim Messner who was the founder of the Calgary Business Network who took a chance on us when nobody even knew who Loyal2U was. It has to do with Velda Paynter who owns Velda’s Grower Direct and has become a friend and a contributor in many ways. It has to do with many of the business people that I met personally over the last year and people who have sown into my life and the lives of my staff through personal mentorship.  Guys like Pepsi Fortin and Alex Privalov who took a deep interest in the training and mentoring of our sales staff and personal mentors like Kathleen Mailer of Today’s Business Woman Magazine and Doug Tibben who have aided us with advice and service. I could list many more here as there have been dozens that have contributed and I am sure there will be dozens more in this next year.

In business there are many twists and turns. Connections to others that care and that know things that you don’t know are very important. The right connections connect you with more right connections. The right connections refer you. The right connections are easy for you to promote as well.

I recently re-read “The Go-Giver”by Bob Burg. I love that he left the connector until last. The connector was the link in the net that made networking so profitable for everyone else in the story. The connector made everything else possible. I hope to be a great connector when I grow up. How about you?

It is not what you know, but who you know that matters. And it really matters how well you know them and that they know you too. Really know you...

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

Addendum 

This is a video on how NOT to network. I had to chuckled at some of methods and catch phrases...

The Right Connection

At Loyal2U we go to a lot of networking events. When I say a lot, I mean a lot. Every week I go to at least one and sometimes three and I have trained the sales team to do the same. We love networking meetings so much that we happily acquired The Calgary Business Network just after Christmas this last year just so we could go to more of them and have a hand in what makes networking so awesome.

Between networking and the social media vortex that we have created online we get a lot of new business from these events. We build relationships with our customers by taking them along and connecting them to their ideal clients. We create relationships with new prospects by meeting them at the events or solidifying relationships that we made online. So having had a little experience in networking I always enjoy hearing a fresh perspective.

Recently I attended a Real Estate networking event. There was beer and food and lots of networking. One of my clients had asked me to come and she was a marvelous hostess introducing me to many of her colleagues and friends with tremendous edification. I was having a delightful time meeting new people and enjoying many conversations.

Earlier in the week an associate of mine had advised me to take stacks of business cards and to work the crowd, but I found myself instead drawn to just a few good people where I was truly building relationships. At one point in the evening I ran into another “networker” friend who made a profound point that I shall never forget.

This gal told me that her approach was entirely different. She no interest at all in making dozens of connections with people who would not remember her next week. No. She was there just to make 2 or 3 connections with key people that she would want to do some business with over the next year. She had not specifically targeted an individual. It was not a ploy to ‘get in good’ with the leader of XYZ Corporation. It was just a simple method that worked for her. She would meet up with friends, find out about people, and trust that timing, instincts or Divine intervention would put her in front of 2 or 3 great contacts that would really matter in the larger picture of life. She would simply be herself, be confident, and be available for something GREAT to happen.

What was really interesting was the fact that after she told me this method one of my long time colleagues became a fresh contact and an instant friend that very night. It was a pleasure to see two great people line up together to do future business endeavors.It was a moment of absolute Divine Appointment as her dream came true, her method worked and she made an important contact for her business' success.

Later in the evening I too found myself in a long and powerful conversation with someone that I had not spoken to in months. That encounter positioned me as well for some awesome opportunities in the next year.

So in the end I would recommend that we all could learn from her. It is not always the number of people that you connect to. Quality and real heartfelt connection are better in many cases than shear numbers. Enjoy your events. Enjoy your relationships. Enjoy your success. After all, what else is there but good food, good friends, family and the joy of a good life?