Research Everyone

I talk to a lot of people every day. You do too. It’s what we do.

For myself, it can be my fellow co-workers at the dealerships to one of our vendor partners.

 Lately I have been on the phone so much more since I am working remotely. In working remotely I am getting inspired by my new “lifestyle”. I am pushing myself to limits I didn’t think would be possible. Taking a page from Robin Sharma, I am working on my mindset, soulset, heartset and healthset.

In acting on this, I started a video series a few weeks ago called Aha Moment. I am interviewing business leaders in my network. These are people who I know, who know me, and we have some level of relationship. We explore how we met, their career stories, what inspires them, their advice and POV in the business world. I really want to get better on camera and video. One thing I am finding to be helpful in having meaningful insightful conversations, is understanding who I am speaking with. Although I know them, I have done the proper research on them and their backgrounds.

Why is this important? By researching who you have a meeting with, you are building the foundation in your relationship with them.

I had an experience today with a prospective advertising vendor. At first, he was incredibly complimentary of one of the dealerships I work for and the dealership's marketing. On the surface it appeared as if he was building a relationship, he seemed knowledgeable and well spoken.

In reality, he knew nothing about the dealerships actual marketing or advertising. He also knew nothing about me. When he started talking to me about elementary marketing concepts, including social media I instantly knew. I was surprised that he didn’t seem to take the time to figure out how to connect or maybe he didn't know how.

He didn’t dig deep into the businesses marketing prior to our meeting, (after making profound statements like saying we were “the best”) he didn't Google me, look me up on LinkedIn, check out our social pages (including LinkedIn) or anywhere else. He also didn’t know that the business he was speaking on was part of a dealer group. 

My lesson for today: become someone’s trusted advisor by having knowledge and have done the research to connect.