Networking Lessons To Be Gained From a Gorilla

Networking is all about developing relationships with people - with the goal of one day doing business with them. If we assume the majority of people we meet will not remember our name, or much at all about us after meeting us, what may we do to help ourselves to be memorable? How do we create a favorable and memorable image in the mind of our ideal clients?

Would you dress up as The Gorilla, the NBA Phoenix Suns mascot, to be memorable? If you did, would this be effective for the work that you do? The service you provide? Meaning – would your ideal clients remember you as The Gorilla and then immediately think, “why yes of course, that is exactly who I need to represent me at the closing for the sale of my home?” Probably not.

When we think of memorable it is an image, a tag-line, a quote, a book or something to be utilized often and everywhere. A word of caution is necessary here. Similar to other areas of branding, testing and testing and testing should be done before shouting from the mountain tops.
What words or images are utilized have to fit in with who you are and what you do.

Think about the word ‘organic’. One would assume anyone shopping and seeking ‘organic’ items is someone who is serious about what they eat and eating a healthy diet. Not so fast. The word ‘organic’ is showing up all over the place. There are some new regulations to contain the use of the what, where, when and how the word ‘organic’ may be utilized on food and other eatable products. There are a good number of people who shop and purchase items if they have the word ‘organic’ on the label, and order items from the menu if it has the word ‘organic’ next to the item on the menu. They do this because they think purchasing items in the store which say ‘organic’ or off the menu which are stated to be ‘organic’ will magically make them healthier. A perfect example is the woman with the cart full of groceries and the husband behind her with the stroller and two children, she was frantically asking the store clerk at the Whole Foods Market, “Where is the Organic Soda, what aisle?” Seriously, ‘organic soda’?

In summary, make yourself memorable in a smart and strategic way so your ideal clients will remember who you are and what you do for them.