Take a cue from others. Some of our vendors, they come in once or twice a week, and pretty soon, you get to know them.
A good example of networking is I have a guy that does printing. He wants to get work from us, but there is nothing new on the horizon. He comes in once a week, and he thinks of different ways he can get our attention.
He finds us a company that sells a chocolate flavor. We really like this chocolate flavor. It does not have anything to do with printing labels, but he knew somebody that he was printing labels for that makes the chocolate bar. He puts them in contact with us.
Now he’s worked his way into our network. When I know somebody is looking for chocolate or a particular kind of printed wrap, I’ll send him to vendor X or vendor Y.
He did not just stop with the chocolate bar. He brought in beef jerky, anything he could think of that would help our business or a product we would be interested in. That got us to feel like we kind of owe this guy something. We need to do some printing with this guy.
Think before you speak. If you are speaking to the guys in your warehouse, you might talk a different way than you do to your sales reps or your customer service reps or your accounting people. You have to understand the message, who it’s going to and what you’re trying to deliver to get the most impact.
I need to say, ‘OK, this person.’ In my brain, I kind of click on what type of person this is. As you are speaking to that person, you can get where they are coming from and you can read people.
It comes down to the consistency of the message and trying to be a little bit creative in how you say the message. Know the person you are talking to and understand how to communicate with that person. If you want to be an effective manager, you have to learn to make people hear you and understand you.
Good leaders help their message to be heard. It has to be very clear and concise, but at the same time, it helps to come up with a creative and fun way of how you are going to deliver the message.
Be a good listener. It opens the lines of communication. When you let an employee make a decision that comes up with a better idea or an alternative way to handle it, you empower them. You make them a better employee. That was their decision, and now they have to make it work.
How to reach: Max Muscle, (714) 456-0700 or www.maxmuscle.com
