Saturday, February 16, 2008

Referral Marketing: X-Country Skiing

It was a beautiful day in Pittsburgh today ... perfect for x-country skiing! I enjoy x-country skiing but not for the skiing part, because I'm not that good at it. I can count on falling at least 2-3 times while I'm out.

I enjoy the sport because I'm doing something outdoors and it's great exercise! And, it's a wonderful way to spend quality time with others.

To me, this is sort of how I feel about networking! As The Referability Expert, you might think that I love the sport of networking. On the contrary ... I'm truly an introvert, so networking is WORK for me! However, that being said ... like x-country skiing, it's not the sport that means the most to me. It's the knowing that I could meet someone at any time who could lead me to my next huge opportunity! Or, that I could meet someone who could become a very dear friend. And if I never participated in networking, I might never meet that person!! Plus, although it's difficult at times for an introvert to enter the extroverted world of networking ... it's a great exercise and a built in opportunity to perfect the art of referral marketing for my business.

Like x-country skiing, networking is more fun when you share it ... so I always take a referral partner. It's a great opportunity to spend quality time with that person as well!

So, if you're an introvert like me ... look for the benefits far beyond the discomfort ... and find the joy in the whole experience.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

If you don't fall down once in a while, you are not trying very hard. You learn more from your problems than your successes! Someday you may get beyond being an introvert but not beyond falling down.