Route 66 - The Journey Toward Success
Friends Are Fantastic, But Evangelist Change The World.Every professional has business contacts whom become their friends. We call many of them by such names as "circles of influence", "referral sources" and "partners". We meet with them for coffee, lunch, or golf and build relationships. We discuss our bonds with these players in our sales meetings and longingly wait for them to send business in our direction.
But the truth is that some people are just our friends, they are not evangelists. They like us just fine, but they do not have it their personalities to go the extra step and tell those in their network about the good work that we do to serve our clients. They do not sing our praises. These are good people with great intentions, but they are not going to do more than be our friends.
Evangelists are different. These are more than friends, they are the type of people who find their personal joy in seeing others succeed. These individuals in our business networks have amazing passion for not only for their own career, but they thrive on seeing others reach higher levels of success. When they can find a way to lend a helping hand, they do it with no expectation of being directly re-paid.
Having people in your life who will talk you up in the business community is a blessing. It is from these vocal contacts that our reputations are made.
Now, lets flip this discussion. Look at the people in your business network. Are you an evangelist for them or are you just a friend? Do you search for ways to help others find more business and reach their personal and professional goals? If yes, good for you. If not, why not? When you read the beginning of this post you were excited about having these kinds of angels in your life who would ring bells to tell the world about you. Why are you not doing the same for the ones you know?
Being a business friend is nice, but being an evangelist will change someones world. If you wish to attract evangelists into your life, be one!
Have A Great Day.
thom
2 comments:
Thom, I know of no better way to become a great networker than to become an evangelist for others! Good one - made me think again about my current relationships (ouch!)
It all depends on the person. For some I'm an envangelist and others I'm a supporter and yet others I really can't help at all because they really don't want help. :-)
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