Rain Delay on Monday!
Monday night I went to a Cleveland Indians baseball game, knowing that the weather was “iffy” at best, and at the worst, we were going to leave early with a rain voucher in our pocket.My cousin and I snagged a table in an open air bar inside the stadium, so that we could have dinner and see how the weather played out. Our ticketed seats were not under cover, and we don’t like to eat from our laps, especially in a thunderstorm.
I realized that night that I LOVE meeting new people and learning about them. This is exactly how I want my business to grow. Organically…through meaningful connections, shared experiences, personal conversation.
Our fun evening began with a rain delay, and a comment about my painted face. In the end, we were snapping selfies, sharing radar apps, talking about our favorite ball games, and Geoff and Mike were presented with First Time Certificates to the ballpark.
The bar was nearly full, and the people were streaming in, so I was glad we got this giant “fourtop,” which was better than nothing. Soon enough, along came Eric, who asked if he could join us. Shortly after, Mike walked by and said “I like your face…painting!” I responded as I always do: “Thank you, I like your face!”
Mike laughed, and stayed around a few minutes to see what was going on at this “very fun” table. We learned that he and his companion (Geoff..who we met later) were touring the US and Toronto, BY CAR!!! Visiting all 30 Major League Ballparks in one summer!
For those of you who are baseball fans, you may not realize that this is on… oh…perhaps a million or so bucket lists, including mine. I’ve been talking about it for years! I had so many questions…but the game was continuing, and Mike was on his way.
Lucky for me soon thereafter, the rain came, the tarp covered the field and my cousin and I settled in for the delay of game…nice and warm and dry. We concentrated on getting to know “Eric”, who had just had his first day of residency at University Hospital and was from NEW JERSEY, of all places.
Soon we were joined again by Mike, and three lovely fans from Altoona, Pennsylvania. Two and a half hours later, my cousin and I finally needed to go home…since we both had to work today. But we said as we left, that it was one of the MOST enjoyable games we had ever had…even though we only saw 2.5 innings of baseball. We didn’t even mind that there was no game. Is that weird?
Was it because we went home with our new friends? No, get your mind out of the gutter, we are good girls! Was it because we got horribly drunk and ate way too much ballpark food! No, although that has been known to happen.
It was because we had connected with 6 different strangers for hours, with nothing to gain, nothing to sell, and nothing to lose.
They will never forget the time they were in Cleveland for a ballgame. They will be on their phones talking about the cousins who were a professional face painter and concert violinist. Why? Because of the conversations that we had around the “BEST Table in the Ballpark,” as we began to refer to it. We shared stories, talked about our lives, compared baseball stats and looked at pictures of the food they had enjoyed on their trip. And we also talked about families, marriage (Altoona couple), divorce (Mike…twice) and our kids.
Customers will buy from you if they know, like and trust you. But did you ever think about the random stranger, who might someday need an entertainer? Those are the people that “see” you on social media, on Linked In, on your website. Plus at the bank, the grocer, the dry cleaner. The Ball Park. If my cousin and I had been different people, the night would have played out so differently. But now, I have a connections in Seattle (Geoff and Mike), friends to meet up with in Pittsburgh (Altoona gang) and a connection at University Hospital which owns the largest pediatric medical center in the city. They all have my card, and they all know my name…and it was not selling, it was just being friendly.
It’s not about buying from you today. It’s about making a connection, sharing who you are and what you do in ONE sentence, so that they can tell other people about you.
Make sure that YOU give the people YOU meet an opportunity to get to know the real you.
Look below for places where you can share the real you, and call me if you need any help.
7 Places Where You Can Express Your Real (Business) Self
- Complete your profiles on social media,
- Use your Linked In headline…the sentence to the right of your name
- Your pitch…goes in the summary section
- Your reviews and recommendations should be complete and sprinkled in other social media accounts
- Testimonials with your name (and the person’s name who wrote it,) should be on your web site
- Your bio (your story) should express your personality and/or the “flavor” of your company
- Strong high quality visuals including a professional head shot
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