Kinda like when you go to the fridge and are looking for something but you can’t find it and your spouse comes along and points out that what you are looking for is right in front of you…yeah…it’s kinda like that.

Oh, don’t even start with me.  And if you tell me ‘this has never happened to you’, well,  you probably fib about other things, too.

I kid, of course.  But, the parallel to this is searching everywhere for connections to the right people and, in that process, stepping over people who might have some very good connections for us, but we never asked!

Sometimes good information is sitting there, just quietly idling, like a dragster about to get the green light, waiting for someone to punch the accelerator so that the engine can scream, the tires can squeal.

In the many times I have facilitated what I call The Boardroom,  a place where non-competing entities can be represented, there often  are those in attendance who already know someone else at the table.  But, as we go around and each one of us talks for several minutes, small little ‘lightbulbs’ seem to start to go off as others there start to realize that they know someone this person might want to talk to.

It is that spirit of wanting to help someone else that allows this to happen and it never seems to fail; someone who is sitting there, who has been there before and maybe even heard the same words coming from someone else who stands to talk, all of a sudden realizes they have information that could prove valuable to that person and new-found energy fills the room.

When you are out there networking and looking for more connections, take a serious look at who you already know and ask yourself this question:

Have I really explored all that I can learn from the connections I already have?

Chances are there might be great connections sitting right in front of you, just like the strawberry preserves sitting on the shelf right in front of me.  Sweet!

© 2017  Dave Ribble, Author & Coach                                                                                                                                          The Way of The Conscientious Connector                                                                                                                        StandOut Marketing Strategies, A Promotional Marketing Consultancy