Where am I??????

Despite being a seasoned and experienced networker, and despite loving to give advice (whether solicited or not) I don’t often comment on networking dos and don’ts.

I have (occasionally) complained about unprofessional practices, such as people who contact me cold on LinkedIn, with the intention of selling me things that not only do I neither want nor need but the very suggesting is actually quite insulting.

Most of these people appear to assume (wrongly) that I’m incapable of sorting out my own pension, finances, life generally (how did I get this far in life without them!!) and that I need to immediately drop whatever I’m doing (hang on Mr Judge, I’ve got someone who needs to have a meeting with me NOW to fix the issues with my bank account that I don’t have) and that they have done similarly sterling work for other people/business just like me/mine.  Trust me, they have NEVER met anyone like me before and know nothing about my business so they cannot possibly say that they’ve ever worked with one like mine!

What’s more, they believe that despite my huge network of wonderful people, I don’t know anyone that could help me with any of these things and would prefer to go to a complete stranger.

What I find frustrating about these people is that they have missed an opportunity.  There is no point in trying to sell to me, but if they approached me in a more professional way, such as wanting to find out more about me and my business before launching in to the cold sales routine, I might invite them along to some of my events or introduce them to people who might be interested in their services.  Instead, they either get a sarcastic response and/or they get blocked.

However, today, I have encountered a new networking issue which has made me laugh.

Apparently, I have developed the skill of being at two places simultaneously!!!

Twice today I have received emails from two different companies, about an event that apparently, we were both at last week and how much they enjoyed meeting me and they hope I enjoyed the event and could they tell me about their services.

The only problem is that I wasn’t there because I was at another event several miles away.

I had told the organisers that I couldn’t make it, because unfortunately they didn’t send the invite through until the last minute and so I never accepted the invitation.  Nevertheless, my name still ended up on the guest list.

So I don’t even know whether the people who have emailed me were even there themselves, or did they just get a copy of the guest list (as I did) and email everyone on it, on the off chance that everyone was so drunk that they wouldn’t subsequently remember who they met and who they didn’t.  Which, to be fair, does sound a little like me.

But now of course, having had TWO emails from people saying that they saw me at an event that I don’t remember going to, I’m starting to worry!  Was I actually there????

I hope that everyone is looking forward to a couple of weeks of festive fun and cheerful networking and Christmas partying.  It’s been a tough year, and if the number of Settlement Agreements we are processing is anything to go by, next year is going to be no better and probably worse, so we all deserve to let our hair down a bit.

If you are out partying, please let me know if you see me at any events that you’re at, as I seem to be having trouble remembering where I am.

Kleyman & Co Solicitors.  The full service law firm.  We know who we are, where we are, and what we do best!