Excerpt From Networking Skills That Work by Shawna Schuh

We are delighted to share with you this transcribed excerpt from Seminars on Demand - Networking Skills That Work by Shawna Schuh. This fabulous seminar will teach you networking skills that help you win.  Maximize the skills and move forward today!

So today we’re going to learn about winning, winning with interactions. Now, there’s one caveat I needed to say. When I’m talking about winning, and we’re going to talk about winning,  winning through five different elements, winning all the time.

However, what I truly believe and what I think the philosophy really is, is we cannot win unless the other person also wins. Does that sound like the right thing? I mean, if we’re in here, and we’re going “I’m going to win at all costs”, or “I’m going to win” and we were raised with this “I’m going to win and when we win, someone loses”, we’re in, you’re in a race, a footrace, and other people lose. Is that true? 

Well, with interaction, with networking, the only way for us to really, truly win, absolutely win, 150 percent win, is if the other person also what? Wins. Now, I learned this when I was first starting out, and I was SO blessed. So one of the first things that happened to me when I was starting out, I traveled all over the United States, and I learned a lot about different people’s cultures, and I came back to Oregon where I’m from, and somebody said “Well, you know what, there’s this finishing and fashion school, and you should go apply”. Now, I’m young, I’m naïve, a little stupid, and I don’t know any better, so I swung by to see the owner. Didn’t have an appointment, didn’t have a résumé. How good are my chances? “Not great”. Not so good, right? And didn’t have any skills, I didn’t have anybody teaching me this stuff, so, I swung by, and, interestingly enough, the owner actually saw me. She brought me in. Now, I wasn’t even scared. I think there is something about youth, don’t you agree? So I walked in, and I’ll never forget the day that I stepped into the corner office, and this woman, it was a finishing and fashion school, and this woman was in the corner office and this particular building had this gigantic round window which I had never seen before. And I walked in, the woman was completely dressed beautifully, she was a model. She looked great. She was gracious, stood up, and I’m like…(sobbing sounds), I mean I was so out-classed, it wasn’t even funny, and she sat me down and she was very gracious to me. And here’s a couple of things that she said. Now here’s a woman who’s already an owner, she already knows she’s successful, and here comes this little, I don’t know, vivacious, I mean, I was just gutsy, and I walked in, and she said to me: “So, what is it that….tell me about you”. She said: “Tell me what you are about”. And I said “Well I think maybe I could help your business”. And she said: “Well, tell me more. Isn’t that interesting.”  And the next thing I know, I’m sharing all these ideas that I had, that I think might help her. She was real smart. And she said “Here’s what I suggest: Why don’t you go put something together, why don’t you create something for us, based on, you know, the conversation we had” and she said “and then make an appointment and we’ll see what you have to say”. Well, immediately, I realized that I had made some errors in that exchange. Have you ever been at an exchange and you know you made the errors? Have you ever been there? And afterwards, on the way home you’re going “OK, I really did that wrong, I did that wrong”. And what are we doing? We’re rating ourselves. But she was smart, see, she was thinking “winning interaction”.

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