It is amazing when the “aha” moments of life will hit you. Today, I was out having some fun with a girlfriend of mine, browsing in a little boutique shop. All of the sudden I spotted these sunglasses that had brightly flowered frames. It only took a moment to know they had to be mine!! They were ‘SO my personality’, as my girlfriend confirmed. Then the “aha” came. Yes, they were SO my personality. So, yes, they became mine and were on my face as soon as I got the price tag off and cleaned them.
All of this got me thinking. Through the Referral Institute, I have attended and now teach a class called Room Full of Referrals. This class is all about learning how to recognize others’ personality types so that we can then honor their personalities and be able to do business with them. But, one of the more important parts is that we recognize our own personality as well. The last few times I took my personal assessment, it showed that I was a ‘Go-Getter’ – a person who wants the bottom line of information. Give me a task and I will get it done, and no one can do it better than me….or that is what a ‘Go-Getter’ believes. My colleague, Brennan Scanlon, kept telling me, ‘you are a Promoter’, the person who likes to have fun in the room, who will wear the louder colors and bold jewelry. Also, this person could possibly jump off the cliff before thinking (that’s why I am married to an ‘Examiner’. He has saved me many times!).
Recently I re-took my assessment and low and behold, it came up as a Promoter. Of course, Brennan did the ‘I told you so’. But here is what is amazi
ng. Lately, I have embraced the ‘Promoter’ side of my personality and have found this new ‘freedom’ in my mind, but didn’t really realize it until today! In February, I got new reading glasses, and instead of getting the conservative frames I would normally get, I got these new wild frames. In addition, I’ve noticed that my clothes purchases have been that of bolder colors and prints. Shoes, well, I have always like ‘sassy shoes’. More than anything, I have given myself the gift to behave like me. The Promoter personality and what it has done is made it easier for me to react with others because I am now being the ‘true me’.
Now you are probably wondering what this is all really about and how does it affect Networking. Well, there are two people you could be; the person you think others want you to be or the person you want to be. Which do you think will connect better with your client? You might think that in certain situations, your clients may want you to be that first person, that person others ‘think’ you are. But in reality, honoring who you are is who your clients want you to be. They want to really know who the person is they are doing business with because they want to trust you. Trusting you comes with being who you are! Haven’t you all met that person you just knew was changing who they were to get your business? You just knew this couldn’t possibly be the authentic them. You knew they were being the person they thought ‘you wanted them to be’. It made you wonder what they were really after. You just didn’t quite feel right about what you were getting into and you surely didn’t trust them. Yes, I am sure you have been in that situation and are thinking of one specific example that just came to mind. Don’t be that person!! Now, when you are being the authentic you, you may have to tone it down for some or dial it up when interacting with the other personality types, but never entirely let go of you!
Honoring your own personality is also honoring others’ personalities. This allows you to treat them the way they want to be treated. As Dr. Tony Alessandra’s Platinum Rule states: Do unto others as they want to be done unto. In business, your clients want great results; it is about them and their needs and it all starts with how you treat them from the first moment you meet them. The person they want to meet is the person they could be doing business with for many, many years. Be that person for both of you!