Power Networking

We all know the value of networking. Personally meeting prospective buyers, learning about them, positioning ourselves and the work we do and leaving them with our business card is one of the tried, tested and true starting points to productive business relationships. This is block and tackle stuff. But how many of us do it effectively and consistently?

Crystal Flaman (www.crystalflaman.com) does, and she has found a way to make an impact in a cost-effective and memorable way. Crystal has developed a series of small cards that resemble fortune cookie messages. Each bears an inspirational messsage that she wrote. The two I received say "Focus on the best and it will manifest," and "The people you need most will cross your path now."

While the cards themselves are unique, the real magic in Crystal's approach is in how she distributes them. On an excursion during a recent professional association meeting in Orlando, Florida, she walked down the tour bus aisle and stopped at each seat with the cards fanned out in her hands like playing cards. She asked acquaintances and strangers alike to take two cards each - keeping the one that speaks to them and promising to give the other to somoene else some time during the conference. In effect, she turned everyone on the tour bus into her sales team.

Wow!

Crystal - whose separate "ordinary" business cards describe her as an "Entrepreneur, Professional Speaker, Ironman Triathlete, 100k Ultra-Marathoner" - is, above all else, a humantarian. When I asked her why she decided to participate in a punishing 100 kilometer Ultra Marathon, she told me that she and a friend did it to raise money for families in Africa.

The world needs more Crystal Flamans.