Coaching Blog
The Coaching Group Of Switzerland

by Susan Begeman Steiner

Networking is about meeting people you can do business with. The most common question asked at networking events is What Do You Do?

How you answer that question determines if you make a contact or simply get dismissed as another network bore. This may be your one chance with the person, so you want to make it count.

Here is a recipe for an enticing, sparkling response to this question that leaves them wanting more. You can "cook it up" differently each time, depending on what you think the person might want to hear.

Ingredients

• 1 Sentence about who you work with and what their problem or pain is
• 1 Sentence about what people receive from working with you
• 1-2 Questions such as: "You know when you do x and you feel y?" or "Do you know someone who...?"
• 1-2 Brief facts from your field of expertise, such as "Research shows that only 50% of employees are satisfied with their job."
• 1 Super short story of how you helped a client

Instructions

1. Get connected. After she asks what you do, look her in the eye, smile and make her feel that you are taking her into your confidence.
2. Ask her a question that can be answered Yes or No. Such as "You know how it feels when you are trying to figure something out and you keep going around and around in your mind?" Or instead you can state a fascinating fact or say 1-2 sentences about a client of yours.
3. Say what you are (e.g., Coach, Architect, IT security consultant) and what people get from working with you. It might sound like this, "As a coach, I listen to people in a focused way that allows them to find solutions to problems that have been bugging them for months."
4. Then be quiet and wait for the person to respond. If you have done steps 1-3 well, the response might be, "How do you do that?" or "Tell me more."
5. Ask for another meeting. Say, "Let's talk some more over coffee." Then give the person your business card and ask for her card.
6. When you get back to your desk, follow up with a brief email asking if she would like to get together for coffee next week.

Using this recipe, you can be prepared with the "ingredients," but also be spontaneous in how you put them together. Remember to keep it short and sweet -- and leave them wanting more.

By Suzie Doscher

"Life is difficult, the sooner we accept this, the easier it gets." That is the way the saying goes. Once we truly accept that life is difficult, we have automatically put ourselves into a place of more strength. It is all about knowing how to help ourselves in those difficult moments. During those times, the main objective is to get back to some kind of calm/strength as soon as possible.

There are times when a little self pity can go a long way…and maybe we just need a little pity! At some point, however, we are well-advised to take charge again.  Five of my favourite tools that support taking charge again are below. Sometimes it is as simple as just remembering these things.

1. Where there is a will, there IS a way.

We CAN find the time to think about what to do and how to help the situation, if we really want to.

2. We always have CHOICE in the matter.

There are two responses to every situation: a negative (disempowering) one or a positive (empowering) one.  It is up to us to choose!

3. It IS possible to "reprogram" how we see things.

With reframing, using positive affirmations, shedding self-imposed limits (also known as limiting beliefs), taking better care of ourselves (as opposed to everybody else first…), we can make changes.

4. We cannot change people, but we can change how we REACT to them.

Accept and take a much closer look at what you can control and influence. In this case it is your own behaviour and reactions.

5. ONE STEP AT A TIME gets us up the ladder.

This is the Old Faithful approach: breaking a problem down into smaller steps, then taking one step at a time. This allows us to live in the present day, not in the past or future. I only deal with what CAN be dealt with and thereby avoiding being overwhelmed.

This small selection of tools will serve you through almost any difficulty.
Which one you pick is up to you in the moment.

“If you try you may fail, if you don't try you're guaranteed to fail”                                                                                 --Jesse Jackson