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9 Things I Learned from a Business Trip Encounter
I was on a plane travelling back from a business trip to Frankfurt. For a long time I’ve been meaning to attend to the important things like updating an ageing website.
If you know me, I tend to talk to anybody I meet. So as I sat down for the two-hour flight, I got talking to Tom and Patrick, two friends for a long time. As we always get to talking about what we do, we shared our stories. Tom was reading a book about the Mob, so that was my starting point, “Is the book any good?”
The two-hour trip flew buy as the three of us shared our stories of what we all did. Patrick joins in and tells me he’s a web consultant and was really looking to build his consultancy on his passion for web technology and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). He proceeds to offer lots of wonderful advice about what I could do with my ageing website. His passion and excitement for his work were so obvious. Within 24 hours I got a whole page of ideas from him, for no reason, except he loves to help others and is passionate about his work.
It dawned on me that this might be the person that could help me relaunch the website and blog. I called Patrick and we had a chat, and once again, there was so many quality pieces of advice just pouring over the phone line. I decided that I would offer him the project. So off he went, wrote this very professional well-thought out proposal, based on guidelines I was looking for.
The level of service I got was top-notch, high-class project management, attention to detail, pro-active customer service. He used his contacts in graphic design and IT consulting to support the smooth running of the project.
The happy ending to the story is that he helped finally start a blog that I’ve always wanted to start.
I started to share some of my ideas with him on how he could expand his business and coached him on some project he was working in, including advice on a financial adviser and a good accountant. He is now working on his next consulting project and no doubt delivering a terrific service.
It was a true example of great symbiosis. Two companies working together and 3 people benefiting from an encounter on an flight from Frankfurt; Patrick, the accountant and Zenith Training and Development.
And now, the 9 things I learned from a business trip encounter
- Opportunities present themselves every day
- Being interested in others is always a worthwhile exercise
- It pays to network and be a good listener
- It pays to offer something for nothing in return
- Curiosity about others always opens doors
- Passion sells and delivers
- Trust can be there from the beginning
- Doing business can be easy and fun
- The people with the talent and skills are all around you
The simple step of starting a conversation can change everything in two hours. If you would like to learn how to change your conversations – Contact Us.