I’m not one to give with an expectation of getting.  In fact, I’m not a very gracious “getter.” So I was recently befuddled when I received this lovely recommendation after giving a presentation at Podcamp Ohio: “I attended one of Deborah’s speaking sessions and she is amazing! I learned a great deal from her regarding [...]

Yesterday on LinkedIn I found a question started by Pete Radke  spurred on by an article he read.  His question: Does Social Media Weaken Relationships? The comments are interesting – some that agree and some that don’t.  Here’s what I said: I believe if we use social media as a way to connect – then yes, [...]

A friend forwarded me an email this morning that told of an interview Oprah had in April with Maya Angelou.  It was Maya’s 70+ birthday and Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older.  She said lots of thought provoking, inspirational stuff as Maya often does but the one quote that really struck me was this one: [...]

Yesterday I was sharing Jeff Nischwitz’s thoughts on networking to build relationships in which he said it is more important to be INTERESTED than interesting. I was reminded of that fact when thumbing through an old, worn copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, copyright 1936. In the section Six Ways to [...]

Do you still view networking/after hours events as a race to see how many business cards you can gather?  I just recently went to such an event where the host gave a gift to the person who’d obtained the most cards.  How can you build relationships when all you really want is the card.  And [...]

I have a new customer.  She is in the business of residential mortgages.  Not a good time for her business, is it? Actually – she’s doing great. But oh those foreclosures.  Bet she has a lot of irate customers, huh? Nope.  Currently her foreclosure rate is less than 1%. So she just sells those small [...]

The phone rang not long ago, as it is apt to do, and the woman at the other end of the phone said: “I know you won’t remember me, but I attended a seminar you gave about three years ago on Generational Marketing.  Are you still on the speaking circuit?  I really liked your speaking [...]

I heard a story the other day that makes me wonder how you would react. A friend of mine is a writer and met with a prospect to discuss the possibility of setting up a blog.  She listened to him tell about his business and  describe what he hoped to accomplish with the blog.  Great guy. [...]