Networking politness in business appointments

Some days ago, one of my friends was visibly upset, he told me that it was his second time that had been dumped at a business appointment. He had planned the meeting, now for a second time, and asked some people to be at the restaurant and without any explanation his date didn't show up, neither she sent a message. How would you reacted?

Communication in this type of situations is really important, everyone can have a mishap, but there are some politeness rules that you should not forget to follow, it doesn't matter the environment you are, either business or social.

Rule 1: If you think that your date is not going to be interesting, don't make a commitment in the first place. Is possible that the person is really interested in asking you to go the meeting, have you being asked to those presentations of vacation share times? Did anyone want you to buy an insurance? Maybe you understand my point. You shall say no to this type of commitments, but if you have given your word and accepted the appointment, you have to be there. Then you will find a way to retract or not buy the product, but you have to be there.

Rule 2: If you have an alibi, like you have a flat tire, or a minor accident, then take a little time and tell your contact that you will be late. There are some cultures around the world that don't accept delays, like the Germans. Latins are really flexible on times, but an hour delay its considered disrespectful.

Rule 3: If you have canceled a first appointment, a second one is seen like a totally lack of interest. If a customer cancels you on the first time, and you are interested in the selling, you will be tempted to ask for a second date, but if your customer misses the second appointment, then you should consider that maybe he will be not as good customer as you think, probably he is not into the product, maybe he is a "bad payer" or maybe he is just a not commiter. Don't give your suppliers this idea, always take your phone and take care of the situation. Leave behind a professional image.

Remember the courtesy and networking are fundamental pillars to personal relations, job or social. Consider always the people you are interacting with, when you have to cancel a date. Can you share some experience on this matter?

In Memoriam Networking

This post is dedicated to Alfredo Moreno Ricart, an excellent friend and peer since my college studies.

Death is something we know eventually come, but we don't expect to receive this type of news from someone that young. I heard first from the chat our generation has since several months ago. On the social networks the thankful notes and friendship tokens were plenty. The first reaction of my college friends were from disbelief, then we start asking tor confirmations and at the end we started to express our condolences.

As a group of managers, the proposals about the different things we could do to express our admiration keep flowing. We propose to organize a Mass at Monterrey, go to the memorial in Reynosa, and send an obituary to a newspaper.

While writing the message to Alfredo make us remember the best times we had with him. We share some photos and memories. Thanks to Elena coordination and the comments of the people at the chat we could made the publishing.

Personally I want to share that my last contact with Alfredo was related to a post that I publish back in April, "Petworking". I send him an inbox asking him to share me some of this Zoo pictures. He answered me back and I like to share with you the last words he send me, so you can imagine the great human being he was.

"Goodbye's are part of life, sometimes it's necessary to say goodbye and leave a memory about us before leaving, "

When a friend leaves

Paty, my friend, get a job promotion and now she is working abroad. This week we had a farewell meal and share one of this moments with her. Networking in this occasions is important as well as the ones that stayed as for the ones that leave.

When you know a person that will work abroad you may have a lot of questions on how you will maintain contact or how you'll be keeping your friendship. Good news, social networks allow us to stay in touch and be aware of the people that we care about.

With all this changes for sure your friend will be busy, but you can stay in touch, giving likes to her facebook or instagram status, you may follow her Twitter comments or look out her pines at Pinterest. After the first month rush, her life will take order and you may give her some advice on where or what places she can visit. Give her time, don't get angry if at the beginning she doesn't keep in touch, probably is getting her life arranged.

If you are the one that makes changes, tell your friends about the stress you are having because the mayor change in your life. Ask them for a little patience if you aren't aware about their lives as you may do it before and take some time every day to speak with at least one or two friends, they probably be thankful about your time share and get some attention from your friends.

Make the most from this new experience, make it fun, if you are new on the place where you live, become a life watcher... learn by observation the culture, times, interaction, social rules and courtesy, and then share them to your social network, maybe it will be easier that you feel some sympathy and closeness, by learning how to make new friends.