Specialized Shopping Networking

The past week I was on a road trip with my family and kids when suddenly we heard a loud noise, at first we thought that it was made by the car next to us, the type of an explosion maker. In a further distance I was listening to the claq, claq, claq sound that usually indicates a flat tire.

As soon as I stopped my dad, brother and sons take care of the situation and change the flat tire. Everyone collaborated on this matter, and my dad and brother seized the opportunity to teach my kids to do it. It's like the knowledge transference in a small community, the elder teach the younger.

Once I can get in the road again, I have to quote in different places my new tire. This duty took me about 3 days and a lot of phone calls. I couldn't understand why a tire cost that much. Those are things that I will never understand. Javier, my uncle, told me that I have to be careful where I buy my tire, because I could be tricked, so that if the tire cost a little bit more I should buy it at a company that gave me some type of warranty. This is another type of knowledge transference.

Then I remember that my friend Karla told me that when in trouble, I will have to place my need to the "universe" so it can move some strings and eventually the right answer will arise. So I start by telling my case and suddenly Lily, other good friend of mine, listened to me and told me, Do you remember Luis? He works for a tire company and all our friends, including me, have bought some tires from him, why don't you ask him?

So I did and Luis was really kind, he also get me some type of "discount" and ask for the tire and send it to a near address. The same day I was buying from him my tire, he was doing the same job for other of our friends, Yamin.

So with this in mind, I share with you the networking comment:

1.- Family is very important on the knowledge transfer, give the elders the opportunity to teach the new generations, this is a networking privilege that its worth to remember.

2.- Asking the "universe" for help, this means telling others what you need, may help you to get access or contacts that may help you on your needs and may have a good advice.

3.- Be helpful with your friends and offer your services, that may lead you to get some others on the future. If you are specialist at some theme, share it, you may get a lot of projection.

Intercultural Communication

Have you ever experienced that even speaking the same language you won't get understood? It happens so me frequently, so I want to share with you some examples that I've experienced so you may have reference to act when in similar situations you are.

1.- The verb grab or take (agarrar o tomar), in Mexico will never be get (coger). The Mexican double meaning of the words has some sexual connotations, so be careful when you are here and use this word, people will start laughing.

2.- Here we ask things very careful and we take a lot of consideration on the words we use in order to not come out with an aggressive comment, at the North the people is less stressed about this situation and we are considered to be belligerent: "Can you hand me a napkin please?" but in the center and south of this country it would sound like: "May I bother you with a little napkin, pleasssy?" At some other countries you may not bother or give more information... you just ask for your napkins and because its the waiter obligation to provide them, in so many cases the word please is not used at all.

3.- When you go to latinamerica and they ask for your number, they are meaning your id number, not your cellphone. Do not get confused by this, they are not being flirty, this is a common mistake that happens usually to  Mexican girls.

4.- If they call you in Mexico and you answer "what (que)" your mom will argue and tell you it's not "que" you have to say "instruct me (mande)". At any other country the people should understand with a "tell me" or a "yes" and our very common word "mande (instruct me)" make people think we are still in a servant economy or so. 

5.- Last but not least I would like to give a special mention to the Mexican "ahorita" (right now), this may be from one minute to an extra 3 week delay, the difference may strive on the context and your special need. One day I took my car to the shop, for a minor repair, the repairman say me "ahorita" and it took him 3 weeks to give my car back.

So remember depending on the place you are, you may consider to review the local definitions of the words, be careful on your language use.

Interview Tips

Have you done a job interview and feel you were not well prepared? Here I share some activities that you may do to cover some mayor aspects on your dressing, personal arrange or performance, so you may feel that you have done well no matter the job you are asking for:

At my job I had the opportunity to interview a lot of candidates to fill out positions of different types and in different cities, most of the times a good resume is the key, but when I have to choose between some different candidates here are some activities that I always watch:

Common non verbal mistakes:

1.- Avoid eye contact. When the people doesn't look back, you loose confidence on the candidate, in my case I think there is something that doesn't want to be shared.

2.- Not knowing the company. You may review some important information on the Internet, there are some basic aspects like divisions, markets, cities or sites that have presence. It's really easy nowadays to be prepared. 

3.- Don't smile. Having people with a sad face is not a well sign of organizational behavior, if you are not in a good mood, think of something funny before you get into the interview. Remember to bring the best out of you.

4.- Have a bad posture. Like the previous tip, a bad posture sells boring and tedious, no one would like to hire someone that lacks of enthusiasm on the activity is being offered. 

5.- Fidget too much. When people moves too much on their chair, they are sending the message that are nervous or that they want to get out of there fast, don´t give your interviewer the option to let you go outside fast, the more time you have to present yourself the best.

6.- Have a weak handshake. This also means lack of confidence, practice if you think you need a harder grab.

7.- Play with the hair or touch your face. Everything that has to do with movement implies nervousness, remember that you are selling your own person at the interview your skills and your knowledge, don't let a nervous hands get on your way.

8.- Cross your arms. In ontological language means closure, if you are in an interview send the correct message that you want to share your experiences with the company.

Consider also to pay attention to the following activities:

The interviewers look up for the dressing, acting and walking when the people cross the door. Then they pay attention to your voice quality, grammar and confidence and third they look up for your word selection when speaking.

Last, but not least, if you are not on the fashion industry, very trendy or stylized people is not very good seen by interviewers. In many cases interviewers choose the people to hire when reviewing their clothes.

Document Networking

Do you have a governmental issue? Have to open a bank account? Go to the Doctor? Get into a new school? For sure you will need some papers, and think about what happen when you don´t carry them. Here I'll share some tips for you.

One of my sons will make an abroad trip, so I have to make some immigration affairs and some bank affairs. Here in Mexico this type of errands are somethings you should be prepared to deal with.

The first thing to do is to have the permit that allow my kid to get out of the country without his parents. There is a document you should fill out with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I believe this is not available in Monterrey because other times I had to go to a Notary to make the request.

When you have to make this things it's better to do it by yourself. For more information please visit: 

http://www.inm.gob.mx/index.php/page/autorizacion_menores

At the end I went to the immigration office and when they review my application, it happened to have some mistakes and I had to print again my document. So my first tip: 

Tip 1: Look for the Internet Coffee closer to the place you are making the application, maybe they will charge you a little extra per hour, but probably they will know about the procedure, had the proper technology and are aware of the different things when people make mistakes.

At the end I get the immigration permit without many setbacks and the expense of some little pesos. For sure I learn something and the next time I will probably get my application correctly filled out.

Next I have to get a Bank Account for my son, so to the bank I went and ask about some of their services. I had to wait in line about 1 hour. By the time I get the information, I didn't carry with me any documents so I started to think:

1.- Waiting in line: 1 hour

2.- Receive information: 5 minutes

3.- Getting documents: 1 day, you have to go home and take some copies. 

4.- Time for application: 10 minutes

So I start thinking again, and I think I could manage it in some kind of way, I believe networking is my signature, isn't it?

First I look in my phone and remembered all the documents I have sent to me at some point. Perfect, I had pictures, pdf's, emails with the most of the papers I need. I ask the manager his email account and send them to him. So my number 2 tip:

Tip 2: Always have some documents at the cloud for sure you will make hand of some of them in some stressful situations that you probably will have.

Finally there was one last document I needed, and unfortunately I didn't have a copy with me. So I remember the girl that helps me with  my home cleaning, luckily she was at my house at that point. So I asked her to take a picture of the receipt and send it to me via Whatsapp. 

Tip 3: Calmly think who could offer you some help, some people that you know may be near the information you need and without making so much trouble you may get the information and the application done.

The next time I go to the bank, I will probably make the next things:

Tip 4: Ask in advance for an appointment

Tip 5: Make some previous research on which documents I will need to make my application.

Tip 6: Carefully review the filling of my own documents to get better results the first time.

I wish you the best luck of all on your next application procedure. Would you like to share some thoughts?

Supplier Networking

Have you been part of a tender? Have you made a presentation and think it went well, but at the end you lost the business?

I went to a presentation of 4 IT suppliers. From the central office I got the invitation as a possible decision taker. We were around 25 people at the meeting.

Each supplier has the opportunity to share their product for 1 hour and 3o minutes. And they gave us a evaluation format to consider the different qualities the product should have.

The presentations went one after the other, and the suppliers share their product characteristics. I could identify big differences among them, and take some notes to share with you. On the first hand to make you aware that on a selling process, you will need some networking before, in the meantime and after each presentation.

1.- Before the event: Take some time to learn who your audience will be. What are the physical resources you may have for your exposure. How much expertise the people that will evaluate your product has.

2.- During the event: Ask the people if they have seen your product before, if they know the characteristics of it, what are the failures it has and what are the qualities it has. Ask them what other things they want to be included as a part of the service you are offering. 

3.- After the event: Send a thank you note to the assistants, make some modifications to your offer, add some of the suggestions you get from the people at the meeting. 

In the presentations I participated, I could see big differences between the suppliers. One of the companies was really interested on the needs we have. The other presented some elements that weren't necessary or not part of the shared needs.

One of the suppliers get the following note from a guest:

"Please limit yourself to share the specific product we asked for, because you are making us loose our time".

Remember each activity you make, if there is people involved, always consider their needs and wishes. This is the clue for making your proposals get to the best terms.

On the evaluation format I had, there were two suppliers that didn't get my grade, because they never presented anything that I was needing.

Other supplier, introduce just some part of the information, so he get my second best option. But the one that made the networking research in advance get my best reviews, also I get a thank you note from him and a second date to move on on the process.

Who do you hire for the job?

Exercise Networking

It's January, and you are going to the gym for the first time, you don't know anybody and you would like that this purpose last at least 6 months. What to do?

Networking activities will help you to move forward on your new year's resolutions, please remember to have fun on the process.

1.- Get into some classes, usually gyms offer yoga, salsa, kickboxing, Pilate's or spinning classes. Subscribe to a class and get to know your peers, eventually you will met all the people in the class and your class will become more fun.

2.- When activating Cardio, try to meet the people around you, specially if they are warming up. Ask about the best cardio program, and how to use better the equipment.

3.- If you are making some weights, you could handle your networking by making combining laps with other people training too. Look for the people at your same work out level. If you don't have any experience, use your training knowledge first, and then continue with your exercise. 

4.- Join a team, some gyms have basketball, tennis, racquetball among different team features. Any activity done by more than two people will be easier to handle for integration and networking.

5.- Have a purpose in mind, talk with your trainer about your goals, maybe its running a marathon, a triathlon, there could be several groups that are training for a specific challenge and if you join them, it will be perfect to share a hobby and a sport. 

6.- Finally the dressing rooms, here you can comment about your training day and also make plans for the next day. If you get a commitment partner to go to the gym it will be easier for you to end your goal.

 Hope you get the best of the success while integrating networking on your exercise routine.

Networking Tips

Do you want to Network but you are to shy to try? I share with you some tips that will be useful to get over your shyness and get to know some interesting people.

 1.- Arrive early, if you go to an event were you don't know a lot of people its easier to start a conversation when there are less people to interact with, there is not that much competence and some of them will be waiting for their friends to arrive, meanwhile they have more chances to do networking

2.- Go to different events, not only those that have the "Networking" title. For example, you could go to a conference, workshop, concert, exposition, openings, cocktails. If the event you are invited lasts more than one day, you will have more chances to get to know a lot of people.

 3.-Ask simple questions like, what bring you to this event? If it's a small group something like, may I join you? Make your questions personal, avoid speaking about the weather so you engage your new friends. This is related to the next tip. 

4.- Make people feel special to share something interesting. Make them share their personal passions and interests. It is always welcome an enthusiast talk that a small talk.

5.- Smile, people use to forget how much worth a smile has. It is strong and attractive a person with a great smile. You are sending a positive message that you can be achieved and you are an easy person.

6.- Make sure to get at least one new contact on each event, you don't need to have the goal of 100 contacts per event. Then make sure you give the proper follow up to your new acquaintances.

Adaptation Networking

Have you seen a customer service employee delivering at your car window?

An interesting event that happens when it comes to adaptation on the different circumstances that surround different places. At Mexico City parking spaces are few and expensive, the convenience stores do not have this facilities at most of their establishments. I miss living at a smaller city where this parking spaces were available at a 30 step walk.

In this big city, the space and the square meters are really important, so the managers have developed new service formulas to adapt to this situation. Innovation some may say. I have to tell you that a few days ago my son give me a call and ask me to buy for him 30 tamales to take to his posada (event party). It was 3:30pm and at that moment I haven't seen any tamales sold at the regular stores that I shop. In Monterrey tamales are sold at any supermarket and in some convenience stores too.

So the first thing I did was to ask a Mom that knew about this type of requests. The answers came fast, some of them lead me to different places where I can buy my tamales, but they remember me that it's better to ask for them with 2 or 3 days advance.

One of the mom's told me to go to a specialized store that has at least 12 different franchises. So I do my research in Internet, get the phone number and make a call. Jesus, store manager, answered and he explain me that he had the tamales, how to drive to the store and he offered that when I was near him I just "honk" and he will go out and deliver my request.

I had never lived a similar situation, and of course, when I was on my way to the tamale's store, I kept stuck on traffic and lost. This happens here a lot, but I take the phone and call Jesus again, as soon as he answered he gave me some new directions and get me to my way. He also told me that I should call him again when  I were near the Pizza Restaurant and he will gave me my tamales.

I still not catch his instructions, but I'm pretty obedient and when I was in front of the Pizzas Restaurant I call him again, I was at half a block from his store. He then told me turn on your flashers, then he asked about my SUV model and color and 2 seconds more he was at my window giving me the tamales, I do not have to get out of my car, neither wait for him. He also told me how to get back. This was an interesting experience.

Now my suggestions

a) If you do not have the parking spaces availability, look for different ways to give your customers service experiences less stressful, give them a taxi, have different alternatives or in as in this case make the "auto" delivery.

b) Organize with your customers the possibility to make their orders by Internet or by phone and then review the different options of delivery. 

c) Have fun in the process, Jesus helped me a lot with my driving directions and also give me some tips on the places I was lost.

Networking Spaces

How you decide on the space you will need for your networking event?

On my personal point of view, networking is not that difficult or complicated, somehow it has to have attitude and interest. Meeting a new person, get interested on his needs, establish some agreement points and follow up. This can be done at any place, but there are some spaces that make easier this task.

The past week I participate on the inauguration of the learning commons. This event make me think about the possibilities of networking that could be done depending on the spaces.

Here I share a recommendation list to consider and have a networking event:

a) Food and beberage accesibility. It can be a restaurant or a coffeshop, if there are some awkward moments at some point, you can always speak about food and drinks and there you go.

b) Connectivity and technology access. A lot of business conversations are made from information that we have on the cloud, a USB or a presentation. Make sure you can expose the information.

c) Whiteboards, flipcharts or white paper to write down your ideas. A lot of people can take notes on the presentations, the posibility to make a scheme, outline, drawing or doodle, make the process of thinking a little bit easier.

d) Last but not least, comfortable furniture. Maybe the meeting take only 15 minutes, but if you are going to be there for more than one hour, you'll be grateful to have some ergonomic furniture that make your networking easier.

Cancelation Networking

Sure this has happened to you or you heard a story about it, you are at the airport and suddenly by events beyond your control,  the airline cancel your flight ... 

Last Thursday I had to take a flight at 8:00 am, I arrived at the airport with my regalement 2 hours in advance. To this point I have spent so much on the airports I've learned to take my precautions.

The airport seemed as a market day with your paycheck with you. You'd think they were giving away tickets or stays, since it was a lot of people there, the most interesting is that although the time was more regularly for working travelers, plenty of tourists were delivering their luggage. I think I was waiting for an hour to deliver my suitcase. Eventually as I walked in the control line, and went to the waiting room.

Oh surprise! the speakers began to notice that due to bad weather conditions, the airport was closed for operations, that means no flights arriving or leaving. A dense fog was observed through the windows of the waiting room, but I kept thinking that soon somebody would announce that my flight would depart from gate number 43.

Minutes passed and nothing, the speakers were announcing that passengers should wait for some more indications. And suddenly my flight that had the status of "on time" appeared a horrible "cancelled" in red letters and the whole thing. If you are going to cancel a flight, at least they should not make it so dramatic, but anyway, I went to the service station of the airline, and of course the lady who attended was not aware of the cancellation. I asked her politely what should a mere mortal like me do? And I thought she would answer me to buy something like Credit Card "X" and with that we give VIP status, but no, she spread a paper with a phone number and told me that my situation should be solved by telephone only.


The speakers suddenly told that people from my flight were directed to another station, in a separate room, with more trained staff or the understanding that they would be more informed than the girl in the other room. Finally the time came and I had been front half of the plane and the other half from the airport, because while I was thinking, more flights were canceled and that things there really started to get complicated.

I stayed on line for another half hour, but the lady with a very nice attitude, told me that I was going to lose my flight and would get on it the next day, until then I had not reacted, but at that time I pointed out that: 

1. I was not missing a flight, which was missing two flights (all because of the airport connections)

2. That I was going to do any major scandal, because I was sure that they should send me to my final destination. I just wanted to go straight to the beach.

Sure my non reactionary techniques, the girl should already have a signal (because there were several cases that morning) that from the flight from Madrid, they had to send landing Queretaro, or arriving from Bogota, had been unable to land and had gone to Toluca. And she will have noticed that there were some passengers who would be losing the connection. So I was assigned a place in the next direct flight to the beach :).

The nice lady gave me the following indications: Miss you are going to have to leave these waiting rooms, collect your luggage in the bands, go again to make baggage drop out, go back through the security line and ready. I was not going to lose bad mood, until then, all we lost was a flight, but according to the itinerary of my new flight, I will arrive at my destination about 15 minutes after the scheduled time, not bad for a cancellation .

What happened next is the result of Networking and commented to the note of what one can do in these cases and not spend so badly. To get out, no special ramps, one has to regularly go out in the designated areas, but I had not reached these areas, so I went to the security filters to exit. At that time there was shift change, so they were all serving security guards receiving their day assignments. But they not allow me to get out, so I have to say "please I'm going to lose another flight" and of course someone take care of me and told me the password to get out of there: "Jimenez"

OK, I was out, but I had to get to the delivery area of luggage, to go back, I passed through the filter of the airport staff, not to mention, I was wandering around all interior corridors until I got to where I would found easily my suitcase, but like everything went well on the day, of course it was not my case over there. Neither the passengers flying to Matamoros and San Luis Potosi. 

We all got talking and waiting, spent about 20 minutes waiting for the luggage and then Matamoros came in. 20 minutes after the San Luis Potosi flight luggage arrived. But nothing at all about my flight, and worse, no passengers, it was kind of strange.

Again no offense to affect the wonderful work of the staff of the airline, I had to tell them that or they I gave my suitcase, or we would have a pretty severe transportation problem, and asked for my suitcase, which arrived in about 20 minutes, the apparently estimated response time at this airline.

In the process, the man at the gate got a large group of passengers, supposedly would get to Sonora, but even if they were already on the plane, they take them down, I think that will make me get angry. 

With my suitcase I returned to the baggage drop off, and before it had taken me an hour to deliver, now 2 hours. There were many people making changes, asking them to give tickets for another time, etc. In a situation like this people can get very violent.

So my recommendation, when you pass something like that, take it easy, learn something in life, in my case two hours later arrived at my destination, but ultimately I arrived and had the best time.

Pairing: Music and Events

What type of music should you get to your networking event? How to know if your music selection is adequate and is promoting the networking?

On the past days I've read an article about how to pair music with your publicity, there were 4 tips. So this make me realize that I shall write about my suggestions on how to select music to get into your networking event:

• Birthday party, wedding, family reunion, among others:

Watch out what kind of people will be invited to your party, their ages and cultural backgrounds. Consider having an eclectic music with all type of rhythms and styles. If you expect people to dance, the selection should include a little more of variety, so you can thrill your guests. Have a special care about the microphones, you may finish having the reduced version of Elton John at your party.

• Opening, Cocktail, Presentation, Exposition:

It's important to consider that in this meetings what you pretend is to make people talk with each other, even more if it's a promotional event, you may want to make people to talk about your new product. So have some background music that its low and preferentially instrumental, so you may have the people talking without feeling nervous.

• Political Campaign, Sports event:

Use music that it's on the top lists of the moment, something strong, make a lot of noice, you want to bring up attention to this event. Regularly this events are outdoor and in big spaces, so you may have to contract some extra speakers and a DJ that enlightens your event.

• Intimate meeting, Some friends, Barbecue:

Use the music you like the most, on the type and format you more like, because the meeting is small, you may have a conversational theme with your friends. Seize the moment and ask about their particular musical taste, speak about the tendencies of that type of musical genre, their singers, etc. This could be used to present your musical taste and to know about some other types of music.