I watched Kaylie’s face as the world spun past and I knew this moment was one of the special ones — never to come again.
She and I were down at Disney World together. Lisa and our brand new baby, Abby, were back up in Michigan with my sister-in-law, JoAnn. It was just the two of us enjoying the carousel behind Cinderella’s castle. She was three and a half.
That moment is indelibly imprinted on my memory. I knew, even if we came again in some future year, she would never see the world with quite the same magic in her eyes.
Our relationships, both personal and professional (in fact, they’re all personal, right?) are made up of just such memories. Magical moments that stand out above the everyday.
Do you think our networking partners remember that conversation we had about the weather? I’d guess not. They will remember when they found out that we share a common passion for Civil War re-enactments. Do they recall talking about what they do or how their business is going? I doubt it. There is a good chance they remember us connecting them to that big new client. Do they care which coffee shop you first met at? Nope. But they will remember the first time you introduced them to that caterer who took amazing care of their daughter’s wedding reception.
We want to look for those magical opportunities with our networking connections. They aren’t always the big things, but they will stand out from the ordinary and usually they simply show that we care. This is kind of the point of the one-to-one. Of course we are trying to get to know them better. We want to know more, though, so we can better help them and make ourselves and the relationship we are building remarkable in their eyes.
Does Kaylie remember all the times I made her cereal for breakfast? Does she remember any particular time? Probably not. As of right now, though, she remembers that carousel.
