Check out this website called Socially Popular (great name) for a fresh view of social media and social networking. Eric just added me to his list of 20,000-plus Twitter followers–and he is also following that many by the way. He poses the usual questions that people ask about the ROI of social media such as “How do I get noticed? How do I acquire customers, leads and eyeballs in this new landscape? How do I retain what I just acquired for repeat business? How and why do I need to build relationships that form communities?”
So what is so unique about Eric Silva? It’s this phrase, “We’re all scientists conducting experiments in an ever-changing landscape.” He gets it. We are all experimenting–every day, every hour and now, every minute. Why? We don’t know what will catch on in this murky, mashup world we live in. But those who get it like Eric, do know this–we don’t get anything if, one, we aren’t authentic–even if it hurts sometimes, and, second, we don’t keep trying.
So on this Labor Day when people are trying not to think about going back to work tomorrow, I just wanted to recognize Eric and his work and his passion. By the way you can also find Eric on Twitter.
When Christian Gray and I spoke this week I had no idea that we would be having a very rich, deep, purposeful conversation. This was the first time we spoke and within 30 minutes we were able to get to a place of trust. In fact on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being a very high level of trust, it was easy to see this person was at the 5 level.
So what did he do to create trust so quickly. Here is an overview of his philosophy:
- Talk more about “who” you are and “what” you stand for rather than “what you do” Christian began by very quickly telling me what matters most to him–his children, helping kids who are disadvantaged getting books and learning to read, getting healthy (he wants to keep to his established exercise schedule and forming an alliance network of people who have similar and complementary values and skills
- Asked what mattered most to me. In Networlding we call it “The Exchange.” It’s not about just giving. Givers end up actually with less than they intended usually. It’s also certainly not just about taking. Takers end up with lots of connections but poor or mediocre opportunities on an ongoing basis. Exchangers get the most out of their work by spending time exploring “mutually beneficial” opportunities. It’s not an easy thing to do but the results are so much more effective. So when Christian asked me what my five top goals are this year, we were then able to talk about our mutual synergies–where we could work together and where we might refer or introduce one another.
- Deliver a “WOW” offer. I will never forget our first meeting as Christian’s “WOW” offer was to give back what he calls his 10X. Take a look at his social networking article on this offer that he has now turned into a signature offer of his that differentiates him greatly from thousands of others I have met.
What signature offer have you created to differentiate yourself from others? How can you both make a living AND make a difference? Who do you know who has made a WOW gift to you like Christian did?
