The Relationship Edge: The Key to Strategic Influence and Selling Success, Third Edition

Chapter 6. PROBE FOR SMALL WORLD CONNECTIONS

Here are three quick it's-a-small-world examples that could be multiplied endlessly.

I was giving a speech to a pharmaceutical company and mentioned I was in from Memphis. Later that morning, a young man, Stephen Bell, came up to me and said, "You mentioned you were from Memphis. Did you ever know a guy named Bud Garrett?" Bud Garrett, as I wrote in the Foreword of my first book, was the single greatest motivator of people I'd met before I was 25. Garrett was Stephen's grandfather. He had an incredible impact in my life, and I've now developed a terrific relationship with Stephen.

Another example: I was having breakfast with a client who is a good friend, Mike Hartman. We got to talking and he said he played football at Lebanon Valley State. I said, "Really? Did you happen to know Jim Monos?" He said Monos was his coach and had taught him everything he knew about leadership. I said, "Well, I played college football with him." Monos and I then reconnected and every week we carried on a running discussion about what was going on with his successful Lebanon Valley State team.

One more: I was in a meeting with a client I'd never met before. As Gary Casto, the vice president of sales, talked during this meeting, it was clear to me he's from the south. At a break I went up to him and said, "Hey, man, you're not from around here."

He said, "No, I'm from Memphis."

I said, "Really? I'm from Memphis. Did you go to school in the south?"

"Yes, I went to ...