Business

If you happened to be my classmate as a kid (it’s okay, you can admit it), you probably don’t think of me as highly as my clients do.

“Ha! Issamar consults for public companies and gives lectures all over the place?” you might sco� . “He and I went to yeshivah together. And I remember how…”

So, dear classmate, getting you as a client would be hard. Because if you know me from a long time ago, it will be hard for you to absorb the fact that I have changed. Don’t you think you look kind of funny in pic-tures from the past? It’s because when you see them, you realize that you are now older/smarter/di� erent. Just like you, dear classmate, have grown up, so have I.

A rookie mistake many people make when they look for their fi rst job is to look for people they know in that fi eld. Going into commercial real estate? You’d probably assume that your neighbor or cousin who is in real estate is a great place to start.

“Hello, Reb Dovid? I just got my real-estate license today and was wondering if you were looking to sell any of your buildings…”

As those who have been there can attest, that conversation does not usually end with a listing to sell property presented to you on a silver platter. It more often concludes with a polite “not at this time. Keep in touch. Much hatzlachah!”

Why? It’s quite simple: He sees you for who you were instead of who you are.

Say people know you as a sales clerk in a local clothing store. Now, you decide to launch a new clothing label with your own designs.

Your acquaintances no doubt wish you luck. They probably root for you to succeed. But will they run to buy from you or recommend you to their friends? That’s much more doubtful. Because even if they respect your fash-ion taste, they are much more likely to think of you as a “shop clerk with a pipe dream” than as a bona fi de entre-preneur.

In this case, your second-level con-nections (those who personally know the people you know) are (shock!) more valuable than your direct acquain-tances. And third-level connections are even more valuable because their frame of reference consists solely of your professional fi eld. Your history

is relevant to them only as a path to where you are now. They rate you based on your accomplishments, not your history.

These removed connections don’t have to go through an amnesia process in order to view you as you currently are. And when you engage, interact and satisfy them with your product or services, they will gladly refer you to others and give you an all-important testimonial.

But don’t give up on the people you know just yet. In fact, once you have several “powerful stranger” testimonials in hand, your old friends and acquaintances get to meet a new you — one who has already been accepted as reinvented. The social proof and validation by others will enable them to accept — and refer business and connections to — the new you.

So how do you get these original connections and clients? Network — and ignore anyone you know.

A mistake made by many new business owners is that when they meet someone they know at a networking event, they spend the night talking to him. That’s not what they came for, is it? They came to network, to meet new people.

Don’t try to cover everyone in the room. This is not a busi-ness-card-collecting contest. But do introduce yourself to new people and try to spend a few minutes speaking to each one. If you meet “just” fi ve or ten new people at an event, you have done a good job. This is true no matter how many people are at the event.

These people get to know you as an expert in your fi eld… and the people in their lives will now hear about a totally exciting new you, the one who has the new clothing line.

Yes, I’ve had (some) schoolmates and kids I used to play with in shul who have come to me for guidance and business strategy (as have some of their fathers!). But they’ll never forget to rib me with, “I still remember when you…” and I smile as I reminisce about them themsas chil-dren...

Ahh, the memories.

Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg is an internation-ally renowned columnist, speaker and advi-sor to business and entrepreneurs across the globe.  He can be reached via email at rabbiissamar@gmail.com.

Why Strangers Are Better Than FriendsA big mistake many of us make is assuming that if we are going into business, we should look for who we know in that business.

WHERE’$ the Money?

BY RABBI ISSAMAR GINZBERG

FEATURES 7 Tishrei, 5775 // October 1, 2014 35