I Want to be a Schmoozer

Posted In: success tips .

Schmoozing. Just the thought of someone "schmoozing" brings to mind the stereo-typical image of the slick used-car salesman or the smooth-talking, business card giving hot-shot. For some reason, the word has a negative implication, in my opinion. As I was reading thru the October issue of Entrepreneur Magazine (I love that magazine!), I came across an article that talked about the need to "Master the Art of Schmoozing" in order to set yourself up for success.

Now I consider myself a very genuine person. I am who I am...what you see is what you get...the whole thing. Seeing the title of that article made me cringe. In my opinion, "Schmoozing" is NOT a trait of a genuine person. I certainly didn't want to be thought of as a "schmoozer" in order to succeed in business! I don't want to be a schmoozer!

I read it anyway.

Ok, I DO want to be a schmoozer

Turned out, that brief article by Guy Kawasaki is very good. It also quickly showed me that being a good schmoozer in the context Mr Kawasaki uses, is a GOOD thing. Being the good little article marketer I am, I quickly checked Mr Kawasaki's bio box and was directed to his blog. I found the original blog post that this article came from.

Mr Kawasaki offers nine simple tips to help all of us master the art schmoozing. In my opinion, these nine tips are more life tips that would do us all a world of good to follow. Having these nine traits, and using them in a genuine way, would not only improve your business success level, but your life success level, too.

Some tidbits from the article:

" Talking only about business is boring. Your passions make you interesting"

" Ask questions, then shut up"

" Give favors"

" Great schmoozers want to know what they can do for you, not what you can do for them"

In this business we are in, it is all too easy to get lost behind the computer screen. It is all too easy to forget that behind each email, behind each forum post, behind computer monitors all over the world are real people. It is also all too easy to forget that in order to succeed in the "cyber world" we still need to get out in the REAL world.

Guy Kawasaki, thank you for your article! I encourage all of you to take just a few minutes and read it..print it out....tape it near your computer monitor where you can see it everyday.

You can read the article in Entrepreneur Magazine here.