Ask people what they do.

Have you ever had a 22 year old financial advisor tell you that he works with “high net worth individuals”? Yeah! Right! Like I’m gonna trust some theoretical kid with my life savings.

I just read a blog post that was written by a marketing consultant. Truth be told, I think that the consultant is a pompous, self-absorbed has been, but the post was tweeted by someone that I respect with a shortened link, so I didn’t know where I was going when I clicked through. I read the article anyway because I didn’t want to have a closed mind. The post had 21 links in it. All 21 were to the author’s website. Come on. Nobody else knows ANYTHING? We’ll see how long it is before his competitors take the rest of his business.

I had a conversation recently with a CEO that has many clients in the $10M space, but felt qualified to target the Fortune 100 space. Interestingly, the CEO has done very little to get into the space and really has little experience in the space. I was a little surprised that the CEO didn’t ask me if I had any ideas. (Probably figured that I’d try to “sell him”.) Anyway, I decided to check out my ‘one introduction away’ LinkedIn connections to Fortune 100 companies.

1. Walmart – thirty three 1 intro connections: including an EVP and a Senior Brand Manager
2. ExxonMobil – three 1 intro connections: including a VP-HR
3. Chevron – fourteen 1 intro connections: including the COO of a division
4. General Electric – sixty eight 1 intro connections: including a social media manager and a dozen with SVP or global in their title.
5. Bank of America – sixty eight 1 intro connections: including 108 VP’s (I thought everybody at a bank was a VP?)

Anyway, the point is, Fortune 100 isn’t my space, and I could get me introduced. If this CEO feels that he fits in the space, shouldn’t he be able to get himself introduced?

I don’t know. That’s what’s on my mind today.