“No, no, no, you misunderstand,” my wife clarifies as she finds me ankle deep last Monday night in a rapidly expanding water puddle in our basement. “I was wondering how you knew to check for leaks.”
The truth is that I didn’t.
Not specifically.
From my wife’s point of view,
Me noticing the leak
Before it becomes a flood
Seems like a random big win.
It’s not.
It’s the result of checking in.
Regularly.
See, our new humidification system
In our new house
Has been plagued by one system failure after another.
First it leaks from a bad washer in the lower collar.
Then from the steam escape valve.
Then our sump pump kicks in
And then the condensate pump fails.
Which is why I’m now standing ankle deep in water
Valiantly bailing out my basement
To save the rug in my children’s art room
From getting soaked.
(Success!)
Bless my wife.
Her only question
When she comes upon this scene
Is to wonder how I knew to check for leaks.
And it gets me thinking about your Elevator Pitch.
Because the reason
I’ve been checking on the humidifier
Twice a day
Since this system was installed over a month ago.
Is that more often than not
When I check in.
I find a puddle.
By checking in regularly
I catch a small problem
Before it turns into a really, really, really expensive one.
And your business network is also full of puddles opportunities.
Just waiting to be discovered.
When you check in regularly with your business network
You land big opportunities
And people will congratulate you on your seemingly random big wins.
Yet you and I know that it’s not random.
It’s the result of checking in.
Regularly.
So set up a 1-on-1.
Send along a referral.
Call to wish someone a Happy New Year.
Check in.
Regularly.
What’s your biggest challenge for staying in touch with your business network?