Make Friends and Keep Them

Over at the The Networking Strategist, a great blog for those interested in learning about marketing, Hazel Walker gives some tips on how to be more likable and get along better with people.

Some of the tips she gives are:

• Speak Less, Listen More - People don’t want to hear about you they want to talk about themselves.
• Don’t Be a Know It All - Even if you do know everything you don’t have to prove it.
• Be Engaged - Looking at your watch, over someones shoulder or checking your cell is not engaged.

A someone in business who has a lot of meetings, it's really true that if your counter-party violates any of these rules, the chemistry is shot and little will come out of the meeting. I am unable to count how many meetings I have where the person sitting across from me keeps checking his watch or even answers his cellphone to take a call.

I would say that aside from not being particularly smart as far as business goes, it's also not very polite. People want to be treated with respect and by doing any of these aforementioned things, you end up showing a tremendous dis-respect from the person you are sitting with.

How about some common courtesy?