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Drama In The Networking Group

Have you ever watched a comedian bomb onstage? If done correctly, it can be both horrific and entertaining at the same time. Sometimes you actually feel sorry for the poor idiot on stage with their crappy material and defensive attitude when the heckling starts. 

But sometimes when a comic has been especially bad and even more defensive, watching him or her fall without a parachute can be gratifying. I once saw a comic in Raleigh, NC who was mediocre at best. He had this crappy "I shouldn't have to be working this crappy club in North Carolina, I should be in Vegas," attitude. At one point he made a racist joke that more than irritated a very large African-American gentleman on the front row. "That joke sucked!" the man said with a very loud booming voice. 

The air had been sucked out of the room. The comic lost his train of thought and blamed us, the audience. At this point, he should have been trying to win us over, but instead he decided to push us away. It was him against us, a crowd of unamused drunk people. 

What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. The comedian began to do his Michael Jackson impression with an obligatory moonwalk (this was the 1980's). He tripped over his cord and fell backwards, rolling off the stage and onto the table of the oversized man he had pissed off earlier.


The crowded roared with laughter at the guy knocking over drinks and struggling back to his feet. Someone in the crowd yelled, "That's the funniest you have been all night!" 

The comedian was not amused. In fact, he was angry. He went into a diatribe about he was above it all and he would never set foot in North Carolina again. I think the last part was supposed to make us regret his departure, but in fact people asked for this promise in writing. 

When it was all said and done, everyone in the room hated the guy. I'm a pretty empathetic person and even I couldn't find an ounce of pity for him. He completely got what he deserved. 

So why does any of this have to do with this blog? I write (and speak) on sales, marketing, networking and other topics that salespeople, business owners and otherwise self-employed can relate to. Even though I am in sales, I am also a business owner and a contract employee, which means I wear many hats.

As such I have to keep up with business trends, marketing ideas and any other way to sell and get my message out there without spending a lot of money. And as I find these things, I try to share them with you.

As they say in the speaking world, "to tie a pretty bow on it", I recently went to a networking event. Mind you, a lot of these events are just starting to meet again as Covid restrictions are being lifted. I don't know if being in lockdown affected some people more than others but a few people must have gotten rusty at networking.

One person, who shall remain unnamed, decided to take the course of our previously mentioned comic, and somehow managed to turn their side of the room against them. (Notice how I'm not revealing this person's gender.) 

Generally speaking, the majority of people at networking groups are rooting for each other. A good example is one that I attend each month. About 40 people show up with giveaways, door prizes, business cards and promotional items, but the even better part is the getting to know these people and listen to their stories. It didn't take long for me to become friends with these folks. 

So you can imagine how surprised I was to find that someone was making rude comments about their competitors, who just happened to be friends with some of the other attendees. Needless to say, our rude friend will need to make the effort to rehabilitate their reputation. Perhaps a email with a mea culpa will work. 

When you attend a networking event, keep in mind that even though there are some competitors of yours in attendance. Stay professional and maybe even throw them some useless kind of compliment. "I know you're a scholar of great genius and I was wondering what good habits of yours I could learn." Basically being friendly while blowing smoke. 

Keep working and moving forward!

Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. He's also the author of "You're Going To Be Great At This!", a humorous look at sales. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.

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