If you have ever heard me speak about networking or referral generation, then you will have heard me talk about the pink car story. For those of you who haven’t, here is a quick recap of the story.
Last year, my family and I went camping down in Devon. This involved a 450 mile journey will two young children and 12 hours in the car. As my children, at the time, were too young to play ‘I spy’ we counted cars to make the journey quicker. My son decided to count blue cars and my daughter decided to count pink cars. As an aside, my daughter wanted at the time to grow up to be a princess – you get the picture! I tried to persuade my daughter out of choosing pink cars, as I told her that there were no pink cars on the road. However, she was adamant that she was going to count pink cars. We went all the way to Devon and back, 12 hours in the car and 450 miles. We saw one car – and my daughter was asleep at the time. However, ever since we this trip we have always been looking out for pink cars. Plus, every time I tell this story at an event, someone will always send me or tell me about a pink car which they saw.
Now this would be great if I was allowed to buy a pink car – but wouldn’t it be even better if I wasn’t talking about a pink car but my ideal referral. The main point of the story is most of us, when we network or ask for referrals, are looking for and asking to meet the equivalent of the silver car. Which because there are so many of them, are very unmemorable or, as they say ‘sticky’. When you want to meet people or be memorable then choose to be a pink car, i.e. have a niche and be very specific about who you work for and who you want to meet. Do you need help to define your pink car? Then download our free guide to choosing and capitalising on your niche, as well as your free step-by-step guide to building your personal networking strategy. (both from our career kitbag) With these two guides you will never be the equivalent of a silver car again. Right, recap over with. Last week, we repeated the exercise. Yes, we went all the way to Devon again – 15 hours in the car this time and 450 miles. (Don’t ask!) As we were on the road, the whole family was spotting pink cars. Guess what we saw 8 pink cars in all on our journey. So, what’s the point? When you are very attuned to who you want to meet and why, it becomes much easier to spot them. If you have built up your brand as the pink car, it also makes it easier for others to use you on their assignments and ‘sell’ your specialist skills to clients. What’s your equivalent of a pink car? Do you need help to define your pink car? Then download our free guide to choosing and capitalising on your niche, as well as your free step-by-step guide to building your personal networking strategy. (both from our career kitbag) With these two guides you will never be the equivalent of a silver car again.
