I got a call today from a man who was interested in a business I had been working on.  He had spoken to someone who knows me reasonably well and another person with whom I am acquainted.  While neither of these people really know me well, they both know me well enough that they were complimentary as they spoke of me to this man.  We had a good conversation and arranged an “in-person” meeting to see if we want to go forward.

As I have pondered this call I got from out of the blue, I have to wonder what might have happened had my two friends said, “Oh, you don’t want to do business with him.”  Basically, I would have never heard from him and my life would have continued on.  But it might have been that I could have lost the most important contact of my life (whether this is or not, only time will tell, but you never know if you never get contacted.)

You never know what people are saying about you when you’re not there.  But it can have a dramatic impact on your life (or a dramatic lack of impact, depending on what they’re saying.)  Much of business today is done through networking.  Someone knows someone who knows us and we get a recommendation — either bad or good.  Then things happen or they don’t.

What are people saying about you?  Would people who know you recommend you highly enough that someone might call?  If a person went to the internet to do a search on you, would they like what they find on your social networking sites?  If the answer to all these questions is positive, get ready for referrals.  If not, you’d better make some adjustments.