President's Message - Sept. 27, 2013

I will be out this week and the very capable President Elect Karen Nolan will be leading your meeting this Friday.  There are plenty of surprises in store for you this week and Karen will also be inducting four new members.  Should be a great meeting I hate to miss it.

My neighborhood has a tradition going back eleven years now where we gather at the club house to watch Monday night Football.  We kick it off the first week with a big tailgate party and then a big Super Bowl party to finish it out.  The 15 games between the two can have different crowds depending on who is playing and the holiday season but last night we had around 20 people.  One of the newer neighbors came up to me and said he heard I was in a Rotary Club.  Bam there it was.   Was I ready?  Do I go into sales mode and try to convince him he needs to be a member so we can grow the club?  Do I tell him all the reasons he needs to be a member and push him to come on Friday?  I find (and found last night) the best presentation you can give in that situation is to tell him what we do.  Paint the picture and make it very transparent.  We meet every Friday.  Every Friday?  Yes every Friday and let me tell you why we do that.  Tell him what a meeting is like- social time, breakfast, speakers and adjourn.  The benefits of a breakfast club over a lunch or if lunch is his thing I will introduce him to some lunch clubs.

I went on to tell him about the projects I have been involved in over the years and told stories of friendships I have developed.  I talked about the benefits with connections to the city officials to get the inside track on things that affect the city or Public Safety where you can ask for help with a situation in your neighborhood or you need a fire truck for your kid’s school party.  All of this opens their eyes to an experience that as in last nights situation you have somebody say “I want to do that.”  I finished with a very short point that when you build those relationships, the trust and friendship you will see people doing business together which is very acceptable.  That became almost an after thought but if it was considered a sales presentation I already had a buyer and that was just the final close.  He will be joining us next week.

Remember the motto Service above Self.  Go help somebody out this week.  Introduce somebody looking for a job to somebody in their industry.  Enjoy your week. 

Yours in Rotary Service,

Dan

“Where there is a will, I want to be in it.”