Networking.......AND......Community Service.

As everyone knows the Election is gratefully OVER yesterday!!!  For me it was a very long day, because I am the Republican Head Moderator here in Middletown, CT.  We were one of the test towns for the new Voting Machine that will be used State wide in 2007.  This Voting Machine is presently used in many other states, and works very well.  But since it is new to us, the Secretary of State had us go through several procedures that made for a very long and tiresome day.  My day started off yesterday at Town Hall at 4:30 in the morning, I was not done verifying all the Election figures until 12:45 this morning.  I think I am still seeing Election Returns, and will probably dream about them tonight. 

OK enough about my day yesterday, but the idea for this blog is a result of yesterday.  No I am not going to talk about all the negative ads and all that goes with them.  I got that out of my system with my previous blog  “There Is No Place For Mud Slinging In This Business”.  But during the day yesterday, as I traveled from one polling place to another, and watched the number of people going to vote I started to think (thinking is not always a good thing for me), what a great opportunity to make yourself known in the community.

Now I am not talking of running for a political office, though I would encourage you to do so, we need good people.  One of the AR members, Linda Davis is an Elected Official in her town here in Connecticut, and we could use more people like Linda in political offices.  However, my idea came from not only watching the number of people going to vote, but from watching the poll workers themselves.  As people come to vote and went through the voting process, they talk and chat to the workers.  Why because they either know them or have come to know them.

So I got to thinking about how this would be a great way to make yourself better know.  Most people in this business advertise in various publications, news paper ads, billboards, and many other things.  All this advertise goes into your marketing area, and the area that you live in.  Now I know that some choose to not do business where they live, but I would say the majority of us do.  So if we are spending all this money on advertising, wouldn’t the polls be a great place for these people to be able to see you in person, and be able to identify you with your advertising.  You can’t conduct business obviously while you are working at the polls, but what a great way for many people to make the connection between you and your ad’s.

There is an ulterior motive on my part for suggesting this, so I will come clean.  In most towns the Election Workers are elderly, and they are starting to reach the point that they are not able to do this any longer.  We need a younger generation to step up and start fulfilling those duties. The system needs to go through some big changes and what better people to bring about some of those technological changes then us.

So there is my ulterior motive, and the name and visual recognition is the carrot (maybe we can get AR to start using vegetables).  You would be doing a great community service, and in return re-enforcing the advertising that you do, not to mention that this would be another great opportunity to Network with another group of people, and we all know that we can never have enough Networking Groups.

This to me sounds like a winning combination.  Community service, while building your business at the same time.  By doing this you can help change the a system that is need of change, do a great service for your community, re-enforce your advertising, add another Network Group to your circle of influence, and grow your business at the same time.

So have I convinced you to get involved?  Are you going to be part of the solution?  Or are you just going to keep on complaining about the system?  Be a problem solver, and be rewarded on many levels at the same time.

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Info about the author:

George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com