On Monday I got a referral from a wonderful and well respected client/adviser/friend of mine. A person I feel blessed to have such arelationship with. I followed up with an email immediately. I took the time to research the person I was referred to so that I could be more specific and therefor helpful to them. From the quality of my referral I was feeling life couldn’t get much better.
Just so happens I was having lunch with Paige that very day. (Isn’t it funny that things happen for you in business with someone right around the time you are having direct contact?) Paige was gracious enough to have lunch with my son Sam and I. Sam is a sophomore in College and strategizing the next steps beyond. Internships leveraging your classmates and alumni career connections is primary. When you are working in this internship don’t just do your job; do the hard, dirty, uninteresting or mundane work to differentiate yourself. You will be remembered as the person who stood out from all the rest of the people competing when they go to choose a full time employee.
You will enter that job at a higher and more knowledgeable level were just some of the business truisms Paige and Sam shared over fabulous pizza at Cambridge 1 in Harvard Square, Cambridge. They have great pizza and you are right in Harvard Square.
Paige shared with me that she received the request through Linkedin and may have gone to a network of people. It did. I got an email yesterday explaining the next step. They will speak with several of these candidates today for 15 minutes.
The prospects are living in Back Bay, which is where Tom Brady lives with his family. They would like to explore Wayland, Sherborn, or Sudbury where Shaquille O’Neil lives, or stay in the Back Bay. They had owned a home in Wellesley for many years. 
These are all very different communities. A list this broad is probably six months to process.
Back Bay is an epicenter of action and culture as well as many beautiful and historic buildings. It is cool, erudite and hip as odd as that sounds. Sherborn has more of a rural feel, while Wayland and Sudbury are suburban and nice communities. 
What I did today and yesterday is to use the Internet to find out about my potential clients, to learn something about them that will help me serve them should I be chosen. I have done due diligence by studying what has happened the last three months in these areas in a comparative analysis.
I have written 20 questions that I will send them before our interview. I think when a client is interviewing you, you also have a chance to interview them. You need to know their motivations, their wants and goals and their reason for choosing areas of their interest. In another blog I will share my 20 questions for you. For now I move on to the rest of my activities for my current clients.
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