Bob is a senior consultant with a local technology firm. He was out at a party last weekend when someone asked him the typical question that we often get at parties of this nature, “So what you do for a living?”.
Bob does not like to talk business on the weekends. His answer was short and left very little opportunity for discussion. As a result, the conversation quickly turned to the local sports team.
Bob blew it. What he didn’t know was that person was married to the director of IT for one of the area’s largest insurance companies. This person was hearing nothing but complaints these days from his partner about her technical problems at work. If Bob had been a little bit more open with his response and a little bit more open to talking shop on the weekend he may have landed a ripe opportunity for his consulting company.
Bob’s organization not only expects Bob to be a great consultant they also expect them to be a good corporate ambassador.
Corporate ambassadors are able to respond to that standard question clearly, succinctly, and in a format that does the organization proud. This isn’t selling with a glass of wine in our hand on a Saturday night. This is ‘talking the talk’ in a way that isn’t offensive and isn’t pushy. It’s being proud enough of your organization to be able to give a good, clear answer that might encourage further dialogue about the organization, industry or other related topics.
And every once in awhile, it might just encourage an opportunity to come to life. This is just being a good corporate ambassador.
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1 thought on “Are You a Good Corporate Ambassador?”
But to be a good corporate ambassador, you have to be in an organization that promotes you to be one. You have to be proud of where you work. If the organization has high employee engagement, this will happen on his own. On the opposite, if the organization is toxic, most probably your answer will be same as Bob…