Growing My Social Capital

Quick explanation of my product so you understand the players.  I am looking to create a concierge service for working families.  Essentially a one stop shop to pick-up dry cleaning, pick-up kids from soccer practice, arrange catering, bring your pet to the vet, etc.

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry. 

The fist person I met up with is a concierge managers at Loews Hotels.  I once worked for Loews and while I did not directly work for the Concierge desk, I often had interactions with them.  Her name is Dani and she has been working for Loews Hotels for 15 years.  She started as a part-time employee, grew to a full-time employee, then a start trainer and is now the Manager of the Concierge desk.

Dani is most definitely my market expert as she has the connections, insight and resources to assure a stellar experience for concierge services.  I decided to stop into the Portofino Bay Hotel when I was going to my part-time job at Universal to see if I recognized anyone at the desk.  Sure enough Dani was there and I offered to buy her a coffee to pick her brain.  Since this was not Dani's direct business she was very open to revealing her tips and experiences without feeling threatened. Dani actually loved the concept of what I was doing and she told me that if the idea ever came to fruition she would be interested in being part of the team.  

My particular experience with Dani was different because we had known each other from past jobs and she was more open about the industry and was comfortable in mentoring me through the process where I have found in other instances, people can feel threatened.  Moving forward, I think establishing a friendship or working relationship first works in a persons favor, versus the I do for you, you do for me method.  My reasoning being, the levels of communications have less limitations.

2) One person must be an expert on your market. 

The next person I spoke with was George at  a Central Florida Hotel Lodging Association Meeting.  My market is quite unique as I would like to expand my business model and work with the local hotels.  George and I mingled a little and in a group atmosphere, it was less of a one on one experience than I would have liked but I did learn of their current success efforts in bringing new clients to the Central Florida area and it appears that online videos showcasing Orlando have been quite popular.  He placed emphasis on the importance of social media and that most people are visual learners.  There was not necessarily an exchange of services but more of a partnership in that we all want to promote and grow Orlando and provide the best services out there. Including George would be huge because of his position, connections and innovative ideas.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry. 

The last person I met with was at an event called Harbor Nights.  This is where things were very different.  I was attending the event as a patron and started speaking to the different outside vendors at the event who were providing food, beverage, entertainment and cigars.  The premise of the event is to give exposure to the Portofino Bay Hotel in hopes they can book rooms and/or future events; the advantage for the various vendors is that their restaurants, wine and cigars were features at no or minimal cost to the hotel but in return, the gained exposure to their products.  This was hands down the best networking event for me because I was able to speak with a gentleman by the name of Michael who was the manager of the swing band performing and told me how their band has doubled bookings in the last 5 years since partnering with the hotel.  I also learned a lot from Premier Beverages who not only does this for this event but also provides discounted beverages for specialty brunches at the Hyatt Regency.  Now, I know this is not exactly the product that I am offering but my market is quite unique but it taught me a lot about establishing relationships with the hotels and how the transactions actually come about.

This was by far the most beneficial assignment up to this point.  Instead of interviewing people, I actually got more of a hands on experience - more so than I was even expecting.  Moving forward with my business model, I plan on attending other events to continue to network myself and my business and learn more about getting my foot in the door.