Chance Meeting At The Vatican

I Just Need A Few Directions

A True Story

Several years ago, one of my younger brothers had just completed law school (it runs in the family). As a treat to himself, he traveled to Europe and to Italy where my grandfather was born. In the course of his travels he found his way to the Vatican and while in the Vatican Square he overheard a young lady asking someone for directions in English. My brother, with map in hand, went over to her and offered to help. As a consequence, she obtained the information she needed and thanked him for helping her.

Afterwards, he asked her where she was from and she told him she was celebrating the anniversary of her ten year commitment to the clergy with her solemn vows. She was a “sister” or “nun” with the Catholic Church in the United States. My brother told her he was also from the United States and lived in California, although he spent his very early years in Indiana where his father and mother were raised until they moved to California.

With that, she explained that she was from Indiana and grew up in a very small town called Roanoke, Indiana. My brother was amazed. Because his father grew up in Huntington, Indiana which is just a few miles from Roanoke. The nun asked, “What is your father’s name?” Whereupon, he answered, “Robert Bauer”. With a look of shock, she then explained that her father, Leonard Bauer, was their uncle and that they were first cousins! They had never met, or if they had, they were very, very young at the time and did not recognize one another.

We think of the world as being heavily populated. At the time of my brother and his cousin’s chance meeting there were 6 1/2 billion people on earth. It taxes the imagination that only two of billions of people of the world would have a chance meeting with someone so closely related to each other AND of all the people in Vatican Square that afternoon, it was my brother alone who reached out to help her.

At times you may feel, as a solo, that your marketing efforts are not bearing fruit and that no one is hearing your message. But, just about the time you feel your efforts are in vain, you hear from a lead that you unwittingly created as a result of your outreach several years earlier or from a contact that you never thought would be productive. In sales, you will hear the term that “It is all numbers” or “For every rejection you get, you are just one step closer to a sale.” Every chance you get, leave your office and make contact with the public. Often presentations discussing information of interest to the clients you wish to attract can be helpful in attracting clients. Give your audience information that will be of value to them and have your business cards available. If what you deliver helps them, they will remember you and eventually seek your services or send one of their acquaintences to your door. Stay the course, be consistent in your approach long enough to determine if it will produce results and try several different approaches and eventually, you will hit “pay dirt”. Don’t give up too soon and remember;