Adam Wolf 20A Growing Your Social Capital

Person 1 is an owner of a local car dealership.  He is an expert in the industry because he has been working with car sales for 27 years.  This person has many years of experience in seeing the success and failure of various car advancements.  He is involved in the industry because he has worked at multiple car companies, which means he has a well-rounded background in the industry.  I contacted this person by email, and he responded within 24 hours.  I visited his car dealership later in exchange for taking the time to talk to me.  This person will help give me advice on what he thinks should be improved about my design based on his prior observations in the car selling industry. 

Person 2 is a manager at a local auto parts store.  He initially worked as a cashier, then assistant manager, and now manager.  This person is a market expert because he is directly involved with selling car parts.  I contacted this person by meeting him at the store.  I bought some items from the auto store in return for our meeting together.  This person will help me because they have the contacts for their inventory managers and can assist in me marketing my product. 

Person 3 is a corporate manager at my country recycling plant.  They have worked in the recycling industry for 15 years and is an important supplier to my industry.  I called this person a left a message.  They called me back within 24 hours.  In return for our meetings, I offered to help advocate for increased recycling efforts.  This person can help me because the main material in my product is plastic.  Creating a deal with a recycling plastic company will decrease my costs of production.

I had a great experience networking with people who may help me in the future.  I enjoyed learning about their histories.  All three people were interested in helping me and I had a good time talking to them.  It was similar to my networking experiences in the past.