Besides your elevator speech, what’s one thing you like to share when networking?
Share your answer in the comments below!
What is a fortnight? It’s 14 days or 2 weeks.
What is “Question of the Fortnight?” Every other week I’ll ask a question here on the blog. Through out the two weeks I’ll update the blog post with some of your answers. These will be from the comments below, from people I see networking and any other way I happen to receive your answer to the question.
Imagine this:
The year is 2010. I’ve just left my full-time gig to venture into the world of entrepreneurship. At the insistence of my coach, I’ve picked a couple of networking events to attend.
However, I’m pretty sure I don’t need them.
Why?
Because I found my coach online, and we didn’t meet in person until we’d been working together for over 6 months. I was convinced that my people would find me the same way.
However, despite my fears and my belief that I didn’t need to network to find clients, I went anyway.
And then the mistakes started. (Can you spot them?)
At one event I stood up, fumbled over my elevator speech, and quickly sat down again. I remember clearly who I sat next to. His name was Mike, and we talked about his young grandkids (he didn’t look old enough to have grandkids).
At another event I spent most of my time talking about what I was really comfortable with: my previous job. I even walked away with a referral for my old company! In retrospect, the leader of that group, Christina, tried to help me out a bit. She asked me questions about my new business and gently offered suggestions about how I might tailor it to the women in the room. But I was too naive to realize she was trying to help (a classic case of really not knowing what I didn’t know).
At one of the events, I met Robin. She sold insurance and reached out to set up a coffee date. I agreed and immediately regretted it. I just knew she was going to try to SELL ME insurance! It was going to feel icky, and I’d want to leave.
I arrived 30 minutes early with a book so I could order and get settled before she arrived. When she got there she asked me a few questions and then proceeded to give me some great advice, make a recommendation for an accountant (who I still happily use), and only much later, tell me more about her business.
There was no hard sell—just her getting to know me better and wanting to help me out a bit.
Now, let’s talk about all of the phone calls I made to the people I was meeting… Oh wait, I can’t, because I didn’t make any phone calls.
And why not? Well, coffee dates are meant for getting to know people so you can refer others to them, right? And I didn’t know anyone. So, why should I spend my time doing that? I didn’t make sense to me.
So what did I do wrong? Let’s (lovingly) review:
Learn from my experience and mistakes.
Over the next few weeks, let’s dive into these mistakes that I (and probably many other people) have made when networking. We’ll explore each one and learn what to do instead so you can make the most of networking.
Share with me some of your networking mistakes in the comments below. I’d love to know that I’m not the only one who made them.
Last week while on retreat with my coach and colleagues, I was thinking about how nice it was to be in that environment.
The coaches have all been where I am and my colleagues have either been where I am or I’ve been where they are.
It made me think of how easy it is to ask someone for basic instructions (those easy steps I was looking for, mentioned here) and then think you can go and implement by yourself.
And I thought about asking for driving directions (my mind works in interesting ways).
You can ask a local for directions downtown – and they can give you directions to get downtown.
Or you can share where downtown you’re going and when you want to get there and the local can tell you what streets to avoid, how to get there, and advise you to park two blocks away at this specific lot because there won’t be street parking at that time of day.
Could you have figured it out on your own? Probably, but it’d take a lot longer to get there and be a lot more frustrating.
Working with a coach, or anyone, is similar.
Have pain in your knee? You can ask a doctor for stronger pain pills, or you can tell him what’s going on.
And he might realize that the problem isn’t your knee at all, it’s your back.
Working with a coach to get your business where you want it to be works the same way.
Yes, you can read online how successful other people have been using this method or that, but they don’t know where you are. So how are they going to know that you’re in Albuquerque and need to go left?
It’s so important to work with someone who understands where you are and can tailor their suggestions to you.
Who are you working with to achieve your goals? Share below!
What is your go-to networking question?
Some of the answers I’ve received are:
After we’ve chatted a bit and I know their business, my favorite networking question is, ” so what got you started in this direction/business”. I love to hear people’s stories about what launched their passion for their business. I’ve also found there are often many points in these stories to foster deeper connections with people. Makes networking fun for me! – Kim Restivo
I always like to chat a bit, but one great question is “who is a good referral partner for your business?” Most people have some type of person that is a good referral partner for them, and asking that question means that I am trying to help build their business. – Mary Wu
Share your answer/question in the comments below!
What is a fortnight? It’s 14 days or 2 weeks.
What is “Question of the Fortnight?” Every other week I’ll ask a question here on the blog. Through out the two weeks I’ll update the blog post with some of your answers. These will be from the comments below, from people I see networking and any other way I happen to receive your answer to the question.
Have you ever wanted to fully experience something, but for whatever reason, not been able to experience it in the way you pictured it?
Last year at this time I wanted to be in Asheville, North Carolina, with everyone else in the program I had just joined. It was the first retreat for most of us – the energy and excitement was high.
And I chose not to go.
I could say I couldn’t go, but it was a choice I made. I chose to stay home and honor other commitments.
And I really felt like I was missing out on an important experience.
I really wanted that experience and one of my intentions for the program was to be engaged and participate. This showed up in different ways – participating on the forum, listening to the training calls and being on every Q&A call I could be on, even when I didn’t have a question.
So, I looked for other ways I could still be engaged and participate in the retreat. Thus, the Google Hangout idea was born – I’d have my own version of the retreat at home!
The videos and exercises for the retreat were posted a week or two later and I reached out to the group looking for other people who couldn’t attend and wanted to do it virtually with me.
We watched the videos on our own, did the exercises and then came together for about two hours each for two days. A total of four people participated, three people each day.
It was great! We all received some great feedback on the exercises and were able to provide feedback for others.
What’s my point?
Sometimes things don’t go as planned. You can’t go to the event, the goal isn’t met or priorities change.
And you can still have a great experience.
Think back to the last time something didn’t go the way you wanted it to.
How do might you apply this? Share in the comments below!
