If you have a car, would you
hand over your car keys to a perfect stranger? Of course not!
Now instead of a key to your car, imagine you have a key that opens the door to an important relationship with a colleague that someone else would like to connect with. You hold the key to this relationship, but you don't know the person who's asking for it. Would you give it to them? Of course not! Why?
*Because when you give a referral, you give away a piece of your reputation. If it's a good referral, it helps your reputation; if it's a bad referral, it hurts. Intuitively, you'll only hand over the keys to someone you know and trust.
What I love about this example is that it works on two levels:
First, you're not going to hand over the keys to a relationship until you know a person well. But more important, others don't even know what keys you actually have until you trust them enough to tell them.
So what should you do?
*Get involved - be visible. Do as much as you can to make yourself more visible. Being involved does a couple of things for you and your business.
• First, you'll get more opportunities to establish connections and get to know some of the contacts you've made even better.
• Secondly, the higher the visibility you have in the group, the less you'll have to work to make new connections.
*Make it a point to meet new people. Instead of spending all of your time with friends or colleagues, go off on your own. Sit next to them during the sessions. Start conversations while walking between sessions.
*Don't advertise, give out cards or dominate conversations. It all comes down to establishing credibility. I've seen many people who think networking is about meeting people and asking for business right then and there. Think
how you would react to someone who says, "Hello, my name is ….. Let's do business."
*Do ask, listen, be interested, move around and give only when asked, "How can I help you?"
Networking is like farming. It's about cultivating those relationships with other people. Think about a farmer, he prepares the soil for months before ever planting the seeds. He tends the seedlings with care, feeding and watering them regularly, putting up a scarecrow to keep birds away. It's a long, drawn-out process to go from seeding a field to harvesting the crops. There's no quick return.
*Ask open-ended questions during your networking conversations, questions that ask who, what, where, when, and how. Try to avoid questions that require a simple yes or no response.
Remember, in all your dealings, if you make a mistake and say something that can be potentially embarrassing, you can always apologise for it and be forgiven. But if you say something that is not true, your credibility may be permanently damaged!
I hope that helps, next time I'll discuss meeting someone for the first time & going to your first meeting.
Now instead of a key to your car, imagine you have a key that opens the door to an important relationship with a colleague that someone else would like to connect with. You hold the key to this relationship, but you don't know the person who's asking for it. Would you give it to them? Of course not! Why?
*Because when you give a referral, you give away a piece of your reputation. If it's a good referral, it helps your reputation; if it's a bad referral, it hurts. Intuitively, you'll only hand over the keys to someone you know and trust.
What I love about this example is that it works on two levels:
First, you're not going to hand over the keys to a relationship until you know a person well. But more important, others don't even know what keys you actually have until you trust them enough to tell them.
So what should you do?
*Get involved - be visible. Do as much as you can to make yourself more visible. Being involved does a couple of things for you and your business.
• First, you'll get more opportunities to establish connections and get to know some of the contacts you've made even better.
• Secondly, the higher the visibility you have in the group, the less you'll have to work to make new connections.
*Make it a point to meet new people. Instead of spending all of your time with friends or colleagues, go off on your own. Sit next to them during the sessions. Start conversations while walking between sessions.
*Don't advertise, give out cards or dominate conversations. It all comes down to establishing credibility. I've seen many people who think networking is about meeting people and asking for business right then and there. Think
how you would react to someone who says, "Hello, my name is ….. Let's do business."
*Do ask, listen, be interested, move around and give only when asked, "How can I help you?"
Networking is like farming. It's about cultivating those relationships with other people. Think about a farmer, he prepares the soil for months before ever planting the seeds. He tends the seedlings with care, feeding and watering them regularly, putting up a scarecrow to keep birds away. It's a long, drawn-out process to go from seeding a field to harvesting the crops. There's no quick return.
*Ask open-ended questions during your networking conversations, questions that ask who, what, where, when, and how. Try to avoid questions that require a simple yes or no response.
Remember, in all your dealings, if you make a mistake and say something that can be potentially embarrassing, you can always apologise for it and be forgiven. But if you say something that is not true, your credibility may be permanently damaged!
I hope that helps, next time I'll discuss meeting someone for the first time & going to your first meeting.
Malcolm
No comments:
Post a Comment