The biggest mistake when business networking is to look for customers. No one knows you, no one trusts you and no one likes to be sold. So, what should you do, ask for referrals? Nope. Thats the second biggest mistake. Why should I give you anything if were not friends?
Am I saying you should business network to make friends?
Thats exactly what Im saying.
Many salespeople are blabber-mouths. They tell you everything they know about their products, as if they can talk you into buying right there at a networking meeting. Maybe its to be expected. In America, we swim through an ocean of obnoxious sales messages all day long. Perhaps, when we sell for the first time, we cant help but sound like all the bad commercials weve absorbed throughout our lives.
Test this at your next networking meeting. See if people tell you everything they know about their product when you ask them a simple question. More importantly, see if you do it, and watch how people respond when they are talked at.
We are savvier than ever before and less tolerant of sales pitches. We can smell them a mile away. We run, we hide, we TIVO, we channel surf we do whatever it takes to avoid all kinds of marketing. We have to. We are bombarded and we want peace.
I just had a woman come to my door, no joke, at 7:45 p.m., while I was writing this paragraph, to interest me in a free pizza from a new pizza place nearby. 7:45 p.m.! I told her, kindly, I am not interested in any marketing or advertising messages at my front door, thank you very much.
Want to push people away? Talk at them about your product before they ask you anything about it. Want to make friends? Heres how.
Love people. Thats right. Just love them. Love who they are. Love what they say. Give them 100 percent permission to do and say whatever theyd like. Just take them in. If 90 percent of success is to just show up, the other 10 percent is caring.
Your feelings about people can be felt. You hide nothing. Thats why the best thing to give when you network is a real liking, a real love, a real appreciation of people. When people talk, listen. When they ask you a question, watch out. Right there you might be tempted to say a lot. Dont. Instead, give simple answers to simple questions and see if the person wants to know more. If they dont, ask them a question about themselves.
Ill repeat that in case you missed it. Ask them a question about themselves, not about their product or service. And dont ask them questions to qualify them as customers. Thats the kiss of death. You might as well reach in their pocket and pull out their wallet. Instead, engage, connect, and enjoy each person as an individual. Then, when you become friends, youll do what friends do naturally. Youll help each other.
Now relax, pretend youre at a party, and go network like a pro.
Bruce Towers is president and co-founder of Freedom Builders in Atlanta, GA, http://www.freedombuildersevents.com where entrepreneurs and salespeople learn how to market and sell more effectively. Bruce co-authored the best-selling Wake Up And Live The Life You Love, Finding Your Lifes Passion, and, as an actor, starred in Gordon Ganos Carmen in New York City.
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