Networking is Different than what You Do For a Living
April 26, 2009
At a networking event, a real estate lawyer and another person were talking.
“I was thinking about investing in homes in foreclosure or underwater with their mortgage … you know; try to figure out a way to make some money out of this tough economic environment.”
The attorney responded, “The problem is …” and proceeded to put the person to whom he was talking to asleep with an astute legal description of all the associated legal issues.
I inserted myself into the conversation and asked the real estate lawyer if he knew of a realtor who would know how to help a client navigate these difficult waters.
“Oh, sure,” he said.
“Who is it?”
He told me.
Being as that we were in a networking situation and they know me as a coach, I asked them if they minded if I rewound their conversation and demonstrated what a good networking conversation would look like. They agreed.
So, the first guy repeated what he was looking for.
I pretended to be the lawyer and said, “I know a great real estate agent that can help you with that, would you like to talk with him/her?”
That is a conversation that might actually result in business which is the business of networking. Networking and whatever you do for a living are two different skills. When entering a networking environment, remember, this is not the place to demonstrate everything you know, but rather, the place to connect and help other do the same.
Coach Chuck
Networking: Improving Your Results*
March 9, 2009
In networking, you goal is to:
- Meet prospective referral sources and develop a contact sphere
- To meet prospective clients.*
In a networking environment where people meet on a regular basis you might walk up to Mary and say, “Mary, when you were talking, you mentioned that you are a business attorney. As you know I am a business coach. When you said that you like to approach issues in (and then you paraphrase something she said) that resonated with me. I think you and I think about business in the same way. Maybe we could help each other get business, what do you think?” If the networking environment is one where you don’t know the people you are sharing the room with, it becomes very key to you develop questions that help you to quickly establish whether the person you are speaking with is a prospective client, referral source or neither.
If you get a positive response, set up a time to either meet or talk on the phone to follow-up further.
If you are a business attorney, for example, and you heard some one say something about their business partner, you might say: “I heard you mention something about your partner. I’ve worked extensively with partnerships … I’d like to meet with you to see if there are ways I could be helpful to you. Would you like that?”
If the response is positive, make arrangements and move on.
This type of approach works well because it sets the table for when you do meet, as to what the meeting is about.
Meet in a way that is comfortable, where both feel free to talk. This is information gathering. Whether this is a meeting with a prospective client or a referral source, this meeting is all about listening to their issues to see if you can help. While the meeting has a high level of comfort, there should also be a structure. After listening to their situation, this is when you have an opportunity to say something to the effect of, “this is how I see it….” and then let them know that you have heard, digested and interpreted what they had to say. And follow up with, “this is how I think I could be of help,” and then describe in broad strokes, without giving away the store, what you would do. If this is a prospective referral source, you might give an example of how you would refer them and then say, “Likewise, with me, you might say …” and then give an example of how you can be referred. If this is a prospective client, after you have said how you might be able to help them, you simply ask, “How does that sound to you?” This is one of many times when shutting your mouth and letting the other person speak first is key. If they say they like the idea, say something to close the deal, such as, “my retainer for this would be X and you would be billed at Y per hour. Are you ready to get started?” Another approach is to ask if they have questions about your services and how they work. This is where they will often ask about pricing. In either case, this is another moment when silence is important. Let them work it out for themselves. This is not a hard sell. This is one in which the prospective client has articulated their issue, you have offered a solution and it is up to the prospective client to think it through and say what they want
.
Whatever the outcome of this discussion, you will want to decide what kind of follow-up, if any, you want to have with this individual. If it is a referral source, my suggestion would be to suggest that two of you touch base in no more than two weeks. At that time, you will discuss any opportunities that have arisen to refer the other person, how it went and how it might be improved. Continue this process and a great power team will be created. If it is with the prospective client, the follow up will be about getting started working together or whatever your business proposition happens to be.
You should always know your conversion rates. How many prospective clients come out of how many hours of networking? This will help you evaluate the value of a given networking venue and/or the value of your networking abilities. What is your conversion rate of prospective clients into clients? This will help you understand your effectiveness when you meet prospective clients. Likewise with referral sources, it is very important to track where your clients come from to know which of your referral sources are the most valuable. Certainly it is important to cultivate new referral sources, but it is more important to maintain and improve current good ones. Just like it is much cheaper to keep a current client happy than it is to get a new client, the same thing applies to referral sources.
In summary, early in the networking process you quickly determine if there is a connection and what the nature of that connection is. If there is, you let the other person know what the possible connection is you see and that you’d like to meet them and explore it further. When you meet, you listen until the person has really had a chance to fully express themselves and then let them know that you were listening by saying back to them what you heard and what you think the most important issues are. You offer a solution and see if they want to continue. Decide if there is going to be a follow up. If so, schedule the follow up and describe what you hope to accomplish in that follow up meeting.
This is a manner of networking that has the potential of yielding great results.
*See previous blog, “What is the Purpose of Networking?”
Coach Chuck
Should We Follow Our Gut
March 7, 2009
Business Coach Chuck @ 973-670-7215
Whether we follow our gut or a well structured plan actually depends upon how well we have practiced successfully what we have a hunch about. If we have successfully gotten the result we want in something we have a hunch to do, then there is a good chance that following our “gut” is a good idea. What we are actually following here, however, is muscle memory. We are following a well structured plan that we have practiced so much it has become a hunch.
Even in cases where we have had great success, however, the caveat to following our hunch is to be observant of reality. One guy had a great investment strategy that had worked well for him. Then, he bought six stocks in a row that went against him. He became stubborn because of his previous success and did not recognize that the experience he was having with the six bad trades, was a foreshadowing of a changed market. Consequently, he lost a lot of money. So, no matter how good we have been, be open to reevaluating the facts in light of new information.
In summary, if you are in the zone, stay in the zone, but when results begin to vary, adjust quickly, let go of the hunch to move on to something new or different.
When Business is All in the Family
March 4, 2009
The challenges of running a business are huge. They inspire us in ways that we didn’t know they could. Imagine, if you will, these challenges, and then add family to the stew!! Sometimes it is a wonderful stew and some times it is a witches brew.
When I asked a prospective client why she called me, she said, “It’s my employees” she said, “they act like children.”
Two of the employees, I discovered, were her chilvdren. They were key managers. They were acting like children because they were her children. The ones that weren’t her children were working for her children. They patterned themselves after their boss, her children. Later, I observed that not only did they act like her children in the workplace, but, indeed, she acted like their mother. Statements among the three of them were like, “I feel betrayed.” “That is just childish.” This is not exactly the kind of language you’d expect to hear between a boss and an employee. Boss employee language might be something like, “you did not give the support in this situation we had agreed upon,” or, “you did not perform this task correctly.” The language was personal rather than professional.
The approach that has the potential of solving the business problem while supporting the family involves attention to both the business and personal. It involves recognizing that while business and personal in the family should be different, that is not always the case.
Acknowledging this reality results in the potential for a more profitable business and a happier Family.
How this is done is as different as families and businesses are different, but it is what Business Coach Chuck does.
Family and Small Business: Effective Relationships
December 19, 2008
A happy family is 80% support and 20% accountability.
A successful business is 80% accountability and 20% support.
In other words, in a happy family, if a family member has a bad day, home is a place to retreat, renew, refresh and be loved regardless. In a successful business, if a member has a bad day, week, quarter or year – we want to know why and how is that going to be different next time. In a healthy family, a reasonable dose of accountability keeps us from enabling self-defeating behavior. In a successful business – there is enough support to let the individual know that they have a team behind them. It’s the proportion of one to the other that distinguishes the personal from the professional.
When these proportions get altered significantly, dysfunction erupts. If one feels like home is too demanding, then joy leaves one’s life while if the work place gets “too understanding” of failure then, well, failure results.
No wonder then that family businesses are often such treacherous places. Without clear distinctions between work and home, families and or their business can fall into disarray.
The same thing is often true of small businesses, where relationships within the business may begin more personal than business.
Working with families and small businesses to create healthier relationships for happier personal lives and more successful businesses is a very high priority with Coach Chuck.
Business Coach Chuck @ 973-670-7215
Attention Deficit Disorder Re-defined for the Business Owner
December 18, 2007
(Don’t worry this is a short article)
Move Over Attention Deficit Disorder -
Here comes the The Multi-stimuli Reactor/processor Business Owner!
(Okay, so sometimes it does get disordered, but we can deal with that – That’s why we have employees!)
As a Business Coach of Small and family businesses I’ve found a disproportionate percentage of clients that, were they in school today, would be labeled ADD. Maybe they were labeled that in school. Maybe you were too. If so, doesn’t it just piss you off that other people don’t think as fast as you do, and then they can’t keep up with you and then they come up with labels to call you because you don’t do things like them.
On the other side, it is also true that this kind of thinking often leaves many things undone, plans with loose ends and a frustration of incompleteness. As with most things, there is a multitude of ways to deal with this. Seldom, however, is the best way to try to stuff yourself into everybody else’s box. Let’s be real. That’s why you are in business for yourself in the first place … there is not a box big enough for you. When some one suggests thinking out of the box, you may very well reply, “What box?”
If this is the case, then building on your strength of being a (let’s ditch the A.D.D. label shall we?) Multi-stimuli Reactor/processor Business Owner, usually requires:
- an acceptance of one’s self, and
- a recognition that we need to hire someone who tilts toward the organizational end,
- but that person also needs the people skills to interpret your vision, and delegate while you are off making tracks in still new directions. [This obviously requires tremendously careful selection in hiring for that particular position as well as absolute mutual respect for differences. This person may have a label or two of his/her own!]
Ok. That’s it. I’m done. Bye … I see you’re off already. Gimme me a call, I can help.
Coach Chuck
Business Coach Chuck @ 973-670-7215
