Effortless Networking

Would you like the opportunity to “showcase” your business to all the other subscribers of Effortless Networking?

(FYI, most of our subscribers are from North America, UK, Australia and New Zealand. However, we do have some representatives from other Asian, European, African and Latin American countries also.)

As you probably realize by now, my focus and interest is in helping people *apply* the information and knowledge that they have or acquire.

To facilitate this, I want to start spotlighting success stories from subscribers to the rest of the group on a regular basis. And use this opportunity to “showcase” their businesses as well.

Why am I doing this?

Because I want to thank you for your support of Effortless Networking in a way that’s potentially useful to you — and publicity is usually useful to most business people.

By the way, this also happens to be a good example of how you can give back to your network in a meaningful way (you are part of my network, didn’t you know?) without exhausting yourself.

My other intention is to provide real live examples from people who have successfully applied a networking concept or principle covered in one of my articles, products or workshops.

Why?

Because real live examples from people “just like us” are inspiring. People find hope for their own success knowing that others have been able to successfully do what they’re trying to accomplish.

So if you have a success story, take this opportunity to inspire others AND congratulate yourself!

And finally, I want to offer you the opportunity to “showcase” your business, product or service to others on this list.

Why?

Because it’s a perfect opportunity to practice introducing yourself and your business succinctly. (Yes, I do mean actually *using* what I talked about in last week’s article!)

As you describe how using a particuar networking concept has helped you accomplish something or succeed in some way, you will have to describe the nature of your business to provide the context or frame of reference.

So use this opportunity to get some free publicity for your business!

Minimally, you will get practice at describing what you do and some visibility for yourself globally. Ideally, you’ll generate some new business for yourself.

Interested in participating?

If yes, choose one specific example of a networking concept you have successfully applied, and click here to answer all the questions related to it.

To provide a context and frame of reference for your success story, please also describe the nature of your business. You may also want to provide your contact information, so if someone on this list wanted to get in touch with you for more information (whether for themselves or to be able to send you a good quality referral or lead) they’d know how to do so.

Other notes:

1. I’ll select upto 2 success stories to spotlight each month. These will be published in my weekly articles. (So no extra emails.)

2. The selection process will be on a “first come first served” basis, and it will also take into account how complete your responses are to the above questions.

3. You may submit as many success stories as you want and have!

If you have questions, please let me know.

I look forward to sharing your success with others worldwide (and helping you expand your networking “reach”)!

Till next week,
– Sri

As you probably know, in the business networking context, people are encouraged to craft and use “elevator speeches” when introducing themselves.

But I found myself resisting the concept. Something about having a canned speech to introduce myself made me uncomfortable.

As I thought about it, I realized why.

In my mind, there is a big difference between “elevator speeches” and self-introductions.

Let’s think about this for a bit.

The story behind the elevator speech concept is that one day you might find yourself riding up the elevator with someone with whom you’ve been wanting to talk for a while. This is your unexpected opportunity! You have a just a few minutes to “pitch” your offer (product, service, whatever), and persuade this person that whatever it is your offering they really need it.

Elevator speeches can be very useful when you’re out prospecting; in other words, specifically looking to find people to whom you can sell your products or services). It can even be helpful in networking situations.

However, there are several implicit assumptions that may or may not be true.

It assumes that:

1. You have something the other person wants, whether to sell or for free.
2. You *know* what the other person wants.
3. You have *only a few minutes* to convince the other person that you have what they want.

When I meet someone for the first time, I don’t know if any of these assumptions are true.

Do you?

So, in such situations, I find that a concise self-introduction is more useful.

A good self-introduction includes your name and something about you that establishes what you have in common with the person you’re talking with.

Depending on whom you’re talking with, and what the context is, you will of course introduce yourself differently. You will use different analogies to explain what you do. Or highlight different aspects of your work.

There is no pitching or selling involved. However, by simply highlighting a particular aspect of what you do, that you think might be of interest to the other person, you can create an opening for an interesting conversation to emerge.

And once you truly *engage* in conversation with another person, you begin to find out all kinds of information.

This information is what you can then use to determine whether the person you’re talking with would be a good prospective client or customer for you. Or whether they’d be a good source of referrals for you. Or a good mentor for you.

Now you’re in a much better position to make a “pitch”, if that’s what you decide you want to do.

For more on this topic of engaging people in conversation, click here.

Till next week,
– Sri

Here’s a very common question: what’s the best way to approach people, and what to say to them?

Well, what makes you want to talk to anyone?

For instance, when you’re at a wedding or a friend’s party where you don’t know many people, what do you typically do?

Do you talk to anyone you don’t know? And if so, how do you choose whom to talk to and what to say to them?

Some people may be drawn to talking with “strangers” because something about the other person catches their attention.

For instance, something that the other person is wearing (unusual jewelry, funky tie, beautiful shoes), or something that they overheard this person saying (about where they live, how bad the traffic was that evening, how mischievious their dog or cat was that morning), etc.

I typically start by talking to the person sitting or standing next to me. And I usually ask about how they know the host of party.

It’s the easiest starting point for me — and then my curiosity takes over and gets the conversation flowing.

What about you?

I ask, because in the business context it’s not so different.

Common things that get conversations started at business mixers are name badges. You may be intrigued by the title on a name badge and want to ask what such a job might entail. You may want to talk to a person because they work at a company that is of interest to you for some reason.

In fact, I met one of my long-time associates and friends that way. She saw my name badge and asked if I worked at SRI. I said “No, that’s my name — it’s Sri.” We had a good laugh and started talking. As we talked, I realized I’d seen her on the news on TV a few weeks before. So our conversation moved to that topic. By the time we ended our conversation, we both agreed that we should meet later to brainstorm about possible collaborations.

My point is this: people approach and talk with “strangers” quite naturally when *something* about the other person catches their interest.

Some common tips for “conversation starters” in the business context are, asking about:

• Primary concerns about the other person’s business
• Problems they want solved
• What unmet business needs they may have
• Areas where the solutions you provide may overlap with their needs

You may have already heard of these.

However, before you can effectively use any tip or strategy, you must be clear about whether it fits your needs.

In other words, would the information you get from using any of these “conversation starters” be of interest and use to you?

So the question for you is this: what is of interest to *you*? What (if anything) makes you curious about all the “strangers” in a room, when you attend a networking event?

(By the way, if you find that nothing interests you or makes you curious, then you might ask yourself why you chose to attend that event.)

Once you’ve identified that, you can let your curiosity guide you. You can start looking and listening for things that are of interest to you in other people, as you move through the room. And when you find these people, see how it feels to start a conversation with them. I bet it will be much easier!

By the way, when you do find someone with whom you truly connect, be sure to get their contact information. Because these are the people you must follow up with. The rest — well, you can decide what to do about the rest…

Now, if you’re still uncomfortable approaching someone you *know* you want to talk to, and even know *what* you want to talk to them about, there’s another unresolved issue hiding somewhere.

For more on this and related topics, click here.

Till next week,
– Sri

Do you feel uncomfortable attending networking “events” by yourself? Does the thought of walking into a room full of strangers make you anxious?

If you’ve been wanting to increase your confidence and comfort level in these sitations, here are some common tips:

1. Arrange to meet someone at the event: a client, business associate, even a friend.
2. Volunteer to be an “ambassador” or work at the registration desk.
3. Call ahead and ask the organizer if you can meet them at the event.

You may already know of some or all of these tips. And you may have tried to use them without success. Or perhaps you haven’t tried any yet.

If this is the case for you, the real question is: why haven’t these tips, techniques and strategies helped? And what would help?

Well, for any technique to work, in any context, there has to be a foundation. Otherwise, it cannot work.

I’m a dancer, so let me give you a dance analogy. Trying to use any technique without the proper foundation is like me trying to do fancy footwork before I’ve mastered the proper dance frame and balance. In such cases, even if I do manage to pull off the fancy footwork (which is difficult without good balance), it just doesn’t look as good with that hint of a wobble! Nor does it feel comfortable for me.

If you’re not a dancer, see if you can find another analogy along these lines, and you’ll understand this point better.

So let’s address this issue from a different perspective.

Let’s start with an important question: what (if anything) would make you feel more comfortable and confident going to a networking event alone? Why is this?

For instance, you might say going with another person helps.

Well, why is this? Because they can introduce me to others they know.

And why is this helpful? Because then I don’t have to go up to strangers and introduce myself.

By answering this question, you just discovered something very specific (and useful). It is this: going to an event with just anyone won’t necessarily be helpful for you. However, going with someone who can *connect* you with others and ease the way for you would be helpful.

Well, now you have something specific to work with. Because now the problem to solve is this: how can you find other “connectors”, if you don’t go to the event with one, to help ease the way for you?

(We’ll address the issue of not feeling confident enough to initiate a conversation by yourself in another article!)

So given the information you just discovered, you can now start looking for specific tips, techniques or strategies to help you answer this question. And you might decide to start with tip #3 above.

So when you arrive at the event, you’d have a goal to find the organizer. Right there you’d have something to “do”: as soon as you check in, you can ask the people at the registration desk to introduce you or point you to the organizer.

Once you find the organizer, use him or her as a “connector” and ask to be introduced to some of the kinds of people you’re there to meet. They can usually start you off with at least one person.

Then, use each new person you meet as another “connector”: end the conversation by asking for introductions to others they may know at the event.

So what did I just do?

1. I identified what specifically made me uncomfortable in a particular situation.
2. I explored what might address my discomfort in that particular situation.
3. Then I found a way (strategy, technique, tip) to help me resolve my discomfort in these kinds of situations.

Try these going through these 3 steps for whatever situation that makes you feel uncomfortable, awkward or insecure. See what you discover.

And if you’re still stuck, and want to work on this with me one-on-one, feel free to contact me.

Till next time,
– Sri