My Biggest Challenge In Business Networking Is Me
I thought I’d write about a common challenge: meeting new people or the “right” people.
But a curious thing happened.
As I was writing, I made a typo and ended up with an very interesting title: My Biggest Challenge In Business Networking Is Me (it was supposed to be “My Biggest Challenge In Business Networking Is Meeting New People”.)
Well, this was too good a topic to pass. So let’s talk about how we can be our biggest challenge!
We are told, and many of us believe, that we need to behave a certain way, dress a certain way, talk about or not talk about certain things, when it comes to business networking.
I disagree.
This is one very simple way we can become our own biggest networking challenge.
Think about it.
Where is your attention and focus, when you’re trying to “present a professional image”? (And whose definition of “professional” is it anyway?)
For instance, I know that when I’m trying to be “professional”, all my attention goes towards “being professional”, leaving very little for conversations or other people.
This is NOT a good thing in business networking!
On the other hand, when I’m not worrying about *my* image, my focus and attention can be (and usually is) directed 100% towards other people and the conversations we’re having.
And not surprisingly, I present a much better “image” by doing so.
I’m not saying be sloppy or rude (and if you’re reading this article, you’re probably neither).
What I am saying is just be yourself.
Don’t believe me? I dare you to try it out! See what happens.
Till next week,
– Sri
October 10th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
This one really hit home.
My biggest networking problem is ME. Good observation, and sometimes fits me to a T. The real irony here is that most of us (o.k., I can only speak for myself, there are so many ways that I) find myself being MY biggest networking problem. Now, my friends will assure you that I get the conversation thing down pretty well, but that leads to another problem I have …shifting into Sales Mode too soon. Over the years here is what I have observed: when I am someplace where everyone is NETWORKING, and when I meet someone who is an obvious prospect for what I do, if I shift into sales mode, most of the time it turns them off. They are not mentally ready to be “sold” something at this venue. That’s when the networking skills really start to have value. The old “Hey, I want to learn more from you, and I know you want to meet lost more people here, so let’s have (lunch, breakfast, coffee, etc.) next week. Can I give you a call (tomorrow, Monday) to set that up?
Even when you meet with them, you have to be careful about the selling issue. The good news is that in my experience, over half the time if you ask them about what they do, who their target markets are, all those questions we learn in basic networking 101, they will get around to asking about you.
Joe McBride