Effortless Networking

Do you feel like you’re “interrupting” or “intruding” when you network?

A client of mine felt this way. And of course, it affected her ability to network effectively.

Interestingly, she had no problem networking with people as long as it was in person. When she met people she hadn’t seen in a while, she didn’t hesitate to go up and say hi, ask how they were, find out what new project they’re working on.

However, she could not network — contact people or even keep in touch with them — by phone or email.

“Why?” I asked her. “What’s the difference?”

“Well, if I call someone on the phone, they may be annoyed with me for interrupting them. If I contacted them by email, they may think I was too intrusive.”

As we explored how she came to these conclusions, we discovered two things:

1. Since she preferred in-person conversations, she assumed that other people did too.
2. Since she couldn’t see the other person’s expressions when talking on the phone or connecting by email, she assumed the worst – that her calls or emails were being perceived as intrusions and interruptions.

Although these people often seemed happy to hear from her when she called or emailed, she discounted this fact by saying they were just being polite — because in her mind, her assumptions had become “facts”.

So if you feel like you’re interrupting or intruding when you talk to people, check out your assumptions.

• Are they valid?
• How do you know?

FYI, more details on this topic can be found in module 2 of the Effortless Networking home-study program.

If your “elevator pitch” or your “cold calling script” isn’t working, find out why in this guest article by by Ari Galper, Founder, Unlock The Game™.

###

I was sitting at my desk last week when my phone rang. I picked it up and said, “This is Ari with Unlock The Game.” The woman on the other end of the phone said, “Hi, my name is Julie Jackson, I’m with XYZ company and we are a…and we offer…”. As she continued to speak, I stopped her in mid-sentence and said, “Hi, Julie.”

There was dead silence on the phone.

I could sense her struggling to react to my spontaneous overture at making personal, genuine contact. She was so locked into her presentation or script that she had no idea how to respond to me.

The idea of just conversing with me in her most natural way was a completely foreign concept.

(She eventually took a deep breath and we transitioned into a very pleasant conversation about the possibility of us being a “fit”.)

What has happened to us?

Can’t we just strike up a conversation with people we don’t know and build a relationship that way?

It’s ironic that most of us take it for granted that spontaneous, natural communication is the right way to relate to our friends, spouses, relatives, and others in our personal lives — but, when it comes to selling, our language becomes, almost robotic.

Why the breakdown?

Because when we make a sales call, we want something. The people we’re talking with sense this immediately. They put up their guard. Our hidden agenda and their reaction immediately destroy the trust-building process of communication.

We go into our personal relationships wanting to simply know the other person. But we go into sales situations with agendas and assumptions.

And because we’ve been conditioned that a sale can happen only if we control the process, we never even consider the possibility that there can be total flexibility in how we communicate and build trust.

Quick self-assessment: When you pick up the phone to make a sales call, what are you hoping will be the outcome?

Let me guess:

• Get information
• Find the decision maker
• Schedule an appointment
• Make a sale

In other words, you want something even before the person you call says “Hello.”

It’s time to throw out your “selling” language and unlock your natural language.

Here’s how:

Be willing to challenge everything you have learned about selling up to this point. If you aren’t open to questioning conventional sales thinking, you’ll never have a chance to experience selling in a completely different way.

• Replace your goal-oriented agendas with trust-building agendas.
• Learn to enjoy the processing of building a new relationship.
• Build a dialogue.
• Avoid centering the conversation on you and your offerings.
• Enter the conversation without assumptions.
• Trade overconfidence for humility.

Any signs of overconfidence when you first make contact with a potential client will only set off “sales alarms.” Humility (not weakness) starts the trust-building process.

Visualize the person you are speaking with as a potential friend rather than a potential client. This will help you to converse rather than “sell.”

When you tap into your natural language abilities, it triggers the person you’re speaking with to tap into their own natural language as well.

Like you, they will abandon their “business language” and begin communicating with you in their most natural way.

Natural language is the crucial secret to transforming the outdated, ineffective “buyer-seller” role into a trust-based relationship based on open, natural communication.

Order The Mastery Program and eliminate the pain and rejection of traditional selling

Unlock The Game™ is a new selling mindset that frees you from unnatural cold calling scripts. Instead, you’ll learn how to begin new conversations with prospects, naturally — no pitching, no persuading and no pushing. In just 4 short hours, you could be making cold calls that feel as natural as calling a friend.

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his free cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com.

“[My biggest networking challenge is] finding people that need my services”.

Two weeks ago I posted an article on how to get people interested in what you have to say. Last week came the article on how to make sure they WANT what you have to sell.

Now the question is, how to actually FIND these people!

Well, I’ve already written a couple of articles on this topic — so here they are:

1. How to find qualified prospects
2. How to find the right networking group or event

To continue with this series, next week look for an article on how to talk to these people, when you meet them.

Till then,
– Sri

Often it’s useful to hear the same information in different ways. Last week I gave you my version. This week, here’s a guest article by Kim Castle on the topic. Enjoy!

8 Ways To Make Sure Customers Want What You Sell
By Kim Castle of BrandU®

Can I get something off my chest? Really…off my heart?

I’m distressed about how many entrepreneurs and small business owners are driving themselves and their business into the ground because of the chase — running after customers, running after new business, running after another day to keep their business open. This chase has put them into a cycle of emotional pain, even if they haven’t brought themselves to admit it… yet.

I feel that pain. Not in a therapist sort of way, but I really do feel it. I feel it every time I speak at small business conferences, every time I teach my workshops around the country, every time I start clients on their business’ brand development. I may be sensitive to it because I used to feel it all the time myself.

It feels like constriction around your head and heart that leaves you momentarily unclear and unable to make a decision. It feels like escalating jabs that sometimes results in unexplained bouts of talking to yourself. It feels like an endless frenetic loop, like George Jetson walking his dog Astro on the treadmill, “Get me off this crazy thing!” I told you, I really feel it. I can also offer a few suggestions to help you stay clear from that cycle.

Chances are you started your business out of great idea or a great desire. Chances are you took on “the challenge” because you truly believed in your business idea. Chances are you did not think you would spend your time chasing potential customers.

There are 8 simple things you can do today to put yourself back on a successful business path paved with personal joy and financial freedom. And more importantly… keep you there.

1. Define It - Clearly identify what your product or service tangibly does for your customer in an easy-to-understand way. Your customer already is overloaded with figuring out things for themselves. They shouldn’t have to work to figure out what you do for them.
2. Believe In It - Make sure that your product or service is something you value in your own life and in which you truly have faith. Not only as a means to make your house payment, but also from a huge desire to make something better. Not just a little bit but in a major way.
3. Craft It - Create the experience of your product or service as one your potential customers can know instantly. Think of any product or service you buy regularly and see if you can identify why. Your consumer knowledge can be put to powerful use as a business owner.
4. Institute It – Create a reliable (product or service) experience, one that customers can depend on without variation. Establish a specific sales experience, from sales associates, to affiliates, to website, to final delivery that all echo the overall experience you have clearly defined. Note: when creating a powerful consumer experience; variation is bad, innovation is good.
5. Ensure It - Make sure your product or service is deeply connected to your business from an inner perspective, not simply as a reaction to market conditions. The conditions change and your products should evolve, not become obsolete. Without internal grounding you will be forever stuck in ‘the chase’ for new products or services.
6. Innovate It - Look for new and exciting ways to deliver solutions to the problem that your product or service alleviates. The excitement of evolution alone will result in heightened desire in customers and they’ll love you for it.
7. Research It - Clearly identify who really needs your product or service. You must know your target, their demo- and psycho-graphics and more. You need to be in their “heads”. A great way to start is to know yourself, remember you would use your product or service. This gives you practical working knowledge that you transfer to describe all your possible targets.
8. Translate It – Learn to translate your product and service to each target as specifically as you can. Look at the specific characteristics of each target and customize the language. You can change and refine without risk, because the product or service is truly anchored and will always reflect your brand. Don’t change the essence of the product or service, just the words you use to describe it.

This “inside out” approach to product or service development will connect with customers and protect your brand. With these eight simple practices in place you can be assured that your business will evolve pain-free. You will not only experience success, but something even greater — a pure love for what you spend most of your life doing.

© Castle Montone, Limited

Brand Visioneer and BrandU co-founder, Kim Castle teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners how to turn their business ideas into a moneymaking marketable brand. If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank™, get your FREE branding tips now at www.whybrandu.com.