In networking the most valuable three words are…Listen Listen Listen

I am sitting here at my computer just cracking up over how so many people miss the mark when networking with someone they have just met.  When you are out at an event and meet someone you think might be a good match for you AND you have made an appointment with them to get to know them better, PLEASE read the title of this post.  People just crack me up with their inability to just sit and listen to another person without trying to get a word in edge wise.  If you just listen to another person and let them sell themselves on your product, the sales cycle will be quite short.  I just used this example with a close friend I was just with trying to sell our product.  When you are meeting someone pretend they are in the middle of the road and your job is to simply let them sell themselves and you are just a bumper keeping them on the road.  If you just listen you can pick up on cues that help you nudge them towards the close.  For example, an insurance agent trying to sell me life insurance better pick up on the fact I am not interested in life insurance  to leave the money to an heir BUT will sell me on the investment portion.  If the agent does not listen to me and they keep leading me down the path of leaving money to my heirs then sorry……no deal. 

Open your ears to listening to your prospect and you will soon see the light.  Remember that the most valuable three words in networking are listen listen listen!

My 3 Step plan for immediate followup.

Since this blog is all about networking, I thought I would share exactly what I do everytime I meet someone.  OK, so you go out to an event like a chamber luncheon or even a street fair.  What do you do with the contacts you make?  Here are just a few things I do and to be quite honest I am writing this as I take a break from emailing all of the contacts I met at a Network Navigator class yesterday.  Please check out Anne’s class if you happen to be in Los Angeles.  It was AWESOME!  So here we go.

 

1. Email everyone within 24 hours of the event if possible.  This is just to say nice to meet you and lets get together to learn more about each other.  Here is my exact example.  Howdy Gina, It was so great to meet you yesterday at Carol’s house.  I hope you had as much fun as I did.  Thank you for being a great audience while I was speaking on SendOutCards and how it can help you in your real estate business.  Lets get together soon and I would love to learn how we can become referral sources for each other.  Give someone an AWESOME day!!  Casey 

 

2.  A followup phone call the next day.  This is used as nothing more than to schedule an appointment for us to talk about a time to get together either on the phone or in person so i can learn more about what they do.  I will almost always come to the meeting with some kind of referral or lead for them to call.  It helps give me creditability as well as shows that I am on top of it.

 

3.  Send a greeting card.  I will be talking about this til I am blue in the face.  If you are doing it, great I assume you are on the top of your game.  If you are not, we need to talk!  This can be any type of card but not very many people do this.  This is for me the most important because it shows you actually care about them and are really interested in them.  The note can be a simple nice to meet you or maybe an invite to coffee.  This will start this new relationship off on the right foot…..I promise! 

 

If you met someone today, try these steps and let the networking begin!  I will see you at the top!  Casey

Find a meetup and meet up!

I would like to introduce you to a site that should help you answer the question “where should I go to meet people?”  I have used meetup.com to meet some of my best business partners.  I discovered meetup about a year ago when a friend suggested that I speak at a group for people who work from home.  I had a great time and met some really great people.   Meet up is a site where you can search by city and type of group you would like to visit.  There are 1000’s of groups meeting for everything from quilt making to motorcycle engine repair.  Type in business or networking and you can usually join for free and then just hook up with the group when they meet.  Usually there is no fee except to buy a meal if you meet at a restaurant.  I would highly recommend looking for a game of Cash Flow in your area. 

Meet up can be a great way to network while on vacation as well.  You can look up any city and visit a group while out and about.  I did this while in Vegas and not only did I meet some really cool people,  the trip become tax deductable!  Check with your own tax folks for advice on this. 

Happy Networking!!

Live what you sell

A bit of advice I like to give deals with the importance of how your own life correlates to the work that you do.  Present yourself in a manner that is consistent with the business you maintain. To put it simply, live what you sell.  No matter how great of a product or service is that you offer, you won’t be effective in selling it if you are not an example yourself.

There was a situation at a networking event I attended a while back that really illustrates the point I’m trying to make.  It was a “speed networking” function, similar to speed dating, where everyone rotates five minutes with each other as a way to hopefully make more contacts in a smaller amount of time.  What it basically boils down to is a series of five-minute windows for people to either make a connection or pass you by.  First impressions are huge.

At this function, I sat down to meet with a woman who happened to be involved with a network sales company much like myself.  The first thing I couldn’t help but notice was her blase demeanor, totally devoid of any enthusiasm.  I was preparing myself for her to literally doze off to sleep at any moment.  After our quick introductions, I asked her the quintessential question “so what is it that you do?”  (When meeting someone new, I tend to guide my conversation more around the other person and less around myself, as a way to get a feel for whether or not my business would be of any use to them.)

It came as a shock when she replied that she made a living by selling a well-known vitamin supplement product, which has consistently been touted for its abilty to improve the energy and vitality in those who take it.

“How will these supplements benefit me?”
“Well, they like, umm… are supposed to give you more energy, and stuff”
“How long have you been using them yourself?””
“Like over two years, I think”

Cut! …I think we all know how this scene plays out.  How effective was her pitch when she presented the opposite of every virtue of she claimed of her product?  I wasn’t expecting her to be bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm, but at the very least she could have said something like “I know I may not look 100% right now, but that’s only because I forgot to take my supplements for the past few days, see what happens without them?”

Live what you sell.  People don’t buy vitamin supplements for the great taste, they buy them for the results they are purported to give.   It was this woman’s job to try to sell me those results, and she failed in less than five minutes.   I cannot stress it enough – live your life in a way that is consistent with your business, or at the very, very least appear that you are.  Nothing kills word of mouth connections quite like hypocrisy.  For whatever reason, if you find it hard to do this, move on to something where you can!

Where to Wear A Name Tag

Hey gang!

Casey here checking in from my home office and just had to get this off my chest.
Let me tell you the story of my day down in Long Beach.  There I was hosting a networking lunch for about 40 business folks about half of which I know personally.  There were around 10 guests in attendance and all were walking around not knowing who to chat with.  Out of 40 people I actually counted how many people where not wearing a name tag.  Guess the number?  12! Can you believe this?  Me either!  Now wait, it gets even more silly, EVERYONE was made one by the registration table and had t have it on to get inside the event.  That means 12 people decided they were just too cool to wear one.  This is NEVER acceptable in my opinion.  I was standing there with a mic in hand running a meeting and literally could not remember all thier names so I had to use people who I could see the names in giant green print.  Those without names never got mentioned in any part of the meeting where I was talking (which was the whole meeting).  Please take it from me, not everyone will remember your name even if you see them on a regular basis.    These 12 people lost out on airtime and possible business just because they could not stand to keep the tag on.  Bad business people.
 
As a tip, write in BIG PRINT EASY TO READ and where the name tag on your left hand side.  Why the left side?  When you extend your hand out to give someone a good shake you will not cover it up.  Another idea is to always wear a name tag wherever you go.  I met my top producing team member because she was wearing a “Cristi the Credit Coach” name tag in a Starbucks and I thought she was a little goofy.  Little did I know how much wearing that tag changed her life.  Check out her site at www.harmonyinhome.com to see what she does.
 
Bottom line.  Wear a printed name tag on your left hand side throughout the event and you will be in the upper echelon of professionals.  Shoot me any comments or ideas and I will include them in future posts.

Are You Keeping Your Eyes Peeled For Prospects?

O.K. So here is a quick story that just happened tonight and I wanted to share it with all of you. It is really important that you develop the skill of always being on the lookout for a prospect or lead. For example, in my business a top producing Realtor is one of the best prospects there is. Our building happens to have a unit for sale and I am the President of the HOA (I do this so I meet all of the Realtors showing units). As I was walking back from my nightly dip in our pool, I noticed the door to the unit for sale was open and could hear talking. Naturally I poked my head inside to see what was going on. I met the agent and the potential buyers which was a lovely couple who we would be lucky to have in our building. I spoke very highly of the building (was selling for the agent and they LOVE that) and built rapport with the agent. By the end of the conversation she was so excited to sit down with me for coffee and get to know me because I really took an interest in helping her sell the unit to her clients. This would never have happened if I did not always keep my eyes peeled for prospects. I will be following up with her via email and a greeting card letting her know how nice it was to meet her. Remember to always keep your eyes peeled!

Hard Contact Networking Groups are a Must for Serious Business Builders!

Welcome to those of you who have never been here before.  My name is Casey Eberhart and I have created this blog to help you navigate this tricky world of networking.  Please feel free to comment on any article here.  We will only grow by our own networking.

There are several kinds of networking groups out there and I will be commenting on most of them in the coming weeks and months for your reading pleasure.  If you are going to build a serious business I HIGHLY recommend joining a “hard contact” group right from the git go.  A hard contact group is one where there is only one person per profession that is  allowed to join.  By allowing one Attorney, one Doctor, one Realtor it limits competition.  These groups become a sort of “family” of sales people for your business providing word of mouth advertising. 

Most of these groups meet once a week usually for breakfast and concentrate on passing referrals or in the case of “The Network for You!” introductions.  You will want to go and visit several groups before joining one because remember that this becomes a business family and you will be giving your fellow members business.  You want to find a group that you can trust the members. 

There are several networking companies out there and Business Networking International is the largest.  Dr. Ivan Misner is the founder and I believe there are over 4000 chapters world wide.  Some other examples are Le Tip, TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More), For You Network etc.  Please be advised that it is my experience that it is more about the group itself rather than the company.  Since this is my article I will say having been to 1000’s of networking meetings in my career, I have found hard contact groups to by far be the best for generating word of mouth business.  These groups are a referral gold mine IF you are willing to give the group business as well.  My advise is to join a hard contact group and then join a Chamber of Commerce to meet people to bring to the table in a hard contact group. 

There is a new group that just started in Los Angeles called The Network for You! which is in my opinion  the best group out there.  O.K. I admit I am one of the Co Founders but we have really put time into what will generate sales for our members.  If you are interested in visiting, we meet in Beverly Hills on Wednesday mornings.  You can reach me at 310.345.9019 if you are interested.  You will be hearing much more about NFY! in the future. 

Go Check out a few groups and join one!  Happy networking!!

A Useful Tip for Networking Events or Chamber Functions!

O.K. so here is the thing, PLEASE do not attempt to network with a Blue tooth in your ear!  This seems like a no brainer but I have to tell you that just yesterday I was at an event and it amazes me that people think it is o.k. to walk around with a giant ear piece attached to their head.  While I totally understand that you may feel cool with a robot type earpiece you just will look silly.  Take it out and stay awhile!  If you are so important that you can not come and be fully present at an event or meeting, you should just stay home.

Building a Better Business Card

I like to consider business cards as each a 14 square inch piece of real estate (front and back combined). The question is how would you like to develop that space? Do you buy a half acre corner lot and toss a trailer onto it with your name painted on it?

When I get asked about what works and doesn’t work with business cards, there are three key points that have worked for me, as well as many of my colleagues

1. Don’t print your cards on your home computer

It may initially seem like the fastest and cheapest way to go, but that’s exactly the message they end up sending to potential clients – fast and cheap. There’s nothing that says “unprofessional” quite like a card with perforated edges and ink that smears in your wallet. Quite frankly, you might be better off writing your contact information on a scrap of paper and saying you forgot your card holder at home instead of handing one of these out.

2. Don’t use an online “free” card offer.

There are a handful of printers online offering deals where all a customer pays for is the shipping. The catch is that the printer will put their own company logo on the backside of the cards, turning you unwittingly into a sales rep handing out their product samples. Who are you trying to promote, you or them? To be perfectly honest, almost every time I receive a card with the printer’s logo on it, it goes on a one-way trip to the circular file. If you are willing to make the effort to go online and design and order your cards, go the extra step and actually pay for it. You easily can get a run of 1000 cards for under hundred bucks.

3. Put your picture on the card

This is no time to be camera shy; a photograph of yourself is much more effective than just your printed name alone, especially in a networking function with a hundred people. Your picture needs to be clear, tastefully posed, and current. Unless you have a friend with an above-average proficiency at digital photography, I highly recommend booking an appointment with a pro. It probably is not a good idea to scan your senior yearbook picture from a decade ago because you were twenty pounds lighter. People need to accurately associate your name with your face, and if the one on your card looks nothing like the person they just met, then what’s the point?

Ultimately, be sure to keep your cards clean and simple. Don’t use wacky fonts or too many graphics and remember to include your name, title, company, address, phone numbers, and email. You don’t have to be a genius at design to get a great looking card, a little common sense and restraint can go a long way. 

Casey’s Conference Call June 16th, 2008

Casey’s conference call with Anne Hilbert of Network Navigator, recorded June 16th, 2008.  Amongst other things, Casey explains his involvement with SendOutCards.com and how effective it is in assisting with follow-ups and building goodwill with your client base.

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