Many businesses I know count on networking as an important part of business development, and sometimes an event stands out. One did for me late yesterday afternoon, and here's why, and what made it good.
It was crowded. It was off in a corner of a popular bar, Oak City in Bloomington, and there were at least 40-50 people there.
What's good about that? Well, it reduced that awkward clustering that happens where there's more room to spread out. It's easier to start a conversation with a stranger if you just turn around, rather than walk across the room. There was some "breathing room" at the edges, for those who got a little claustrophobic..
It was quiet enough to have a conversation at the edges of the crowd, or even in the middle.
It mixed two groups that don't normally get together for the first time - the Linked Minnesota networking group and the CHAD Meet-Up group. That made for a nice mix of familiar faces and people I hadn't met before. A banker I've met several times said he'd given my card to someone who needed some help with their business strategy, and I met a nice job-seeker who loves working in customer relations gave me a great reason to reach out to an old friend who may need someone in that role.
I had good conversations and discovered some mutual interests with about four people there, and will be following up with them next week.
I'll be folding a few examples of things I saw (or did) into the Networking micro-seminar I'm doing next Friday.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Consultants Can't Sell
In the first 2 years consulting and coaching, I've helped clients learn to sell, or improve their sales. I've worked on my own sales skills, to "walk the talk." After all, you wouldn't hire a tennis coach who didn't know how to play, or a consultant that had never solved a problem like you have, right?
Yesterday Jay Niblick (Innermetrix) used an example in a webinar for Assn of Independent Business Consultants that got me thinking a little differently.
What if you got a cold call - from a doctor? Would you consider becoming a patient? If you did, what would you expect about competence, quality, or price?
People hire consultants when they believe the consultant can help them fix a problem (or realize a dream) that they really care a lot about, and have the resources and willingness to get help. They need the consultant to have expertise and be an authority in what they need, as well as the skills to help them make changes that work.
So what happens if a consultant starts to "close" - switching roles to a salesman to seal the deal? Do trust and confidence naturally and automatically sink?
That's why, in my practice, I never "close" but only ask the same question every time, when my prospective client has seen that I'm a trust-worthy expert who can help them improve something that matters a lot to them. That question is simply "What do you want to do now?"
Yesterday Jay Niblick (Innermetrix) used an example in a webinar for Assn of Independent Business Consultants that got me thinking a little differently.
What if you got a cold call - from a doctor? Would you consider becoming a patient? If you did, what would you expect about competence, quality, or price?
People hire consultants when they believe the consultant can help them fix a problem (or realize a dream) that they really care a lot about, and have the resources and willingness to get help. They need the consultant to have expertise and be an authority in what they need, as well as the skills to help them make changes that work.
So what happens if a consultant starts to "close" - switching roles to a salesman to seal the deal? Do trust and confidence naturally and automatically sink?
That's why, in my practice, I never "close" but only ask the same question every time, when my prospective client has seen that I'm a trust-worthy expert who can help them improve something that matters a lot to them. That question is simply "What do you want to do now?"
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