Has the season put you in the mood yet for how you can impress and influence the people you want to attract more of, through the “give without stings attached” strategy? The first two posts talked about three Good ways and then three Better ways to tie your networking up with this kind of WOW strategy. Today’s blog post completes the series, but not the ideas, with three Best ways to get WOW from networking.
Best Impact:
• Spontaneously call the people you meet within 24 hours of your last connection. Focus on showing sincere interest in them, instead of impressing them. This will make you readily stand out amidst your competition, as a whopping 80% of business people don’t even follow-up with their prospects!
• Send people you’d like to do further business with a small gift, as a means to express “Nice to meet you”. Avoid foods that might cause allergic reactions. A box of tea bags or a small basket of fruit are usually safe options. Stay with choices that state the items are free from particular allergens.
• Send an invitation to your own after-holidays appreciation event. Partner with someone to hold a strictly “let’s meet” event that features just some light hors d’oeuvres — and no elevator pitches and no business card exchanges. In 2006, four of us teamed up to host such an event at a local comedy club during one of their days off. Almost 50 people showed up, enjoyed mixing and mingling, and the four of us paid for the entire affair, including a headline comedian. What fun!
BONUS Impact Action: If you are meeting someone for the first time, ditch your canned elevator pitch. Do just this one thing differently if nothing else: Take an interest in new people who you meet by having just two or three open-ended questions about them. ‘Tis the season to give others a break from sales spiels!
Since you’ll both be taking advantage of the season to meet new friends and reconnect with current ones, invest your time in pre-planning your WOW networking now!
What ideas do you have to WOW people you meet through networking during the holidays?
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