Recently I had the distinct privilege to talk with Kris Cavanaugh about top networking and sales mistakes. Kris and I met on LinkedIn and started talking via email at first, then went to telephone. Although these mistakes might be anecdotal, they are real everyday issues we all encounter. People talk about them in all kinds of environments – networking events, friendly StarBucks conversations, business meetings.
Whether you are new to networking or consider yourself to be a pro, I’m really interested in your experiences; do you find either people around you, or you, are guilty with any of these? In either case, would you leave your comments below?
1 – “Online social networking is my ticket!” When in reality, either online networking is inappropriate or just one tool for a marketer. If your clients aren’t online (and yes, there are some businesses that won’t find the best return on investment online), if you think it’s going to be a wham-bam money flood, or if it’s your entire marketing plan, then it’s your ticket to failure and frustration not fortune. Someone, I don’t know who, coined the phrase Bright, Shiny Object Syndrome which applies to this.
2 – Corrupted connections. Social networking helps to pour more salt on the wounds of connections that don’t go anywhere. Have you been asked to connect lately online maybe with LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook? I get this all the time. Generally I look over the person’s profile, or Tweets or status updates for a quick minute before I accept. I find it good to get to know people. But all too often I find myself in the middle of a fast romance: after I accept I get an email touting some product or service they don’t even know I have an interest in, let alone a need for. I do find if I don’t reply, they go away. Corrupting our connection further.
3 – Too soon or too long U-turn conversations. Even after a cordial online introduction this can happen. But more often it’s in-person. It’s actually part of the 60-second sick elevator pitch. Some of us can’t help but want to talk about us, me, my, I – just way too soon. Or we want to go on way too long about ourselves. See, what is happening? We are U-turning the conversation to be about us, while really taking little interest in the other person which is a better place to start.
4 – Listening with a response in mind. Last month I attended a much-touted new women’s networking group event. There were about 80 women there. I met about a dozen women I know from either past or current relationships. Then I met about 6 women that I didn’t know. One stood out for me as someone – I don’t want to know any further. As she was U-turning her conversation, I told her I discontinued the very service she was representing. Obviously she didn’t hear what I said because as she said, “Great, here’s my business card,” the word “great” told me she had a different agenda.
5 – Follow-up failure. Continuing with this women’s meeting last month: I went home with 6 business cards of first time encounters. Silence in this case, is blacker, not golden. I heard from no one. Not an email, not a telephone call, not a hand written “Nice to meet you” note. That is follow-up failure. I don’t wake up in the morning thinking, “Gee I need to call that person who tried to sell me her wonderful widget last night.” It just doesn’t happen that way.
You can listen in for free, to Kris and I talk more about these mistakes: And subscribe to my blog to get the further details about each one. See that SUBSCRIBE button on the upper right? It says, Subscribe by Email Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner. That’s the place!
And now, what about you and the 5 mistakes you may not know you are making? How do you relate to them?