What is the risk involved in speaking with someone new? Not too much, unless you think they are going to try to sell you something. Suddenly the person appears as a threat to your time, energy, and money.
How are people perceiving you? Are you missing out on a genuine opportunity because someone in the equation feels like they are about to be pitched to?
Take this quiz to find out how approachable you are.
- How many times are you willing to attend a networking event before you get business out of it?
- When you enter a networking event, do you immediately go toward the people you know, or toward strangers hoping they need your product or service?
- Do you spend most of the conversation time at networking events focusing on the other person, or do you tend to monopolize the conversation?
- Do you connect with people on Linked In and other social media sites and stay in touch with them over time?
- Do you ever bring guests with you to a networking event?
- Out of all the people you know from networking, what percentage of them would you say are friends?
- Do you ever get together with some of your networking friends outside of work hours?
The answers to these questions will be different for everyone but they should provide some insight into your motivation during networking events. Make that time about helping other people first, and you will find what you have been missing; valuable relationships with other business people. Earning trust, and new clients, takes time and patience.
Joanne Randall
724-603-LEAP
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