Networking is Not Selling
Networking is Not Selling
Ok- this probably sounds a bit judgmental. It's not meant to be. I actually have compassion for people who don't understand the difference between networking and selling. Many people are great at their service or have wonderful products but struggle to understand how to run a business. It's like learning anything. You make some mistakes at first and then try again. One of the biggest mistakes is trying to sell to people before you built a relationship and before they have shown an interest.
If you feel passionate about your offerings you want to tell everyone, but if you tell everyone too much it can feel like a sales pitch rather than relationship building. In marketing there is an order to the process and when you follow the order people don't feel pushed.
Networking happens toward the beginning and it's only about meeting people and making contact. When you do get to the sales part-which is way at the end, it's easy, because by then your potential client has made the decision and wants your information.
If you want to use networking the way it's meant to be here are a few tips that can help even the best networker be better.
1. Don't blab on about yourself. Get to know the other person. Find out what they need. If you both do that, you will have to talk about yourself some but you will be very brief and turn the conversation back toward them. It will be more like a ping-pong game without it getting stuck with one person holding on to the ball too long.
2. Move around the room. Chat with one person enough to feel like you've made a connection and then move on. A networking group is about building a network of relationships slowly over time. Think of yourself as a spider building a web and each person you meet helps the web to grow more beautiful.
3. Avoid talking too much about your products or services. If someone pointedly asks you, then request their business card and contact them later to ask if they want more information. A networking group is not the place to get deeply into it. Even if someone says they're interested they won't really be able to focus.
Networking is about building connections, making contacts and finding possible strategic partners. Once you have done that well, the selling process is half done without you focusing on it all.
Networking is Not Selling - To learn more about this author, visit Kaya Singer's Website.
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You've probably all had the "used car salesman" experience at networking groups. You meet a new person, and doing the normal protocol, you politely ask them what they do. They immediately launch into a passionate pitch about how wonderful their product is and assure you that you'll be dead next week if you don't buy it. You politely don't ask them any more questions, hoping the conversation will end so you can move on. Or you wait for a break in their diatribe so you can blurt out that you need to find the rest room. As an after thought they might ask you what you do.
Ok- this probably sounds a bit judgmental. It's not meant to be. I actually have compassion for people who don't understand the difference between networking and selling. Many people are great at their service or have wonderful products but struggle to understand how to run a business. It's like learning anything. You make some mistakes at first and then try again. One of the biggest mistakes is trying to sell to people before you built a relationship and before they have shown an interest.
If you feel passionate about your offerings you want to tell everyone, but if you tell everyone too much it can feel like a sales pitch rather than relationship building. In marketing there is an order to the process and when you follow the order people don't feel pushed.
Networking happens toward the beginning and it's only about meeting people and making contact. When you do get to the sales part-which is way at the end, it's easy, because by then your potential client has made the decision and wants your information.
If you want to use networking the way it's meant to be here are a few tips that can help even the best networker be better.
1. Don't blab on about yourself. Get to know the other person. Find out what they need. If you both do that, you will have to talk about yourself some but you will be very brief and turn the conversation back toward them. It will be more like a ping-pong game without it getting stuck with one person holding on to the ball too long.
2. Move around the room. Chat with one person enough to feel like you've made a connection and then move on. A networking group is about building a network of relationships slowly over time. Think of yourself as a spider building a web and each person you meet helps the web to grow more beautiful.
3. Avoid talking too much about your products or services. If someone pointedly asks you, then request their business card and contact them later to ask if they want more information. A networking group is not the place to get deeply into it. Even if someone says they're interested they won't really be able to focus.
Networking is about building connections, making contacts and finding possible strategic partners. Once you have done that well, the selling process is half done without you focusing on it all.
Networking is Not Selling - To learn more about this author, visit Kaya Singer's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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