I am on the Board of Directors for our local business association, and many times I am called on to represent the association at local events.
So that means in some of my networking I am not actually talking about my own business.
I enjoy chatting with others about all kinds of business topics, though, so sometimes that’s even more fun for me.
Do you ever get stuck when you are doing networking? Not sure what to say?
Maybe getting out there at an event, and focusing on NOT talking about your own business is the solution for you.
I had a conversation with a VA the other day about her marketing message, and how to promote her business.
She was very stuck and she kept saying she didn’t know how to talk about herself. It’s a very common sticking point for VAs.
I pointed out that she could probably sell her husband’s business to anyone because it is not a subjective sell like her own is.
She knows how brilliant he is. She knows how well he does his job. She knows how dedicated he is.
She knows that anyone who works with him will be very lucky. And smart!
She agreed with me 100% when I told her all of that.
Then I told her that all the same things were true about her.
She was surprised by that. But she could not deny it.
It’s the same thing when you are trying so hard to sell yourself. It can feel uncomfortable.
When you try too hard to bring the conversation back around to how you can help someone, it might feel uncomfortable or forced. It probably is.
But when you just chat normally, like a conversation is supposed to work, it is effortless.
You may even start to doubt yourself if you have a couple of conversations that don’t go as well as you wanted them to.
By putting yourself in many different situations, it helps you to recognize your own value. You are able to sit back and just enjoy the conversation, and then reflect on it.
This week, our association had a booth at our local fair. I found that I had very low stress conversations with people on a variety of business topics (and non-business topics too!)
It was amazing how much I learned about what people need in their business.
Because there were so many people coming by our booth, I asked a bunch of basic questions.
Did they have a business in our area? What did they do for business? What were they looking for in term of support from the association? That type of thing.
And then of course, what brought them to the Fair? What was their favourite exhibit or part of it? Great ice breakers.
We had nothing to ‘sell’ them really, so we just talked. It was very effective. We made deeper connections with people than if they had just come to our booth to fill out a ballot and then left.
Many of them signed up for our newsletter and we think we might even sign up 5 new members (that’s huge!).
I attribute it to the conversations we had. And there was nothing really special about what we talked about. That’s almost always the way it goes in a successful networking conversations.
When you have normal conversations, and just ask questions, it is very interesting where things can lead.
Be aware of your own everyday conversations. You can get a lot of information about things when you step outside the box. Just think of them as normal conversations, not sales conversations (even though on some level they might be).
Be attentive during those conversations. See if you can pick out things that you can apply to your own business.
Always look for things that can show you your own value too.
It’s easier than you think when you just treat it as normal.
If you want some help figuring out your own value, book your complimentary ‘Cut to the Chase’ call with me here: www.yourvamentor.com/15-min.
I look forward to chatting with you!