Most things in life take work, and that includes building relationships too. If you ever wanted to see the benefits of having strong relationships, watch this short video where I shared how when I was with Jeffrey Hayzlett , the former CMO of Kodak, and author of the NY times Best Selling Book ,”The Mirror Test” we were able to get into Delmanico’s,Emeril Lagase restaurant, one of the busiest in Vegas. I was impressed to say the least. There are lots of lessons to be learned from this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiLbBATQ3Zs part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itv42f9t3uQ part 2
Steven Seppinni also shares his thoughts too
How To More Effectively Connect With The People You Meet At The Women’s Conference
(This article was written for the Womens Conference put on by @mariashriver, and attended by people like @oprah, Michelle Obama,
Diane Sawyer, Tony Robbins, Donna Karen, Howard Schultz of Starbucks
and other amazing luminaries and personalities It was posted to their homepage www.womensconference.org
I wanted to share a few tips with you that will allow you to have more success networking and connecting at the Women’s Conference hosted by California First Lady Maria Shriver and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. These strategies will help you at any other event you attend in the future.
Here are six things you can do before, during, and after the conference that will allow to create more powerful connections with the people you meet, and get a higher ROI of your time and money from attending.
What To Do Before the Event
1. Research. Nothing will be more important than doing your homework. Who do you want to meet with? What will you say to them when you meet that will get their attention and cause you to stand out?
Here are some of the tools that can help you do with that research. A good place to start is always Google or Bing.
Other great resources to tap into include
http://www.Wikipedia.org
http://www.Linkedin.com>
http://www.Hoovers.com>
Make sure you read up on someone’s previous blog posts and read their bio; perhaps you have something in common with them. If you know someone they know, grew up in the same town, went to college at the same place, share the same passion, or support the same charity, you will likely connect more easily quickly.
Reviewing someone’s Twitter feed or Facebook posts is another great way to find insights that can be helpful in starting a conversation. A few years back, I was able to connect quickly with Sir Richard Branson; he gave me his private email after meeting him at a charity function in less then 30 seconds. When I was reading articles about him, I uncovered something that pointed to one of his priorities at the time, and when I met him I invited him and executives from his team to an event at which they would find value.
2. Knowing What To Say When Someone Asks You What You Do. This could be the biggest opportunity most people miss. It is amazing that this happens, because we all know most people, at some point in a conversation, will ask what you do. You have 10-15 seconds to grabs someone’s attention, and if you do a good job perhaps another two minutes to whet their appetite about your product and services.
For example here is mine: Have you ever met someone who is mega connected in their industry and very influential at what they do, and as a result they are able to get more business in less time, and get more referrals then their peers? Well I teach entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, and sales professionals to become highly influential, and then go to people in their industry.
What To Do During The Event
1. Have a Giver’s Mindset. If you want to easily differentiate yourself from most everyone else at the event, show up with a giver’s mindset. Most people tends to have a taker mindset (looking for what can they get from other people when they first meet them). If you, on the other hand, focus on being a giver and seeing how you can serve other people, you will find it much easier to connect with others.
2. Knowing the Right Questions To Ask. Here are some questions I have found to work most effectively when connecting with people at an event.
What do you do for fun when you aren’t doing ______ ?
How did you get started in the business?
What brings you to the conference?
Who are you looking to meet while you are here at the event?
If and when you have rapport, a great question to ask is this: What is the most important project you are currently working on in case I or my network can help you in some way?
I can’t tell you how many doors this last question has opened up! With good follow up and leveraging one’s network, you can add instant value to many people you meet.
What To Do After The Event
1. Prioritize Your Follow Up. One thing you should do when you first meet people is to make notes of important information that someone may have shared with you on the back of their card. Do it quickly, as it’s easy to quickly forget what others have shared.
I like to write down personal things they may have shared about their family or what they like to do in their spare time. I also like to record where I met them and what was discussed. If there is a way I can add value, I note that on the card, as well as any next steps we may have discussed.
It also makes sense to prioritize the contacts you met in an A/B/C fashion:
A – Must follow up. There was a good connection and there is a strong possibility of doing business in the near future.
B – Great people to stay in touch with. While there may not be a possibility of doing business in the short term. there could be strong possibilities in the future.
C – Keep in contact. This could be someone who you may just want to put into your online newsletter and stay in touch with in case something develops down the road.
2. Follow Up Fast and Add Value. If at all possible, to follow up within 24 to 48 hours while the event is still fresh on someone’s mind. The key element in terms of taking a contact and turning it into a connection is to add value to your new-found friend. Can you make a referral for them? Can you share a book or an article that can help them? If they were a speaker at the event, perhaps you give them a testimonial they can use on their website. Can you invite them to an upcoming event that can help them generate more business or help their favorite charity?
The faster you can add value to someone else, the easier it will be for you to turn your new found contacts into long-lasting, profitable connections.
Good connecting to you.
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Larry Benet is known as The Connector. He is CEO and Co-Founder of the Speaker and Authors Networking Group (SANG). He is known for helping entrepreneurs, speakers, authors, and sales professionals to effortlessly turn contacts into connections.
He has shared the stage with Tony Robbins, Jay Leno, Paul Abdul, Keith Ferrazzi, Peter Guber, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (from Chicken Soup For the Soul fame). To get more connection tips please visit http://www.larrybenet.com
I was recently speaking at Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Manager seminar and I ran into an old friend… Martin Howey. I just happened to be on the phone with an old friend of Martin’s, Harvey MacKay author of “Swim With The Sharks” Harvey is launching a new book and by re-connecting these two old friends, I was able to help them work together on this project. Watch this video then read the rest of Martin’s post at http://www.sevenfigureconsultants.com/?p=769
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Yesterday, I laid out the first 3 steps that were outlined by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, a billion dollar internet company, in creating a world class company.
Today, I wanted to follow up with the other 4 steps he outlined, because I think this is truly business-building gold that he shared with us.
Step #4:Create a Powerful Vision
This is something you hear a lot of business coaches talk about, but it was interesting to hear this from a guy who has created literally hundreds of millions of dollars of profits and billions of dollars of sales.
Tony commented that “whatever you’re thinking .. THINK BIGGER”. This is powerful advice, because a critical problem most people have is that they never start thinking big enough to begin with. They set low standards, they set low goals, and they never achieve anywhere near their personal potential.
Tony’s attitude is somewhat like Donald Trump’s in this respect, who likes to say, “you’re going to think anyway .. so you might as well think big”.
No matter how you look at it, creating and holding a MASSIVE, exciting vision leads you to take more significant, committed steps, because we all want to be a part of something significant.
So how do you create a vision that’s compelling? Tony suggested asking the following question to help uncover what you are really trying to do .. “What will you be passionate about in 10 years from now, even if you never made a dime doing it?”
When you have a powerful, inspiring vision that connects to your passion, it’s incredible what happens – and such a vision rarely, if ever, has anything to do with money. As Tony commented, “chase the vision, not the money”.
If you find yourself doing something because your primary goal is money, that’s a big sign that you’re headed in the wrong direction.
Step #5:Build Relationships – Not Networks
This was great insight, because so many people focus on how many business cards they collect at a networking meeting, or how many contacts they have in their Outlook or contact database.
Tony’s view is that it doesn’t matter how many people you know or that you’ve met .. what matters most is how many people you connect with. He disagrees with the idea of “networking” as he thinks of that as a superficial process that doesn’t really bring you close to anyone.
Instead, he emphasized how important it is not to focus on quantity of relationships, but on the quality of the relationships you have. And one of his greatest insights was “be interested instead of interesting.”
Step #6:Build A World Class Team
As with most entrepreneurs who are successful, Tony acknowledged that the most important thing he’s done is set the culture of his company, and then brought in the right people to manage and grow the culture and vision.
He agreed with the classic thought of “hire slowly, fire quickly”, saying that one of the most damaging things you can have happen to a company is an employee who doesn’t fit, or is damaging to the culture.
He outlined the Zappos.com recruitment and training programs for new employees, which includes significant training time spent on culture and brand. He also mentioned a wild concept — during the training, they offer $2,000 to anyone who is willing to quit on the spot!
They’re looking for someone who’s not really committed and they know if someone’s willing to quit for $2,000, they’re not going to be around very long anyway.. best to flush them out at the beginning that find out later, after they’ve spent a bunch of money training them!
This is a great example of how differently Tony thinks in his business, and why he is so wildly successful with it.
Step #7:Think Long Term
This was one of the themes of everything that Tony talked about. He thinks about the long-term in his business, and specifically, what the lifetime value of a customer is. He outlined numerous stories of how they went so far above and beyond to make a customer happy, because they focus on doing whatever it takes to make a customer happy.
He details examples where customers have spent more than $60,000 with them online, and that everything that matters in a business that keeps customers is about the service.
You can’t just say you have good service, you literally have to show it and prove it every single day.
He emphasized there is “no get rich quick” out there, and that success takes time to achieve. Of course, I agree wholeheartedly with this premise, and this is exactly what I teach — there are no short cuts to success.
He then proceeded to tell us more about his company, which is headquartered in Las Vegas. He described how they offer free company tours to anyone in Las Vegas, and they even have a shuttle that will come and pick you up from your hotel for free to bring you to their offices so you can see what they’re about!
To say that Tony operates differently than almost EVERYONE out there is an understatement!
If you want to read more about Tony and Zappos.com, Fortune Magazine recently published a great article about him that you can see here.
Tony was the first speaker at the SANG event which was 3 days full of this kind of talent and insight. I’ll be sharing more of my notes with you over the next several days, so look for more to come soon!
