Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/439904
16 | I NSIGH T • J a n u a r y 2 0 15 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m FACE TIME For the new year, my suggestion is to develop a plan. It may be "I will attend one type of networking event a month." Set simple goals to try to get you in the direction of what you're trying to accomplish. having a party at your house, and you have 25 people there — if someone's standing in the corner all by himself, what would you do? You'd go over and introduce yourself and ask how they're doing. e same concept works at any kind of networking event. Have some ideas in your back pocket as far as what you're going to talk about: weather, something happening on the news, or some new construction — things like that to get the conversation going. For the new year, my suggestion is to develop a plan. It may be "I will attend one type of networking event a month." Set simple goals to try to get you in the direction of what you're trying to accomplish: "I'm going to try to meet three new people tonight." Ask a friend to go along, and say, "Our goal is to meet three new people, so let's do it together." Keep it simple. Any time you go to a social event, plan ahead. Who's going to be in the room, what would we have in common? It's not about business discussions — it's small talk to get the conversations going. If I'm talking 20 percent of the time, and the people around me are talking 80 percent of the time, it's working well. It takes seven "touches" to do business with someone, or enhance the relationship. What I mean is different avenues of getting to know one another. e first touch could be the first introduction when you exchange business cards. e next touch could be running into them somewhere. It's all those different touches that start building that relationship. Wherever you are, you can be networking. You don't have to add more activities to your daily schedule — you tie it in to what you're already doing. One of the downfalls I see with some people, if someone is in the room they want to get to know for business purposes, they pounce on them, keep them in the corner and ask for that meeting right away. Never do that at a social event. Never do that at a first-time meeting. Use the statement, "It was very nice to meet you, may I follow up with you sometime?" If they say "Sure," that is your invitation to follow up. ere's a reason you met this person, and it may not always be for business purposes. In the end, hopefully that person will benefit because I met them. Fly Local. Be Home Sooner. FLYGRB.COM