Jason Rosado

Small Business Growth Coach for Service Providers; Sales, Marketing, Leadership & Business Strategy.
Chicago, Illinois

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How to Avoid Getting and Giving Headaches...

What is the best way to network, sell yourself, your product or service, without being annoying, unethical or turning people off? Here are some common challenges in those areas along with some "Do's and Don'ts" to make networking enjoyable and successful.

Written Apr 16, 2008, read 1211 times since then.

Networking can be great for sales... Networking can be great for career advancement... Networking can be great for job transition...

Networking can give you a headache if it’s not done well...

I read a post today in an online professional discussion forum about a networking event that the poster attended. He said that there were a lot of small business owners there, and he was constantly “getting pitched and pitched hard” as he met people.

I can definitely relate. I go to many networking events. And I have encountered many sales people, small business owners and other "experts” that love telling people what they need and what they should be doing about -- well, everything!

When I read the post, though, a part of me wanted to apologize on behalf of those small biz owners and sales folks. You see...

I am also one of the small business owners, and a lot of my livelihood depends on networking.

But I don’t "pitch" my services to people I meet at networking events. I found out a long time ago that is counter-productive.

When asked, I follow a system to tell them what I do and who I help, and then I listen to see if they want to talk further about it. If not, we move on to other topics.

I think there is no faster way to kill a relationship before it’s begun than to pitch to someone who may not be interested, or to assume that someone “needs” your product or service and then act prematurely on that assumption.

And this is important because...

Successful networking is all about relationship building. Not sales.

Let me put it another way:

The best way to get sales results from networking is to not sell.

Before you decide I'm just plain goofy, let me explain.

As I said, I do a lot of networking, and my business and sales depend on it. And I think I understand sales pretty well, having provided large group sales training sessions and one-on-one sales coaching for large well known companies as well as smaller, less known businesses.

I have taken what I've learned from my various business experiences as well as material I’ve studied and trainings I’ve attended, and combined them to develop workshops for others that also depend on successful networking and sales strategies.

Below is a snippet of some of the "Networking Do’s and Don’ts" that I’ve shared at those events, which have proven to go a long way to helping achieve long-term growth:

Do: - Be polite, respectful & honest. - Maintain a “helpful” mindset at all times. - Think about what you can do to help the other person, not what they can do for you. - Ask a lot of questions. - Enjoy learning about others.

Don’t: - Don’t “sell” without permission. - Don’t open with “What do you do?” because it limits rapport-building. - No matter how great your conversation was, don’t rely on them to contact you. Take the initiative to follow up.

I hope you find this information useful, especially when you’re at your next networking event.

All the best, Jason

Learn more about the author, Jason Rosado.

Posted by Brandi L Pierce, Lynnwood, Washington | Apr 17, 2008

I agree. I definitely avoid using any type of pitch, just because it usually comes with a negative result -- people are tired of hearing that you "really care about their business and if they hire you, everything will be better." I've heard it a million times myself and can empathize.

However, even after a great conversation, I don't usually follow-up, because I find those who are actually interested will contact me. It hasn't failed so far. The ones I do follow-up with tend to be more flaky and lack follow through.

Good article! =)
Posted by Kare Anderson, Sausalito, California | Apr 17, 2008

Jason, Following up shows respect for the other person and interest. If it is not hard-sell I appreciate it on the other end - especially if that person demonstrates an understanding of my business and can describe fresh value.

As a former journalist, now biz owner, I appreciated the concreteness of your tips
Posted by Rebecca Beltran, Seattle, Washington | Apr 17, 2008

"Don’t open with “What do you do?” because it limits rapport-building."

So what do you recommend opening with instead? You've peaked my interest now!
Posted by Jason Rosado, Chicago, Illinois | Apr 17, 2008
Hi Rebecca, thanks for the question.

When we're asked "So, what do you do?", we generally go access our elevator pitch from our memory and then recite it, while the other person is busy thinking about what they are going to say for theirs or thinking of follow up questions instead of listening well. So the conversation basically goes on auto-pilot and rapport-building is stopped before it ever started.

I think of this interaction as more like two robots performing based on learned queues instead of having a personal conversation.

To avoid this from happening, I recommend opening with something non-business related but relevant such as asking a question about the event, the venue, the host, or perhaps something seasonal or similar. When you're really unsure, just say "Hello." Opening an introduction in this way has several advantages, including:
- Puts people at ease by reducing stress, anxiety and pressure to deliver the perfect elevator pitch to a complete stranger
- Gives you the opportunity to learn something about the other person, find common ground, and create a stronger connection from the beginning
- You are more likable because you are showing an interest in the person, not just pitching to a target and going through a formal ritual
- Get to know them a little up front to provide you with more information, so you can customize, put in context, and deliver a stronger answer when you do get asked "What do you do?"
I hope this helps.

Best,

Jason www.DistinctiveCoaching.com