SWH; Is it Marketing, or Leadership. Both?

Staying in contact with people you meet, is that good leadership, or a marketing tactic? Can it be both?

There are more questions than answers...the answers are in the questions!

I have to ask...what is your mission? Your purpose?

My mission statement includes "....make a difference." To make a positive difference one must connect well and connecting well takes time and effort.

Building relationships can be difficult, even down-right hard.

I meet a fair amount of people; what difference am I trying to make? What's the depth of the relationship I trying to create?

Lot's of questions.......short time to write this post.

Comments?


ps...this stems from a Facebook post by Kary Oberbrunner that encouraged me to not confuse people with my marketing message - to have one frequency.

Stop-Wasting-Handshakes....is that marketing, or leading? Both? Confusing?

Worth working through?

Danny
www.StopWastingHandshakes.com



 

Stop Wasting Handshakes - Part 2, in the present

I ended the previous Wasted Handshakes post with a simple process of sending emails to people I've met.

The post also mentioned I input their name into a database. The buzz-word for a database of contact information is CRM (contact relationship manager). I've written about CRMs in other posts and will come back to that in the near future, but remember this....

......you really should keep some sort of database.

It doesn't have to be fancy...for years I used nothing but business cards glued or stapled to a worksheet in a 3-ring binder (I'll come back to that 3-ring binder and the worksheet also).

This is email simply let's them know it was good to meet them...you're NOT selling anything.

It normally simply says..."It was good to meet you and hope to see you again soon."

The signature lines include

- my name

- my job title

- my phone number

- at least one link that lands on the platform/website I want them to land on. LinkedIn is perfect for this purpose.

At this point, if you're making choices to stop wasting handshakes, you've sent an email, input the basic info into a database and have a process to follow-up in the next couple of weeks.

Now....have you received any emails from people you've met in the past week? If so, be sure you've responded to those emails. You don't need to say anything more than "you're welcome" or "thank you," whichever is appropriate. This isn't the time to start selling just because someone has reached out to you.

My experience is that only 3 in 10 people will actually respond to an email I've sent to a new person I've met.

Warning!! Don't get your feelings hurt if you don't get

any responses back. Remember....this is a process

YOU control and you can't control others!

A good source tool is John Maxwell's, "Everyone Communicates, Few Connect." Following John's suggestions is a great way to Stop-Wasting-Handshakes.

To that end........stay tuned for the next part of what I do to stop-wasting-handshakes.

Wasted Handshakes, looking backwards - Part 1

A question poised to the group by Michael Hunter at a Netstorming event was something like "why do people come to networking meetings to just meet, shake hands and there's no follow-up"

My experience shows most people network to sell. Let's say I meet you, an IT guy, and I don't need IT right now, nor do you need a mortgage loan, nor a home listed, nor a.........right now. Thus, we both move on around the room shaking hands, collecting cards, smiling, nodding and wondering "what's the use." And it all starts over again tomorrow at yet another networking meeting. Yes, there might be a one-to-meeting scheduled.......might, probably not. Even then, there's very little relationship building. I'll resist the urge to compare the way most people attempt to network the same way many men go to bars; each are trying to pick up a sure thing (I resist the complete analogy..LOL).

Successful networking is based upon marketing, NOT selling. The basics are this -

1. I come to a networking event with a marketing mindset. My purpose is to start developing relationships through a series of events (processes I control) to draw attention to the benefits I offer, and I know this is going to take a long time.

2. When I meet someone, I begin asking them questions about their industry, what product or services they offer, what brought them to Austin, etc. My purpose is to start a relationship and if the original questions lead into discussions about Family and Hobbies, we have more to talk about. Many times the questions lead to assistance I can offer in terms of information or other needs.....but they probably won't even know that, at-that-time.

I don't have to tell them right now because I trust my process.

3. I have a process I control. That process includes how I handle business cards; mine are in my shirt pocket (not in my hand), theirs go into my right. I write notes, in front of them, on the back of their card.
 

Many times, I don't even give a card because the other person didn't even ask for it. Again, I'm ok with that because I trust my process. My business card, along with all the others they have shoved at them will be dropped aimlessly in the trash...I'm sorry, in a desk drawer anyway.

4. These cards stay in my right pocket, even changing pants, until I get to my desk. They are then put in a SPECIAL spot on my desk.

5. At some point in the next 2 to 3 days....NEVER the same day, I will -

a. put their name in my database and
b. send an email thanking the person for the visit.


This is part One. In the next post I will go deeper into my process and experience and what I will continue to do to try and NOT have wasted the handshake.


To that end....

Danny

512-773-6528

www.StopWastingHandshakes.com

Don't just habit your day away

Motivation gets you going, discipline keeps you growing  (from the Law of Consistency). I looked this morning to see what I'd be covering in a Lunch & Learn today, and you know.....things happen for a purpose and I don't believe in coincidences.

Before I read the lesson, I was in a blah blah mood. Going through the motions, not motivated. Dragging. And then, just reading that title (and having read/taught this chapter 8-10 times), and in a heartbeat, the thoughts about goals vs growth, motivation vs discipline came on and BAM!!
 
Great chapter. My favorite.

Discipline keeps you growing (and going I guess?). Discipline...choices....discipline is about making choices to off-set habits; choices of hope, growth, widening my SOI, thinking into my results.....choices. Make choices, stepping out of my comfort zone....understanding that the fear of change isn't real, but only a product of my conditioning..

Discipline, making choices, understanding, stepping out.

To that end....make choices, don't just habit your day away.

I love these kind of calls....

I love these kind of calls..

“Danny, I just signed a contract that I would not have gotten if I hadn’t been in your program and decided I was tired of wasting handshakes.

Heck, until I took your program I wasn’t even aware that I was wasting them!”