Where's Juli?
Upcoming Events
Mt Vernon Lee Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Networking
Time: Thursday, June 11, 2009 from 7:30-9:00
Location: Belle Haven Country Club, 6023 Fort Hunt Road, Alexandria, VA 22307
Cost: $25 for Chamber Members, $35 for non-members
I will be speaking on networking at this event
Register Here
Springfield Chamber of Commerce Speed Networking
Time: Monday, June 22, 2009 from 4:15 to 5:30 PM
Location: Holiday Inn Express
6401 Brandon Ave
Springfield, VA 22150
Cost: $20 for Chamber Members, $30 for non-members
I will be facilitating the event.
Register Here
Netmasters Training Group
Time: Thursday, June 25, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Location:Century 21 New Millennium Building in Kingstowne (by Safeway)
5990 Kingstowne
Towne Center
Alexandria, VA 22315
Cost: $15
Subject: How to Register and Keep Your Brand Out of Trouble
Guest speaker: Louis Levy, an attorney with Lerman Senter PLLC in Washington, D.C.
RSVP to me
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Juli Monroe
1 to 1 Discovery
571-220-1891
juli_monroe@yahoo.com
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Greetings!
If you haven't asked yourself the question of who you really need to meet in a while, sit down and think about it now. Because the answer to this question is key to
success in networking. All too often what I hear is
"Anyone is a good client for me"
or
"I just need to meet someone who
will give me a job"
or
"I work with small to medium-sized
businesses to help them..."
or (apologies to those who use this,
but it really is the worst)
"I want to talk to anyone who has
skin."
Why are these not successful? Because
they aren't specific. They do nothing to trigger the listener. They
are so vague that no action is required, and networking without an
action plan is a recipe for failure.
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Ready, Set, Target!
Let me give you an example of why
specific is better. I used to belong to a BNI chapter.
The title attorney in my chapter asked each week for introductions to realtors, but I never gave him a referral. Not because I didn't like him,
trust him or think he was good at what he did. I didn't give him a
referral because he didn't trigger anything in my brain. Which was
really silly because I networked pretty heavily and knew a lot of realtors Then one day he asked for an introduction to "Keller
Williams" realtors Something clicked. I knew three of those. So
I went from no referrals to three instantly. Nothing had changed in
my network. I knew the same people the week before as I knew that
week. The only thing that had changed was that he became more
specific.
Remember that we tend to think exclusively instead of inclusively. It's
all part of when we were kids and our favorite word was "No."
You may be thinking, "Well, Juli knew all those realtors. It
doesn't make sense that she wouldn't have referred him to them." And
you're right. It didn't make sense. I kicked myself pretty thoroughly
when I realized what I had done. But remember that we do tend to
exclude. A thought process can go like this, "Well, yeah I know
a lot of realtors. But he probably doesn't want to meet them. It
must be other realtors he wants to meet." Have you ever caught
yourself thinking like that? Of course you have. It's perfectly
normal. And often it happens totally under your radar. You may not
even be aware you're doing it. Qualifying who you want to meet gives
the subconscious "permission" to make that referral. "Oh!
He really does want to meet those realtors."
A good part of getting and giving
referrals is just understanding how people's minds work and working
with natural tendencies instead of against them.
So how do you get more specific?
First you need to take a good, long
look at who you really need to meet. Not who you think you need to
meet, or who your mother wanted you to meet, or who your partner and
best friend think you need to meet. Who you really need to meet to
advance your business goals.
It's pretty simple. Look at your client list. What are the common characteristics? How can you describe those characteristics in a way that people will understand and respond to?
Another example. Financial planners often ask for referrals to "people with a half million worth of investable assets" (or more). But how do I recognize someone with that much money? I don't generally go around asking people "So, how much do you have to invest?"
But there are clues that someone might have that kind of money. Size of house. Make and model of car. Where a child goes to school. Things like that are tangible things that you can ask for and your network can look for to find referrals.
So take a look at who you need to meet. Describe them in ways that trigger responses in people. And keep that list handy because next month I'm going to give you an exercise you can use with people in your network to help them give you more referrals.
Until then, Network well!
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 Want to "Shoot" Better?
Schedule a consultation with me, and I'll help you decide who you need to meet and craft a message to meet them.
Please forward this newsletter to anyone who might need the information, or my services.
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