Sunshine Coast Business Networking
While an awkward meeting between two people is cute and endearing in the movies, in scriptwriting terms, these are called “meet cutes”, in the real world of business networking all it means that your business or service is DOA before you’ve even had the chance to pitch.
There are a lot of “experts” that are going to share how to do the “perfect” intro, and possibly they would tell us that we use to make quotation marks in our sentence about them, but we are going to step away from perfect and just own the heck out of the room. Let someone else settle for perfect. This is the formula for doing intros like a boss!
What is it about?
So, you have the chance to meet a big shot, maybe even someone with deep pockets just itching for that next investment, you want to impress them. Not only do you want to impress them but darn if you want them to like you. Well, here’s the long and the short of it, it’s not about you. I know, it stings a little. There is plenty of time to get to know each other and share that really awesome anecdote about that business trip you took, but this about what your business can do for them. It’s a networking event, not a blind date. The best piece of advice a business coach ever gave me was that when someone asks you about what you do, what they are really asking is “do I want to use this service or product?”.
Tell them EVERYTHING!
“It started with an idea…and now here’s my 182-point business marketing strategy. Page one..” and you’ve already lost them. While it might seem like you need to share every aspect of your business with someone, it might be a bit much on the first meeting. Coming up with a compelling “elevator pitch” is the key. A simple, but interesting, who-what-when-where-and-how that will let them know that you are about results, not about retelling your entire history.
Facts vs Confidence
It should come as no surprise that you need to be confident in what you say. If someone walked up to you and told you that the sky was blue, but they were very unsure about it, you might be as well. On the flip side, someone might come up and tell you that the sky is plaid and while you know it isn’t, their confidence and charisma might make you hesitate for a second. That’s the kind of moxy that you need to share when you are making your boss-like intro. While you should never misrepresent your business, as those kinds of white lies will come out in the end, you could always confidently embellish the truths to get that hook.
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