I Produce Benefits
By Larry Galler
You are going through the buffet line of appetizers at a social event or business or networking meeting when, while grabbing for just one more buffalo wing, the person next to you starts up a conversation. Soon he asks the inevitable question: âWhat line of work are you in?â
If you say, âIâm a carpet cleanerâ or âIâm a property restorer,â youâve made a big error. While it is true, almost everyone at that event will give an answer that is a one- or two-word job descriptor: âAccountant,â âIT manager,â âhuman resources administrator,â etc. Those are all dull answers that attract a nod of recognition and an âuh huhâ response.
The conversation pretty much stops there. Youâve not intrigued anyone. The person you are talking to wonât ask a question out of curiosity because they know â or think they know â what you do and what you are, and quite honestly⊠they pretty much donât care.
Getting the right response
Ask yourself whether you care and are curious enough to ask a follow up question when someone tells you they are an auditor. The truth is that no one cares what you do unless they are somehow intrigued or curious.
The response you want to get in that moment of meeting is, âThatâs interesting; how do you do that?â
To get that type of response, youâve got to say something that will make them curious â make them want to find out more â something like âI make homes and offices beautifulâ or âI help people who have experienced a disaster recover their lives.â
After theyâre hooked
When you get the âHow do you do that?â question, thatâs when you can talk about what you really do, give a brief success story, and then ask, as you exchange business cards, âWould you like to see some amazing photos of my work?â Now you have interested a total stranger in you, your business, and how you can make their lives better, which is what really interests them.
As good as that introduction is, itâs only part of the story. When they leave this event, there is a huge probability they will forget about you. They will glance at your business card as they throw it in that little box that holds hundreds of others they never look at (Youâve probably got one of those also, right?) where it will never see the light of day again. Your business card might as well be in the LaBrea Tar Pit with all the other fossils.
Following up after a networking meeting
Now itâs time to initiate your follow up program. The very next day, send your new contact an email (Their address is on their business card, right?) telling them how much you enjoyed meeting them along with some relevant promotional material. At appropriate intervals, send them other promotional material â glowing testimonials from your clients, tips to help them be more successful that are allied to your line of work, or maybe just a note of âitâs time to change your vacuum bagâ or âcheck the water hose to your washing machine to avert disaster.â If it is appropriate to your business, send seasonal exclusive offers that explain they are âonly for people in my inner circle â not the general public.â
Iâve been sending out an emailed newsletter weekly that includes my newspaper column for almost 20 years. Somewhere around 15 to 20 percent of the recipients open it. I usually receive three or four email inquiries a month about some aspect of my services. (If you would like to receive it, just subscribe at my website) This follow-up program has worked well for me and many small businesses that have done something similar.
Youâve got to be benefit driven and somewhat creative, somewhat audacious, and somewhat interesting or they will hit delete the moment they see your email. You want them to see your email and say to themselves, âI wonder what that guy is sending me this time.â If you can do that, some (not all) of them will open your emails, and when they are in the market for your services, they will pick up the phone and call.
Iâve heard many people tell me that networking doesnât work. But what they are really saying is âNetworking doesnât work for me because Iâm too lazy to create an intriguing, benefit-driven, curiosity-building opening statement and a strong, frequent, interesting, and appropriate follow-up campaign that goes on endlessly.â
I know that networking works, but you must remember that a big part of that word is âworkâ! Youâve got to work at it. It starts with the person you just met asking, âHow do you do that?â
Larry Galler has been creating marketing and management breakthroughs for owners of small and mid-size businesses for more than 20 years. For a free telephone strategy session, email [email protected]. Subscribe to his weekly newspaper column and newsletter at www.larrygaller.com.