Читать книгу Knockout Networking for Financial Advisors and Other Sales Producers - Michael Goldberg - Страница 44

I mentioned earlier that networking can be both a proactive and reactive approach to learning and helping people – two pretty important distinctions that I will illustrate here.

Serendipitous Networking. Serendipity is the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. It's a cool word, as well as the name of a fun 2001 movie with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.

Serendipitous networking is when you meet someone by chance whom you connect with and the outcome is positive – positive for you and positive for them.

I met my wife, Lainie, through serendipitous networking. We met by chance at a bar because my brother knew her as an acquaintance from his Manhattan neighborhood. I got together with my brother and his friends for an unplanned late‐night jaunt to an Upper East Side bar. As fate would have it, Lainie from the neighborhood was at the bar with a friend. I was introduced to her. We connected and the rest, as they say, is history!

You can also make a business connection serendipitously if someone were to strike up a conversation with you at the supermarket, bank, or at your kid's soccer game and somehow there was a business outcome. Friendships begin like this every day. But business connections happen a lot less frequently like this because the context of the meeting is not business related and the connection is unintended. You simply happen to be there for a completely different reason. You're just minding your own business in the produce section squeezing avocados when suddenly someone strikes up a conversation about life insurance. And boom – you end up with a client!

I wish it were that easy, but that's a good example of serendipitous networking.

You can be a bit more proactive in non‐business‐related activities by having a networking mindset. Think about what can happen if you strike up the right conversation at the right time in an unexpected place like your kid's soccer game. As a financial advisor, planner, broker, rep, agent, or other type of sales producer, you almost need to be creative in generating business related conversations in non‐business‐related situations.

Think of all the times you're only a few feet or even a few inches away from someone and you don't even look at or talk with them. When you're seated next to someone on an airplane, for example, you're only a few inches away from them for a long period of time and yet I'll bet you pretend they're not even there. I'm not the guy who's going to talk your ear off if you happen to be lucky enough to sit next to me on a flight. But I am the guy who's going to smile, say hello, and act friendly. If there is a rapport and something interesting to talk about, we're going to talk about it between working on the laptop, watching the screen, and snoozing.

On a flight from Boston to Chicago, I struck up a conversation with a young woman I'm going to call Nicole (because that's her name). I said, “Good morning! Seems we're going to be seatmates. My name is Michael. Very nice to meet you. Please don't worry, I'm not going to talk your ear off the whole flight.”

Nicole laughed. We had a really nice conversation throughout the flight. Very natural, unforced, and fun. A true connection. We discussed work, family, and business travel, in between working on laptops and reading.

At the beginning of our conversation, I asked what kind of work Nicole does and as it turned out she leads a human resources department for a large consulting firm. After she described her work, Nicole asked, “How about yourself?”

I told her what I did in a very focused, succinct, specific format that I call the PEEC statement, which is my version of the infamous elevator speech. (I'll discuss the PEEC statement in detail in a later chapter.)

After listening to my response to her question about my work, Nicole said, “It sounds like you train sales producers on networking skills mostly in the financial services industry. It's probably no wonder we're networking now! A few months ago my firm actually hired a consultant to come in and work with our sales group. I shouldn't tell you this, but he actually never showed up and never rescheduled. If we were to hire you to work with our team, would you show up?”

I replied, “Probably not.” And we both laughed. “I'm happy to discuss and learn more.” I didn't press. We spoke about a number of other topics during the course of the short two‐hour flight. When the plane landed, Nicole introduced me to a couple of people at the gate whom she worked with, and that connection turned into a speaking opportunity.

If I had never simply introduced myself to Nicole when she was sitting right next to me anyway on that flight, the connection to her firm never would have happened. I'm not saying you should talk to everyone around you on a flight, but you could. We leave opportunity on the table every single day. It's up to you how much of a networking mindset you have or wish to develop.

All of us are busy going to restaurants, movies, shows, sporting events, stores, gas stations, concerts, beaches, hotels, airports, and sometimes sitting (or standing) on subways, trains, buses, Ubers, taxis, and ferries. We're around people all the time. Sales is a people business and as a financial advisor, you can't grow your practice without people.

Develop your networking mindset and practice developing those skills in serendipitous situations. As long as you're friendly, appropriate, interested, and collaborative, with a focus on learning, helping, and fun, you'll absolutely take your practice to the championship rounds.

Strategic Networking. Being strategic about your networking means that you're truly being proactive about where you go, what you say, and with whom. You're networking on purpose with purpose. Or with purpose on purpose. (It probably sounds a lot better when I'm saying this to an audience.)

Anyway, when most people think of networking, they think of strategic networking, which involves attending events, handing out business cards, name badges, schmoozing, raffles, introductions, loud rooms, and awkward conversations.

That's actually a pretty accurate snapshot. But if you're a knockout networker, that snapshot should be just the beginning. If you know what you're doing, events can be so much more.

By the way, you don't have to go to events to be a knockout networker. You can be great at making connections on LinkedIn or leveraging the relationships you have simply by using the phone and email.

But it really helps a lot if you're serious about growing your business or practice to go to events – the right events! (Yes, we'll discuss this in a later chapter.) Attending the right events and maybe even becoming a member of a group can help develop your visibility, friendships, skills, networking mindset, database, and ultimately your book of business.