It works
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you” Dale Carnegie
So isn’t networking a great opportunity to quickly grab the attention of lots of other people by sharing how interesting we are or how interesting our business is? No! And here’s why:
If we very quickly go into talking only about ourselves and our businesses, we’ve missed out the part that comes first – developing rapport. It’s not a sales pitch, it’s a conversation. And conversations are like tennis, they go backwards and forwards
Find out more about the other person by asking questions – ie, showing interest – rather than being interesting (trying to grab their attention by telling them all about you or selling to them). Most people LOVE it when others show interest in them and you’ll also gain so much more important information by doing this
Rapport isn’t built by dominating the conversation, trying to impress or selling. It’s built by showing interest, asking questions and starting to build a relationship. If you do this, sales opportunities – and plenty of them – will inevitably come in due course. I guarantee it
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