Is it any coincidence the Law Firm I

worked with yesterday had a daily lunch where all the partners met and them being the most proftibale firm in the City?
Thought for partners of professional services firms.

The salesman...did he get the order?

I met a man today who had some software I was interested in. When we met I immediately told him I was a 'hurry up ' man. I asked to cut to the chase and tell me how he thought the software could be useful to me. This nice man was basically a technician not a salesman. To his credit he brought a presentation and in spite of my opening words had to go through it slide by slide! I was patient ...to a point but it did take us nearly 1 hour before he said something along the lines "So what can I do for you?"
Will we do business? Who knows? Time will tell.

THE LESSON
When you go and meet a prospect ask what they want , listen, and try to give benefit-based answers. Then ASK FOR THE BUSINESS!

What are conversations made up of?

Yes, the answer is talking and listening. In more detail it's asking questions, making comments , giving opinions,and listening in a pro-active manner.
I had a short cameo today when I met a man at the IoD London. We shared a table and got chatting. I found out about what he did now, what he had done in the last 30 years and what plans he had for retirement.
He asked me nothing. Who got the most out of that 10 minutes?
To be a good networker the key is asking pertinent questions , listening carefully and acting if you spot a potential opportunity.
He will have gone away thinking "What a great man I just met, he was so interesting."!

Women networking

Did you know women network completely differntly from men?
needf to know more?
Write to will@kintish.co.uk

A magical weekend

Our children, all of whom live over 200 miles away, came for the weekend with grand-daughter Aimee. We had lots of parties with them and other relations and friends.
That's what life is all about.
Wow, the house is quiet now!

Aren't ( most!) people good.

I was a bout to present to a barrister chambers in Birmingham last night...and we had a power cut.
100 miles and 3 hours wasted. What do you do? It wasn't the client's fault, it was an electricity fault!
The client asked "Will, what are we going to pay you?" I suggested that as long as they rebooked me that would be fine. "No that's not fair" the Chief Exec said and then offered to pay me a small fee for my troubles.
Aren't people good?

In around 1996 I said I was going to write a book

I did! And it came out on Thursday September 14 2006. The book I was going to write was all about Client Care.
This book is called "I hate networking!" Here is the picture on the front cover


We had a party to launch it in partnership with Helen and Brett of Capture 1 Video.
They have launched their fantastic product for people setting up in business. It is a 5-set DVD showing the best and worst practices.
Other people who were really helpful in getting the products ready were
Steve Swinyard the printer of JS Dutton Gareth Lewis , the ebay man who helped with all the design.
It was a 'right good do' and I hope lots of people made some useful contacts

Keep the cards

Mark Lee of Book Mark Lee wrote to me recently about him starting up in business.

"As I mentioned however I did have 3,500 email addresses to notify when I started in business. To be fair this was not wholly down to networking. Probably about 2500 names had been collated from business cards over the years. I was actually surprised it wasn’t more but I guess the rest must all still be in the CRM systems of firms I used to work with. The remainder of the names were captured by the email management software I use. It went looking for email addresses in my outlook in/sent boxes and also picked up addresses in the cc box of emails sent to me – so I didn’t know everyone I initially emailed. I provided an opt-out which was used extensively initially. I’m now still emailing c2600 people each month.

How did I get such an extensive list? By keeping business cards and following up after meeting people. When I started up by myself I paid my teenage daughter to copy all the relevant info into my home office pc from the hundreds of business cards I had collected. Am I pleased I kept all the cards and did not reply on my firm’s CRM system – you bet!

Learn from Mark you start-up business people.

My delegate Ian told me his Auntie said

"Whenever you enter a room', she said,
'you are not better than anyone else in the room and remember that they
are no better than you."

In addition,remember this from me, Will Kintish.
Everyone feels nervous. Everyone at a business event wants to do business. They want to meet you like you want to meet them.
So, take a deep breath and enter that room head held high and think What Ian's Auntie said.

This reminded me of something my daughter sent me recently about Audrey Hepburn's 'beauty tips'.

Interested -v- Interesting

Went to a wedding of the daughter of a very old friend yesterday in the gardens of Middle Temple
Invariably one meets 'strangers', people you've never met before and unlikely to meet again. I met one lady who told me her life story and it was only after 30 minutes did she ask, "So what do you do?"
In contrast Jackie , who I sat opposite at dinner said "Didn't we meet at the bride's mother's 50th birthday?" (Help I thought I don't remember her). She then went on to recite the whole of our conversation from 8 years previous. I was massively impressed and even more embarrassed! But hey what a great listener she was , and again last night.

People love talking about themselves, even me, but when you listen like Jackie did, you build the greatest of relationships. Now that's a good networking strategy, how good is your?

Kintish doing it right + doing it wrong

I attended an excellent presentation by Sandy Lindsay of Tangerine PR organised by Pro Manchester.I did 2 things badly
1 I didn't get a list of attendees before the presentation. I should have called the day before but even on the day I forgot. I know I missed some opportunities as there were some target names I eventually found out
2 I left immediately after the presentation giving me no time to do some serious networking. I only left because I was presenting right afterwards

However I did do 2 things right
1 I got there early. I wasn't quite sure where the venue was but even after struggling to find the front door for quite a while I was still in plenty of time
2 I played host when I saw a number of 'Billy and Betty Nomates' on their own. I ensured no-one was on their own even though I was just a member of the audience.

Give and you shall receive

I had 2 instances of this today. Tony, a senior man at a big bank asked if I'd do a free hour for him and his mteam on a particular aspect of networking. No problem. When I arrived they asked how they could help me..this was even before I had given any advice.
I hope I helped and then mentioned the introductions I was loooking for. I know I will get more business from this 1 hour.

This evening I did a presentation at a discounted price. The organiser knew this and her gratitude showed when she asked if I could do some more work at a commercial rate.

I am a presenter

“The mind is a wonderful thing. It starts to work the minute your born, and never stops until you get up to speak in public.”

- John Mason Brown

I heard from the Dale Carnegie organisation today.
They were the people who gave me all the advice and help to make me into a confident and effective speaker.
Here is some advice from their email today

Confident Gestures:
• Stand with feet shoulder width apart
• Uncrossing arms in front of the body or at sides
• Holding open palms facing the audience, or closed palms facing the speaker
• Holding head straight up, chin up, and chest out
• Eye contact with group
• Smiling

Source:
Getting Rid of the Fear and Horror of Public Speaking
2 days, 8 hours per day

Dale Carnegie changed my life for the better and forever. It all satrted by changing my attitude, its true what they say 'Attitude IS Everything'.

3 Networking tips. Business cards, badges and boring

Business Cards
Cotrary to graphic designers views having a great business card won't bring you new work.However, badly designed ones can create an immediate "is this person really serious about their business" impression!
The most important aspect of busines cards is not yours but ASKING FOR THE OTHER PERSON'S IF YOU ARE GOING TO FOLLOW UP.

Read my article titled 'Business Cards are Priceless!'

Badges
Wear your badge on your right lapel. The person you greet will see it clearly at the end of your out-stretched arm. If you attend lots of events buy your own with your name clearly printed on. Magnetic ones won't damage your clothes. We buy ours from Recognition Express in Manchester. Can't recommend them highly enough

Boring
When we go networking we sometimes meet boring people. Please don't look disinterested or look over their shoulder. That is the height of ignorance. There are the right ways of moving on with courtesy and respect. How? I'll tell you on another day!

For more Networking Tips have a look at my website.

Unconditional positive regard

I heard this phrase for the first time yesterday. It was in reply to my question to delegates of Cyril Sweett Global Management Consultants. What personality traits are required to be an effective networker?"
It is a common phrase used by mentors, counselors and facilitators when working with their clients.
I asked Louise and Patricia to tell me what they meant when answering my question. They said "When you meet people in a networking or social environmental don't be judgemental and treat all people with the same respect and courtesy you would expect others to treat you.
new stuff for me and very relevant.

You MUST always gain something from your networking time.

I attended the monthly event run by Helen Bennett of Business Network North West. Even in August this fantastic event attracted about 100 people
The fundamental reason we go to business related events is to
SPOT THE AHAA MOMENT.
What would someone need to say for you to think?
“Ahaa, there’s an opportunity here to……”
1. Help others with their business challenges
2. Introduce Jack to Jill for their mutual benefit
3. Raise my own and the company’s profile
4. Meet key people and decision makers
5. Start the building of a business relationship
6. Spot potential new business by listening carefully
7. See if an existing client needs other services
8. Correct matters when an existing client isn’t 100% happy with our service
9. Gain useful information about……
10. Increase my knowledge of……
11. Find out what the competition is doing
12. And finally. Just relax and have fun.

Today I had ‘ahaa moments.
2 I was able to introduce Fiona to Gareth
3 By just being there
4 I met 2 of these
5 I sat at lunch with 4 people I hadn’t met before
7 I had a good chat with Gavin and he thinks we may do more business in the winter.
9 I had a great conversation with Graham about some ways I can make my business easier to run
12 And I just had fun.

And all in 94 minutes. Networking clubs do work when you understand the reason you’re there.