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Oft quoted is the phrase “two ears, one mouth, use in those proportions”. If you want to demonstrate you are really listening, then I would aim for something closer to 80:20. Ask a question and ……… pause. If you’ve just met them, then ask what they do and follow-up to show you are really paying attention. If most people are in the same position, they will flip the question back to you in a fairly short space of time and ask you.
Listening is an activity, not a spectator sport.
Click here for tips on Active Listening
Find Sue on LinkedIn and at http://www.suecohen.co.uk/
Contact sue@suecohen.co.uk
So, there we have it, networking is a listening game to build relationships. But, we knew that anyway. The key questions are:
• Are you listening as well as you can?
• Are you being listened to well?
• Have you established with whom you need to build further relationships?
• Do you know which are possible customers? suppliers? referrers?
• Does it matter to the way you build the relationship?
So, if your networking in 2010 is going to help you build all 3 of these types of relationships, not just widen your social circle, you need to plan how you are going to achieve this, be it the networking events you go to, your skill at these events and the follow up or working with others whose skill level or interest is not the same as yours.
Find Sue on LinkedIn and at http://www.suecohen.co.uk/
Contact sue@suecohen.co.uk
If networking isn’t just about collecting cards, what is it? To me, it’s the start of relationship building, it isn’t selling, it is partly marketing and it is based on excellent listening skills.
My experience with people I’ve met in business, not just as training participants, leads me to think that this is part of the problem – people don’t listen well.
Play the listening game, not the card game. How do you know when you are really listening? More importantly, how can others tell? If you don’t get a chance to tell the other person about yourself, that’s fine for the first meeting. I’m not quite sure how you can conclude in a first meeting that there is no way you could help each other, or pass on referrals or contacts, even if you’ve decided you don’t like them, so make sure you get their card and call them for a follow-up.
Find Sue on LinkedIn and at http://www.suecohen.co.uk/
Contact sue@suecohen.co.uk
