I do a lot of networking to gain support, advice and to make contacts which are useful for my business. I also gain inspiration and a feeling of connection with lots of wonderful other business owners. You find out that you are not alone with what you are going through and as the people you meet over time become friends, they often become my clients as well which is great. As the feeling of know, like and trust builds, the opportunities for my business appear to becoming greater.
It didn’t used to be this way though for me. I would turn up at a network, a bit like a scared rabbit. I would get so nervous before my pitch that my voice started to disappear and I found it difficult to talk to the other business owners as they looked so comfortable and confident. As I was going through a transition with learning about what services I offered, I confused quite a lot of people and they just did not understand what I offered. This affected me a lot as I could not gain clients or recruit people onto my courses. I also was incredibly stressed at home due to my finances going up the spout and my marriage was breaking down, and I gave off the wrong energy when networking as I was coming from the place of Scarcity not Abundance.
One thing which has helped me massively are my skills in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) which I am now a trainer of. Neuro means ‘what you are thinking’, Linguistic means ‘what you are saying to yourself or what others are saying to you’ and Programming means ‘all the strategies you use to gain success or to fail!’. When learning NLP, you first of all are taught about how the mind works and how you are coming across to other people. It is mind blowing what we don’t know! There are many ways that you can build rapport instantly with another person quickly. Brilliant communication is a sure winner for success in your business. As I do a lot of networking online and offline, I also experience lots of times when rapport is broken. People say or do things which affect our relationship/friendship and I have to chose whether to react or not. As I am trained in NLP, I live by certain beliefs (called presuppositions in NLP). One of them is ‘there is positive intention behind all behaviour’. So if I am offended or ‘hurt’ by what someone says or does, I remind myself of this and let go of the negative emotion. Other people would get angry or annoyed and potentially walk away from the relationship and not be as forgiving as me and this is what I see affecting people’s business all the time. They are making rapport mistakes and this is stopping relationships from growing as they could and therefore this is affecting their business growth financially.
In essence, I see rapport being broken all the time when I am networking and it is really bad for your business. Someone you are talking to may lead you to a contact which is worth ‘£5000’ or more. Something as simple as not giving someone else eye contact can make you look untrustworthy or if you say you are going to do something e.g. connect two business owners together and you don’t do it. If you say you are going to do something for someone, always do it and never promise something which you can’t deliver. It can affect the trust between you and the other person. They will worry that you won’t deliver a good service to the person they are connecting you with and that this could affect their reputation.
My biggest piece of advice I could give to you is to help others when you are networking and don’t just wait until you know, like or trust them either viagra quebec. Build rapport instantly. I always help anyone I am with, whether it is suggesting an idea to them, sending them a business plan template or connecting them with someone who will help them with their business. I may not get any connections myself or help and this is fine. Being abundant and kind in this way, will pay off in different ways later on. I know that I am remembered for my kindness.
If you would like some more hints and tips about using Neuro Linguistic Programming in your business, do sign up for the workshop I am running for networking colleagues on 23rd September. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nlp-for-business-for-networking-colleagues-tickets-18503121334 The cost is massively reduced for this course only. The workshops will then run on a Monthly basis. For more information about the course email me at liz@insightfulminds.co.uk
