April 25, 2010 | Posted in: Leading Hartfully

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If you’re an entrepreneur worth your salt, you’ve no doubt attended gazillions of live networking events and at least dipped your toe in the social networking waters. What confounds me at nearly every event is the brashness and ‘in-your-faceness’ of so many business owners, who I would like to think are well-intended but come off as desperate and smarmy as they shove their card in your hand without a conversation and are off to the next ‘victim’.

One recent event found us ladies once again in the powder room line. One woman who was not having any real conversation whatsoever was ‘working the line’ passing out flyers to whom she deemed good targets for her weight-loss boot camp. As you can imagine, she only sought out those she considered in need of shedding some poundage. When she got down to her last few flyers, she got more particular in asking if her intended were even interested. The rest she just shoved in their face and kept on going down the line since were were, after all, a captive audience.

Back in the general session room, we returned to find our tables covered in propaganda from other attendees – a result of the spray and pray method of scatter-shotting your marketing materials in hopes somebody would pick it up. It was appalling.

May I be so bold as to suggest we all have an honest, decent, real conversation with others and genuinely seek out what they do and how best we can be of service or be able to refer them, or keep them in mind if we meet others in need of their service. Be attentive first to the needs of others and figure out how you can help them and ask for their card for future follow up. The giving means giving value, not just giving your card and getting theirs. Give a good listen to others, give referrals, give eye contact, give good conversation and give genuinely before you give your card.

Politeness and eye contact count. Running around the room, or cyberspace with automated trashy, irrelevent, ‘join farmville’ status updates and shoving your card or your postings in other’s hands doesn’t really count as networking; it counts as annoying, disingenuous and networthless. Focus on the relationship part of relationship marketing to get better results. People want human contact – not to be treated as a number.

Just my seven cents on being a giver so networking works and so it makes sense. We’re supposed to be helping each other prosper. Whether social or business networking, as Ivan Meisner of Business Networking International so aptly states, “givers gain”. Be conscious, be appropriate and be relevant online and off.

I’m giving you a gift of giving and sending out some cards, my treat at www.BizBuilderCards.com – I’ll pay for the cards and the postage so you can send somebody a nice note.

Watch this video on the power of gratitude and giving: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi5kxE57Oio&list=PLtUVv9eXCdIKmF4MMCOVMBuzeZ1nrrUQF

 

AND another on the amazing affects of giving: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQqtVobx1oI&list=PLtUVv9eXCdIKmF4MMCOVMBuzeZ1nrrUQF