Monthly Archives: April 2016

What is the One Skill that Makes People Great Networkers?

Kevin Willett explains how great listeners make great networkers.

I get asked this question all the time and the answer is simple, great networkers are great listeners. When I think about the people, who I believe are successful at networking, they all have one trait in common they are great listeners.

Humor me for a minute and let me play a game with you. Think about the last networking event you went to where everyone was allowed to speak for one minute about their business. How many of the messages do you remember? If you are like most people, the answer is very few. This is because you were focusing on what you were going to say rather than what the others were saying. The people who do well with networking take the time to listen to each commercial (many take notes), so they know how to help the other group members.  If you want to be more successful focus on improving your listening skills and focus on helping other members of the group. I think you may be pleasantly surprised by the results you will receive.

Watch my YouTube Channel for more on this Business Networking Tip

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events.

Sometimes It Takes More Than a Phone Call

Kevin Willett explains that sometimes face to face is needed when doing business.

I was speaking to a friend this morning and he told me because he has been so busy lately, that instead of meeting with potential clients in person, he has only been to offering to talk with them by phone. When I asked him how that strategy was going, he told me ‘honestly, not that great’.

I have to admit I chuckled because I remember having this same idea a while ago. I was going through a rapid growth phase in my business and was having trouble finding the time to meet with potential clients in person, so I decided that I would video chat or talk by phone with them. At the time, I was surprised that my results were poor.

Now I realize that there are lots of networking opportunities available. I also realize people chose to join my group because when they sit down with me they see my passion for networking and believe that I can help them. It is much harder for you to build that trust in a phone call with someone that you have never met.

I have people say to me “but Kevin, it gets frustrating when I take the time to meet someone and they decide not to become a client. I feel like I wasted my time.” I don’t believe that any meeting is ever a waste of time. Each time I speak with a potential client it is an opportunity to improve on my speaking skills and I have found that although they may not join the group, they often refer me to potential clients.

Please give some thought to this next time you are tempted to ask someone to speak by phone rather than meet in person.

Watch my YouTube Channel for more on this Business Networking Tip

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events.

Do You Collect Connections Like Baseball Cards?

Kevin Willett talks about the quantity of your connections not being as important as what you can do for them.

Last week I had a person connect with me on social media. When I sent him a message thanking him for connecting with me and asking him if I could help him, his response was “No, thanks. I am just growing my network.” Ok, where do I start with how wrong this is? How does connecting with me and then choosing to not engage with me help either of us? It’s simple, it doesn’t help. I don’t know anything about him or what he does for a living, so I have no way of knowing how to help him. Obviously, he had no intention of getting to know me or what I do either.

It reminds of when I was a little kid I loved collecting sports cards. Each year I would try to collect every card from the set and my goal was to having the biggest collection in the neighborhood, which I did by the way. I didn’t care who was on the card, if it was part of the collection, I had to have it.

Sadly many people treat their business connections like trading cards. It simply doesn’t work that way.  Connections are not part of a set that you need to collect. You need to take the time to build a relationship with them so they don’t become just a trading card in a shoe box under your bed.

Watch my YouTube Channel for more on this Business Networking Tip

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events.

Stop Taking Things Personally

Kevin Willett discusses looking at the bigger picture before taking rejections personally.

This morning I had someone leave my Meetup group and for some reason every time that happens I get upset about it. When I looked at her profile, I saw that she had been a member of the group for two years and has never come to an event. She doesn’t live close enough to the locations of the current events to ever attend one, but yet it still upset me.

I see this happen all the time. We meet someone at a networking event and we get upset when we try to follow up with them and they don’t respond. I hear people say “well, I guess they didn’t like me”. You know what, maybe you are right and they didn’t like you, but it may be a situation that they are busy or simply don’t have a need for your goods or services. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t have responded to you, doing so would be polite and professional. Unfortunately not all people are courteous, but also, not all people who don’t respond, don’t like you. Please stop taking things so personally.

Watch my YouTube Channel for more on this Business Networking Tip

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events.

Return Calls and Emails

Kevin Willett talks about the importance of time management.

I have to admit, as my business has grown, I’ve struggled with time management and returning calls and emails. My friends, there’s no excuse for it, so I’m sorry if I’ve let any of you down. We’re all busy, but if something’s important to us, we’ll make the time to get it done. The message you send by not returning emails or phone calls is that the person reaching out to you isn’t important. Is that the message you want to send? You don’t need to stay up all night going through emails and voicemails. But a quick response within 24 hours is a proper courtesy, even if you just let them know you got the message and will get back to them with a full response soon.

Watch my YouTube Channel for more on this Business Networking Tip

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events.