Monthly Archives: March 2019

Let’s Be Honest

Kevin Willett says being upfront about your intentions is a better business plan

This week three of my connections have posted about how mad they get when people connect with them on social media and then try to sell them something right away. I understand the importance of getting to know, like and trust someone, but I am ok with you pitching your services to me, because I have the right to say no.

I have had a few people reach out to me and say they love what I am doing with my networking groups and they want to meet up to hear more about how they can get involved. Then when I meet them, they go into their pitch and often get upset that I wasted their time when I tell them that I am not interested. So, in fact, they weren’t interested in getting involved, they just wanted to sell.

If we are being honest with each other, most people myself included, connect with people because we hope that they will do business with us or be a referral partner, so why not just come out and say that.

Let’s make you a Financial Advisor for a moment. If you connect with me and say that you would like to meet me to talk about what you do, to see if you can help me, then I can consider the offer and say yes or no. For me I would say I have an amazing advisor that I like, but If you are open to it, I would still like to meet you to see if we can help each other. Then they can decide if that’s what they want to do.

I listen to a podcast and I love the guys approach. He reaches out to people and says I am involved in this company and I am not sure if you are open to hearing more about it, if you are that’s great if you are not that cool too. Please let me know. I think this approach is perfect.

I have had people get mad at me and disconnect from me because I asked them if they were open to attending business networking events. Now I can respect your decision if you feel that I offend you, but by disconnecting from me, I will never see any of your posts and never have a chance to help you. Wouldn’t it be easier just to say “hey thanks for thinking of me, but it’s not a match for me?”

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

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

What Did I Forget To Do Today

Kevin Willett says being busy is one thing being neglectful is another

As I take on more responsibility, I must stop and ask myself what did I forget to do today? I can no longer keep everything in my head, so I have started using programs to keep track of the things I need to do and the people I need to reach out to.

For example, each week I reach out to 100 of my LinkedIn connections to ask them if they are interested in attending networking events. Often the answer is yes, and I send them a list of events for the month. However, if they did not attend any of the events from the list that month, I was not following up with them regarding future events. Out of sight out of mind. I was simply letting that opportunity slip, which defeats the purpose of reaching out to them in the first place.

One of the common issues I see is people forget to do things because they are busy. I am sorry my friends that is a weak excuse. People don’t care how busy you are. If you told someone you would follow up on something and you didn’t, that is bad. All that gets noticed is you did not keep your promise to them, which hurts your brand

I do my best at the end of each day to ask myself what promises did I make today, and did I keep them?

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

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

What Direction Are You Going In

Kevin Willett says side trips are nice, but you must stay the course in order to succeed

One of my challenges is that I loved to be challenged. I am always willing to take on new opportunities. I have learned that I must be careful in this area because I have to stay focused on my primary business if I expect it to grow.

I see a lot of my friends taking on side businesses simply because they want to make extra money. Now I totally respect that we must pay the bills but, you have to be careful about the impact your side business is having on your primary business. Look at your social media posts. Are you posting more about your side business than your primary business? I have friends that do this, and my concern is at some point people may not reach out to you because they don’t feel you will give them the level of service that they expect or need. They may feel you are concentrating on your side business more. Give some thoughts to finding a balance to make sure your side job is not costing you business on your primary job.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

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