Monthly Archives: October 2020

Never Forget Your Roots

Kevin Willet says your roots are what made you strong

I grew up in a neighborhood that had large families, not a lot of income and diverse ethnicities. I am super proud of that. While people from more affluent neighborhoods may have looked down on it, my neighborhood was awesome. I got to grow up with people with backgrounds from all over the world! Today, in my business, I am still interacting with people with diverse backgrounds. Networking is an important part of everyone’s business no matter the revenue, location or the clients that are sought.

We as business owners must be careful though. Once you have paid your dues and grown your business, remember where you started. It is easy to forget the client that gave you the small jobs to help you get started when now you are doing much larger jobs for bigger clients. Don’t forget those people. When they call, make sure you take care of them. You are not too important for the smaller jobs ever. Those people and those jobs are what made you and your business who you are today. Stay humble, stay thankful, never forget your roots.

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 If Nobody Is Watching?

Kevin Willett says no matter the viewers, we all build our businesses one client at a time.

I always talk about one of the best ways to market yourself is by using short videos. I love FB live. I love using Zoom to interview clients in my short 3 Questions With promotions. Videos are great! But what if nobody is watching? I try and do a FB live business networking tip video every morning. One day this week I had over seven hundred viewers. The next day I had fifty. But you know what, that’s OK. That day I got a client out of it!

Using videos allows prospective clients to connect with you. They can see your personality and learn more about your business before making that initial phone call or connection. It’s easy to get discouraged when doing videos. We all want to be a viral superstar. Maybe that will happen and maybe it won’t. You may be tempted to give up, but remember you are building your brand and that is important. Some videos will be more popular than others. The number of viewers is not as important as who is viewing and just maybe you will get a new client out of it. Isn’t that the main goal?

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

No Such Thing As A Friendly Ghost

Kevin Willett says Casper notwithstanding, ghosting is anything but friendly

One of the challenges of being a business owner is when people tell you no, they do not want/need your services. It’s tough to handle sometimes. But it is part of business. What is worse than someone telling you no? Someone ghosting you, not getting back to you, ignoring you. This is especially hurtful when you have spoken to someone and they tell you they do want your services. It has happened to me. I’ll invite someone to networking events and they tell me they are excited to attend. I’ll send invites and receive no response. I’ll email and no response. Why didn’t they just say no? They didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Well they have just wasted my time by making me work for them to come to events they had no intention of showing up to. They have wasted their own time by deleting my invites and emails. How does that help either one of us? Just say no! When I receive a straightforward negative response, I always thank the person for their honesty. This sometimes surprises them. “I can’t believe you thanked me for saying I did not want to attend your events!” They have just made my life easier by telling me there was one less email I’ll have to send that I will not get a response to. Of course, I’m thankful you just saved me time and effort!

If there is something or someone you need to say no to, then do it. Do not ghost them. This only causes anger; time wasted and hurts relationships on both sides. You could be viewed as unreliable and hurt your brand. Saying no is hard but is best for everyone. Don’t waste a business owner’s time by having them send emails, prepare quotes, or make calls on your behalf. Saying no hurts now but, be respectful and they will appreciate it and will benefit your brand in the long run.

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’s In It For Me?

Kevin Willett says by making your business stand out, you will help it to grow

Running several networking events a month, I send out a lot of invitations for people to attend. Usually I get a yes or no response and keep moving forward. A few months ago I received a response that made me stop and think. A gentleman returned my email invitation saying he was not interested because I did a lousy job of explaining what was in it for him, why should he attend. At first, I was taken aback. Then I thought, you know what, he is right. I saw that he owned a business, I thought he would be a good fit for an event and I sent him the invitation. I did not think about why he should want to attend, why my event would be different from others he was invited to.

Most of us when we hear “what’s in it for me” we think of this as a negative statement. As business owners we have to think this way sometimes in order maximize our time listening to pitches. If you want to do business with me but cannot tell me how this will help me, I really don’t want to spend time listening or meeting with you. We have to be able to explain how our business stands out in order to attract new customers and continue to grow. Don’t be afraid to talk yourself and your business up! You are not generic, you are unique, so let potential clients know that

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

Be A Connector

Kevin Willetts ays being a connector makes you and others happy

I get a great feeling when people reach out to me and ask me for help, they need a referral, who should they use. It’s a great way to help your clients and a great feeling to help solve someone’s issue. We can all be connectors. Have you ever been scrolling through FaceBook and seen someone looking for a suggestion? Do you know someone who could help? Did you take the time to message that person with a suggestion? Most people don’t, they just scroll right by. It only takes a moment to send a private message to that person with some contact info for someone who can help them out. Then just message the business you are referring, to give them a heads up that you have shared their info. Maybe include a brief description of what the person was looking for and now you have made two people happy just by being a connector. You have also made an impression on both parties that may help your business down the road.

Ok, so your saying to yourself that networking is my job, of course I am going to send my clients referrals whenever I can. That is a correct statement. But I also help out people who are not my clients on occasion. There are businesses that are not a client, but I know are good at what they do. I like helping people and it is not always about being paid to do it. Be a connector for the right reasons and not only will you make the people you are connecting happy, but you will be happy as well.

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