Tag Archives: Kevin Willett

No Show, No Call, No Text

Kevin Willett discusses the importance of courtesy when you can’t make a meeting.

Last week one of my friends posted a question on social media asking how long you should wait for someone to show up for a coffee meeting. The consensus of the group was about 15 minutes. Now that makes sense to me, but I think it is more important to make sure that you are confirming your appointments and exchanging telephone numbers.  I like to email my appointments the day of our meeting, just asking if we are still good as scheduled. I include my number in the email; in case something changes, so they can reach out to me. Texting is also a good way to confirm.

I do understand that things can happen as you are walking out the door and last minute situations may prevent you from keeping the appointment. It is never acceptable to just not show up for a meeting. This is extremely disrespectful.  By exchanging phone numbers you can eliminate this issue from happening. You have my number. So you can call or text, no excuses. If you have a situation where you can’t make the meeting, let the other person know as soon as possible. A text message takes less than a minute to type out. You can then follow up later for a reschedule. If you don’t show up and then try to call and reschedule with me at some later point, I am probably no longer interested. Would you be?

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.

Are You Turning Over Every Rock in Your Job Search?

Kevin Willett compares networking for yourself to networking for business.

I love to speak to job seekers about using business networking in their job search because I truly believe your next job is coming from a networking connection. However, I am always surprised when less than ten percent of the group takes me up on my offer to help them.

If you are a job seeker you can send me your resume (as a word document please) and I will share it on the Friends of Kevin website, post it on my social media sites and use my contacts to help you find a job. In the last two years I have placed twenty five people. My friends, what do you have to lose by letting me help you?

One of the comments I receive all the time is “Kevin it is awkward to ask a complete stranger to help me”. My friends, to me, trying to find a job is like trying to grow your business. Most people attending a networking event are asking complete strangers to do business with them, so in my eyes there is no difference.

I have seen a few articles lately about the power of loose connections to help you find a job. People are often surprised when someone they casually know reaches out to them to help in their job search. That is the power of business networking.

By not attending events, you are missing out on your chance to form those connections. Also please don’t attend just once or twice and stop coming because it didn’t help you find a job. Just like when you are networking for your business, please give people time to get to know, like and trust you. I think you might be surprised by the results.

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.

My Clients Don’t Attend Networking Events

Kevin Willett explains the importance of having referral partners.

Often when I ask people to attend networking events they respond by saying “I don’t attend networking events because my clients are not in the room.”

I have to admit, that always makes me smile. I will then ask them “but are your referral partners in the room?” This will often cause people to pause and ask me what I mean.

Let me give you an example. My friend sells voice and data lines. If she attends an event with a commercial realtor, banker and insurance person she has three opportunities to build relationships with people who could be a constant referral source for her. Those three people may not need her services at this time, but they may have several clients among them who do need the service.

So next time you are tempted to skip a networking event because your clients are not in the room, ask yourself if your referral partners will be attending, because honestly that is where the gold is. If you can build relationships with people who are constantly passing you referrals, it is a much better way to network.

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.

Stop Reading Hidden Messages into Emails

I received an email from a potential client and it said that he was putting off joining the group for a few weeks, at least for now.  When I read the email, I felt that he was saying he had changed his mind. When I read it to Cheryl, she disagreed and said to me it seems like he will join once he solves his problem. Ok so now what do I do? Well, I picked up the phone and I called him and asked if I should follow up with him. He laughed and said yes Kevin, like the email said I just need a few weeks to clean up a few issues.

This exchange made me think about how often messages in emails get misread. In this case reading between the lines is not a good thing. When in doubt don’t respond by email pick up the phone and call the person to make sure that you are on the same proverbial page.

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 Staring at the 7 Pin

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to watch my nephew John bowl a 299 game! This is an amazing feat and something that most bowlers will never accomplish, but sadly nobody congratulated him. We all just stood there staring at the 7 pin rocking back and forth.

It made me think about how often we as business owners stare at our personal 7 pin. I know I did it last week. I had one of my best weeks ever, attendance at events was solid and I had growth in membership. But guess what I focused on, the one person that I didn’t sign on to become a client, my proverbial 7 pin. Instead of celebrating how great the week was, I said “sure it was good but if I signed that other client it would have been better”. Where does that way of thinking end?  I just want to remind you to please take the time to celebrate your victories and stop staring at the 7 pin.

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 What You Say You’ll Do

Last week two people sent me emails asking for help. I responded, “Sure, give me a call tomorrow and I can help you.” Both said they’d call me the next day. It’s been a few weeks and I haven’t heard from either of them. I know things come up, but think about the message they’re sending. They’re being disrespectful and more importantly they’re showing that they’re unreliable. My friends, nobody wants to do business with unreliable people. If you tell someone you’re going to do something and you forget, call and apologize, but please don’t tell them how busy you are. Do you know anyone who isn’t busy? Most people will understand and give you a second chance.

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.