For even the most self-confident person, arriving at a networking meeting can be daunting moment. With the right business networking advice, however, you can overcome unhelpful emotions like self-doubt, to make the most of your business networking strategy.
In this business TV show, business expert Andy Lopata shares some commonsense, practical business networking advice on developing a business networking strategy to let you conquer the fears and doubts that we all feel from time to time.
In the show, Lopata tells the story of a client he spoke to recently who was very nervous about approaching other people at events, because she feared they would reject her. Her crisis of confidence was seriously compromising her business networking strategy. This was despite the fact that, in her professional capacity, she was dealing with CEOs on a daily basis in a competent, confident manner.
When it came to networking events, she couldn’t help asking herself , “why do these people want to speak to me? What do I have to offer?”
In his business networking advice on the show, Lopata explains the business networking strategy that he recommended for this client.
He told the woman to write down two lists. In the first, she wrote down what her clients valued her for, and what they liked about her. In the second, he asked her to write down why someone would like to go on a date with her, why a night out with her would be a lot of fun.
When she read back the list, Lopata asked her if she thought people at a networking event would like to meet someone with these qualities. Of course the answer was yes. The idea of his business networking advice is to reinforce to yourself all the positive qualities you possess. Often your fear of networking can be subconscious and irrational, and takes a business networking strategy like this to counteract.
