Sitting in this restaurant, drinking this bad coffee.
Oh what a wonderful day this will be.
Its 7AM, haven’t eaten anything
Oh what a wonderful day this will be.
First comes the president, then all the intros
Oh what a wonderful day this will be.
Everybody stand up, everybody sit down.
Oh what a wonderful day this will be.
Now it is my turn, what will I say today
Oh what a wonderful day this will be.
I do a great job, you should all refer me
Oh what a wonderful day this will be.
Now its time to keep score, what did you do last week
Oh what a wonderful day this will be.
Everybody leave now, I’ll see you next week
Oh what a wonderful day this will be.
REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT
Maybe you love networking, maybe you hate it. I go back and forth depending on the day. I’ve been to every group imaginable - After hour social groups, business referral circles, mid-day community groups, professional associations, women’s groups ...
Some aspects of networking are great. I’ve met some really good friends, I’ve done business with several of the people I met, I have even got a few really great referrals. Yet, I still have mixed feeling about them. For 2 years I went to a weekly meeting with 50 members. About 5 visitors also attended each meeting. 2 years x 5 visitors a week + 50 members = 570 people. I also attended an addition meeting each week as a guest. Each of those meetings has at least 15 attendees. 2 years x 15 people a week = 1,560 people
That means in 2 years I met 2,130 people, I spent an average of 6 hours a week commuting to and attending the networking meetings or 624 hours total. When I stopped networking I probably kept in touch with about 30 of the people I met. 30 out of 2,130 people.
Millions are invested in advertising so that businesses can reach an audience. Networking helped me meet a huge audience of people. It just failed to teach me how to gain mindshare with them.
I'm not the only one that was losing out, of those 2,130 people I met, only a handful tried to reach out to me. The most common way was to simply add me to their e-newsletter list. This is a mistake because there is nothing about an e-newsletter that makes me go, WOW, what a nice person. I'd really like to get to know them better.
Happy Grasshopper provides a unique solution to this problem. It offers an easy, inexpensive way to keep your name in front of people you have just met so that you can start to build a relationship with them. Rather than sending a message that is obviously just trying to sell them something, Happy Grasshopper helps you send personal messages that help open the door and build mindshare. You started networking to grow your circle of influence, if you aren't following up, you are wasting your time.
Here is to following up and getting more out of your networking!
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