AlexShalman.comPractical Personal Development

Whenever you see a potential contact, come right up to them and give them your business card - if you want to fall under their radar.

“People don’t want to do business with business cards, they want to do business with people.”
~Audio (via @LewisHowes)

I’ve placed myself in an excellent position to observe networking patterns between homo sapien mammals. About 2-3 events per week (6 days in a row this week).

Beware The Card Pusher

Some people are scared of rejection, think they are their business card or are simply socially retarded. These people think that handing over a business card with the standard name, number, and job description is going to make them remarkable enough to do business with, let alone remember.

This might be a very convenient way of doing business, if it worked. You don’t need a personality, charisma, or strategic conversation. Just sneak up behind someone, take out their wallet, and slip in your business card. Later on when they get to the office and notice this nice shiny card in their pocket, they’ll be sure to call you to order some life insurance for the family and staff.

As Borat would say, “Noooooot.”

Ditch The Card

The secret is that it’s not about the business card. I’m not saying don’t have a business card (until more people get Pokens) – you’ll want a business card after you’ve made a solid connection with someone as an easy way to exchange contact information without having to stand there and enter it into your iPhone.

When I say ditch the card, I mean ditch using a business card as your approach. Don’t even use what you do as an approach. Be a person, with genuine passions, hobbies, and interests and go out there and share yourself!

Think about the people that you want to do business with right now. You know, like, or trust them in a similar way as you do your friends. That means that what you want to do is increase your personal network of friends, so there are more people that want to do business with you.

We’ve got some work cut out for us. We have to be clear about our vision and who we are both as a person and as a marketable brand. We have to be brief, since people’s attention is limited and expensive. We have to be transparent, because people don’t want to do business based on a lie. If we can master this we will graduate beyond our business card and into a person that people know-like-trust.

Right and Wrong

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to Affiliate Summit East in NYC. My intention for going there was to catch up with some friends and meet some online personalities that I respect and admire. For the people I haven’t met yet, I’d obviously need an approach other than jumping on them like a Beluga Whale with a business card.

Getting burned. I admire Chris Pearson for his no BS approach to creating code for the WordPress Thesis Theme. His philosophy is that he’s going to do it perfectly, not care what anyone says, and be the number one in this space. He actually reminds me of Howard Roark from The Fountainhead, except Chris also likes money. Long story short, when I first met him I tried to pitch him an idea, something that happens to him on a daily basis and no doubt annoys him, instead of just trying to be a friend. Fail.

More effective. I respect Jim Kukral because he’s always thinking in terms of how he can bring value to people. He’s one of the most genuinely nice guys that I’ve met, and he’s got an incredible savvy for business. I did try to pitch him a little, but I was mostly concerned with the interesting things that he’s got going on, and I let him beat me in Wii Golf (that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!) a few times. I think him and I have much more of a potential to be friends, which is great for me. Remember my rule – I will be friends and surround myself with people that I respect and admire.

Greatly effective. During two of last weeks networking meetings I simply presented myself as “These are the various things I’m good at, and I love to connect people, so let me know what you need in order to grow and I’ll connect you with the best resources I know.” I made sure to hook up everyone, follow up with e-mails, and facilitated business contacts for people. These are the people that would go out of their way to help me if I asked.

What are your business networking tips?

(I’m in this issue of Productive Magazine, check it out)