Talk to Strangers: How Everyday, Random Encounters Can Expand Your Business, Career, Income, and Life Read Online Free PDF
Author: David Topus
resources.
Although useful in their own way, online connections don’t give you the richness of face-to-face communication, and the absence of in-person chemistry limits the quality of your interaction. When we’re online, we frequently find ourselves in a relationship with a screen instead of a person. In fact, the Internet makes it all too easy to form “phony” connections. If you don’t believe that, consider this: I recently met someone who told me he created a Facebook page for an imaginary person. He made up the name and invented activities and interests, the birthday, photos, walls, and pokes. Then he put out friend requests. At last count he had over 100 acceptances. These people accepted a friend request from a person who didn’t even exist! Some people have thousands of LinkedIn connections, most of whom they have never met or spoken to, and probably never will.
Of course, I network online, as should anyone who wants to build his or her business or personal brand. I reach out to people over the Internet. I have relationships with people I contact solely via the phone. I, too, have associates and colleagues I’ve never laid eyes on. But it is the individuals I’ve met in person—in the most random ways and most unlikely places—who have broadened my knowledge, expanded my network, enriched my life, and increased my bank account well beyond what would have been had I merely connected with them online.
There is no better way to create credibility for yourself or your products, services, or capabilities than by sharing physical, in-the-moment space with someone. Putting a face with a name and experiencing the magic of in-person interaction establishes credibility and allows us to forge relationships faster and with more lasting power than is possible through the click of a mouse.
To be fair, online networking is incredibly powerful. It can expand your pool of contacts quickly and broadly, and it’s highly efficient for reaching across a wide swath of the marketplace. It can add names to your contact list you wouldn’t be able to add solely on your own. Yet more often than not, web-based connections require that you have a face-to-face encounter at some point in order to manifest in a profitable business relationship. You can answer a job posting online, but eventually you will have to attend an interview. You can present your products and services via a website or webinar, but no prospect is going to spend big money with you until he or she meets you in person. You can position your professional services via a social networking platform, but you won’t be doing consulting for a company until you meet the client in the flesh. And prospects might find you and your business on the web, but chances are they won’t let you list their house, prepare their taxes, or tutor their children until they look you in the eye and gain the comfort that comes from face-to-face communication.
Chapter at a Glance
The Internet has redefined the concepts of connection and friend.
Online personas are easy to fake.
Online connections don’t necessarily translate into productive or profitable relationships.
Shaking a hand and looking someone in the eye is one of the highest quality forms of communication.
Chapter 6
When Traditional Networking Is Not Working
Over the last 10 years, and especially in the past 5, formalized networking events have become a popular venue for professionals to meet and interact—and they, too, have their place in the networking recipe. But while community and industry gatherings can attract a lot of people, they don’t necessarily attract the right people, that is, the ones who’ll do you the most good. Buyers, or those in positions of influence, don’t always attend. In fact, they occasionally make a point of purposely staying away. Networking events attract sellers, and there is only one thing worse than a room full of
Although useful in their own way, online connections don’t give you the richness of face-to-face communication, and the absence of in-person chemistry limits the quality of your interaction. When we’re online, we frequently find ourselves in a relationship with a screen instead of a person. In fact, the Internet makes it all too easy to form “phony” connections. If you don’t believe that, consider this: I recently met someone who told me he created a Facebook page for an imaginary person. He made up the name and invented activities and interests, the birthday, photos, walls, and pokes. Then he put out friend requests. At last count he had over 100 acceptances. These people accepted a friend request from a person who didn’t even exist! Some people have thousands of LinkedIn connections, most of whom they have never met or spoken to, and probably never will.
Of course, I network online, as should anyone who wants to build his or her business or personal brand. I reach out to people over the Internet. I have relationships with people I contact solely via the phone. I, too, have associates and colleagues I’ve never laid eyes on. But it is the individuals I’ve met in person—in the most random ways and most unlikely places—who have broadened my knowledge, expanded my network, enriched my life, and increased my bank account well beyond what would have been had I merely connected with them online.
There is no better way to create credibility for yourself or your products, services, or capabilities than by sharing physical, in-the-moment space with someone. Putting a face with a name and experiencing the magic of in-person interaction establishes credibility and allows us to forge relationships faster and with more lasting power than is possible through the click of a mouse.
To be fair, online networking is incredibly powerful. It can expand your pool of contacts quickly and broadly, and it’s highly efficient for reaching across a wide swath of the marketplace. It can add names to your contact list you wouldn’t be able to add solely on your own. Yet more often than not, web-based connections require that you have a face-to-face encounter at some point in order to manifest in a profitable business relationship. You can answer a job posting online, but eventually you will have to attend an interview. You can present your products and services via a website or webinar, but no prospect is going to spend big money with you until he or she meets you in person. You can position your professional services via a social networking platform, but you won’t be doing consulting for a company until you meet the client in the flesh. And prospects might find you and your business on the web, but chances are they won’t let you list their house, prepare their taxes, or tutor their children until they look you in the eye and gain the comfort that comes from face-to-face communication.
Chapter at a Glance
The Internet has redefined the concepts of connection and friend.
Online personas are easy to fake.
Online connections don’t necessarily translate into productive or profitable relationships.
Shaking a hand and looking someone in the eye is one of the highest quality forms of communication.
Chapter 6
When Traditional Networking Is Not Working
Over the last 10 years, and especially in the past 5, formalized networking events have become a popular venue for professionals to meet and interact—and they, too, have their place in the networking recipe. But while community and industry gatherings can attract a lot of people, they don’t necessarily attract the right people, that is, the ones who’ll do you the most good. Buyers, or those in positions of influence, don’t always attend. In fact, they occasionally make a point of purposely staying away. Networking events attract sellers, and there is only one thing worse than a room full of
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