Where do you meet your prospects? I've met some of my best prospects at my son's sporting events.
Years ago when my son played Little League baseball, I hated sitting through those long games, especially when it was freezing cold outside. But like you, I went to most of the games and cheered his team on to victory. At the time I never would have told you that I went to the Little League games to network because I didn't, but it's definitely in my nature to meet people and get to know them. I was just doing what I do and at each game I sat with someone different and chatted in between plays and before I knew it, I knew all the parents and what type of work they did. By the same token, they knew me and what kind of work I did.
Did I walk up to people at the game and put out my hand and say, "Hi, I'm Alice Heiman and I will help you increase sales." Of course not. The parents would have run the other way. But what I did let them know that inadvertently. I wasn't thinking, "If I go to the baseball game and sit with a different parent each week I will surely meet some new prospects." No, I was genuinely interested in getting to know all of the parents.
During one of those seasons, one of the parents did happen to have a company that needed my help and because I had taken the time to get to know him he felt comfortable to call me. I did end up providing sales training for his company and it worked out great.
Looking back, I realize this was a great place to network. But I didn't go about it the same way I would if I was attending a business event designed for networking. I did what came naturally.
I recommend you look around and find some opportunities to network at your children's sporting events. Don't go around selling your products and services to the other parents. But do sit with different parents and get to know them. Build relationships that can lead to sales, in the event that person is ever in need of your services. Be genuinely interested in others and don't worry about talking about yourself, your chance will come if you are a good listener and get to know people.
Building your network is a lifelong process, look for opportunities at every point in your life, even your kid's baseball game.
Alice Heiman is president and chief sales officer of Alice Heiman LLC, a Reno-based sales training company. Contact her at 852-5020 or alice@aliceheiman.com.
