Networking 101 – Don’t Make Speeches
By Nikki Viljoen of Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd
Craig Harrison says that the reason that Networking may not be working for you is because of the basic 9 mistakes that Networker’s make. I will be going through these over the next few weeks and let’s see if this is what is holding you back.
The fourth mistake he says is “Spiel too long. Networking is not speechmaking. You have a finite window of opportunity to introduce yourself and glean a few details about the person you’re talking to. You can’t recite your resume, tell your life story or otherwise drone on. Keep it short and sweet!”
Sitting at a networking meeting one night, my mind wandered to the pile of work that is sitting on my desk, my 17- year-old cat that seems hell-bent on starving himself to death, my 7-year-old nephew in Australia who I need to buy a birthday present for and even what I was going to have for dinner! Why you may ask – well the person who was telling everyone who they are and what it is that they are doing/selling was going on and on and on.
Unfortunately, I have sat through this spiel on more than one occasion and it seems to be memorised word for word. It never changes or varies and there have been occasions when I have repeated it word for word as he has gone through it. Nowadays, I usually use his speech time for a comfort break, but last night I really didn’t need one, so my mind went on a ‘walk about’!
Sad this, because the product that he sells is really worthwhile and he could sell so many more of them if he just didn’t go on so much.
I wonder what I’ll do next week when I again sit in a networking meeting and have to listen to the monologue all over again!
Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or www.viljoenconsulting.co.za
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