Keep It Moving

Let’s say you met with three interesting people last week. You had good conversations. You exchanged ideas. Maybe somebody even said, “We should definitely stay in touch.” Fantastic! A calendar full of one-on-one meetings makes you feel productive. 

What exactly did you produce? 

Networking supports business development, but they aren’t the same thing. Networking helps you build relationships. Business development requires you to understand where there may be a need and you intentionally move the relationship toward an appropriate next step. 

This does not mean you turn every one-on-one into a sales pitch. (Please don’t.) Just be mindful to deliberately move through three relationship stages: connection, relevance, and action.

Connection

This is the know part of the know-like-trust factor. The first part of a one-on-one conversation should still feel like a conversation between two humans. Learn what the other person does. Ask about their work. Find out what they care about.

Good questions help you understand context, avoid misunderstandings, spot roadblocks, and build rapport. Your questions should be clear, specific, and asked with a goal in mind. Instead of spending 45 minutes comparing career histories, ask questions that reveal what is happening in their business right now. For example:

• What are clients asking you for most right now?
• What are you trying to grow this year?
• What is getting harder in your business?
• What kinds of problems keep landing in your inbox?

Then listen. Don’t spend their answer time mentally rehearsing your pitch. Actively listen to understand what they’re telling you and use what you hear to formulate your follow-up questions. Because that’s where business development starts to get interesting.

Relevance

This is the like part of the know-like-trust factor. Once you understand what’s happening in their business, look for where your work may be relevant. Listen for sentences like:

• We’re expanding.
• Our team is overwhelmed.
• We’re struggling with…
• Our clients keep asking us for…
• I wish we had someone who could… 

Resist the temptation to launch into a five-minute description of everything you sell. Instead, get curious. For example, you could ask a follow-up question like:

• You mentioned your team is struggling with that. What is making it so difficult?
• How are you handling it now?
• What happens if that problem does not get solved?

Now you’re learning whether there is a genuine business problem, how important it is, and whether you may be able to help.

They start to like you when they clearly see how you can relieve their pain. This is the appropriate time to make your work easy to understand. If someone leaves your one-on-one knowing you’re a consultant whose organization does several things involving strategy, communications, leadership, and organizational effectiveness, then they don’t know what problem sends someone to you. Try something like: I help companies solve X so they can achieve Y. Or: The people who usually call me are dealing with X. That gives the other person something memorable with language they can repeat when they encounter someone who needs you. 

Action

This is the trust part of the know-like-trust factor. You had a wonderful one-on-one. You both said you should get together again. That was six months ago. Business development requires movement. The next step doesn’t have to be, Would you like to hire me? It might be:

• I know someone you should meet. Would an introduction be useful?
• You mentioned that challenge with your team. Would you like me to send you a few ideas?
• That is exactly the type of problem I work on. Would it make sense to schedule another conversation specifically about it?
• Who else in your organization is involved in solving that?

Action turns an interesting conversation into a developing opportunity. Your follow-up matters too. Skip the generic, Great meeting you! as your entire message. Refer to something specific the person said. Send the resource you promised. Make the introduction. Confirm the next conversation. Reliability builds trust, and trust makes it much easier for someone to give you business or put your name in front of someone who can.

Do This Before Your Next One-on-One

• Take five minutes to prepare. Know what you want to learn. Think about the problems you solve.
• Prepare two or three questions that might uncover needs, priorities, or opportunities.
• Remind yourself that during the conversation, you’re going to listen for relevance.
• Make yourself a note that before you leave the conversation you will ask yourself: Is there a natural next action? Then take it. 

Please don’t make every one-on-one meeting transactional. Relationships need time to grow. At the same time, acknowledge the difference between activity and progress. Drinking a lot of coffee is networking. Creating connection, finding relevance, and moving toward action is business development. 

How do you move a networking conversation toward action? Please share in the comments.