McGee Strategies Blog

Following up from the last post, Here are Motivating questions that can be used during a conversation. It is important to sequence motivating questions only when you have drilled through the surface and value questions. and none of them should be fired off back to back.

What is a great moment or accomplishment in your life?

Technorati Tags: Questions, Motivation, Networking

I received an email the other day from someone wanting more clarification over types of motivation and value based questions to ask.

My first thought was, “wow there are readers!?” the second thought was instead of trying to further explain, why not show you readers these questions.” So today I will post the value based questions, and in my next entry I will post typical motivating questions.

Technorati Tags: Questions, values, networking

Don’t let the relationship die out like a cheap one night stand. You have just wasted your time if you do not follow up. Out of Sight means out of mind. However, most conventional follow up tricks, The quick e-mail, and/or thank-you note are losing their effectiveness. Like many other conventional things, they become so expected, they lose their appeal and significance

This doesn’t mean, however, the idea is lost. Simple unexpected notes, as well as follow-up coffees, are still effective, but they have to provide value for the recipient.

Technorati Tags: networking, follow up, appeal, thank you notes, emails

You want to leave an impression, but not too much. Otherwise people lose their sense of relatability to you. I know I sound like Brad Pitt’s character Rusty talking to Matt Damon’s character Linus in Ocean’s Eleven when Linus is surprisingly put in the role reserved for the Danny Ocean. “and whatever you do, don’t under any circumstances…” but it is true, strong personalities are admired, but too strong personalities are often annoying.

Very few people want to be around someone who always sees the downside of things. Networking events are full of people with big dreams. Don’t confuse pessimism with realism. Are you ‘being real’ or ‘being rude?’ Being Pollyanna might get annoying to some, but being a grouch only turns people away.

Technorati Tags: networking, positivity

Many are aware of the 80/20 principle in terms of leadership coming from twenty percent of the people involved in any group. In networking your conversation should be the same way, you should only lead the conversation 20 percent of the time.

Eighty percent of your conversation
should be focused on the other person, You do this by asking four types of questions; surface, motivating, value based and clarifying.

Surface questions are the ones we are most use to, the who what, when, where, questions- name, occupation, hometown, school, length of employment.

Value question are the How and why?, “What brought you to Des Moines, “Why study Business?”, etc

Motivating questions, seek catalyst answers, “where do ultimately see yourself at XYZ company?”, “What do you like best about downtown?”, “How can I help you? ”

Clarifying questions, seek to clear any confusion from previous statements or seek a more detailed response.

The remaining 20 percent is spent setting the foundation to
your questions and empathizing or relating to their responses. Without
the other 20 percent, you’ll seem like George Stephanopoulos or Tim
Russert grilling your interviewee.

I found out through personal experience that I seemed to get better results at networking events when I would go it alone. When I went with close friends or family, I would inadvertently rely on that person who already knew my values and preferences to lull me into staying within my comfort zone. The result was my network grew little at those events.

Some spend networking events doing this exact thing, talking to the same people they already know. How will your business or reputation grow
ifyou only speak with those you are familiar or comfortable? If you go
alone take to the risk like trying to enter a double dutch jump rope,
be patient, find the rhythm, and jump in. If you stuble, start over
again.

While taking to an event like an 80’s action hero would probably violate tip #3, you don’t want to be like Laverne and Shirley or Burt and Ernie either. Ideally it is okay to partner up during these events, If you use each other as an aid. Pick several rendezvous spots throughout the event, to make brief comments, pass on information, assess the event, etc. then move on. Use each other to make introductions the other might not know, then again move on.

Hunters go for the kill - they seek out their targets, they
believe they are being patient and they pounce with precision. When
prey know they are being hunted they run away. Farmers understand that there are a lot of external variables that contribute to their yield
and the best thing they can do is be consistent, and practice true
patience.Networking events follow the same vein.

You see them all the time, the folks that pounce around like a pack of lions with their business cards, who never stray off their talking points, these are your hunters, they are only interested in what you can do for them, they could care less about you unless you can provide some immediate income generation or know someone who could.

The farmers are the ones who are genuinely interested in learning more about the people in whom they interacting. The ultimate goal in mind is how to be mutually beneficial, with the central point being “how can I help his person?”

The farmer doesn’t expect immediate gratification, but is patient enough to know that if they can help solve that person’s problem they have created a sense of personal loyalty that is much stronger than the fickle loyalty consumers have to products and services.

The critical issue is the hunter, even if successful, is only so in the short term. They have managed to create a lead generation with one person with the hope that his amazing product or service will garner additional leads.The farmer has the added benefit that by helping someone else reach their goal, has opened up multiple level of leads.

If you find yourself lurking the room, waiting to corner someone to rave about how great your widget is, then your hunting, if you find yourself having a intelligent conversation with someone whom you know nothing about their industry, yet you continue the conversation to find that mutual value, then you are farming

The big no-no in networking is staying around the food table. I too have been a victim of the all too tempting display of morsels, decorated like an art piece and prepared by a professional whose job is to make you desire to eat.

In fact that many networking events are scheduled (purposely, I might add) around times when many of us are having hunger pains. Complicating this issue is the host’s guilt ridden insistences that you “eat more of the mini sandwiches, otherwise they will go to waste.”

But alas, how many opportunities did you lose out on by getting your third helping of cheesecake bars? You want to be a good guest and nibble on a snack or two, but remember, you are there to network, not pig out. Would you want to shake someone’s greasy hands or conversate with someone slyly trying to get a pineapple fiber out of their mouth? If you need to, stop by Subway on the way home or carry a granola bar in your glove compartment, but don’t waste time using your mouth to feed your face, when you should be using it, hopefully, to feed your pockets.

Technorati Tags: networking, socials, chamber lunches, pigging out, hour ‘d overs

Networking is both a science and an art,There are some things in networking that take practice, skills, and sometimes offer different results other aspects are as tried and true as the Pythagorean theorem, so while I recently wrote an article in Des Moines Juice Magazine that gave ten tips on how to network. Over the next few days i want to look at each of those tips more in depth

1. Know your News

One of the biggest barriers that many people have in Networking is finding out what to say or not know how to contribute to the conversation. Being up to date on some of the latest trends and current helps fill that contribution gap. we are a society that is based out of interaction your ability to share information on how others are interacting indicates you have an understanding people in general, their interest, and their values,

• Read the newspaper not just the sports section or front page. It’s important to know what’s going on in the world, your community, and in business. If you’re limited on time, read the first and last two paragraphs of the article.

• Read or skim the news magazine like , Newsweek, Time, US News. These periodicals take today’s and tomorrow’s headlines and put them in perspective really adding value to the conversations you will be having. If you really want to challenge yourself and seem really informed read The Economist and/or Mother Jones

• Visit popular websites like MSN or Yahoo. There are usually enticing stories on the main page that if they spark your interest, they might very well spark someone else’s too.

• Know of a good non fiction book, now you don’t need to join Oprah’s book club, but at least read the abstract and reviews, or even better there are companies that make quick summaries of the book. This shows you are a problem solver or a least someone who understands the direction of where things are going.

• Watch TV, and not just CNN, but sitcoms, Sportscenter and yes reality TV; surprised by that one, let me explain, What makes sitcoms effective is that they take everyday situations and look for the comedic angle in them, hence the name “situational comedy” watching these shows will help you do the same and while there is little reality in reality TV, the idea is to gage and monitor how real life people, not paid professional actors, react in certain situations, weather they are doing it for the camera or not doesn’t matter, the take home lesson is to consider how you or others would react if put into the same situation.