36 zooms in one week wowza! That’s a record for me and not one that I ever really want to repeat!
Who else is living the zoom life these days? It’s been about 3 weeks since the government suggested we shelter in place and stay at home as much as possible to limit the spread of COVID-19.
For those of us that are accustomed to working from home, zoom is nothing new. We’ve used zoom for years as a tool to communicate with others on a consistent basis. But now that everyone else is staying home, they are using zoom more often to have more effective conversations with their clients and coworkers.
I met some amazing people, learned so much about them and was able to get a few folks connected to others to help them grow their business.
- Velma and I shared some great resources and ideas during a brainstorming session.
- I learned what Justin does, and reached out to a contact to find Justin some ideal referral sources.
- I learned from Frank what he did, and connected him with 3 bankers who are his ideal referral source.
- I found out from Todd what the Tutoring business was all about. I reached out to a contact to try and get the name of a guidance counselor that Todd could work with. Todd also connected me to 2 others, who I had conversations with later in the week.
- I chatted with Charlie about the payroll industry, and contacted a friend for a connection to a CPA in the same town.
- I spent time with Brent, learning about what he does in the sales coaching world. Brent and I share similar interests and are likely good referral partners. We agreed to connect again soon and continue the conversation. Brent was referred to me by John, who I met on another networking zoom a week earlier.
- I had a video chat with Megan that went way longer than scheduled. We laughed so much. I met Megan in a virtual networking group, that resulted in this conversation. It was such a fun conversation, and we agreed that we should do it again soon! Megan is a networking coach, so she and I really get what we both do and it was an awesome conversation!
- I talked to Rob and learned what he does in the world of financial services and how his approach is different from other folks.
- I checked in with a long time friend and Podcaster Larry! We had some good laughs and just got caught up in general.
- I chatted with David to learn more about what he’s doing in the accident insurance field and how he’s helping his current clients during the current COVID crisis.
- My new friend Tom from Ohio and I checked in and talked business. We strategized about options and talked about next steps for each of our businesses.
- I had an awesome conversation with Elaine, who was referred to me by Cindy. We hit it off and chatted about the speaking industry. At the end of the call I was able to connect her with Durk, as they both work in the same industry and may be great referral partners.
- I spoke to Nancy for almost an hour talking about our similarities to networking. We talked about working together in the future and setup calls for the future.
- I concluded my one to ones for the week speaking with Elise about her role as a family lawyer during these times. We talked about how things are with the court systems now and with families as well as who I might be able to connect her with moving forward to possibly get more referrals
- Finally during a group meeting on Friday I met Kimberly and was able to connect her with 2 professionals I know in the Diversity and Inclusion world.
It was such a busy week, and a very effective one at that.
So what made it so effective?
I was able to connect others with people that may help their business. Notice here that no connection I made was to buy from someone else! It was focused on finding their ideal referral source!
If you focused all of your networking activities on your ideal referral sources, then you would be able to ask everyone you connected with for an introduction to an ideal referral source! That’s what I focus on when I’m speaking to others during these one to one zoom chats. Some of these folks know who refers to them, some don’t. Sometimes we work on it while on the call, because otherwise I can’t refer to them.
If you don’t already know who your ideal source is, then you can start working on it, and talk through it every time someone asks you. Just remember, stay away from “anyone that…”. When you start a sentence with those words it becomes a group that is too broad for others to be able to be clear on who to connect you with!
I hope that you take up the one to one networking calls, that you are able to connect others with people you know and that you are able to get some great connections of your own out of this!
If you are looking to FIRE UP YOUR REFERRALS, you can do so by downloading 2 great resources I have for you. You can get those here: www.FireUpReferrals.com
Until Next Time…
Don’t Forget to Live Happy,
Smile A Lot, and
#High5 Everyone Around You!