The Answer to Your Worst Networking Nightmare - Answering Service Resources

Home
>
Networking
>
The Answer to Your Worst Networking Nightmare

The Answer to Your Worst Networking Nightmare

Imagine you just met your ideal client at a networking event. He's friendly, has great ideas and could use a valuable person like you to help grow his business. Not to mention, he's the kind of person from whom you could learn a great deal as well. After all, networking is the creation and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships.

After chatting away, building rapport and connecting for a few minutes ? the crucial time comes: the exchange of business cards. At his request, you give him your card. Then you ask for his card in return.

And at that moment, your worst networking nightmare comes true. He utters the one sentence you never want to hear from a new and potentially valuable contact:

"I don't have one of my business cards with me right now."

Ouch.

What do you do in this situation?

Some people become frustrated with the person who commits this cardinal sin of networking. Not a good idea. Although business cards are the number-one networking necessity, don't make a big fuss if someone doesn't have one. Unfortunately, it happens. People may be changing jobs, reprinting or assumed they didn't need their cards at the time. But calling them out will only reinforce emotions of their un-professionalism.

A common solution to this problem is suggested in most networking books: simply write your new contact's information on one of your own cards. Not a bad idea. But space is limited. And how many times have you written information down in your haste only to become completely baffled by your own hieroglyphics when you read your notes a week later? Perhaps this isn't your best option.

Another way to capture contact information is to use scrap paper. People do this all the time, and it's not an effective networking technique. Not only does it make you look inefficient and disorganized, but Donna Fisher, author of Networking for Dummies, explains that pieces of paper are more likely to get tossed or lost than business cards. So much for that idea.

Finally, the one attempt at solving this networking nightmare ? which usually fails ? is when the person says, "Well?just give me your card and I'll call you."

Yeah right.

You can't depend on someone to call you. Not because they don't like you or because they're not interested in developing a mutually valuable relationship ? but because people lose, forget and misplace things. They also meet lots of people every day ? and it's challenging to differentiate yourself among the masses.

Therefore, the question still remains: How do you effectively and professionally capture the information of a valuable contact that doesn't have any business cards?

Thus far in the field of networking, there is yet to be a solution.

Until now.

What if there was a way to be one step ahead of every person you met?

What if you could leverage every networking opportunity to transform new people into mutually valuable relationships?

And what if you could eliminate missed opportunities by helping others become capable of being reached?

This is the answer to your worst networking nightmare, and it's called My Card?. Here's how it works:

When someone reluctantly tells you they don't have any business cards with them, reach into your pocket and offer them My Card?.

"You don't have one of your business cards with you?" you empathize, "Well, don't worry about it ? it happens all the time! Here you go?"

On the front of the card you hand to them, it reads in sharp blue writing: My Card? ? because to your new contact that doesn't have a business card, that's exactly what it is. It's their card!

"I want to help in any way I can ? and also get to know you better," you explain. "Here! Fill out the card with the best way to reach you. Then I'll hang on to this one so we can be sure to stay in touch. And here are a few extras for you to keep with you until you get your new cards. I don't want you missing any networking opportunities!"

No scrap paper. No scribbles. No assumptions or hopes for future contact. Just a fun, simple, memorable, face saving tool that creates a connection between two people who want to build a relationship. What's more, when you graciously hand this card to someone you've just met, you will:

Make an UNFORGETTABLE? first impression

Show them that you're committed to developing a mutually beneficial relationship

Demonstrate effective networking skills

Reinforce the idea that networking is all about them

Stay in touch with new people to whom you can give value

Basic to all victory as a successful business communicator is approachability, or "capability of being reached." So, if someone doesn't have their business card, they're not capable of being reached. They're not approachable. They can't be helped, and they can't help others.

But if you pull My Card? out of your pocket; tell your new friend to fill it out ? and give them a few extra cards for future use ? you will break down those barriers. You will save the day, save the information and save the face of the person you've just met. Not to mention, make their subsequent networking a lot easier.

You will become a Networking Superhero!

And you will turn friends into mutually valuable relationships. All because you took the initiative to empathize with someone who wanted to connect with you, but couldn't because they needed a front porch through which to express their inherent human desire to do so.

Remember: Interest in someone's business card = interest in them. And interest in other people is the most important rule of interpersonal communication.

My Card? is the answer to your worst networking nightmare ? and someone else's. And for $10.00, you can own a 50 pack today, and you'll never miss another important networking opportunity again.

Click here to buy a pack today!

Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, "The World's Foremost Expert on Nametags" and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com.

In The News:

Key Industry Figures to Address Storage Networking World Fall 2008 ...
MarketWatch - 1 hour ago
Storage Networking World is the world's largest and foremost storage networking event and the only conference where IT managers and professionals get an ...

IBM and social networking
ZDNet - 1 hour ago
Some time ago I had a long talk with an IBMâ€™er about social networking. He said the first key to bringing social networking to business was a simple ...
IBM opens beta for Bluehouse online social networking and ... NetworkWorld.com
IBM to launch free beta trial of professional networking site ... TelecomTiger
IBM launches business social networking tool Bluehouse The Inquisitr
Computerworld - CNNMoney.comall 17 news articles

Home Networking CPE and Aggregation Devices to Generate $1.8 ...
MarketWatch - 1 hour ago
A new ABI Research study focused on residential gateways forecasts that home networking consumer premises equipment (CPE) and aggregation devices will ...
MySpace, Facebook widen mobile social networking lead Fiercemobilecontent
MySpace and Facebook Fast Becoming the Leading Mobile Social ... MarketWatch
all 15 news articles

ADVA OPTICAL NETWORKING'S FSP 150 TO BE DEPLOYED IN THUS' NATIONAL ...
MarketWatch - 7 hours ago
ADVA Optical Networking today announced that THUS, one of the UK's leading business service providers, has selected the ADVA FSP 150 to assist with the ...
THUS Deploys ADVA Optical Networking's FSP 150 TMCnet
ADVA OPTICAL NETWORKING'S FSP 150 TO BE DEPLOYED IN THUS' NATIONAL ... International Business Times
all 15 news articles

Americans Throw Caution to the Wind When It Comes to Social Networking
MarketWatch - 5 hours ago
... 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- More than one in two (53 percent) Americans are concerned about security threats when using social networking sites ...
Banks Team Up for Cyber Security Awareness Month to Help Canadians ... MarketWatch
all 13 news articles

eFluxMedia
Facebook Co-Founder Leaving to Start New Social Networking Venture
IT Business Edge, KY - 1 hour ago
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz announced he will be leaving the company in about a month to start his own social networking venture with Facebook ...
Facebook Co-founder departs, mulls extending Facebook concept to ... TelecomTiger
Zuckerbergâ€™s partner quits to form Siliconrepublic.com
Facebook Executive Leaves The Company eFluxMedia
Media Guardian - Wall Street Journalall 39 news articles

Fitspott Offers a Social Networking Platform to Help Health and ...
PR Web (press release), WA - 7 hours ago
Fitspott, a social networking platform for health and fitness, will launch the beta version of its site in the upcoming months. The platform will organize ...

Teachers befriending their students on social networking sites
Dallas Morning News, TX - Oct 5, 2008
By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News Social networking Web sites started out as places for teenagers and college students to socialize. ...

Yearbooks fade as networking sites propagate
Charleston Post Courier, SC - 10 hours ago
Thanks to technology cultural shifts and the immediacy offered by social-networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, this annual tradition might be ...

Social Networking Site Picks DediPower for Managed Hosting
TMCnet - 3 hours ago
By Anuradha Shukla DediPower reportedly has been selected by social networking site Wigadoo to provide managed hosting services. A live site as of June, ...
Exciting New Concept in Social Networking Selects DediPower for ... PR Newswire UK (press release)
all 8 news articles

networking - Google News

Answering Service ResourceAnswering Service Resource