Why networking doesn't mean sales.
Why networking doesn't mean sales.
And why sometimes it does! Or where do we stand while thinking about our networking activities.
There’s a common networking concept going back to the business speed dating practices. With salespeople running around, realizing their quotas - most often a certain number of contacts made and cards exchanged. Hell, I was such a salesperson - with expectations to “bring quantifiable business” right away when returning from the conference.
Nothing about building relationships. More about considering another person as a potential client. Not a human being. Client. I couldn’t stomach it.
Such a concept is immensely embedded in the perception of business events, conferences, and fairs. Obviously, it doesn’t come out of the thin air. A ton of people are doing exactly that. Doing their job as dealmakers, salespeople, and relationship traders. And that’s fine.
Nonetheless, it’s not us. Well, not entirely. And one of the premises of this blog is to expand said perception and the human relations ecosystem. Otherwise, we’re excluding so many people from what could be a wonderful experience for them. I don’t agree with the client-centric approach to networking. Hope you don’t as well.
Our recent discussions about the elevator pitch may make some wonder if we’re not preparing the sales-y message. In the end - it’s about presenting oneself, showcasing one’s business and skills, and presenting common ground for partnerships. Is it not? Doesn’t that mean we’re talking about sales? Sure. We do. It’s not the whole story, tho.
And here we’re coming back to today’s topic.
One may be contained within the other. But not necessarily equal the reverse.
networking may be a form of sales activity,
sales activities don’t need to contain networking,
networking may not be a form of sales activity,
you can sell through networking,
networking doesn’t always mean you’re selling.
In plain words:
Yet, only the second POV lives in the minds of most of us. And quite often it’s reinforced by the popular narration by those extraverted salespeople present on Social Media. But also event hosts - aiming to accommodate their audience the best way they can - tend to forget such an audience may be much greater than the loudest part of attendees.
Please take note of our exercises from the past weeks. Setting our “WHY”, our success criteria, and our game plan. But did it all lead to the sale? Or was it about having fun, finding your mentor, getting a client, helping someone, whatever you thought of? Quite a vast scope that was. Containing dealmaking but not being about dealmaking.
So, what’s my take here?
I’m not going to bore you with “you do you” or “allow yourself to think outside of the box”. Well, I guess I just did. Nevermind.
Wait! There’s something I’d like to share. Got it.
Such realization of differentiated mindsets is bloody liberating. It’s letting yourself off the hook, reducing pressure, and opening you to new possibilities you’d be otherwise unwilling to consider. All you need to see there are different perspectives you can take. There’s nothing else to be done but shifting the point of view. Which may lead to everything else falling into their right places.
If there’s no sale to be made, I’m not walking away. I’m looking at what can I learn from that person. How can I get to know their passions? How to help and connect the dots. In the process of such exploration, new pathways emerge (both mental and social). Embrace it the same way as we embraced the cringe. Well, as long as there’s no Sword of Damocles hanging over us, kindly remembering someone imposed kinda stupid sales-y KPIs onto us.
When approaching anyone with any intent - remember, it doesn’t need to be about selling anything. The myriad of possibilities is endless. That’s the beauty of all of it.
I’m all for the underrepresented approach.
