I used to be a terrified networker–afraid of those milling crowds and round
table breakfasts.  How could a self confident professional speaker extravert
like me be afraid? Here’s my story…

My first networking experience scarred me for years. As a brand new coach, a
networking seminar I attended taught me how to use a 30 second elevator speech
to introduce myself to individuals in a crowd and to allow (force) them to
experience what it is that I do (coach) on the spot through a series of
questions directed at the victim in front of me.

Let me tell you how fast most people I encountered at that cocktail ran away
from me. The most memorable, however was the woman who flat out declared with
wide eyed fear (while physically backing away from me) that she felt that I was
trying to sell something to her and after delivering that blow, fled out of the
building.  I followed her not long after and vowed never to return to the foray
of networking for as long as I lived.

Now, years later, I can recognize that there were more than a few issues with
my approach on that fateful day.  I had honestly decided to take this key
marketing tool out of my personal toolkit to gain new clients.

I then discussed this terror around networking with my own coach and she
referred me to Coach U founder Sandy Villa’s book titled Power Networking (Bard
Press, 2000).   I started experiencing a whole shift in not just the way I
viewed networking but in the whole way I approached marketing my business. Continue reading →