How to have effective 1 to 1 networking meetings

At our A Leg Up meeting yesterday we worked some more on polishing up our elevator pitches. Next week we're going to start working on effective 1 to 1 meetings. If you don't know what these are, here's a simple definition: a meeting between 2 people, often over coffee or a lunch, to find out more about each other. In our case it's between a small business owner and someone who they feel can help them in some way, whether it's another business owner or someone else.

According to the website Bossed Up here are some steps to having an effective meeting:

1. Lead with Story - Explain who you are and WHY what you’re doing matters to you. 
2. Find out what makes them tick - Just as it’s important that you share your underlying why behind the what that you do, you must figure out the underlying motivations of the person you’re sharing coffee with.
3. Aim for the Magic X - The magic X is the the intersection between your shared values and diverse resources. Once you’ve both shared the why behind the “what you do,” the next step is to identify what unique resources you both bring to the table that can help further your shared values.
4. Make a clear ask - Once you’ve identified what resources you both bring to the table, ask for the specific help you need and want.
5. Follow up - No matter how flawless your 1-on-1 meeting game is, the real magic is in the follow-up.

And here's an interesting article that tells you, step-by-step, how to leverage LinkedIn to have an Effective 1:1 Coffee Networking Meeting. It contains some really useful information on how to use LinkedIn. Here are a few general tips they also included:

• Be the first to give to your new business relationships
• Always pay it forward
• Network with purpose.

Check out this video that I found on Dr. Ivan Misner's website, not only is it funny but it contains some great information on how to improve your 1 to 1 meetings, If you don't know who Dr. Misner is, he's the founder of BNI, Business Network International and he's a big fan of SendOutCards...in fact, he'll be one of the keynote speakers at this year's SOC Convention.

Hopefully, you've found this information helpful and if you have any 1 to 1 meeting tips that you'd like to share, we'd love to see them.

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