Due to listener requests, Veronica and Jillian discuss the topic of networking tactics. They compare notes and strategies about how they approach networking, the tools and tactics they use, and share stories about some results they've gotten through building relationships and networking. People & Resources Mentioned in This Episode https://calendly.com/ https://youcanbook.me/ Show References Links About Veronica Guguian - Website: https://spinideas.nl/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-guguian About Jillian Vorce - Website: https://thejilliangroup.com/better - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianvorce Credits - Music Composed by BeeLa Music - Voiceover by Amanda Balagur
Jillian and Veronica discuss their views on networking and how it can be beneficial for business. Jillian emphasized that she doesn't network for her own gain, but rather to connect with interesting individuals and facilitate introductions. She also emphasized the importance of having a plan and being aware of one's purpose and posture in any situation. Veronica agreed, mentioning that she had gained clients through casual conversations unrelated to business. They ended the conversation with Veronica launching a challenge related to attitudes in networking.
Veronica shared her strategies for meeting new people, such as attending sessions and engaging in conversations, and emphasized that networking effectiveness can depend on personality. They discuss the traits of effective networking, emphasizing the importance of being present, asking questions, and actively listening, and that networking's real value comes from after the event, such as following up with potential connections.
Jillian Vorce discusses a tactic she used to network effectively by hosting curated coffees or lunches, bringing together a selective mix of people to create value and allow each person to shine. She emphasizes the importance of creating an environment for others to shine and positioning them in front of everyone else. Jillian also highlights the significance of follow-up after networking events, suggesting sending LinkedIn messages and using tools like Calendly for scheduling calls. Veronica Guguian adds that it's crucial to focus on what you do after networking, as that determines its effectiveness. She recommends inviting connections to personal events and making notes for different actions, while also considering automation solutions when appropriate.
Veronica emphasizes the shift towards inspiration and networking in events and how the pandemic changed her approach. She also mentioned her plans for a quarterly face-to-face series. Jillian highlighted the importance of strategic planning at events, such as using apps for connections and immediately following up with new connections. She also shared her experience with hosting events, suggesting starting small can be effective and curating mixes of people for business lunches or coffees. Both agreed on the benefits of networking in a group setting and emphasized the importance of allowing each person to shine. They concluded that effective networking events should be simple and not overwhelming, with smaller, more intimate events being ideal for meaningful connections.
Jillian Vorce challenges the misconception that extroverts make better networkers, emphasizing the value of listening and asking questions. They both agree that networking is not just about attending events but also following up afterward to build relationships. Veronica shares her approach of attending events for inspiration rather than solely seeking clients. Jillian suggests tactics such as planning ahead, utilizing social media connections, and hosting one's own events for effective networking strategies.
Veronica shared her strategy of using LinkedIn and personal notes to connect and follow up with new contacts.Jillian emphasized the importance of personal touches like snail mail and event invitations, and highlighted the role of 'posture' and body language in networking. She shared her experience of attending an event and striking a conversation with John, which led to three speaking engagements and a meaningful personal relationship. She attributed her success to her observation skills and understanding her purpose in networking situations.
People & Resources Mentioned in This Episode
About Veronica Guguian
- Website: https://spinideas.nl/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-guguian
About Jillian Vorce
- Website: https://thejilliangroup.com/better
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianvorce
Credits
- Music Composed by BeeLa Music
- Voiceover by Amanda Balagur
Jillian Vorce
Welcome to episode twelve of Creative Collaboration Conversations with Veronica and Jillian. And I am Jillian. Hello.
Veronica Guguian
Hello. And I'm Veronica. And welcome to a very chilly autumn day.
Jillian Vorce
Yes, it is, suddenly.
Veronica Guguian
Yes. And today, we're going to reopen a topic that we discussed, and that is marketing tactics. And we decided to actually bring it up to life because guess what, the listener asked for it. So I'm super excited because we do have listeners. So thank you everyone that is listening. And secondly is that people are not only listening, but they actually try to apply and they take what we are saying and they want to learn more and go deeper into specific topics. I'm so happy about that.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, I feel like it's an interactive platform in a way. It's like although a little bit kind of somewhat disjointed, but in being able to engage with folks who are listening. So we share something, we get some feedback and some suggestions. And so that's how today's topic came to be. In episode two, we talked about the power of networking. And so we had a listener reach out and ask us to do an episode on kind of breaking it down further and discussing our individual networking tactics. So I feel like it's a great sign. And from the beginning, we said our purpose for this podcast is to get to know each other better, to learn and have fun, but also to see if we could help or inspire another person. And so I think we could say mission accomplished because somebody is interacting with us.
Jillian Vorce
And so here we go.
Veronica Guguian
And was episode two.
Jillian Vorce
Yay. Yeah, I know. Back when were super rookies. Now we're all the way to episode twelve. Come on.
Veronica Guguian
Can you believe that? But before we start our normal chat because let's be honest, this is one of our favorite topics, networking.
Jillian Vorce
Yes.
Veronica Guguian
I'm afraid this will be very or maybe not scary but maybe everyone will be happy because I have a feeling this would be a longish episode.
Jillian Vorce
I know it could be, yeah.
Veronica Guguian
Shall we do our normal check-in? Like anything you want to share? What happened? What did you do this past year?
Jillian Vorce
To? It was my first time ever attending the Social Enterprise World Forum event that was held in Amsterdam and it was really eye opening. I met some amazing people and had just very inspiring and validating conversations with folks and actually it's kind of apropos because I networked quite a bit and that was part of my reason for going is I'm now approaching year three here in my new home country and new home continent. It's really important for me to get out there and to meet people, to shake hands and to network. And so that's what I was doing. A lot of learning, creating kind of context around subject matter but ultimately to build a relationship. That's my update. And then I had a birthday. It's like wow, I'm trying to own 45. So here I am, 45. Those are my updates.
Veronica Guguian
Are you happy? I'm fighting a cold and I feel everything is in slow motion and frustrating, to be honest. Very vulnerable here. But I did attend the past week some networking events as well and it's good to be there and I think we shared this in other ones that the energy is different. But I have to say something that really puzzled me was there were events and conferences around entrepreneurship and startups and there were big names invited to speak and share. But what really surprised me was the fact that even in this new era that we are working in a different economy, we are still discussing management instead of leadership.
Veronica Guguian
And I find this very important in terms of how do you choose your team, how do you motivate, how do you build the relationships, how do you decide what type of partnerships you want and how to work? So that actually puzzled me and I reached out to specific leadership coaches or not necessary coaches, but thought leaders and got some what my question towards them was what's the difference between management and leadership? Because I have a feeling not a lot of people really understand it or even if they apply some of the tactics between leadership, they still call it management. And I think that's actually the core issue.
Veronica Guguian
If we are not using the right terminology we can't really change the mindset because then we are discussing a different language, we are discussing the same term but we are understanding different we give different meanings to the term and I think that can be very dangerous.
Jillian Vorce
So I have a proposal. Can we dig into that topic in a future episode because I am really interested in that and I've been doing some work in that space as well and I'd love to have that conversation with you. So can we add that to our list for coming up soon because I would love to chat about that.
Veronica Guguian
So let's see episode 13 or 14.
Jillian Vorce
Let's just stay tuned.
Veronica Guguian
Or maybe again my normal comments are written in the comment section, do you want to hear about this? And actually I'm curious what people believe, what's the intake? Do our audience, do our listeners see a difference between management and leadership? For them it is the same thing, is this a startup or a corporation? But it doesn't really apply here either because I was in a very startup-ish environment and the topic still was there and no one addressed it.
Jillian Vorce
So I have a question at this event. How about this is my attempt as a segue. By the way, tell me about networking. Were there specific networking sessions or kind of how did you show up to network or how did you network at the session? And perhaps we can use that as a springboard to open up the conversation.
Veronica Guguian
Sounds good. Okay, you know me, it doesn't matter the environment, I will still go and say hello and get to know some people. But I have to say, especially this event that I'm having, I'm not going to give names because I don't want to.
Veronica Guguian
Either put them in a bad light or because the event was good, don't get me wrong, but it's better not to name them at this point considering my previous remark. Yeah, I think they were over 200 people and the other one was 1000 people. Over 1000 people. So really big ones. The conference with over 1000 participants was a proper conference with an exhibition hall where you could go and speak with people and things like that and had some really nice areas arranged where you could sit down and have a proper conversation. Even if you just stay there and have a coffee and somebody will show up and if you're open and say hello you can strike a conversation. So that was really good.
Veronica Guguian
The previous one was just a couple of hours, around 200 people I said and was a little bit chaotic even if the audience was good.
Veronica Guguian
If you don't have the personality to go and meet people.
Jillian Vorce
It can be overwhelming.
Veronica Guguian
Can be overwhelming and you do see people knowing each other so they tend to kind of stick together or if you have a connector between them like the two of us, we are definitely connectors and I will start introducing you to other people and striking up a conversation can be very awkward. So definitely I do see room for improvement there. And another thing, the people that were actually going and chatting, they were salespeople.
Jillian Vorce
Can I jump on that one for a second?
Veronica Guguian
Yes, please.
Jillian Vorce
When I kind of crack open the topic of networking, one of the first nuggets or subtopics that rises to the surface is what I think of as a misconception, I have found because I've been involved in teaching and kind of studying networking for 25 years, not 40. Or remember the time you said, oh, yeah, I'm like, what? No, not that long anyway, for like 25 years anyway. And I think it's interesting that there seems to be this presumption that in order to be an effective networker you have to be an extrovert and the reverse, that extroverts are good networkers.
Veronica Guguian
Yes.
Jillian Vorce
And I often will say the opposite. I think that a lot of times, and this isn't perhaps a generalization, it's not meant to be derogatory at all, it's just an observation. My own observation is that a lot of times people that are yeah, so two things, people that are extroverts often kind of dominate the conversation. They do all of the talking and whatnot. And so that it can be effective in that people can be attracted to that, but it doesn't really generate reciprocity which for me is like a core ingredient of sustainable but also fulfilling networking strategy or just a belief. It's like a pillar to create reciprocity. And so it's not for me to be the loudest and it can create that effect especially on social media with the vanity metrics.
Jillian Vorce
It creates like wow, there's this idea of like they're such a great networker because they have all these people but a lot of times it's hollow, it's not reciprocal. And the people in the posse may not feel that they can actually reach out and have a conversation or they feel like there's this weird power thing that goes on, this strange power dynamic. So maybe I just took that a little bit to the dark side, but on the flip side, I think you.
Veronica Guguian
Did I listen well?
Jillian Vorce
Is it okay? Does it make me think that generally people that are introverts tend to be more present and better listeners and good at asking questions. And to me those are like the most important skills that can lead to effective networking and ultimately building relationships. Being present, asking questions and then listening. And I would say actively listening as opposed to listening and waiting just for the chance to say what you want to say, but instead to be present and to listen. And so I feel like those are, I think, counterintuitive for a lot of people. But that's to me, like the secret sauce of networking is just those three things which don't sound super exciting or like these buzzword, really sexy topics, but it's really quite effective.
Veronica Guguian
I'm really happy you said that for several reasons and I'm trying to just break them down. But yeah, actually it doesn't matter if you're introverted or extroverted but everything goes back to why you are. At that particular event? What's the goal? What do you want to achieve? And if you just want to go and speak and be loud, then you're not going to make connections. What's the point? It's better to go on a stage and have a presentation because that shows me what you are there just to be seen, not to build a relationship. How can you actually get to know a person if you are not, as you said, shutting up and actually asking questions, shutting up and listening. So what's the goal? The goal is to just be seen, then go and be as loud as possible.
Veronica Guguian
The goal of the networking, your goal, I mean, like why are you attending that particular event or networking or whatever it is to get new clients. Do your research in advance, see who's there, see who you want to speak to and actively look for them. Or somebody that can introduce you. Or even better, just reach out to them prior to the event and tell them I'll be there. How about we have a five minute chat and I will look for your specific time of meeting, like be very pragmatic and very organized or are you just curious depending on the event? Usually I'm going with this notion, I'm curious, I want to see who's there. And you never know what will happen, right?
Veronica Guguian
And then you actually have to do exactly what you said and you need to go and just ask questions. The less you speak, the more you listen, I think the better the networking for you it is. And one more thing that actually everybody I think is very important. Networking is just the first step. It's not even the courtship, it's just the speed dating. You go and see, is there a click between us and our businesses? Is that something interesting? Am I curious enough to follow up? But the secret is not the networking. The secret is what do you do afterwards? Do you follow up and have a virtual coffee or a business meeting or what's happening afterwards?
Veronica Guguian
Because if you go and you speak with 100 people, even if you just speak or listen or whatever you do, but you don't do anything regarding that afterwards, what's the point?
Jillian Vorce
Let me ask a quick couple of questions then. Okay, so a few things. One, I'm curious how events fit into your kind of networking tool bag. Is it like your first tool, your first kind of go to? It's like, I'm going to network and let me go to events. Is that one or are there other things that you do more like other favorite tools? I guess I'm kind of butchering this question, but I'm trying to ask without leading, I guess that question is how do events fit into your networking strategy?
Veronica Guguian
It keeps on changing. It depends on the goal and depends on the event and depends honestly on my state. Like where I am and what's my energy level and where I am with my business. At that particular point I wouldn't say I feel good. It gives me energy to meet people, but not necessarily. Yes, for business it's very easy to get to know them, but also for me to get inspired. So I tend to go to events in particular. My main goal is not to go and find clients or find leads, but to be inspired to see what is happening out there. What can I add to what I am doing?
Veronica Guguian
I am organizing a lot of events and actually we are preparing. We had an episode about ONS (the online networking with the spin) that we are changing at this point and actually in November we are launching something different and a lot of things are implemented. So when I attend an event, I have like two hats or maybe even three. One is like from the organizing events point of view, like how are they doing it? Can I learn something? How can I improve what I'm doing? The second one is to be inspired by the set and get to know people. Maybe they could be my clients, but I don't know. There are some events where you go and you know your client is there and you do the preparation in advance and you set up meetings and go there.
Veronica Guguian
But I have to admit lately those types of events for me were less also because we had a pandemic and that really influenced. But the focus for me at this point is actually moving more. I am the one organizing and we are actually planning Base 2024 that will be hopefully a face to face. We are preparing a new series of events that will be quarterly face to face events. So I'm usually the one that's like you come towards us and let's have a conversation then the other way around. This is a switch. This is a very long answer for a direct question. I used to know I'm in the process of changing how I'm using the networking events. But primarily for me are to be inspired and see what is happening out there. How about you? How do you use them?
Jillian Vorce
So I just want to underscore quickly, I'm kind of happy that you responded the way you did because that's what I was trying to do with the way I framed the question was to say events because it's not attending events, it can also be hosting events. And I think that's a really effective tactic for people to think about is to delineate the difference, right? And how anybody could really do either. So attending events is one thing and yeah, there's a lot we could unpack about specific tactics of how to maximize the face to face or even if it's online, the individual time that you can have with people. Right.
Jillian Vorce
So some things like you had mentioned finding out ahead of time who's going, if possible, following through social media threads, look at the schedule and to reach out to people ahead of time, et cetera. So a lot of planning or being there, meeting people, I'll just throw a quick one. One thing I do at events, and I just did at this event, is when you meet somebody so a lot of events will have an app that you can use to meet people and connect with folks. That can be great. I also will jump right into LinkedIn and a lot of people don't know that you can open up and use the scan the QR code in the search bar to scan each other so you can connect immediately.
Jillian Vorce
And then when I do that, I'll just send a quick message to them and I'll just be so glad we met at whatever the name of the event is. I look forward to staying in touch so that it's there, so that I can come back to it later and the conversation has already started. So there's some of those things. I think on the flip side, hosting events is something that I think there's great opportunity for and I think a lot of people are intimidated or don't they think of like oh, how can I host this big event? But it can start small. And so I'll just share one quick tactic that I used that was pretty effective, I would say for a number of years I used to host curated coffees or lunches, business lunch or business coffee.
Jillian Vorce
And I would be very selective about the different mix of people that I would invite because I realized that it would add more value than me just doing individual sessions with these people. So I bring them together and be able to then in a group setting say, okay, you should talk to her for this reason. And everybody would get to know everybody else there. And it would also create an environment for each person to have the spotlight on them and to allow them to shine. I feel like there's a lot of magic in this. It's genuine, but it's a really powerful kind of tool. I hate to think of it that way, but it's a powerful thing that you can do.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, a tactic, I suppose, because for most people, if we're in the presence of others and we're telling everybody about how great we are, it can be a little bit of a turn off. Right. It's good for us to have confidence and be able to own the things that we have done. But there's a difference between that and then overdoing it and telling everybody about how great we are and all of our things.
Veronica Guguian
Exactly.
Jillian Vorce
There's a line but for a lot of people, they have amazing things going on but they're not really sure or they're shy or whatever. So to me that's networking is creating a space for other people to shine. So doing that in a kind of controlled environment, a very warm group, and being able to say, introduce, and to be able to share things that I know about this person or things that I've observed, and to edify them, makes them feel empowered or makes them feel better and it helps position them to everybody else. So I think you could even do that with a small group of you, the listener could do that with a small group of people that you know and or want to get to know better in your own local community. I think there's a great opportunity to do that.
Jillian Vorce
And that really helps for what we call thought leadership or just networking, because people begin to know you as a person who knows other people or who can facilitate. And there's a lot of opportunities tied to that.
Veronica Guguian
This is exactly how the online networking with the Spin started. That was exactly the idea behind it. They just help people connect.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah.
Veronica Guguian
The most effective events are the ones that have a very simple purpose. The more complicated you do them or the bigger you want to do them, or it gets too complicated and then the purpose is lost. Less is better, actually. Just stick to one thing, you can play with it, you can be as creative as you want, but keep it simple.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, I think so. I agree with that.
Veronica Guguian
Sorry to jump in, but no, go ahead. One more thing that you need to consider is the amount of people attending events. Because there are several types of events and the connection, the networking and the relationships that are built during those events depend and they differ quite a lot depending on the size of the event. And they are like the best, for example, for conferences, the best way to create a powerful environment where people are connecting and good conversations are held and connections. Statistics show, like there are studies that show there it's 150. So this is why when we created the Base conference, the first one was face to face, that was our goal and we managed to get like 150 people to be in the room because if you have more than that, it's overwhelming.
Veronica Guguian
And then you have huge events like the next web where you have over ten k and honestly, I was overwhelmed actually, all the time you get there, it's just too much. And then you feel like I need to plan my meetings for that, I need to have a goal because otherwise I'm getting lost in all of that. There are so many options that you're overwhelmed and then you have the very small, very cozy ones where everybody gets to know each other and speak like the one that you just described. Dinner or lunch.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. It's interesting, I think, on the event side of things. Yeah. This is a topic I love chatting about and I feel like we could have actually done a whole episode just on event networking. It happens to be one of the things I've done quite a bit of in my career, both in terms of so I had a client that hosted and produced, I believe it's the largest social media conference in the world. I believe it was and may still be, I'm not sure, but they were a client for, I think, six years. And so I was a networking ambassador. So helping to set up the structure of the conference to facilitate networking for all of the attendees. But then I challenge them that networking goes beyond attendees. It also involves the sponsors, it involves the speakers, it's more holistic.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, you can do it. So then we actually scaled that and then we began to onboard other networking ambassadors and train the whole team. So we did that. So I'm familiar with conference networking through the lens of the conference producers or facilitators organizers right on that side. On the other hand, I've also had a great experience with a client, which is kind of up our alley. So they were a healthcare tech company and what they did was they got out in front of their competitors in a way and produced this conference. So they were the conference organizers, so they could control the environment per se, but they were very strategic about it. And they would then invite their competitors to participate in panels and to speak.
Jillian Vorce
And so they would edify their competitors, realizing that the more they could advance together, it creates a greater opportunity for all of the players. Right.
Veronica Guguian
Collaborate instead of compete.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, collaborate, exactly. So that's our whole podcast. So that's why I like this example, but one of the things I think was true for them, and it can be true for it's also relevant for an individual person is how to maximize those face to face opportunities. So my work with them was to create a plan for their team, their executive team, and just their entire team that was going to be at the event. For them to have a very kind of structured strategy and plan that was started before the conference and then what they would do during the conference and then afterwards for them to maximize the opportunity.
Jillian Vorce
Because you can have this whole thing and you feel like all these things are going to happen, you're going to get all this business, you have all these ideas, but if they're not connected to some sort of a strategy and plan into the granular, what can I do? It can be very easy a week later and you're still trying to look through your business cards and figure out what I am going to do and haven't done anything. Yeah, I agree.
Veronica Guguian
I think the most important thing that everyone should remember when it comes to networking is not the networking itself. What do you do afterwards? Because again, you meet a lot of people and probably half of them you'll never have a nice conversation with, but that's it. And you're never going to see them again or remember them. But what do you do with the rest? What do you do with those that actually can be your clients or you had a very good conversation and you feel like there may be an opportunity here, but if you don't follow up, I think that what I want you to leave our listeners with is not actually how you network it's? What do you do after networking? Because everyone is so focused on that particular moment.
Veronica Guguian
But let's be honest, only if you are very shy and you sit in a corner and you refuse to speak with anyone, it's impossible not to have at least a couple of conversations when you go to one of these events. Because even if you are not that outgoing person, you'll have people like that and they will come and say hello, like the two of us probably saw you there and we just entered the room, we're going to say hello and we're going to introduce you to the next person we meet. So it's impossible for you to speak with someone unless you really don't want to.
Veronica Guguian
So let's cut this one because we already shared in the previous episode, I think what is important and I think what people are lacking and why the networking is not that efficient for some people, is what do you do afterwards. And I do like I am also always with my phone and actually LinkedIn used to have an even better thing before the scan, your code. Because if you were on Bluetooth, the bump yes, and everybody the bump.
Jillian Vorce
You.
Veronica Guguian
We’re connected with people in five minutes, it was brilliant. Anyway, I always do the same. And then what I do, I like the fact that you already send them a message. I don't do that because I like to be present there. But what I do the second day, I look like, what are my latest connections? And try to follow up with them because under your network you see the latest connections that you have. That's my secret, how to follow up that one. But then you need to start remembering or looking at them because maybe they shared a specific aspect of their business with you, but maybe they do more. So just be curious and allocate time to do something about it and that will change the way you interact with people. Yes.
Jillian Vorce
So just out of curiosity, thanks. I'm trying to think about this person who asked us about tactics. I'm trying to kind of push us to be as granular and specific as possible. So I'm curious. We've both talked about how we utilize LinkedIn. Are there other things that you do or other tools or processes that you have that help you to continue to perhaps on the follow up side or just networking in general.
Veronica Guguian
I follow up on LinkedIn and I do send them the calendly link, for example, so we can book a call or I do make notes and with some people, for example, from the conference we spoke, but what I'm going to do now, I'm going to invite them to my ons. So I'm placing reminder for myself to do different things. I'm looking into automating some things, but I can't say I found the right solution for me because at this point, as you know, I'm in a way of restructuring the company. So it doesn't make sense to focus on this. I need to be three steps higher before I'm going into this process, but at this point it's more personal.
Jillian Vorce
How about you? All right, so there's two bits. I want to make sure I come back to bit one, so remind me to come back to bit one. So the second bit is so LinkedIn, but I also use a CRM and then I will create a tag or something of the name of the event and the month and date that I met them because then it helps me to be able to follow up later. And then I also will set the timer of how frequently or when I want to follow up with them next. For some people it's like oh, once a quarter be fine. So three months after the event or whenever I met them, I want to follow back up with them.
Jillian Vorce
For some other people, if I want to get to know them more, it might be one week or something like that, shorter time frame. So I do use a CRM for that to help kind of record notes and things. Also to add tags about when I met them and then related contacts. So I do use that. The other thing I like is snail mail, which I've done that for many years, to just send a random card to somebody or send something. I like that of them, right? So I told that story as related to the story told in The Power of Networking, episode two about the harmonica. I mailed the harmonica, little mini harmonica, but I do like to utilize snail mail for things. It's very unexpected. And then you can also use content, right?
Jillian Vorce
Content is a way to continue to facilitate or build a relationship either by featuring somebody or a company in a blog article or in a social media post or both. Podcasting or events. Like you said, if there is an event you're hosting, if you have a podcast, it's a great opportunity to invite such and such person to be a guest on your show. Or if you're hosting business, coffees or luncheons in your community, that's a great place to invite them or if you're doing an online thing like your ons. So I think there are a lot of ways that we can go about facilitating relationships and tools. That's what I think about that.
Veronica Guguian
So that's bit two and bit one.
Jillian Vorce
Okay, so bit one, I fully agree with bit two.
Veronica Guguian
Yes, you do.
Jillian Vorce
All right, cool. Yeah. So that's how I go about that. Although let me say one thing about bit two before we go back to bit one. I think this is super relevant for all of us. And I think this is the kind of thing all of us can do today. Right? It's like, so great to have all these ideas, but what can I do today? All of us are guilty of this, of having attended an event or been somewhere and met somebody. And we had the best of intentions. We really meant to follow up with them, but we just haven't. And now it's been like that awkward amount of time where you're like, will they even remember me? Is it too late? And here's the thing. All of us have had that experience, so therefore we can be empathetic. Like, we understand that feeling.
Jillian Vorce
So my suggestion is to find it's a challenge. I want to say three, but do one today. Find somebody that you meant to follow up with. It can be three months ago, it can be three years ago, it doesn't matter, and just write to them and say, oh, my gosh, here I am, all of this time later, whatever it is, what it is to me, it can be a positive. It's like, yeah, it's been three years, but you are still on my mind. And so I had to write, it's been so long. Yeah, you may not remember me, but I remember you. And what I remember is that you said X or you did Y or something that you can help to anchor their memory. Like, oh, yes, I remember that thing.
Veronica Guguian
If you don't do that, the impact is even higher.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, that's how to do it. All right, so that's bit two. And if you just let me indulge for a moment. I'm going to use that to wrap into bit one, which is what I should have started with. I should have started this conversation because anytime I've ever talked about or done any kind of all the networking workshops and coaching and all that stuff that I do, I always say that networking starts. It's like there's like the precursor. It's not networking go out and do event. It's not any of that. It's so much about the pre stuff, right? So it's the mental side of things. So the three ways I think about the precursor of networking. So first is posture. And so the posture can be a physical posture, it can also be a mental posture to just be aware of it.
Jillian Vorce
But I think that I love doing this kind of thing in person, kind of workshop, and just being able to demonstrate body language and how we stand, how we project ourselves and how powerful that is as a tool or a networking tactic. And I could give many examples. Like, for example, I'll just give you one posture. So one time I was at a coffee shop and I lived in Los Angeles, and I was just actually, no, I have a better so this is like a real, actual example. Okay? So I went to short example. So I went to a LinkedIn conference years ago or a panel at a local hotel about LinkedIn when LinkedIn was like, becoming a thing.
Jillian Vorce
And I wanted to see I went because I wanted to see who the panelists were and what the composition of the audience was, because I'm a nerd and I pay attention to things like that. I was interested to learn, but I really wanted to see that. So I got to the event, and I got stuck in some traffic. I was a little late, so I snuck in on the side, and there was one seat available. Sat down, and then I PROCEED to listen. And as I sat down, some people in the room kind of waved at me, and I just tried to not be disruptive and kind of hello? So I'm following the discussion and taking notes and whatnot. And I had an iPad and my iPhone, and I'm taking notes. I'm just doing my thing at the intermission or whatever.
Jillian Vorce
The guy sitting next to me, John, took out a business card and he flipped over his business card and he wrote down this woman's name and phone number. And he said, I think you should call this woman because I think you can help her. I think you can help us. And I didn't even know who this guy was. So I ended up calling this woman, who ended up being the marketing officer for this large financial institution. And that led me to a new engagement of three speaking engagements across the US. The second of which brought me to California from Boston, brought me to California, which is where I ended up meeting my now wife. So all of this because of body language.
Jillian Vorce
So I literally did not say anything. This guy had a presumption about me because of what he observed. And that led to this and how.
Veronica Guguian
People interacted with you.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, this is it. Anyway, there's a whole bunch of stuff about posture. So there's that. There's mental posture, how we're thinking the next part is purpose and what is our purpose? And you kind of struck on this early on in our conversation today, which is when I should have jumped in with this part. Purpose. Are we trying to network to get something? And so, for me, I have never done that. I don't network to get. Instead, I'm looking for assets, for seeds that I can plant in my garden so that I can facilitate introductions later for other people. I like how you said to network for myself to get business or to get anything ever, because every piece of business there ever has come to me from doing this.
Jillian Vorce
That's the irony.
Veronica Guguian
Exactly. And I'm so happy you said that because you will not get the chance to have a proper conversation in that environment, and be able to get business. What you're doing is you're curious and you see, is there a click? Can we actually, as you said, you're placing a seat and the seat can be placed in your bag as well. So it's mutual. But that's the whole purpose of there. Just go and be curious and see who's there and what is happening. But the business will not be conducted there.
Jillian Vorce
No. And so that's the purpose; I'm looking for people to elevate. I'm looking for interesting people I can introduce. I'm looking for who would be good that I can how can I help them, what's going on? So that's my purpose. And then the third part is to plan. Right? So have a plan. What am I going to do? I'm going to connect them on LinkedIn. What am I going to do with it? Just be thinking about it. Yeah. Do I want to reach out to people ahead of time? Some conferences, some opportunities are for that. But honestly, for me, and that's also the reason I asked what role events play in your kind of networking strategy.
Jillian Vorce
Because for me, I think if I did the math on it, probably a contender as far as productivity or output second to or in parallel to events would be like standing in line at coffee shops. And so my thing with that is it's so funny how people think as if there's a switch, like, all right, turn it on. Okay. Now I'm networking. Turn it off. Now I'm not networking. It's not yeah. Or your purpose and how you are. So for me, anywhere I go, I have this posture. I'm aware of my posture and I'm aware of my purpose. And so I am open and always behaving the same way. And so therefore, opportunities are generated everywhere, not just at an event. It's not just go there, it's just being in your normal, regular life.
Jillian Vorce
There's incredible opportunity all around us if we're just open to it. I think.
Veronica Guguian
I'm so happy you said that because actually, two clients, I got them while walking my dog.
Jillian Vorce
There you go.
Veronica Guguian
Nothing to do with business. The discussions were about dogs and things like that. And then you start getting to know the person and you start asking questions and you are curious. So I totally agree with you. It's about the attitude and how open you are and what you're doing. I have so many things to add to this, but I just thought the. Time, and I think this will be very long.
Jillian Vorce
I know, you're probably right.
Veronica Guguian
I think we need to wrap it up. But he gave me an idea. I do want to launch a challenge besides the one that you launched, Reaching Out.
Jillian Vorce
Okay.
Veronica Guguian
And it's about the attitude. And my friends always tell me that I'm having strange conversations with people on the street, but what I'm changing when I'm going, I will just mile at people if I see someone, and I just go and be open. And it doesn't matter who they are, and you should treat everyone the same. And this is actually what I hate, the networking events. Because you see some of the people like, oh, you're just that I don't want to speak with you. And for me, in that case, I really don't want to know that person, but just go on the street and smile at people and see what happens.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah. So I have that. Actually. I wrote an ebook many years ago about this topic, about nine steps to grow Your Professional network, and one of them is the Smile Challenge. And it sounds so silly. It sounds really silly, but if you do it's amazing how you can stand out making eye contact. And I know there are some cultural things, but in general, eye contact and just smiling at somebody is like, just be open. Wow. Yeah. They automatically are going to be open. So I love that you brought that up. I do the smile challenge as well. I love that. Yes, that's also a challenge. Smile at people. That strangers.
Veronica Guguian
But wait, smile genuinely. Don't go and force a smile, because if you're in a bad place, then you just don't want to speak with anyone. Don't do it. But if you have a good day, just look around and smile at people. And just the fact that somebody will smile at you and will tell you have a good day will make you feel better as well.
Jillian Vorce
It doesn't need to be a great way.
Veronica Guguian
It's just for your soul just to feel better. And you're going to make someone else say better as well.
Jillian Vorce
Yeah, that's a great way. And that's an excellent way to wrap up our episode for today with that challenge, the Smile Challenge.
Veronica Guguian
Yes. And don't forget also the reaching up challenge. Yeah. I think it's a perfect moment to stop because my coughing is coming back.
Jillian Vorce
Okay, perfect.
Veronica Guguian
Thank you, everyone, for listening and tuning in. And till next time.
Jillian Vorce
Till next time. Cheers