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10 Tips for One-on-One Networking Meetings
Anyone who recommends networking in order to grow your business will tell you that you should book one-to-ones (1:1)with people. But why does nobody ever talk about what to do during that one-on-one meeting? We’re going to run through 10 tips today about how to build connections through one-on-one meetings.
The first thing is to understand who you should have one-on-ones with. Well, if you are actually joining a networking group, or a club, or an organization, the obvious is just to make your way through the roster. You can go right to the website and start going through the list, reaching out to people to introduce yourself to everyone. This is where I love Calendly. Give them your link and say, “Hi, I’m new to the group. I would love to get to know you let’s do a one-on-one.” That’s all you need to say.
If somebody is in a networking organization, they too want to have one to ones and are probably very excited to have that connection with you. In addition, every time you’re going to an event with this group, select a few people that you were curious about from the things that they said in their intro and reach out after the event.
The second tip is about how many one-on-one’s you should have in a week. Just a quick segue before we even continue on these 10 tips, I try to aim personally to have at least five per week overall. I know some who aim for 10. I know some do two, the number of meetings you have overall each week is up to you. A good rule of thumb is from every networking event to try to have two one-on-one’s scheduled after the event. But as you’re going to learn, you’re keeping up with these your contacts. So the people that you are connecting with will repeat every few months.
Third is that Zoom one-on-ones are always a great option. If you are like me and trying to fit in 5 or more per week, try to have your one-on-ones on zoom because it cuts down on that driving time. It also cuts down on the meetings lasting over one hour. When I really enjoy somebody, I don’t want to stop talking to them and we tend to go way over time. Zoom one-on-ones can really help with that. They can also help you fit more of these meetings into your schedule. It was tough before COVID to get people to use Zoom for one-on-ones. But now in this post COVID world or this during COVID…
