Being Conversationally Social

Be brave enough to start conversations that matter.

Dau Voire

Last week in my article “What Kind of Social Are You?” we explored how some of us are ANTISOCIAL, some are AWKWARDLY SOCIAL while others of us (who are being, in my opinion more successful on LinkedIn) are being RELATIONALLY SOCIAL.

I gave some tips and pointers about being relationally social as you reach out and attempt to connect with clients, prospective clients, networking partners and vendors.? I believe that if you follow that advice you have more of a chance to ‘connect’ with people. Don’t confuse the react that LinkedIn says you’re connected with the fact that you’ve actually made a real and true connection with the person.

As I stated last week, once someone accepts your invitation, that’s just the start of being relationally social.??

Succeeding in business is all about making connections- Richard Branson

If we want to truly connect with and build a connection with a person, we have to communicate.

Picture this: A friend introduces you to a mutual acquaintance and says ‘you two HAVE to connect, you’re going to hit it off, I know it!’- so you exchange contact information with the other person with the promise that you’ll be in touch.? But, neither of you reach out, neither of you attempts to take the connection that has been made to the next step.

Whether you’re too busy or just forgot, neither of you decide to be relationally social with the introduction that was made.

Or, one of you makes an attempt.? You email, you call, you send a card via mail.? No reply.? You know where they live so you show up at their house and knock on the door.? No one answers even though you can see people walking around inside.??

Would it be safe to say that a word that comes to mind is IGNORED? For whatever reason, there’s no follow up, no follow through and the potential for any connection dies.

So what about your LinkedIn ‘connections’?? How many of them are you ignoring?? You research them, you engage on their content, you might even have met them initially in person, but once they accept your invitation, the communication dies, hence the ‘connection’ withers away.

DIDYOU KNOW?

Did you know that you can download a spreadsheet of your first degree LinkedIn connections??

In the video link below I explain step by step how to do this.

Downloading First Degree Connections - Watch Video

QUICK QUIZ

Now, you have to have done what I described above in order to do this, so don’t skip that step!!

Take a look at the last 15-20 people you connected with on LinkedIn.

Did you send them a thank you note for accepting your request?

Did you offer a next step?

Did you offer something of value (a PDF or other non-salesy information).

Out of those 15-20, how many have you talked to (phone or video call) since connecting?

How many do you have an appointment with to talk?

Chances are, you’re ignoring them.? Because if we don’t know what to do, we do nothing.

OR, we fall back on bad practices and our message is something like: “Thanks for accepting my invite, we help companies just like you to ____________. I’d love to meet with you and tell you how we can help you.”

That won’t work.? I mean if you’re doing that and it’s working, great.? But for the vast majority of us, no one wants our product or service thrown at them as soon as we connect.??

BEING SOCIAL

What do you do when you meet someone? If you’re like me, it looks something like this:

“Hi, I’m Bill” , extending my hand to shake.

They reply, “I’m Judy, nice to meet you, Bill.”

Then I say, “Likewise, so what brings you here today….”?

You start out with gratitude (it’s nice to meet you, thanks for coming…) and then you follow up with something easy (what brings you here, are you from around here…).

My point is, it’s a conversation and for a conversation to happen BOTH parties have to be engaged!??

On LinkedIn you’re having digital conversations.?

They accept your invitation you then send them a message back with a few components:

Gratitude: Thank you so much for becoming a part of my network here on LinkedIn…

No Pressure: I’m not sure if you’re open to it, but…. I’m curious if you’d be interested in…

Actionable next step: DON’T INVITE THEM TO A SALES PRESENTATION!!! ? I have a great article on ______ that you might be interested, let me know and I’ll send it along.

OR, I have a PDF on _______ that you might be interested in, let me know and I’ll send it along.

Don’t ever send them the item without their permission.? You want to start the connection off on the right foot and you don’t do that by spamming them with unwanted material.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

We want to facilitate a conversation to get to know the person better.?

You ask and they agree to have you send them the article.? You reach out in a day or two and ask them their thoughts.? You ask if they’d be open to a face-to-face conversation (in-person or video) with the idea to get the POV on the topic.

All of this is being CONVERSATIONALLY SOCIAL.

You want to have a digital conversation with them and attempt to move that conversation to something face-to-face.??

What do you do at THAT meeting….. We’ll talk about that next week!!

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