Networking Tips

Kevin Willett says your actions should override your reactions

In business we gain and lose customers all the time. There are several reasons why this may happen. Things change and it is hard not to take it personally when someone no longer wants to or chooses not to do business with you. I have had people in my networking group who leave to try other groups. Sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t. I don’t take this personally. Many times, they apologize and say, “I hope you don’t hate me now”. Folks, this is business and that’s the way it is. Let me give you another example. If you know multiple realtors and decide to list your home for sale, you can only have one listing agent. For those that don’t get the listing, it is not personal. You cannot take it that way. How you respond to not being chosen is important. Feeling rejected or acting bitter is not the way to go. Handling the situation professionally allows you to keep the relationship going, leading to potential opportunities down the road.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willett says ditch the vanity and take pride in yourself instead

2020 has been a crazy year. I am hearing a lot of stories about people upping their fitness routines with home gyms and workouts to try and keep some sanity in their day. I have heard the opposite stories from friends who are packing on the pounds and not able to get a good routine going. These are the friends I am concerned about. Not because of their eating habits but because of their networking habits. Many people I know have stopped networking. The excuses I am hearing “I don’t look good on Zoom” “I have gained weight” “I don’t want to put my makeup on for one call”. Wow!

Nobody documents themselves daily as much as I do. I post a lot of pictures; I do Facebook Live videos every day. I’ll admit I am one of the ones who has lost weight during the pandemic. So, I know how the gainers feel because when I look back on older videos and pictures, I can’t believe it. We all want to present our best selves to potential clients. Think about this though, if you don’t lose weight does that mean you are never going to network again?  If I had waited until I lost 25 or 30 pounds, there would be no New England B2B or Friends of Kevin right now. You cannot afford to wait to try and grow your business. The most important thing is not how you look on a Zoom call it’s how you portray yourself and your business. Impress people with your intelligence and passion for what you do.

Makeup or no makeup, comb your hair, put on a clean shirt and network!

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willet says your roots are what made you strong

I grew up in a neighborhood that had large families, not a lot of income and diverse ethnicities. I am super proud of that. While people from more affluent neighborhoods may have looked down on it, my neighborhood was awesome. I got to grow up with people with backgrounds from all over the world! Today, in my business, I am still interacting with people with diverse backgrounds. Networking is an important part of everyone’s business no matter the revenue, location or the clients that are sought.

We as business owners must be careful though. Once you have paid your dues and grown your business, remember where you started. It is easy to forget the client that gave you the small jobs to help you get started when now you are doing much larger jobs for bigger clients. Don’t forget those people. When they call, make sure you take care of them. You are not too important for the smaller jobs ever. Those people and those jobs are what made you and your business who you are today. Stay humble, stay thankful, never forget your roots.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willett says no matter the viewers, we all build our businesses one client at a time.

I always talk about one of the best ways to market yourself is by using short videos. I love FB live. I love using Zoom to interview clients in my short 3 Questions With promotions. Videos are great! But what if nobody is watching? I try and do a FB live business networking tip video every morning. One day this week I had over seven hundred viewers. The next day I had fifty. But you know what, that’s OK. That day I got a client out of it!

Using videos allows prospective clients to connect with you. They can see your personality and learn more about your business before making that initial phone call or connection. It’s easy to get discouraged when doing videos. We all want to be a viral superstar. Maybe that will happen and maybe it won’t. You may be tempted to give up, but remember you are building your brand and that is important. Some videos will be more popular than others. The number of viewers is not as important as who is viewing and just maybe you will get a new client out of it. Isn’t that the main goal?

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willett says Casper notwithstanding, ghosting is anything but friendly

One of the challenges of being a business owner is when people tell you no, they do not want/need your services. It’s tough to handle sometimes. But it is part of business. What is worse than someone telling you no? Someone ghosting you, not getting back to you, ignoring you. This is especially hurtful when you have spoken to someone and they tell you they do want your services. It has happened to me. I’ll invite someone to networking events and they tell me they are excited to attend. I’ll send invites and receive no response. I’ll email and no response. Why didn’t they just say no? They didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Well they have just wasted my time by making me work for them to come to events they had no intention of showing up to. They have wasted their own time by deleting my invites and emails. How does that help either one of us? Just say no! When I receive a straightforward negative response, I always thank the person for their honesty. This sometimes surprises them. “I can’t believe you thanked me for saying I did not want to attend your events!” They have just made my life easier by telling me there was one less email I’ll have to send that I will not get a response to. Of course, I’m thankful you just saved me time and effort!

If there is something or someone you need to say no to, then do it. Do not ghost them. This only causes anger; time wasted and hurts relationships on both sides. You could be viewed as unreliable and hurt your brand. Saying no is hard but is best for everyone. Don’t waste a business owner’s time by having them send emails, prepare quotes, or make calls on your behalf. Saying no hurts now but, be respectful and they will appreciate it and will benefit your brand in the long run.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willett says by making your business stand out, you will help it to grow

Running several networking events a month, I send out a lot of invitations for people to attend. Usually I get a yes or no response and keep moving forward. A few months ago I received a response that made me stop and think. A gentleman returned my email invitation saying he was not interested because I did a lousy job of explaining what was in it for him, why should he attend. At first, I was taken aback. Then I thought, you know what, he is right. I saw that he owned a business, I thought he would be a good fit for an event and I sent him the invitation. I did not think about why he should want to attend, why my event would be different from others he was invited to.

Most of us when we hear “what’s in it for me” we think of this as a negative statement. As business owners we have to think this way sometimes in order maximize our time listening to pitches. If you want to do business with me but cannot tell me how this will help me, I really don’t want to spend time listening or meeting with you. We have to be able to explain how our business stands out in order to attract new customers and continue to grow. Don’t be afraid to talk yourself and your business up! You are not generic, you are unique, so let potential clients know that

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willetts says being a connector makes you and others happy

I get a great feeling when people reach out to me and ask me for help, they need a referral, who should they use. It’s a great way to help your clients and a great feeling to help solve someone’s issue. We can all be connectors. Have you ever been scrolling through FaceBook and seen someone looking for a suggestion? Do you know someone who could help? Did you take the time to message that person with a suggestion? Most people don’t, they just scroll right by. It only takes a moment to send a private message to that person with some contact info for someone who can help them out. Then just message the business you are referring, to give them a heads up that you have shared their info. Maybe include a brief description of what the person was looking for and now you have made two people happy just by being a connector. You have also made an impression on both parties that may help your business down the road.

Ok, so your saying to yourself that networking is my job, of course I am going to send my clients referrals whenever I can. That is a correct statement. But I also help out people who are not my clients on occasion. There are businesses that are not a client, but I know are good at what they do. I like helping people and it is not always about being paid to do it. Be a connector for the right reasons and not only will you make the people you are connecting happy, but you will be happy as well.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willett says don’t wait until you need a referral, a customer or more business to meet with someone a second time.

When you are thinking about whether to attend a networking event or use your time elsewhere, do not make your decision solely on who will be at the event. Yes that is an important piece to consider, as I have said before, you need to present to the right audience, but you’d be amazed at the amount of people who turn down and event because they have met somebody attending  one other time.  Once is never enough. Do you think because you met someone once that they will remember everything about you and your business? I have had people asked me about event attendees even after attending multiple events with that person. ‘Hey Kev, who was that guy that did roofs at your last event? ‘Hey Kev, lady who does real estate for southern NH, I know her first name but can’t remember her last” and on and on. I have spoken and written many times about getting to know, like and trust. This takes time! Relationships need to be built, follow up needs to be done, and becoming comfortable with referrals to and from needs to happen.This is not the networking guy trying to get you to go to multiple events he is hosting, LOL. This is the networking guy trying to help you. Let me ask you this: Think about and event you have been to in the past. Do you remember everyone who was there and what they do? Probably not.

Next time you are thinking about skipping an event because you talked to someone once already, think again.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willett says doing a little bending in your schedule will not break it

What is the answer to this burning question you ask? Simple, be flexible.

The other day I had a call scheduled and the person cancelled on me. I tried to reschedule, and she was busy. She later contacted me with an alternative time, and I was busy. Several emails and phone tag episodes later we still hadn’t figured out when we could chat. This person felt bad that they had to cancel the original call. I told them it was no big deal, that if we were both willing to be flexible with the other’s schedule it would all work out. Hey, it is great that they were so busy, it meant business is good! A similar thing happened to me a few weeks ago. I was at my desk at 5am, as I am on most days, and an email comes through from a gentleman, I had on my calendar for a call later that day. He was going to have to cancel. I emailed him back immediately and said obviously he was awake and so was I, let’s talk now.  Now that is being flexible! We ended up having a great conversation. It all worked out.

On the flip side of this, if you have extra availability, that may not be something to advertise. Some potential clients may be weary if you tell them you are available to talk 24/7 in the upcoming days. They may wonder why you have so much free time. Give them a few options to choose from, making them think the rest was filled in. But again, stay flexible.

Bottom line is you need to service your clients first. If 9 to 5 does not fit for phone calls or video chats, be flexible to a 5:30 conversation. That is 5:30pm not 5:30am like me LOL. Although, if you are both early risers, why not! People who are willing to bend or maneuver their time in order to connect with potential clients are the one who will be successful.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Kevin Willett says there are no shortcuts in networking

I know I have said this before, but feel it needs to be repeated, be involved, participate. It is easy to join multiple groups. It is not easy to be involved in multiple groups. Don’t take on more than you can handle, membership wise. With any group you are a member of you need to participate and be involved. Are you sharing people’s from the groups posts? Are you chatting with people outside of networking events? Are you passing referrals? The people that do these things are the people who are most successful in networking. Just writing a check or having your name on a directory is not the way to go. That is lazy and will not show positive results. There are no shortcuts in networking. Put the effort in and watch your success grow.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events