TableTalk Panel | Alison Hillman + Dawn Baumgartner

KEY THEMES

• Tricks to overcome discomfort with networking

• Pre-gaming and pre-planning

• The power of authenticity

• Intentionality and reciprocity

• The "Four Things in 48 Hours" Follow-Up Strategy

LISTEN HERE

SNIPPET 1: Making a plan to overcome networking discomfort

SNIPPET 2: Authenticity in networking and how to pre-game

SNIPPET 3: The "4 Things in 48 Hours" Networking Follow-Up Strategy

TRANSCRIPTS

TRANSCRIPT 1: Making a plan to overcome networking discomfort

Dawn (00:00):

No, I love those tips. I'm curious, what are some of the common challenges? Where are y'all stuck? Why don't you walk into the rooms? What makes it uncomfortable? Anybody? This is the room of comfortable...

Audience member:

I would say just being by yourself when walking into a room with people you don't know.

Dawn:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So this goes into pre-planning, right? So what makes the room uncomfortable? Asking yourself the question whether Deanna's asking you or not. Ask yourself the question and then figure out what your barrier to entry is. And so again, if that's the situation - who can you call? How many of you have people calling you and saying, "Hey, can we have coffee? Can we have lunch?" Or they meet you somewhere and they're asking you that question, right? We all have that going on in one way or another. Or you might have that person that woke you up this morning in your head and you're like, oh my gosh, I told them we would get together in 2025.

Dawn (00:45):

It's okay, we're only like nine days in. But the truth is, you have those people that you're like, we were going to get together. This is a great place to get together. Call 'em and say, "Hey, I'm getting ready to go to this event, and I feel like the topic is something we can both get something from. Let's walk into that room together." So figure out how to solve the very problem that's creating the tension. That's keeping you out of that space. And then the other thing that I think about when I think of this question is, please be the most authentic version of yourself. Scott mentioned it earlier, and it's what we've talked about on social media. Guys, it is no fun to try to remember, " Who was I in that environment? I wonder how I showed up that day. What did I say again?"

Dawn (01:24):

You don't have to remember what you say again...just be you. Because 'you' is going to attract other people like you, or who need a you, or who want to be around you, and there are plenty of people for the other people. Again, so just show up and be you. And if you're not comfortable with 'you', have some conversations with people that are... that like you, because there are those people that like you and say to them, "What is it that you like about me? Tell me more. What is it about that?" Ask some questions, guys. Be a little vulnerable. The reality is the people that stick and stay in the industry, that they're in the longest where they need other people around them, they just show up as the most authentic version of themselves every day, over and over again, and they know what they're after.

Dawn (02:07):

So again, I would encourage you, especially if you're uncomfortable, know what your exit strategy is. Alison said that earlier. What's the goal? What's the desired outcome? Why are you in this room today? Are you here because someone invited you? Are you here because you like Alison? (That's why I'm here.) Why are you here? What is your desired outcome? What do you want to get out of this space? I ask people regularly, "What would a good introduction be for you today? Who are you looking to meet?" If you don't know the answer to that question, decide before you walk into the room. "Hey Mike, do you know a good plumber? Hey, I'm looking for somebody that can do this..." We're always looking for somebody. Know who you're looking for. Then once you've met them, if you're done, you can get out. Accomplish the objective, right? So I think those are some other things that you can do if you're uncomfortable.

TRANSCRIPT 2: Authenticity in networking and how to pre-game

Dawn (00:03)

Real quick. One of the things you might've heard some of us saying up here, and again, I think it's the theme and it's why we're all in the same panel here, but it's this idea of earlier Porscha said 'reciprocity.' And some of you might've thought, "Yeah, I give you something. I get something back from you." That's not what her heart was, that's not what she meant. If you heard that, I want you to know there's a heart check there, or a head check. So in business, we have our heart, we have our head, and we have our hands, guys. And that's not just in business, that's in life. But we have what our heart feels, we have what our head thinks about it, and then we have what our hands do with it. And so what you'll notice here is that our hearts and our heads and our hands are aligned in this concept.

Dawn (00:40):

And I hope you're hearing that you don't trip over words that we use and think, "I know what reciprocity is." Not like what Porscha just talked about, right? That's the reciprocity, of "Did you show up curious? Did you ask questions?" In life, we have two resources, time and money, and you might value one over another, but the person sitting across from you might value the other more. And we're going to go through seasons where each of those are more valuable. So I just say that I don't want you to trip over anything and think, yeah! Make sure your heart and your head are lining up with what your hands are doing. And that's the authenticity part, right? That's what happens. And that's what I love about this panel.

Deanna:

That's so good.

Alison (01:17):

All right, so Rachel and Dawn, I want one really good tip. We kind of already talked about this. "How can introverts succeed at networking?"

Dawn (01:33):

Pre-game. Y'all ready? Anybody not a sports person? Pre-game, people. This is how you can be really good if you're an introvert. Do your homework. Okay. This is so good. Alright, we talked about social media earlier. You have worldwide access, people! I don't think we're supposed to call it the worldwide web anymore, but I'm old. So you have access to all of this. The interwebs. It sounds weird. Alright, so here's how you get good at this, right? I'm going to tell you right now, three people this morning - and there might've been more, but there are three that I noticed - they texted me and said, "How can I help? I'm here, I'm outside. What can I do?" Or they showed up early enough to do that. I'm not saying all those people were introverts, but I'm saying that is one way you can do that. You show up early and you find out, how can I help?

Dawn (02:18):

You know why? Because there are things that need to be done to be helped. There are plenty more people in this room that did that, but three people texted me, and it's not even my event, just to find out. Because they knew, that's what I do when I get here. That's what we're doing. We're helping. If you're an introvert, check in with the person that's hosting the event. Do not think that you're not important enough. There are not enough people doing that. Ask them, "Hey, you have an event coming up. How can I help? What do you need? Can I show up early? What can I do when I get there?" And they may not know all that that day. Check in again. Show up early. Be ready to help. That's a great way to be on the front lines, to maybe be the person sitting behind the guarded table where you can just check people in.

Dawn (02:57):

Guess what you just did? You met everyone. And you didn't have to walk around and be uncomfortable. They came to you! It was incredible! Had a little pen, you just checked them off, they know you, right? I mean, again, so if you are an introvert, pre-game. Go online first. When you ask the person how you can help, you might say, "Hey, is it possible that I could see a list of the people that are coming?" Maybe they'll be like, oh yeah, that'd be great. Then you can go online. You can look them up and be like, "I like this person and this person and this person." You know who you want to meet when you get in the room. You can go like them on social media, like their business page. Don't just like 'em. Don't be weird. Don't stalk 'em. Like say something. Join theTable Facebook group, introverts. Okay, that's it. You said one.

TRANSCRIPT 3: The "4 Things in 48 Hours" Follow-Up Strategy

Alison (00:00):

So I want to know the biggest tip just in general, and your biggest follow up tip that you have. We're literally going to go down the line.

Dawn:

Okay. Biggest tip: Take others with you and be the most authentic version of yourself. That's my biggest tip. Okay. Biggest follow up: Do four things in 48 hours. Can I say four things in 48 hours? Do four things in 48 hours. Write fast, I gotta talk fast. 1) Do a same day text, telling somebody why you liked meeting them. Something about the person that you met, not their business, not how you're going to get business from them. Tell them something personal that you liked about meeting them. Same day text. 2) Add them to your CRM with notes - not the CRM that auto emails them, just so we're on the same page. The one that you keep all your notes in, which might be the same as your phone because you need to make sure you remember what you liked about them...or what you didn't. We just gotta be real, we gotta get all the notes in there.

Dawn (00:56):

3) Send a handwritten note or a gift or a value-add of something to tell 'em something more. Extend the relationship. Could even be a follow up honoring the very thing that you told them that you would do. And then 4) BAM FAM - book a meeting from a meeting. If you liked the person, meet them again. If you didn't, see if there's somebody you can hand them off to. And if there's not, that's okay. Do the other three things.