How many opportunities escape our attention daily?
Whether the opportunity is reaching out to potential customers, acknowledging a new customer, welcoming someone to your network circle or helping them out; the keyword is ENGAGEMENT.
Engaging other people takes:
- Forethought to know about a contact’s needs, what a potential customer wants and what a new member can gain from a network circle.
- Awareness of situations, who you are meeting and how these can benefit your new or potential customers.
- Effort to find out about others and follow up with them.
A good example is networking as this provides plently of opportunities to engage with others, making new contacts and establishing business connections.
When networking you need to put forethought into what type of event it is, what businesses will be there and who you are looking to meet. It is always a benefit to know exactly what you want to get out of a networking event.
You need to be aware of networking circles- who is having a closed, private conversation and who is open and approachable. It is good to be aware of what people are saying to you as although they may not be a useful contact for yourself they might be perfect for one of your contacts.
Finally, you need to make an effort. It’s no good standing in the corner and waiting for people to come to you. You must be motivated to go up to people and introduce yourself!
So, remember the rules of engagement; Forethought, Awareness and Effort to prevent missed opportunities.
