I Stared My Greatest Fear In The Face...

...and lived to tell the tale!

You know what scares me most? Striking up a conversation with strangers, especially if it's with the intention of influencing them to do something!

Like sharing my faith.

And cold calls for a cause, even a worthy one.

My"face" (very important in the Asian culture!) is the most precious thing in the world and losing it, e.g. by being snubbed or humiliated, would be the ultimate low.

This week though, I put aside my "face" concerns enough to:
1) Chat up a complete stranger while in her shop, and
2) Invite an acquaintance to visit the next meeting of the professional networking association that I belong to.

None of this would have happened if my team had not set an informal target for us to invite 2 persons each to subsequent meetings. After hearing how some members were making cold calls through Yahoo Classifieds and the Yellow Pages, I started feeling the pressure and began running down the names in my mobile address book to see who might likely be interested in attending the meetings.

COUP #1
While window shopping in the area after lunch, my friend and I walked into a shop that screamed NEW KID. There was the telltale Congratulations floral wreath, super-new paintwork and furnishings, and the fact that there was no one in the shop...aside from the owner, who greeted us effusively and appeared to have all the time in the world for us.

As we browsed, the owner struck up a conversation and I distinctly remember her lamenting how tough it is to be a new business owner. That was the cue I needed. I asked, "Would you like to meet other business owners and receive referrals for your business?" I then proceeded to explain what my association did and what it stood for.

The end result was that she said YES to my invitation to our next meeting!

I was so thrilled with the unexpected outcome you would've thought I'd won the national lottery. I could hardly believe someone would just accept my word at face value and agree to do something just because I asked, even though it's something I do all the time when others do the asking.

To ensure she didn't change her mind quickly, I followed up with a text message to her mobile that very afternoon, and she confirmed she would be coming for our meeting.

COUP #2
During coffee with an acquaintance that afternoon, I mentioned my involvement in the networking association. When I mooted the meet-business-owners-to-generate-referrals idea, she looked distinctly interested, and that again resulted in another YES. To make sure she knew we were serious in our networking efforts, I gave her a copy of our standard invitation letter (customised with her personal info) 2 days later when we met again. She looked impressed.

LESSONS LEARNT:

• Anticipate the other person's needs, and pitch your case to meet those needs. In the case of the new business owner, she clearly saw the value of exchanging business referrals with other business owners. With my acquaintance who is in the financial planning line, networking is all part of a day's work.
• Just ask. Plan your approach, take a deep breath and just do it. There's no substitute for learning by doing.
• Don't let the contact grow cold. Keep yourself on the other person's radar screen if it's going to be some time before you meet again. Use different media (text messaging, e-mail, phone calls) and vary your content by pitching the subject from different but interesting angles.