I'll be showing you how to master networking coffee chats on this week's episode of MasterTalk. Register for one of my FREE communication trainings: www.rockstarcommunicator.com/
1. Coffees are almost always a friendly interaction, thus, even with little to no networking experience, it’s hard to get wrong, so don’t be shy to take a chance. (0:57)
I’ve probably gotten over 100+ coffees in the last 3 years, and do you want to know the number of coffee experiences that was absolutely horrid? The answer is 0. Sure, I’ve met folks, after 5-10 minutes, I’ve wondered why I even reached out in the first place, but never has it happened where I got scolded or insulted in any way. And the reason is simple for this by the way. Let’s say I send 10 emails to people I want to talk to, and 1 one of them replies, sure happy to chat. That person, is almost guaranteed to be a kind person. Why? Because they A) took the time to reply to a stranger’s email and B) agreed to the coffee chat because they’re interested in chatting. This means the chances they are terrible folks is very low based on my experience, the people who are rude either don’t reply in almost all cases, so nothing to worry about. This is how to master networking coffee chats.
2. Successful coffees generally follow a 90/10 rule, you listen 90% of the time and you talk 10% of the time, so prepare good specific questions in advance. (2:31)
My first ever “official” coffee was with the Global Head of Tax for the country at one of the accounting firms when I was 20 years old. I really wanted to get a job in accounting, so my naivete brought me to send several emails out to a few executives in Montreal and to my own surprise, he replied with sure, let’s grab something and you can imagine the absolute TERROR I felt. I sat in their offices with my oversized prom suit I got for 100$ and figured I’ll look smarter if I brought a book and pretended to read (as you can imagine, I was too nervous to read a single word in that book). And you kw what happened when he came up to me to say hello? This is how to master networking coffee chats.
NOTHING, he was the nicest person ever! He asked me how my summer was, asked about my day, sat down and we just talked for an hour and it was over and he loved me. But, why did he love me? Because I just say there and listened to him without interrupting him at all, and just said at the beginning, tell me about your journey and that was it. He went into his, dare I say, amazing life story and super inspiring and at the end, he said he enjoyed the conversation and wanted to recommend me for his company! Point of the matter isn’t the recommendation, but rather most people who grab coffees focus on trying to impress the other, rather than learning from them which is why they are taking time out their busy schedule to talk to you, which is a great Segway to my last point for today. This is how to master networking coffee chats.
3. Have a specific goal in mind when reaching out to people to maximize your chances of making it a great time. (5:10)
To make sure that 1) you get the answers you’re looking for and 2) you’re not wasting the other person’s time, that way the person knows exactly why you want to get coffee and answer your questions so you’re both happy! Simple as that, in my case, most the coffees I grabbed were mostly for job opportunities. My approach is always to grab coffees with folks at companies I want to work at, so the intent is clear on both sides, and there’s no confusion. But, it can easily be an informal chat too, I’ve equally grabbed coffees just to meet people and give them any help I can too, you don’t NEED a specific goal, but it definitely attracts the right people you’d want to connect with. Coffees work in this way for most folks. The people who want to grab coffees with others, very little reach out, and the ones who do, always have a great time, since those people seldom get the requests and WANT to give advice and help since they’ve already achieved some success in life. In other words, my point here is that you shouldn’t be afraid to have a specific goal out of fear that no one will say yes, I can pretty much guarantee that if you reach out to enough folks, someone will say yes to your specific request and help you out. This is how to master networking coffee chats.
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For business or public speaking coaching inquiries, you can reach me at brendenkbusiness@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Maison Leporem for letting me use the space.
maisonleporem.com/