An Underutilized Business Networking Skill
An impressive business networking skill is the Glowing Introduction™ but it’s not one that is used all that often. Here’s what usually happens.
Jasmine and Natasha go to a networking event together — they are what we call a networking tag team. Jasmine sees Max, a senior colleague of hers. She and Natasha walk over to him. Max says hi and Jasmine says, “This is Natasha, we work in the Houston office together.” That’s it.
This was a missed opportunity for Jasmine to sing the praises of her colleague. She could have taken that introduction up a notch—or two—with a few more words. Jasmine could have said, “Max, this is Natasha, she recently joined our team, she came from Facebook, and is a customer experience expert. She has been a huge asset to our team, we are lucky to have her.” Now, that’s a Glowing Introduction™.
Both Max and Natasha benefit from this introduction. Max learns something about Natasha, and come on—wouldn’t Natasha be flattered by that introduction? Yes! And Jasmine looks like a gracious and confident person who can sing the praises of someone else.
Here are another couple of examples of why the Glowing Introduction™ works so well when two people are out business networking together:
“I’d like to introduce you to my colleague Jeffrey Crosby, he is one of our firm’s top US tax lawyers.” Remember, Jeffrey can’t say that (“I am one of my firm’s top US tax lawyers.”) but you can! Or, “I’d like to introduce you to Simi Todd, she is a key member of our sales team. She has done some of most creative and competitive deals for some of our city’s coolest start-up companies.”
The Glowing Introduction™ is not only a great way to highlight your colleague’s expertise, it’s also a way to share some useful information about your firm. (In the Jeffrey introduction: I didn’t know they had a good US tax department. Or, in the Simi introduction: They do deals with tech start-ups, that’s interesting! I should talk to them.) It also gets conversations started. “Simi, what are some of the tech firms that you have worked with recently?” “Jeffrey, how is the new NAFTA tax ruling going affect Canadian companies operating in the US?”
Five things to remember when using the Glowing Introduction™
#1. It won’t cost you anything, words are free
People often have a hard time coming up with glowing praise but remember, words are free. Rather than saying something lackluster such as, “Erin has been in HR at our firm for 10 years” say, “Erin is our HR guru. She has a decade of incredibly valuable experience.” Use words such as “outstanding”, “wealth of experience”, “won an award”, “highly respected”, “does an amazing job managing” when doing a Glowing Introduction™. It won’t cost you anything!
#2. Prep your Glowing Introduction™
Before going to a business networking event with a tag teammate discuss using the Glowing Introduction™. “How are we going to introduce one another at the event?” While this may not feel very spontaneous it’s a smart thing to do. That way you won’t be struggling to find the right words when the introduction opportunity arises.
#3. Double your effectiveness
Many companies understand the value of sending two people to a business networking event particularly if they are from different departments or areas of organization. It’s a way of introducing new contacts to the depth of expertise their company has available. “I’d like to introduce you to my colleague Kasey Rinaldo. Kasey and I often work together. She is a top business analyst and is a huge asset to our commercial banking team.”
#4. Practice makes this natural
Make it a habit to use the Glowing Introduction™. It must be sincere, but what you will find is the more you do it, the easier it gets.
#5. Use this technique with people you’ve just met
Use the Glowing Introduction™ when introducing someone you’ve just met to someone you know. “Hey Sam, nice to see you. Sam, I want to introduce you to Marika Schiller. Marika and I just had a really interesting conversation. I learned that Marika graduated from Stanford last year and is a software engineer specializing in machine learning. Sam, this is someone you need to talk to.” Then, do a Glowing Introduction™ of Sam.
Congratulations, you have just become a Positive Networker!
Wrapping it Up
Learning how to network can seem daunting at first, but knowing the business networking best practice we just discussed will help you become an awesome networker and connector. Our Power of Positive Networking® online course can help you do that too.
We also highly recommend that you share this article with your workmates or whomever you think would benefit from reading it.
In addition, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to sign up for our FREE weekly networking tips, so you can continue your networking journey beyond this article.
Gayle Hallgren and Judy Thomson
Image: iStock.com/Mladen Zivkovic
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