Welcome to Networking Unleashed, building Proper Connections. I'm Michael Forman, and today is episode 100. Yes, you heard me correctly. 100 Chances to Ruin a handshake and 100 Chances to fix them Instead. So I'm flying solo today. Which means no guests to blame and all the best shortcuts to share straight with you. Each week, I give you tactical, no fluff strategies that turn small, talk into real revenue, and this one message or these messages gets you a lunch, a single question that turns conferences into conferences, chaos into meaningful connections. If you want fewer, awkward science silences and more closed deals, you're in the right place. So stay with me. I'll give you razor sharp actions you can use today, and a short challenge at the end. Make life worth living, make networking, less exhausting and more profitable. Now I'm gonna run you through a few things that I normally go through during a workshop, and my first question is, why? Why does everyone network? And I firmly believe that networking is the base of all businesses. So what's your ultimate goal? Of course it's to make more money. Otherwise, why are you in business? But there's more to network networking than that. It's having a giver's game, it's having a servant's heart. It's doing good for somebody else. 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 You are a problem solver. That's right. So you have to find out what the person that you're speaking to, what's their problem, because you have to have in the back of your head some sort of solution. And when you can do that, then you've made it. Let me just tell you just a few items, a few things, because when you're networking, don't just think networking as a business. Think of networking in your everyday life. And so when you network, you go shopping for your jeans, go shopping for food, you're talking with people online, you're talking with people in the aisles. First things first. Make smile. Make it like you're a happy person. Whether you are or not doesn't make a difference, but you know what? Because people will react to you much better when you're a happy person. And so you just, if you're in line with somebody and they're talking about it. I used to be in the mortgage industry and I would always listen. I would always listen. If people are talking about buying a house or selling a house, renting a house, I would always turn around, give my two seconds worth of information, and I turn back around. If they were interested, they tap me on the shoulder and they say, you know what about that? So anyway, so that goes a long way with networking. But you know what? Whenever you go anywhere, you have business cards, right? Don't forget your business cards. You put them in your pocket or whatever else. And whenever the time comes, you can always give your business card. What's more important than actually meeting the person. It's your follow up. I have a follow up strategy. I call it my secret sauce, the follow up. So I will get into that maybe, but I will get into that. So I want you to think, I want you to think about what communication is. Communication is the number one professional skill. Communication. It's how you communicate. Just remember, people hate to be sold to, but they love to buy something, so that puts you in a quandary. How do I do this? It's very simple. When you walk up and you meet somebody, obviously. You're smiling. Smiling. You're smiling. Extend your hand. You're looking for that just to shake your hand, say hello, how you doing? And eye contact is very important. And whether you are the CEO or the janitor, that's what you do. You give the respect that they deserve. What you want to do is you want to square your body up to them. You don't want to talk to somebody with your shoulders.
