Last week an old timer at Eastern Market convinced me I was networking all wrong

I always thought business networking meant handing out cards and pitching your service to anyone who'd listen, you know, like a sales thing. But this guy who runs a refurbished tool booth (he's been there 30 years) pulled me aside and said I was acting like a carnival barker. He told me to just ask people about their biggest headache with their business and listen without trying to fix it. So I tried it at a mixer in Corktown last Thursday, I just asked questions and shut my mouth for once. Two people ended up asking me what I do and one of them is meeting me for coffee next week. I guess the old way of pushing my HVAC company on everyone was just burning bridges. Has anyone else had luck just listening more than talking at these events?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden_rivera19d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah I feel that. It's wild how just shutting up changes everything.

bettywilson19d ago

Read a piece in Hour Detroit a while back about how most people at networking events are just waiting for their turn to talk. Sounds like that old timer figured out the secret forty years ago.