In the hey-day of the 90s dot-com boom, aspiring entrepreneurs sought out venture capitalists because they needed money to build and promote products, but just getting a meeting was its own challenge. So many people wanted VC money that the VC partners didn’t have time to meet with everyone who wanted a meeting, so how did they decide who to meet? If they didn’t know you, they relied on their networks to vouch for credible entrepreneurs, so if you wanted a meeting, you had to figure out how to network.
These days, you don’t have to be a wealthy venture capitalist to be deluged in pitches– from email to LinkedIn spam to text (how did these people even get my number?). How often do you take a meeting, let alone buy, from one of these cold pitches?
You want a referral from someone you trust, preferably someone who just solved the same problem.
Your potential clients feel the same way.
“Networking” feels like the slow way to do business, and let’s be clear, it’s not fast. You might feel like you’re making more progress by spamming people, but if that’s not how your buyers buy, what’s the point? If your business comes from referrals, empower your virtual sales team– your referral partners. (Does your CRM help you do that? If not, give Mimiran a spin.)