Today we’re talking about a few of my best networking tips for introverts, or really anybody who doesn’t love networking events.

As an introvert myself, networking meetings are probably my least favorite kind of marketing. But I make myself go because I really do think they’re effective, and we’ll talk about why in just a moment.

By and large I think that most acupuncturists – not all, but most – consider themselves introverts. 

Originally I came up with these tips to put into practice for myself. 

Because I know that networking is an incredibly effective marketing avenue, and I do think it’s worth my time and energy, but I’m the queen of responding “yes” to a networking event invitation, and then thinking up flimsy reasons not to attend them at the last moment. 😬

And in the eight years that I’ve been teaching marketing to other acupuncturists, many of my students and 1:1 clients have also let me know that they often feel the same way, AND that these tips are very effective.

So let’s dive in!

🎙️Listen to Episode #41: Six New Networking Tips for Fellow Introverts

Show Notes:

• Online course: Acupuncture Marketing for Introverts [$39, 2 PDA credits] – Great introductory-level marketing course with a focus on what kinds of marketing are a great fit for introverts
• Episode #14: Five Networking Tips for Introverts (Different tips from today’s episode)
• Gretchen Rubin’s books, The Happiness Project and Better Than Before
• Follow me on Instagram @michellegrasek and search for the post about Introvert Networking to share your tips for effective networking in the comments!

Subscribe to the Acupuncture Marketing School podcast on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify

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Transcript:

Hello there. Welcome back. Thank you so much for being here, as always, and thank you so much to everyone who listened in to last episode with our audio difficulties. I think I’ve got my mic straightened out this week. Please know that you can always send me a message if the audio sounds a little funny on your end. I really want this podcast to be the best possible listening experience all around for you.

Today we’re talking about a few of my best networking tips for introverts, or really anybody who doesn’t love networking events.

As an introvert myself, they are probably my least favorite kind of marketing, but I make myself go because I really do think they’re effective, and we’ll talk about why in just a moment.

By and large I think that most acupuncturists – not all but most – consider themselves introverts. And if you’re not familiar with the definition of an introvert, it’s simply someone who feels energized by solitude and introspection, and a little bit drained by meeting a lot of new people at once, or large crowds or lots of activity.

And that pretty much sounds like a networking event: meeting lots of new people at once in a crowd. So convincing ourselves to attend a networking event can be a little tough, myself included.

I would say my least favorite part of networking events is when you’re new to a group and you walk into a room full of people who already know each other, and you have mingle and approach different groups of people talking, interrupt them, and introduce yourself.

And even though this is literally the purpose of a networking meeting, to introduce yourself to new people, I find this process super difficult. I don’t know about you, but it seems like mingling is never going to be a casual strength of mine.

Originally that’s why I came up with these tips, because I know that networking is an incredibly effective marketing avenue, and I do think it’s worth my time and my energy, but I am the queen of responding “yes” to a networking event invitation, and then thinking up flimsy reasons not to attend them at the last moment.

And in the seven years that I’ve been teaching marketing to other acupuncturists, many of my students and 1:1 clients have also let me know that they often feel the same way, AND that these tips are very effective.

If you feel like this episode is helpful, I did a similar episode last year about networking for introverts, it’s #14, I’ll include a link in the show notes. I have some new ideas for you this time around, but if  you want to listen to both episodes then you’ll have lots of ideas for making networking more comfortable.

Before we dive into these recommendations, let’s talk quickly about why networking can be really helpful for us as acupuncturists. Why I think they’re worth the energy and effort, even for introverts.

The first reason, of course, is to give your community members and fellow small business owners the opportunity to get to know you in person, which builds trust very quickly.

I always talk about this, but just in case you’re new to the podcast – welcome – there’s a concept in marketing called touch points.

A touch point is any reminder about you, your business, or acupuncture. And general wisdom across all industries is that you need to build up 5 to 7 marketing touch points before a consumer trusts you enough to spend their money, or in our case, make an appointment.

There’s a spectrum of warm to cold touch points. Warm touch points build trust very quickly, and so the idea is that you would need fewer of them before a person is ready to make an appointment. And that means cold touch points – you need more of them to build up that trust. An example of a cold touch point would be something like a billboard – it’s literally distant, and most billboards don’t evoke a lot of emotion or spur people to action.

On the flip side, the warmest touch point you could ask for is meeting someone in person and having a conversation with them, next would be watching live video, then recorded video, etc. You get the idea.

But this means that networking is a very warm touch point. Having a conversation with someone in person builds trust very fast, and that’s what makes it effective at building your business quickly, if you attend networking meetings regularly – because consistency is always important for effective marketing. So that’s reason number one to give networking a try even if it feels awkward initially. You build trust quickly, making the people you meet in person more likely to become your patients or refer other people to you.

Reason number two that networking is very helpful for us as is that at these meetings, you are probably going to meet who have expertise that you lack and who can make running your practice easier. I’m thinking about accountants, marketing specialists, lawyers, maybe cleaning services people who can help you run your business more efficiently. And just like acupuncture, it’s nice to meet these people in person before you hire them.

A third reason is that you also have the opportunity to meet new acupuncturists who could become your associates or rent space in your office or simply be colleagues that you can discuss difficult cases with.

Now, just because other acupuncturists attend a networking group does not mean that you can’t also attend that group. You can. I think of other acupuncturists in my area not as competition, but as colleagues. How can we work together and support the community? I’m always happy to refer patients to other acupuncturists who have expertise or specialties that I don’t have. For example, I don’t really do a lot of scalp acupuncture for stroke rehabilitation, but there is an acupuncturist within 30 minutes who does, and so when I get those calls I’m happy to send people to her.

Another reason is that you might meet someone with office space that you could rent from in case you ever need to move in the future.

Reason five is that you might meet people who could rent from you and help you pay the rent, like massage therapists, nutritionists, social workers, etc.

Lastly, networking gives you a good opportunity to understand what it is that your community needs right now. Those in-person discussions with other small business owners can be really enlightening. So you can think about how to fill a gap, a need in your area. How you can really show up and be of service in the most significant way possible.

And I know you know all of this, but I just want to remind you that networking is genuinely a very effective marketing tool, and it provides a lot of opportunities through relationship building that you might not even be able to imagine right now but that could serve you well and support you a lot in the future. By having good local contacts who can help you out if you need it.

Let’s dive let’s dive into these tips.

My number one tip that I always start out with is to bring a friend to networking events. No one ever said that you have to go alone and thank goodness for that.

Bring a friend, a work colleague, ask your receptionist to come with you, or bring several co workers or colleagues and go as a group. I think you’ll feel much less awkward knowing that you have someone you already know to fall back on if conversations run dry. Plus, you won’t have to approach strangers alone to introduce yourself. I have found that if nothing else, this alone makes networking much more comfortable and effective for all my fellow introverts. And the accountability of going with a friend makes us more likely to actually go to the event. So if you don’t do anything else, please try this one. Bring a friend. Don’t ever feel like you have to attend a networking event by yourself.

The second recommendation is to think of networking as purely long-term relationship building and not for the hard sale. This is really important but can be tough because it’s about adjusting our mindset.

A lot of us avoid networking because we don’t like feeling like we are only there to sell ourselves. For a lot of us it doesn’t feel genuine and we feel very resistant to the idea of “selling ourselves.” We imagine this uncomfortable scenario where we meet new people and immediately have to try to get people on the schedule. But obviously this is not the case. Most of us don’t just go in and try to push people to make an appointment, right? But for some reason, that’s what a lot of people imagine networking is like.

Ultimately, networking is just a way to create mutually beneficial relationships, and that takes time and trust building.

If there are people who are super interested and ready to try treatment, then of course, get them on your schedule ASAP. Don’t let that opportunity slip away. But really networking is a long-term game. It’s about building a resource network, and there’s nothing salesy about that.

Because you get to be a resource for other people as well. It’s a two-way street, and that can be really gratifying. SO think about networking as building these relationships and figuring out how you can show up and be supportive of others as well. What information or resources can you share that would be helpful for the people you meet?

This perspective is helpful because then your goal shifts from this false pushy image of “closing the sale” to how you can act as a community member and share value. This makes networking MUCH more comfortable for most of us, and in the process showing up this way, you’re actually very likely to get new patients and referrals.

Tip number three is to consider hosting networking events in your own office, or really anywhere where you feel comfortable. The idea is for you to host your own networking events so you can be in charge. I think that for a lot of us, if we felt more in control of the meeting or who was invited or the location, then we would be much more likely to attend.

If you can offer to host your local chamber of commerce’s networking event in your own office space, you might feel less nervous because you are in control to some degree.

So you could do this through your local chamber or you could create your own networking group and keep it small and invite people that you want to get to know better.

You could invite a few small business owner friends and ask them each to bring one other person. But ultimately you get to decide how the evening will go, how long it will last, how many people are going to be there, etc. You can structure it around what makes you comfortable.

Suggestion number four is about learning to be a good conversationalist and it sounds pretty corny but I do think it works well. Before you go to an event, memorize two or three icebreaker questions to help prevent any awkward silence that can come immediately after introductions.

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and the book Better Than Before, both of which I recommend if you haven’t read them already, she recommends two important tips for this.

First, ask questions that can’t be answered with a yes or no. You want to keep the conversation rolling and not let it stall out immediately. Try to avoid those yes or no questions.

Then, ask questions about things that you have in common with this other person. Now, you’ve just met them, so things that you have in common might be kind of superficial at this point, but that’s okay. If you just met at this event things that you have in common that you can ask about include the food, the building, the music, etc.

Even a question as simple as, “What do you think of shrimp? What else do you recommend?” Can get you started.

One of my favorite icebreaker questions is to ask a new acquaintance about their background. For example, how did you get into construction or what made you decide to become a doctor? Or how long have you been in real estate? What’s your favorite part of being a massage therapist?

Tip number five is to look for speed networking in your local area. Speed Networking can be great for introverts because it’s very structured. It’s just like speed dating. It’s just what it sounds like.

It’s set up so that you only have a few minutes with each person before you must move on to the next person. The fast pace eliminates the awkward silence that can sometimes occur in conversation, which is I think what a lot of us are dreading, because there simply isn’t time for it.

You get a lot of bang for your buck. You meet a lot of people in a very short time. You get to give out a lot of business cards. Now, the flip side of this is that it’s not quite as relationship building as traditional networking, because it’s short lived. BUT it puts you in front of new people and allows you to pursue professional relationships with the people you choose to, if you’d like. After a speed networking event, you can always look back through the cards you’ve received and reach out to the people you’d like to get to know better, ask to get coffee or how you can support them in the future.

Okay, my last suggestion, number six, is to ask the people that you already know at the event to introduce you to a few people they already know. This could even include asking the friend that you brought with you, “Do you know anyone here already, and can you introduce us?”

Chances are high at a local networking event that your contact will know at least one other person. Most people are usually very happy to introduce you to people they already know and like. They appreciate the opportunity to be the person who connects you to someone great.

The takeaway is to think about networking as relationship building, and to bring a friend or work colleague so you never have to go alone and you are never without someone to talk to.

I hope these tips are helpful for you. And I’m really curious if you have any tips or suggestions that you find really helpful for making networking more comfortable and more effective, whether you’re an introvert or not.

For example, do you follow up with the people that you met by sending them a nice handwritten note? I always think that is a really thoughtful method of staying top of mind with people and generally everyone that you meet is pleasantly surprised when they get a handwritten note in the mail. It goes a long way.

If you have other tips, I would love to hear them. Find me on Instagram @michellegrasek and look for the Reel or the post about networking for introverts, and you can leave your suggestions in the comments.

You can also email your networking tips to me Michelle@Michellegrasek.com. I will be sure to share any great ideas that receive in the next episode.

Thank you so much for being here with me. Have a great week. I can’t wait to talk to you next time.