Creating quality online relationships online takes time and effort, as I discussed in my last blog post “Social Media Relationships”. Once you have utilized online resources and established an online relationship, the next step is taking the relationship offline.
Am I Ready To Take These Online Relationships Offline?
Sounds so serious, right? This is an area many people struggle with in social media, but ultimately, taking those new relationships offline is what gets you the return on investment you’ve been working towards. It’s the next step in the process.
Building business relationships is much like the dating process! Once you have established a connection, engaged in conversation for some time and have found common ground, whether business related or not, the next step is to make a date to meet.
Find Common Ground
“It’s not what you know, but whom you know.”
If the common ground is not directly business related, likely they fall into your peer market. The number one source of new clients in the most industries is through referrals. According to Russ Alan Prince, a contributor to Forbes.com, “your net worth is equal to your network”. Networking with peers leads to relationships, relationships lead to referrals, referrals lead to profit and profits increase your net worth. Always keep an open source of referrals.
Coffee?
This next step can be a phone call or a coffee date. Read this post to learn about the power of a coffee date in business. Remember, any level of human interaction is important. You want to build the relationship before it gets stagnant which can happen rather quickly if you don’t take action. Take the necessary time to learn about the person and ask yourself: Are they a good fit for your target market or peer group? Are they a potential referral source?
Listen
More important than asking is to LISTEN! Discover what motivated them to have the online relationship, and why they wanted to take it offline as well. Ask about their goals, passions and requests. From there evaluate if they are someone that you can directly do business with or are a referral source.
Use your intuition to help you recognize the difference between who is a good client and who is a good referral. It’s a huge mistake to jump to conclusions by automatically pushing the idea of doing business. Instead take time listen and make a personal connection.
Listen up! The power of personal contact should never be underestimated. Taking quality online relationships to the next level may not be easy, but the payoff can generate business or leads. Take advantage of your online relationships. Pick up the phone and make your time investment pay off!