Networking with Heart
Episode Summary:
I'm so excited to talk to you today about how to get clients without social media. I think social media is a great tool, but I also get a lot of my clients in other ways and I don't feel like I talk about that very much. As a mama and a busy woman, social media saves me a lot of time! It's basically the same thing as a workshop except I'm able to do it from my home. So if you have a business and are feeling the changes of social media, let's talk about the systems and processes I use to be visible without spending a lot of time online.
Topics Discussed:
Reframing how we think about networking
Different avenues you can use to connect with potential clients that aren't social media
Tracking networking as a lead source
Creating systems for your relationships so you can focus on what is most important
Two approaches to networking to try out
Episode Resources:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Stitcher
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Anna Rapp (00:00):
Hi friends. I'm so excited to talk to you today about how to get clients without social media. I love social media. I think it's such a great tool, but also a lot of my clients come not from social media and I don't feel like I talk about that very much. A lot of clients in my mastermind sell with heart, utilize social media, but some of them don't utilize it very much for getting clients. And yet they have six figure businesses or are closely on their way to that. And so I wanna talk about this conversation 'cause I always say like, businesses made money and people got clients before social media, right? I do like social media. 'cause at the end of the day, how do we get clients by building relationships and making connections with people that will pay us money in the future, right?
Anna Rapp (00:43):
And so obviously there's so many ways to do that offline. I even at the start of my business would host like workshops at local coffee shops. Um, but now I prefer social media for one of the main ways I do, just because as a mama and as a busy woman, it's basically, it, it saves a lot of time, right? It's basically the same thing as doing a workshop, but I'm able to do it from my house or I'm able to do it from the car carpool pickup line, right? And so I think social media is amazing because it's this beautiful freedom-based tool, especially when you use it with boundaries, right? When you, for how visible I am online, I think you'd be surprised to know how much I'm actually online <laugh>, because I have great systems, I have great batching, my team supports me. I teach all of this in the Mastermind.
Anna Rapp (01:27):
And so if you have a business where you're feeling change of social media, and I'm happy to teach you my systems and processes so that you're really visible without having to actually spend very much time online. Um, but I do think for some people social media's not a fit. And let's, one of the great ways to expose yourself to new clients is through a version of networking. And I think networking has gotten a bad name because we think about like, what is it called? Like different like community meetings that are more formal and awkward. Like that's not what I'm talking about, right? What I'm talking about is strategically making key relationships with new people, um, that can potentially refer you or I really did this at the start of my business through coffee chats, right? So strategically, and still to this day, I do some of these right?
Anna Rapp (02:16):
Where I will have a coffee chat with another business owner or whatever and just kind of be open to what comes of it. This is what I believe about you, right? If you're listening to this podcast, you're a brilliant woman. You are kind. And what I know is when you connect with other brilliant and kind women, only good things can come from it, right? Maybe they end up preferring you. Maybe you end up preferring them. Maybe they end up working with you down the line. Like I think around coffee chefs, we wanna like not have attachment to it, but just trust that like at the end of the day, like your energy is potent and magnetic and connecting with new people is only going to grow your business and your connections. Maybe they feature you on their podcast, right? And so the first thing I want you to affirm today is reminding you it's safe to connect with new people. In the last podcast episode, I talked about one of my biggest blocks around connecting with new people and feeling afraid to say no. So listen to that one if you miss that. But really I want you today affirming like it's safe to expose myself to new people that aren't in my circle, right?
Anna Rapp (03:20):
Period. <laugh>, how do you feel about that? Maybe you feel like, I don't have the time. Is it gonna be a waste of time? Like blah, blah, blah. But I really want you to think about and prioritize this, even if it's just having a goal of maybe this quarter you do one coffee chat. What do you think about that as a goal? If you knew that it would turn into something really good, whether it was featuring you on a big podcast or whether it was that person hiring you or whether it was whatever. Um, can you be open to that and can you commit to that? Right? And maybe it's someone that you are already connected to that you wanna reconnect with. Maybe they're someone locally in your community. Maybe there's someone online. But I think it's so powerful to do a version of these coffee chats and I just love them.
Anna Rapp (04:07):
I like having like a few ways to connect with people to give myself options, right? So especially at the start of my business, I had kind of different avenues to connect with people. Number one was a coffee chat. Number two was a sales call if people were directly interested in my work. Um, another one was, um, a mini session, which isn't necessarily a sales call. It is actually free 20 minutes of coaching. But at the end I share, I do a small pitch at the end. Another way, um, is by featuring someone on your social media platform, whether it's doing an in, you know, featuring them on your Instagram and interviewing them on Instagram live, whether you're interviewing them on Zoom and putting it on YouTube, whether you're interviewing them for your podcast or you're being featured in their audience and you are, um, on their podcast featured in front of their mastermind, right?
Anna Rapp (05:01):
I'm such a big fan of this and honestly, I have signed clients anytime that I've like joined and been in a group program, I've had like my peers hire me. Obviously that's not why I do the group program, but I just think it's this reminder that like, clients are everywhere. Connections are everywhere, right? And it's happened in other ways too. Like I have interviewed people for my podcast and then hired them. I'm like, actually, I really need that, right? So I just think it's remembering like it's safe for you to expose yourself to new people and get clear on maybe jot on a piece of paper what your little avenues are right now. 'cause I think for me that helped know like what's most appropriate for this person? Is it a coffee chat? Is it featuring them? Is it me being featured? Right? And just having different avenues, um, and options to be able to offer people as a venue to connect, right?
Anna Rapp (05:51):
Also, I've seen a lot of my clients do something interesting lately, which is almost like getting part-time jobs as an avenue to connect and get new leads. What do I mean by that, right? Whether maybe you're a health coach and you decide, you know, you love coaching your own clients, but maybe you, you see an opening for like five hours a month for like, um, a local gym. They're looking for someone to come teach and do workshops, right? Or maybe you want to work for another health coach and do some of their like, I just think whether it's free, whether it's you're doing things for free or for paid, exposing yourself in the right audiences is just gold, right? And so just really being creative around like again, like is there a mastermind that you can speak in, right? Or is there a part-time job that, um, I've also seen this a lot from my clients that are health coaches getting hired by gyms, part-time. Even if it's like one class a week and then that exposes them to clients. That could be personal training clients, right? And so I just think like really be clever in what avenues that you do this, okay?
Anna Rapp (06:57):
I would encourage you if you are using this connection networking as a major lead generation source, I would track it and get serious about it. And I'm gonna talk to you right now about how to do that in case you're curious. Um, because if you're like, hmm, I don't, you don't wanna use social media too much. Like you have to do something in your business to expose yourself to new people all the time. Like you just do, right? If you wanna continue to grow, if you just wanna stay where you're at, fine. But if you wanna grow your business with new clients, and especially as you create offers that are not just one-to-one, but they're leveraged like groups and masterminds and courses, like you have to create more of an audience. And a great way to do this can be exposure, right? So first listen to the podcast episode right before this.
Anna Rapp (07:43):
It talks about really making sure you have good boundaries up, right? Making sure that you feel safe to say no, um, to things. But at the end of the day, I want you to create a tracking spreadsheet and track set a goal for yourself and start to track this, right? Maybe you decide, okay, like instead of spending five hours on social media a week, I wanna spend, gosh, even if you spend one hour a week doing this, right? I wanna spend one hour a week doing this and I wanna, you know, do what would that be for coffee chats this month, right? Um, and I'm just gonna see how it goes and I'm gonna see how it converts and I'm just gonna start collecting some data, right? I think it's so fun to like put the names on a chart too, because as you're, um, it's for me it's like, it's hard to remember people sometimes, right?
Anna Rapp (08:31):
So for me, my current clients, I really, I never forget, like I have this like little lock in my brain and it's just like I'm their present and I remember, but when people are a potential client, like a discovery call or if someone's just like a, a connection or a network friend, you know, I have trouble remembering and I think we don't wanna make ourself wrong for this. I think our brains remember the most important things and I think it's actually a good thing that we're not overly worried about extraneous information. So don't feel bad about tracking, right? I even track my friend stuff, right? Like when my friend tells me they're gonna have something in their life or a birthday, like I write that on my work tracker with a deadline. So a pinging comes up for me and tells me like, it's so Susie's birthday, wish your happy birthday or your son's birthday is coming up in two weeks.
Anna Rapp (09:16):
Buy him a present. People always ask me like, you know, I've already done all my Christmas shopping and we're like, what? Like two months away? It's because everything in my business has a to do and I don't store anything in my brain. And I think we think that it's like impersonal or unrelational to systematize things, but I actually found the more I systematize, the more I can be relational because I don't forget, right? <laugh>. Anyway, that was an aside to say it's safe for you to track humans and to write down notes, right? So maybe you decide, okay, I am gonna do four coffee chats in the next, you know, in the next quarter I wanna do four coffee chats a month. That's 12 coffee chats, right? And then after the 90 days, I'm gonna see how that worked for me, right? I guarantee you if you do 12 coffee chats intentionally, oh my gosh, there's no way you're not signing clients and getting major traction from that. Because again, like you are someone that's magnetic and kind and beautiful and just genuine, right? And you connecting with other people genuinely is going to only do good for your business and your money making.
Anna Rapp (10:20):
Okay? Now is the most important part of the podcast <laugh>, which is I wanna talk about what holds most people back from doing this, okay? And it is that there's two approaches to getting people on to networking and making connections like this, especially with high value women or high networked women. Um, and I'm gonna talk about the two options, but first I need to say that either option is a funnel, which means right, either one takes time, it takes time to market your business, right? I think we're sold this lie online that we can like sneeze and get clients and that's just not true. We do have to do work, but I actually think it can be easy. I think it can be aligned. I think we can actually enjoy it. Like the things I do on my business to sell and market, I actually like and I actually have fun and I actually look forward to, right?
Anna Rapp (11:11):
I still have to do them right? But I think we're really sold this thing that we don't have to sell and market, but we do. And so know that it will take time even if it is one hour a week and it is a funnel, right? What does that mean? So going back to like the sales example, when you hop on sales calls, if you do it right, not all of them convert, right? 'cause you're getting people that are just interested and curious and not sure yet and you're actually having the sales conversation, right? Um, and it's normal to have, I don't even know how to explain this, but like, have more people and then have it funnel down to less people. Okay? Let me say the examples and then I think I'll explain it better. So option one when it comes to networking is have basically write down the names of, of the 12 women that you wanna network and connect with, right?
Anna Rapp (12:01):
So I said you're gonna network with 12 women over the next quarter. It doesn't mean you're gonna be their best friends, it just means you're networking and you're connecting, right? So you write down their 12 names and then you go after them, right? And you maybe some of these are like bigger women, women that intimidate you and the down the downs. Okay? Let's talk about the two options, then I'll talk about the pros and cons, right? So you identify these 12 dream women and you're like, I'm gonna, you know, comment on their, I'm gonna review their podcast, I'm gonna write them a really sweet note and let them know like how much their podcast means to me and how much I enjoy following them online, right? Like, trust me if you do that, like it stands out, okay? Um, that's option one, option two. So that's more like, um, going after what you want, right?
Anna Rapp (12:50):
And, and, and identifying that. Option two is more letting people come after you. And neither of these options are wrong. I've actually done both effectively, right? And seeing my clients do this both effectively. So option two would be like going in a Facebook group and posting like, Hey, I wanna do coffee chats with, with, with 12 people, right? So there's upsides and downsides to both, but either of them are gonna cost your time. It's just gonna depend on your personality and what you like, right? So with the first option, when you identify those 12 dream women, the truth is you're probably gonna have to pitch 24 Dream women to get 12 dream women to say yes. Because some are gonna say no because they're busy, right? Others are gonna say no 'cause they never got the message. Others are gonna say like, it's normal. And so in order to do this option, you have to have tolerance for the no.
Anna Rapp (13:37):
And you gotta drop your ego, right? And you gotta like not take things personal Option two, you're gonna get a lot of yeses, right? But you are gonna have to be the one saying no and you're gonna have to be the one that has a filter and a boundary and you're gonna have to be the one that says, you know, okay, great, fill out this call this forum. If you wanna do a connection chat, right? Or like you're gonna quote waste or spend more time probably being on calls with women that aren't as good of a fit, right? Either one is gonna take time and neither is wrong, but it's just not making it wrong. So let's say you take approach two and you like put in a Facebook group like, hey, wanna connect with five women, right? Maybe two of those women will be like, I probably would never talk to them again, right?
Anna Rapp (14:23):
And quote, that wasn't a waste of your two hours of time. That's the cost of getting to the three people that are a connection, right? Same thing with the option one of pitching 10 Dream women, right? The 10 people that say no, sorry, the 12 people that say no to get the 12 that say yes, that's not a waste of time. That's what you had to do to get to the TE 12 that would say yes to you, right? And so I think where we get hung up is making the filter wrong instead of like, of course not all these people are gonna gel with me because that's just the funnel and that's just life, right? Of course, all these women are not gonna say yes to me. And I think when we track it and we approach it more, um, methodically instead of emotionally, that's where it becomes easier.
Anna Rapp (15:03):
And that's where we actually do it. Sorry, just slammed the table and that's when it works. Instead of like starting and stopping or trying this and then being like, oh, this didn't work. Oh, I hopped on one coffee chat with one person, right? But I think if you really get fierce and serious about networking, it works. It works. So I would love to hear from you if you're willing to share with me what approach do you prefer? And neither one is wrong to be honest. I think it just more depends on your personality, um, and your season of business. Do you want to, you know, let's just pick the number three. Does it feel useful to try to get three women on the phone and you wanna target them by like sending six Instagram invites or 12 Instagram invites, right? And get those three women?
Anna Rapp (15:47):
Or do you wanna kind of put yourself out there to your audience, to a Facebook group and get three people that way which feels more aligned for you and go do it? And can you like, as an experiment, what if you just experimented with this and saw what it did for your business just to see? I also think it gives me a lot of comfort just knowing, um, that leads can come from so many places. Like I think last time I sat down, like for both of my programs, I identified five different sources of leads and clients. And that just feels so fun to know that like, yeah, clients are coming from, you know, this person that refers me, clients are coming from my Facebook group, clients are coming from my podcast, clients are coming from Instagram, right? And not that you have to have a ton of things overnight.
Anna Rapp (16:34):
Um, I was featured on a podcast and a client hired me from there, you know, never even joining any of my things, right? You don't have to have that many lead sources overnight. But I think if you can identify two or three, like it should start get comforting. And then I think social media and stuff starts to convert better because you get less attached to it and you're like, yeah, it'll be great if this Instagram post blew up. But even if it doesn't, I don't care because people are still gonna hire me because I'm connecting and I know how to continually expose myself to new people in a strategic way, right? Um, one more thing I'll address is like people all the time say like, oh, I feel bad because like, am I trying to be their friend or am I trying like, what, you know, what am I trying to do?
Anna Rapp (17:17):
The truth is that you don't know what you're trying to do, you're just trying to connect and see what comes of that and being open to whatever it turns into, right? Something I'll do too if I'm just doing like a coffee date connection and then it starts turning into a sales call, I'll be like, okay, you know what? This wasn't the intention, but I am happy to support you if you'd like. Do you wanna book another sale, a sales call? Do you wanna keep talking about it here? Right? So just keeping that open communication I think is so key and beautiful. I would love to hear if you are willing to do this experiment and
Anna Rapp (17:49):
What your goal is there. Are you going to, um, put yourself out there to people? Are you gonna let people come to you? Tell me what your goal is and if you want my support on growing your business with more heart center tactics and strategies that are really actionable but also fit with your heart. I find that like women once, like they have a hard time getting into something like this, but once they do, they're like, oh my God, this is so fun. I can't believe I'm signing clients and getting paid to like hang out with women that I love. Right? Um, I would love to invite you to apply for Sell With Heart Mastermind next round of enrollment Open soon. And that is for women that are already making two K in their business and want to grow to six figures or beyond with heart.
Anna Rapp (18:29):
Um, I would love to chat with you about that. Feel free to ask me any questions. I'd be happy to share with, uh, you like what it includes. Also, I just wanna encourage you if you're even slightly interested to fill out an application that doesn't obligate you to anything, but that does help me to know, um, what, where you're at and then I can let you know if it's a fit. And then also, um, it just helps lock in your space early because pods do fill for this program and so I take it in order of the applications. Okay, my loves. Have a beautiful rest of your day and as always, thank you for tuning in.
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