Did I get your attention? Of course that’s wrong. People don’t want to hear you go on and on about yourself. They want to be heard. So listen more than you talk. That goes for just about every situation you will find yourself in.
Networking: Meeting people for the first time. How will you get to know if this person is someone you should invest time with in cultivating a relationship with if you don’t know anything about them? You won’t know anything about them unless you listen, ask questions and show interest in who they are and what they do.
Client Meeting: How will you know what’s going on in your client’s world if you keep talking about yourself?
Pitching: Really? Do you think pitching is all about you? No! It’s all about them! Like networking; ask questions and get to know as much about that prospective client as you can. What do they need? What are their challenges? What is their ‘pain’ point? How can you help them?
Your staff and co-workers: When was the last time you went for coffee with one of your staff and simply showed some interest in them?
If marketing yourself as a professional is all about building relationships, and it is; how do you build relationships when you are talking all the time?
Oh, and by the way, you might try this at home too.
