What is outreach and WHY you should do it every day!

Transcription: 

Hey! I finally got a signal! Hello!

My name is Renee Hribar. if we haven’t met yet, I’m a sales strategist, speaker and author and I am here for The “S” Word LIVE. I come live every Wednesday right here on my business page and today I’m in downtown Detroit. You can see the Detroit Institute of Art right there, with a big tractor trailer. We’ve got the Michigan Science Center right back there.

And so, today I want to talk about what is outreach and why you should do it. People think outreach has to be spammy or creepy. No! Outreach is you showing up being wherever you are, whether it’s a live networking event.

Say hello as you join!

Or whether it’s online in a Facebook group or on LinkedIn whatever it might be, Your goal is to show up and say hello.

Deliver value. Give a funny quip even if it’s a meme or something funny, it could be just telling a joke. And when other people show up, You greet them. You say hello. That could literally be like outreach.

People always compliment me on my group and why it’s so fun. And I say, “Oh my goodness! my group is just like my house. If you were to come to my house, I would also make sure that you knew where the bathroom was and knew where snacks were.

So, in essence, that could be another form of outreach. But on the Internet, people get really messed up about outreach. We forget. Even in person, at these networking events we can make it feel really weird and awkward and so how do you do that without feeling weird or awkward? Well, my advice is to do it slow. Right. Especially on the Internet. It takes longer to get to know someone and for someone to trust you than it does when you meet them in person. Let’s talk about both scenarios. Why you should do outreach?

Number one, online. So let’s say you hypothetically go into a Facebook group or you’re posting something and someone comments on it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you not only commented there in  the thread but then you Google them and you found something nice to say about them as well like, “Hey, I just noticed that you also were on a podcast.” Or, “Hey you have a beautiful website, I really liked that.” Or “Hey, you live in Cleveland, so does my cousin.”.

Anything to be a nice kind warm person. To reach out, right. It’s like extending a hand. That’s all it is. That’s all outreach is. You’re opening the lines of communication and you’re opening the door for conversation and that is where everything good can start. You also have, of course, the opportunity to ask a question. If you’re one of my students, you’ve been in one of my programs, you know that I always encourage to ask a simple question. You know, so that they have an opportunity to respond. Right.

I’m like, “Oh have you always lived there?” Or “How many times do you go on podcasts?” Or “Do you have your own?” Or “Have you thought about starting one?” Whatever it might be. So, you never know where these conversations might go, and some of them will lead into new clients and some of them will lead into great connections that bring new clients and some will just be nice people that you know now on the Planet Internet. For example, for me, I’m actually here at the DIA today for a very specific reason that has to do with outreach. I’m a podcast listener. I love podcasts. And this time of year. I’m always in my car traveling, visiting. And so, I was listening to a podcast, one of my favorites, and I heard one of the guests and I said, “You know what? I’m gonna look that person up.” And I do this a lot.

Well, this particular time I looked the person up and I realized they live in Detroit. This particular person does very much similar work to me but in a different way. And so, I sent the personal LinkedIn message and they responded and said, “You know what? We should totally meet!”

And I said, “We totally should!”  And I’m here today and I’ll be meeting this person in about an hour. So, pretty neat. I don’t know the person but I’m open to all the possibilities.

I don’t know, maybe this person would just be a nice friend and maybe this person will lead to new clients. Maybe this person will lead to new opportunities that I hadn’t thought of yet. But that’s for the online world.

So whether you’re listening to a podcast or whether you go into a group, be open to the possibilities and connect with people. Do that outreach. Secondly, when you meet someone in person. Let’s say you go to a conference or just a local networking event. You don’t have to have big conversations when you first meet. Just meet them. Just get to know them. Just be kind. Talk about their pets, their kids, the season, the weather. Yes, all the old adages, all the old normal stuff because that, my friend, is where the conversation starts.

Then, make a point to take their name or their card or connect on LinkedIn or connect on Facebook or connect on Instagram or connect on WhatsApp, wherever and make a point to reach out.

Say, “Listen, I love talking with you at such and such event. I would love to have a quick coffee chat with you, fifteen minutes where I get to know more about you when you get to know more about me because I was really interested but we ran out of time” Or “It was distracting.” Or “There was so much good program I didn’t want to miss any of the presentations but I really did like meeting you and I wanted to get to know you better.”

Again, open to all the possibilities. Without outreach, you’re not building your business. You want a long term sustainable platform independent business. Outreach, my friend. Outreach.

So that’s what it is and that’s why it’s important I even gave you some I’m some ways how to do it. So I hope today on this beautiful Wednesday that you will take this “S” Word LIVE and run with it. Enjoy your day, my friends. Have a great day. Bye!