My name is Avil Beckford, and I started a new series called The One Problem. It's something that's near and dear to my heart and I decided to just go for it and started. We all know that most people have many problems. We're not here to deal with all the problems in the world. We're taking one problem and our guest is going to talk about the problem. And she has five to 10 minutes to offer a solution.
This series is for us to learn from each other. Today, my guest is Adrienne Harris. I met Adrienne through Ellevate Network and quite a few of these people have been popping up. But they're part of my network, and she's a dear friend, I'm going to turn it over to you, Adrienne.
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Adrienne Harris
OK, thank you, Avil. I have to admit, I feel a little bit nervous about this particular one problem, and I hope that what I'm going to talk about will bring some value to your listeners.
I started in consulting about a year-and-a-half ago. I felt some real blockers as it related to business development, because when you're an entrepreneur and you're a consultant, you have to build a regular pipeline. And I found that really confronting because I consider myself a very good relationship builder, a strong networker, a connector of others, and I was feeling a lot of discomfort about reaching out to whether it was warm connections or cold connections about learning more on their business and seeing ways that perhaps my business partner and I could be helpful.
Interview With Adrienne Harris,
Managing Partner at Portage Sales
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Adrienne Harris
So I worked actually with one of our business advisors and we stepped back together, and talked about the power, the passion and the generosity of networking. As I consider that one of my strengths, I really look for ways to be really helpful and to nurture and take care of my network.
And I learned many, many years ago that when you go to a networking meeting, it's not about what you're going to get. It's about what you're going to give and how you're going to be helpful and how you're going to listen carefully and make connections and link other people together and bring interesting value.
So after sitting down with this coach, consultant, business adviser, he really helped me reframe and remap my thinking around business development. He asked me an interesting question. He said, Adrienne, “Do you believe that what you do brings value to your customers and impacts their business in a really positive way?” Of course, I believe that.
What are you talking about? He said, “OK, so then you go into these meetings with a curious mindset, with no expectations and look for ways to genuinely be helpful and bring small value. And if there is an opportunity to do business, it will present itself.” So it really shifted my mindset and my approach as it related to business development and selling is just like networking. I'm going to bring really good value, and down the road, something may or may not happen.
Either way, it's OK because I showed up with a curious mindset, looking for ways I could give little nuggets to that small interaction and to strengthen the relationships. Interestingly, after that shift and really starting to get comfortable with that approach and re-framing it's become a bit of a flywheel. And I'd say that half the pipeline in the business right now is from my efforts of networking with generosity and bringing value to those conversations.
Avil Beckford
That's fantastic, and it makes me think, because they always say to think of networking like a bank account, you have to deposit before you can withdraw.
Adrienne Harris
Oh, I like that analogy. Yes, so true. So that makes so much sense.
Avil Beckford
This interview I'm sure people will learn from because there's a lot of misconceptions about networking and you have made it clear that it's not going into a meeting and handing out business cards. It's about having an interest in the other person. So thank you so much, Adrienne, for being my guest.
Adrienne Harris
Well, thank you. It's always a pleasure to always spend time with you.
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