4 Networking Styles - Meet Shotgun Sam
SHOTGUN
She or he is an overly confident type or one that simply overly compensates for the lack of confidence by an exceptionally large amount of activity. We call them the SHOTGUN Networker. They come to each meeting the same way as everyone else. They prepare and make sure that they look good adjusting the tie or the makeup before they leave the car. They make the cell phone decisions too. The one thing that they are sure of is the business card. They’ve got lots of them. This is a powerful weapon in the hands of the shotgun networker. Everyone’s card holds with it the power to make another shot at getting business.
It’s another chance to wound some unsuspecting networker with his or her product or service. Today is the day. This person is
often from the old school of selling. It’s strictly a numbers game. If he or she can hand out 100 business cards tonight then WOW; it will have been a great success.
The pitch is the same over and over and over. Hi my name is Shotgun Sam (short for Samuel or Samantha) I am with ABC Co we do ABC better than anyone does ABC in the whole world. We are fast and cheap and our customers always love us. Give me a call sometime. See ya round. (Some of you are laughing right now because you know Sam and have a card for every meeting he was at with you last year.)
The hand off of his or her card is made and then; off they go to the next victim. We say victim because that is often how the person receiving the card feels. “Oh my, what am I going to do? I guess I will just stand here and let this happen. It has to end soon.” The good news is that it does. There is no way that they will remember Shotgun Sam until the next event where they will try without success to avoid the interaction again.
Shotgun Sam gets famous. Actually the proper description would be notorious. He or she has the dubious distinction of being known by everyone and yet few will do business with him or her unless they absolutely have to.
Back at the office Shotgun Sam raves about the event and how many great people got his card. The food was good but that is secondary to the primary purpose. Get rid of my business cards. After a few events the request for more cards goes to the boss and all the networking is given as the reason for the refill. The boss doesn’t know any better until now and orders more cards for Shotgun Sam to glad hand out to the next crowd of people he or she comes across.
Clearly, this is not how you want to run your networking. Shotgun Sam isn’t getting any cards in return. So he or she changes her pitch, simply adding a few phrases such as: Can I get one of your cards?
We know you thought that there were more phrases coming but no. Shotgun Sam simply needs a stack of cards for his or her desk to fill up the empty box that he or she asked the boss to restock. When the boss comes by, he or she can point to the box and say “I met all those people last month”. The boss walks away and orders the additional cards and is impressed by the volume of activity the individual is doing.
If Shotgun Sam gets really bold he may say ‘I’ll call you sometime”. This at first strikes fear into the heart of the listener but after a few networking events and weeks with no call the fear goes away. For Sam the fear is always there. Why? No connection was made. If he or she breaks through that fear and actually makes a phone call, the phone call goes just like the introduction and business card exchange.
Hi my name is Shotgun Sam I am with ABC Co we do ABC better than anyone does ABC in the whole world. We are fast and cheap and our customers always love us. I met you at the networking event last week. Give me a call sometime. See ya round.
The connection never gets made and business doesn’t get done and networking doesn’t work. This is the primary reason that the Chamber networking events are called business card exchanges.
In our investigation of the networking styles, we have moved from the “social” aspect of networking to the work part of things but still there is no business. That’s just no good.