When it comes to learning, teaching, training, and engaging in business development the best starting point is a series of guiding principles that will apply to all your client development activities:
- Ask before telling
- Listen before speaking
- Discover how you can help
And I would add one caveat:
Don’t fumble the follow-up.
These principles form the foundation for all my business development coaching and training.
Applying these principles opens up an approach to business development that is equally accessible to introverted and extroverted personality types. For example, at networking events the focus is not on talking about yourself, but on preparing ahead, asking great questions, learning important information about the people you are meeting, and following up after the event on what you have learned. To learn more about how these principles apply in practice please visit my article Networking for Introverts on the Canadian legal weblog Slaw.ca.
