Jacob Nordby Matt Dietz David Anderson
This week a lot of my business went to people I'd never met in person before meeting them online.
After 20 years of using the same State Farm Insurance agent, I began moving my business to Farmers. Why? Well, my State Farm agent really can't be bothered with me. When I moved and bought new insurance, I got a thank you gift of a set of laser printed return address labels and a form letter. Wow, that was thoughtful, nothing says house warming like something I can do myself in 30 seconds on my PC. So with that being the final straw I met Matt Dietz on Twitter. He was in my area, though not the town I live in but one over. We'd chatted briefly on Twitter and then met in person at an event arranged through social media, The Smokeout, a free lunch networking meetup that draws up to 500 people each month, all arranged via a facebook group page. The company that sponsors it gets a ton of coverage and hundreds of people walk through his disaster recovery business.
While I was at the Smokeout, I met Matt, he recognized me and introduced himself, we talked about the event, insurance, and scheduled an appointment. A few days later, there I was in Matt's office signing a life insurance policy.
Also while I was at The Smokeout I met a rep who knew me casually offline from another event but who hadn't seen me in a year or so. She mentioned that she wanted to get me on her station, Fox News to talk about How To Sell When Nobody's Buying. A week later I was on.
Finally, while I was on Fox News, the segment before me was with another person who follows me on Twitter named Jacob Nordby, developer of a program to help the local food bank called Fat For Food. We ended up having a great conversation and are moving it back online to help raise awareness and food for the foodbank.
I'd never have met any of these people when I did had it not been for conversations that started online. So while many people question the value of online conversations, I'd argue that they are real and that they actually cause people to connect offline more easily. You've had a chance to get to know something about someone and it makes it a lot easier to connect offline.
If social media is not a component of your business, you may be missing out on one of the fastest ways to develop new relationships and new business. And, if you are not already using The Bold Approach Leads Machine, you are missing the biggest (and free) opportunity to grow your business using social media around. When you click the link, start by watching videos 1 and 2, then, sign up for your free account. Oh, and how did set up the leads machine? Well, I met David Anderson, online of course, we set up the partnership, launched it, without a formal contract, and with only a virtual handshake and a phone call and implemented only days later. All before he flew down to Los Angeles from Mountain View, CA to meet me in person. That is the power of online relationships, people who discount them are missing powerful opportunities.
I look forward to hearing your stories of how your online connections are moving offline and becoming real time friendships and business relationships, share your experiences in the comments!
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