“Highest and Best Use” Networking

by Wendy Kinney
Highest and best use is a concept used in several different industries.

Realtors use it to justify tearing down an apartment complex—low rent per square foot, and replacing it with a shopping mall—high rent per square foot.

Managers use it to be sure that the $10-an-hour employee is making copies and coffee, not the $50-an-hour employee.

Highest and best use is an important concept to use when networking.

When you first meet someone spend that first impression, the most costly part of any new relationship, talking about your most profitable clients.

1: Describe the triggering event that moves your most profitable prospects to be ready to hire you.
Are they ready when they hire their 47th employee? Are they ready when they are moving? Are they ready when they hurt too much to play on the floor with their grandchildren?

2: Tell a SuperHero Story.
You, in the tights and the cape, leaping tall buildings, solving a client’s problem. Your new networking partner will remember your story and share it with their own clients.

3: Explain the results the client will experience after they’ve worked with you.
Will they have more time to prospect? Will they spend fewer hours at their desk? Will they be able to take all seven grandchildren to the zoo without chewing a bottle of Tylenol?

Don’t waste downtown opportunities talking about your least profitable prospects.

Network and Prosper -
W!

 

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