When you think cowboy, on the one hand you think Wild West & Indians. On the other hand we think of cowboys, people who are unprofessional, they con people, aren’t listening ………salesmen. I can only generalise but you know what I mean when I say there are many more male cowboys.
What behaviours do we see from these people when we attend business connected events?
- When we meet him for the first time, there isn’t good eye contact. He didn’t look at you conversely as you shake hands.
- Oh and that sloppy loose handshake. Or the too friendly greeting, he grips your hand with both hands, he wants to be in control immediately.
- You will see too much eye contact. He stares over far too long at the host undress the opposite gender with his / their eyes.
- He tries to get friendly far too quickly. He tells inappropriate anecdotes or jokes often stumbling.
- He lacks integrity dropping names to the wrong people at the wrong time.
- He doesn’t bother getting to know your name. Or if he does says a list and gets it wrong. Editors note. When you meet new people use first names only. Listen, people tend not to forget names they just don’t hear and we are too embarrassed to say.
- He talks far too much and takes control. Not interested in you at all and simply loves talking about himself.
- He’s a toucher. Nothing wrong with that at the correct time and the appropriate settings. But these cowboys do it too soon in the beginning of the relationship.
- He tries too hard to be interesting. He’ll talk jargon and may even get his marketing literature out expecting you to go over it with him line by line.
- If he spots an opportunity he doesn’t know how to follow up properly and carefully. He ends up pestering not knowing that he is no …….
Ensure that no-one can ever accuse you of being a networking cowboy (or cowgirl!)
Networking is simply building relationships. How can anyone do that with the sort of behaviours listed in 1 – 10?
The author of this article is Will Kintish, leading UK authority on effective and confident networking both offline and online. If you’d like Will to speak at your conference or training workshops, call him on 0161 773 3727. Visit www.kintish.co.uk and www.linkedintraining.co.uk for further free and valuable information on all aspects of networking.
