Creating Unique Ways to Spark a Connection

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* This is a section from the 30 Day Connection Guide that I created to help people develop new connections and grow their network.

Are you ready to find new connections?

Then let’s begin!

Camping is one of my favorite things to do, after it’s over. There are a lot of logistics to prepare for, but once you get there and everything is set-up it’s always a blast. The coffee the next morning always tastes amazing.

You setup the tent then go searching for dry wood to start the fire, much like finding your ideal people.

You want to find thin branches and leaves to start the fire, medium size branches to create your base then big logs that will last a long time.

Very much like the different kinds of customers you should gathering – short term with a focus on turning them into long term customers. The first step is giving people a reason to connect with you.

Connect From Your Personality and Core Value

In reality personality and core values are one in the same. Your personality stems from you core values. For example if you believe in having fun in everything you do then creating boring connecting points doesn’t fit your personality.

If you like Star Trek, taking your dog for hikes, or a nice glass of wine before dinner then let this out for people to read. Talk about it on your website, Facebook page, webinars, etc.

If you have employees then let them let their personality out. You should create some guidelines around how to communicate their passions, but this should just help guide them to make sure they understand the intent behind their messages.

If you only work with non-profits because you are passionate about non-profits then talk about why you do this. When you explain why you do what you do it’s easier to find the people that are the best fit for your business.

The more personality you infuse into your website and outreach the more connection points people have to build a relationship with you.

Sparking Their Interest

Once you have your ideal people all lined up it’s time to spark their interest. The best way to build a connection is to be helpful. You have to show how much you care.

The key is to show you care while also building your authority.

Some of my successes have sent thousands of people to my website in one day, increasing my email list by a few hundred people.

Here are a few techniques I’ve used: (All high value and in the beginning all free.)

• Guest posted on blogs with large audiences.
• Thrown Twitter parties for free for 1.5 years building connections with people that I still leverage to this day.
• Reviewed sales pages, landing pages and websites.
• Offered free advice on how to improve their conversion rate.
• Sent gifts to people who I wanted to build a friendship with.

The list goes on. My wife can tell you about all the free and discounted work I’ve given away.

Now I’m at a point in my business that I don’t do very much free work besides creating content that helps me build my authority. I do some free work that allows me to create and share content with people.

The key is to find a way to spark someone’s interest and make it easy for them to deepen the relationship.

Make a list of 10 Connection ideas you can use each day:

1. ______________________________
2. ______________________________
3. ______________________________
4. ______________________________
5. ______________________________
6. ______________________________
7. ______________________________
8. ______________________________
9. ______________________________
10. ______________________________

You can use the ideas from the resource section and add your own ideas that fit your personality.

Here are a few ideas that you can use to spark a connection with new people:

1. Have regular events you can invite them to. (monthly lunch, monthly call, quarterly webinar)
2. Invite someone out for coffee. (Your treat.)
3. Share something of value that can help them. (i.e. Step-by-step blog post, small ebook, webinar, etc.)
4. Ask someone for an interview.
5. Offer advice on their website. (A copywriter recently combed through my site and found 5 grammatical errors on my website. We had a great email conversation and developed a connection.)
6. Email old client. (send them a link to a valuable article you created or someone else’s site.)
7. Call old client. (Wishing them a happy birthday or a great month.)
8. Physical letter to an old friend. (Sometimes reaching out and just sharing what is going on in your life is a great connection point.)
9. Gratitude card. (Thank you card is a powerful way to spread happiness.)
10. Send a postcard wishing them a happy spring with a quote from Captain Kirk. (Ideas from my friend Ruth)
11. Send a free gift that has meaning and emotional connection. (I like to send a super-ducky because I like the idea of having superpowers.)
12. Offer to help them with an event they are putting on.

Your Connection Superpowers

You must connect from your personality. This starts with connecting from your superpowers (passions, focus, and strengths). When you do connecting actions that you are passionate about the connecting is fun. When you focus on 1-3 key areas you’ll see better results. And the last one is connecting from your strengths because doing connecting that comes easy to you makes the ROI much higher.

If you can infuse passion, focus and strengths into your connection plan then feels more natural and enjoyable. It’s why I interview people. I want to connect with people who are smart and can help my audience. Some of these talented people become friends who help me in my business. Some just become friends and I’m so glad that I have this connection with them.

* If you are curious about the 30 Day Connection Challenge Course and you want to be notified when the next course goes live then sign-up for email updates and you’ll be the first to know.