Small Business | Forum « Are you a ”hand-shaker”?

Are you a ”hand-shaker”? (11 posts)

Topic tags: hand shaker, networking, offline networking

Warren Veach said
1 year, 4 months ago:
Are you a “hand-shaker”?
Archaeological ruins and ancient texts show that handshaking was practiced in ancient Greece as far back as the 5th century BC.
When I attend an offline networking event, I always shake hands with anyone to which I am introduced, or any acquaintances that I haven’t seen for a while.
Man or woman, it doesn’t matter to me.
Times have progressed, and there are many more online introductions and 1st-time meetings happening where the opportunity for a physical hand-shake isn’t possible.
Nowadays, we send out “friend invites” in our various social platforms, and get “friend requests”, in a somewhat high number.
Especially, when either the sender or receiver is new to a given site, the number of 1st-time “touches” can be quite numerous.
I’ve always felt that when someone accepts your ”friend invite” or reaches out to you for friendship, that you should respond and thank them for doing so. The “how you respond” is not nearly as important as the fact that you took the time to make the extra few clicks and did it.
Either way, by thanking them for accepting your invitation, or for reaching out to you, it is your opportunity to make a first impression and begin the process of fostering a relationship.
Are there any other “hand-shakers” out there?
@warrenveach | # | Top
Frederic Gonzalo said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@warrenveach Haaa, Warren, you are opening a potential can of worms, here… (In a good way, though)
Indeed, the whole concept of befriending someone just isn’t what is used to be, and the good old hand shake sometimes feels like it’s going out of fashion. But it’s not. I have noticed a trend in the past year where many online groups will try to meet offline, which is counter-intuitive but makes absolute sense.
I will give you two examples. First are tweet-ups. During a conference I attended two years ago in Toronto, an attendee tweeted “hey, let’s have a tweet-up at this bar for martinis” after the networking function that was taking place. Well, it was a great way for some 15-20 of us that answered the call to meet and greet in real life.
A second example happened in 2011 in Montreal, Quebec (Canada). There is a LinkedQuebec group that has active LinkedIn members in the province of Quebec. The idea was to host an offline event, to give an opportunity for people to meet in real life, with seminars and keynote presentations about social media, etiquette, sales, etc. The first evening sold out with 150 people attending. The second one sold out with close to 280 people. A third function is planned for March 2012, with probably over 300 people expecting to attend. And what do people do there: yup! the gool old hand shake business card exchange, which helps putting more than a face to a name.
As for the etiquette of answering properly when befriending someone online, you are right, it should be more common practice. It’s not always the case, probably due to lack of time, lack of common standards with online etiquette, or a mix of both.
@fredericgonzalo | # | Top
Kevin Phillips said
1 year, 4 months ago:
This raises an issue I continue to ponder. What does “friending” mean? In a personal world friendship matters. It involves genuine investment. I understand that the handshake originated as a demonstration that neither party was armed, that is, equipped with weapons. Meeting people is risky, Befriending someone in a relational world meant, “I got your back.”
It is not clear to me what “friending” means in Social Media world.
In this environment I accept friends indiscriminately. On other platforms a friend must have a “thicker” connection.
One thing to note: I am not selling low-cost, volume products or services. I sell me. My client’s come one at a time and I my time is expensive. Having lots and lots of Social Media friends is not always a good thing.
I shake hands with friends. And when I shake your hand, it means something.
@kevin | # | Top
Warren Veach said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@fredericgonzalo
I’ve always felt that given an opportunity to meet someone in person, that I originally met online, was a worthwhile thing to do.
While we can get to know someone through our online conversations, that face-to-face meeting takes the relationship to an entirely different level.
@warrenveach | # | Top
Warren Veach said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@kevin
I’ve also often wondered about the “friend” thing.
Webster’s dictionary says a friend is:
1
a : one attached to another by affection or esteem
b : acquiantance (a person whom one knows but who is not a particularly close friend)
2 a : one that is not hostile
b : one that is of the same nation, party, or group
In our online worlds, I definitely believe that what many of us call “friends” should really be “acquaintances”

@warrenveach | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year, 4 months ago:
To be honest, I started personally thanking everyone who accepted by friend request on this site but got overwhelmed! I’m only about 650 people behind. Has anyone personally – not copied and pasted a standard message- welcomed people here? @warrenveach @kevin @fredericgonzalo
@deairby | # | Top
Warren Veach said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby
To be honest….no, not always.
When I first got to SME, I was sending a “Thank You” via the Activity Thread simply because of the volume and it was very easy to simply go up the line and pop in a note.
However, now that I’ve been here a while, and the number of accepted/requested friends have slowed down considerably, I’m sending “Thank you” notes through the Message system.
It’s a bit more time-consuming to do it that way (more clicks involved), but I do get a higher % of people that respond to a message as opposed to an Activity mention.
And, bottom-line, getting people to engage is the real goal.
Now, because I started doing that on Day One here on SME, it only takes a few minutes to send a message to the responders.
And, now that I am caught up, using the Message system takes me to their profile page to send the message, so I now have the opportunity to see wherein their interests lie and make comments on them.
Like anything, it involved a bit of trial and error to find the best, most acceptable way to do it, and it required tweeking to get it right, but I think in the long run it is worth it.
@kevin @fredericgonzalo
@warrenveach | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year, 4 months ago:
Well, I’m challenged to do the same! I just keep thinking that there is a diamond in the rough I have to find. Someone who is a “match” in the business world! @warrenveach
@deairby | # | Top
Warren Veach said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby
I’ve no doubt you’ll find that “diamond in the rough”!
BTW, I love the way you set-up your blog, “http://www.thebaronyork.wordpress.com“.
You’re use of pics and story telling is very well done, and it’s nice to see that you don’t believe that every post has to be a 2-page dissertation.
Bravo!
@warrenveach | # | Top
Rich Brooks said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@warrenveach @deairby et al,
There’s a couple of threads here, so I’ll weigh in on both (just try and stop me!)
1. Online / offline. I think this is just natural. Online lets us find people to connect to regardless of geography, religion, political background, etc. No barriers. I’ve made amazing connections that I’m lucky if I can only see them once a year at some conference.
Offline lets us make a deeper connection. That’s why I run tweetups here in Maine, and go to other in person events. Tomorrow night we’re having our next #metweetup (Maine Tweetup) at a local Mexican restaurant/bar. Most of the people who attend are my local tweeps, but I wouldn’t have known almost any of them w/o Twitter. Yet now I’m hanging w/them and even doing work for them or giving them work.
People are social, online or off.
2. Thanking people. It comes down to time. I get too many followers and LinkedIn connections not to copy and paste a thank you from time to time. Ditto w/the clubs. As leader I want to make everyone feel welcome, so I send out a standard welcome message when they accept my friendship or vice versa.
If they respond w/more than a “Thanks!” then I can respond, and maybe the conversation goes deeper, as does the connection.
Just like in real life!
@rich-brooks | # | Top
Warren Veach said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@rich-brooks
I guess you can cross-thread if you want to, I’m certainly not going to stop you!
Definitely, the offline and personal touch lets us connect on a deeper level. And, I believe it helps develop trust as well.
Also, I certainly agree that if someone responds, we need to respond in kind.
As far as I can tell, you are doing a GREAT job leading by example.
Keep up the good work!
@warrenveach | # | Top