“How May I Be of Service?”

by James Palmer

“How may I be of service?”

We probably hear some form of this phrase several times a week from those people serving us in restaurants, grocery stores, and the local coffee shop. But how many of us think about what this phrase means for our own businesses?

In other words, how many of us service professionals keep this phrase in mind when seeking out new clients?

You see, we humans are a pretty self-centered, egotistical bunch. And we project this state of being on the outside world.

We see a Man in the Moon, imagine faces in the front ends of cars and the tops of Kraft parmesan cheese cans (if you don’t know what I mean, go to your fridge if you’ve got a can, your local market if you don’t, and check it out. You’ll see what I mean), and we think that if it rains, or we stub our toe, it means the universe is punishing us for some misstep.

Service providers are no different. We are simply human beings, after all. When we are out marketing ourselves and our business at networking events, we are guilty of the exact same thing: “What does that guy do? I wonder if he would be a good candidate for my service.” “I want to talk to her. I’ll be she has a ton of money!” Etc., etc.

With this mindset, we go up and talk to these people, introducing ourselves, letting them tell us what they do, most likely nodding our heads politely while tuning them out, waiting for our chance to speak so we can tell them how great we are.

Then we go home and wonder why we didn’t get any business.

Sound familiar? Well, here’s a few steps that will help you counteract this dangerous mindset that all human beings share.

Change Your Attitude.

When you go to your next networking event, think about how you may be of service. Fill your mind with this one thought: “How may I be of service? How may I help this group, or this person, solve whatever problems they have?”

Shut Up and Listen. Remember what I said earlier about humans being self-centered and egotistical? Well, use this to your advantage! Shut up and let the other person speak. Ask them what they do and then get out of the way.

Then, while you are letting them do their thing, clear your mind of what you where going to say next. Stop thinking about your USP, how you need to get some gas on the way home, or what you’re going to have that night for dinner, and listen to the person as they tell you about their life and their business. You’ll learn more in a few minutes of active listening about their business problems than you ever could using the usual methods. And it will give you great ammunition when it’s YOUR turn to speak.

Also, SHOW them you’re listening by repeating what they just said to make sure you understood them. Say things like, “Oh, so you help busy professionals organize their workspaces. That’s very interesting. How did you get into that?”

After the Event.

Once you get home, take their business cards, which you’ve hopefully jotted a few notes on about each encounter, and enter the info into some sort of database. It can be a Word document, spreadsheet, whatever. Decide if you want to meet them later on, and if you know of someone who could help them with something, send them an email to let them know.

Another method that works great and won’t cost you additional time and money, is to send them clippings of articles you’ve found in your own reading that relate to their industry or problems they are having.

Don’t email them a link to an online article; print it out, or tear out the magazine page and mail it to them, along with a quick note about why you sent it along (Example: “Hey Dan, saw this and thought of you—Steve). Don’t worry about whether or not they might have already seen it. The point is to show them you were thinking about them and their business, and stay top of mind with them. You’ll also make it more likely that they’ll do the same for you someday!

So the next time you’re heading off to a networking function, instead of thinking about how many deposit checks you could walk out of there with, think about how you can help those people that you meet. It will bring a world of change to yourself and your business.