Ep. 092: Coffee Chats: The What, Why & How?

Virtual or in-person coffee chats can be a great way to grow your network without having to be in a large, awkward networking setting. With the 1:1 format it's perfect for introverts and the socially anxious. They key to successful coffee chats is to not have any expectations or assumptions about the "ROI" going into it. You might never become each other's clients, but you might find you both serve the same audience and could do a cool collaboration. You can become referral partners and you may even build a strong, supportive friendship with the person. In this episode I take the guesswork out of it so you can start chatting ASAP!

LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED TODAY:

• Your Rebellious Success: https://erikatebbensconsulting.com/rebellious-success

• Want to read a transcript of this episode? Click here!

  Hello. And welcome back to the sell it sister podcast. Today. I'm going to be talking all about using coffee chats to grow your business organically. And if you haven't yet listened to last week's episode, I briefly mentioned coffee chats in that one, but I also mentioned four other lesser-known ways that you can show up online.

  In order to, you know, make more organic connections and get more clients. So be sure to listen to that one after he listened to this one, if you haven't already. All right. Coffee chats. Oh my gosh. I love, love, love coffee chats. I love them so much. And I think that you will love them too. For several reasons.

  Uh, first of all, they are just really low key. They're really simple. I'm all about simple. I'm all about easy. And there's not a lot of rigor morale when it comes to coffee chats. But before I dive in to how you can make the most of them, Let me just tell you a little bit about what they are in cases is your first time ever learning about them or hearing about them.

  So coffee chats are usually like, you know, in normal, non COVID times, if you live near a person, like you would go to a coffee shop and you would just connect, right. You would chit chat and get to know each other and all of that. But now I feel like. Know, even whatever happens with, with COVID. Um, the fact that we can virtually coffee chat is really, really awesome.

  So even if you're like, I just love being at home and I don't really. Like have a lot of local connections or I just really don't want to go out and meet up with people. That's fine. Cause you don't have to, because it is easier than ever to virtually connect with new people, you know, on zoom and just do it that way instead.

  So I really, really, really love the option of virtual coffee chats. They are usually, um, 15 minutes to an hour tops. And I would say most commonly when people have call links set up for these, there are anywhere between like 15 and 30 minutes. That is the definitely the most common. And if you're already using a, uh, a call like booking system, like an acuity or a Calendly.

  You can just set up one that is just coffee chat or connection call, or, you know, whatever you want to call it, you can set one up like that. You can set it up for the time parameter that you want. And then I just have a very, very, very simple intake form on mine. I generally am giving it out, uh, directly, so it's not, it doesn't just live on my website somewhere.

  And so I don't necessarily need to know a lot about them on the intake form. It's usually just, you know, the, the basics. Uh, so that is really the what, and then at the scheduled time, We meet on zoom and we have our virtual coffee chat. So that's in the simplest terms. That is what it is. Uh, so why, why would you do these coffee chats?

  Well, because, uh, they can be a great focus intentional way to learn about somebody and to learn about who they serve and what they do. And anything else that you might have in common. So the goal here is not to get them to. Hire you. Right. So I said in last week's episode, I was going to explain how we can use some for good and how we like won't use them for evil.

  And I, you know, jokingly, obviously not evil, but like, unfortunately a lot of times what I think, uh, like could happen or can potentially happen is that somebody is like, okay, this is, you know, in 20 minutes I am going to. Convinced this person, why they should hire me. Right. And I will say, thanks, Lee, pretty much all of my coffee chats have been amazing.

  Um, and not that way at all, but I have had a few where I'm like, you're like literally trying to pitch me the whole time and it's awkward. And I don't like it. And I know that none of the listeners of my, of, of this podcast would do that because you're all amazing people. And you all want to be running, uh, ethical feel-good businesses.

  Um, but I would just say, you know, if it ever happened, Benz that you have a call with somebody like that. I, I just wouldn't, um, I wouldn't write them off entirely. Like I wouldn't write off the idea of coffee chats entirely, just because maybe like a couple of bad experiences. Right. Because for the most part, mine have been.

  Absolutely amazing. And so your, your whole goal is to really see, like, besides the things I just mentioned, you know, who they are, what they do, how they work with people, anything else you might have in common is to really see how can you benefit each other. Right. So how can you, how can you like generously, um, you know, help each other?

  So that could be like, like part of why you're asking, you know, who do you serve and how do you work with them and stuff is so that, you know, so that you have a new person to refer people to. So if you're like, Oh my gosh. Okay, cool. So they do, you know, they do copywriting for course, creators and they do all like done for you work.

  Great. So if you are now connected to. Somebody who's a course grader. You might be like, Oh my gosh, I know this other person, like her name is Maggie. And you know, this is her website and you should totally check her out in case you need copy, help. Like, she's so nice. She's so amazing. That is a really cool way to just like, have more, it's almost like, um, like a Rolodex of anyone who remembers like what those are like a Rolodex, like a list of, um, really cool people in your back pocket that you can share with.

  Uh, new connections or your current connections. It's also a great way to figure out collaboration. Like, again, you're not going into it necessarily with this notion of like, Oh, let's collaborate on something together. Um, unless you put that out there as a pitch of like, Hey, I want to, you know, I want people to book in on my, my coffee chat link because I want to do more clubhouse collaborations this year.

  And so like, let's see if we'd be a good fit and what we could collaborate about. So that could be something when you are intentionally saying, yes, this is what I want to do, but sort of, as you figure out, like, you know, if you realize that you both serve kind of the same audience, then it could be a great way for you both to collaborate on something which doesn't necessarily mean like a big, huge paid offer.

  It could just be like, Hey, do you want to go live on each other's? Instagram's right to, since we both serve the same audience and, um, we could share our expertise on the other person's platform. And then also it can just be really a really fun way to get to know the other person. So some of the people that I have done coffee chats with, I'm like, Oh my gosh, like, You know, you did roller Derby too.

  That's so cool. Like, that's so interesting. And now when, when we're connected online, like we have that sort of, that common language, that common bond outside of just the world of like, Oh, we're both entrepreneurs, right. Or we might find that like, we have both, you know, lived in the same places or, um, you know, we both really like true crime or whatever the case is like, It's just really, it's really fun.

  And I have, um, a lot of people who I talk to all the time now are people who I met through, uh, coffee chats and it can also be really good for doing, um, market research. So. I am doing this currently where I set up, um, through some people that I knew, but I was like, Hey, this is my intention. I want to do some coffee chats, but I also, um, want to utilize it as market research.

  And I just let people know off the bat. I was like, you know, I'll, I will give you some like suggestions as a thank you, um, for helping me out. So I will give generously. Back to you. Um, but this is, you know, upfront. This is like, what I want to do with this round of, of coffee chats. And people were, people were more than happy to do it.

  It was really awesome. So then as you're on the call itself, I would say, you know, keep it loose, but fun. Like it's okay to have some sort of like boundaries and parameters and things like that. But also just treat it like you would any regular conversation. So, you know, as you're chitchatting and getting to know each other, then before you get off, you know, before you like hop off the zoom, you can say like some stuff like, um, how can I best support you going forward?

  So like, what is, you know, do they need, are they looking for client referrals? Are they looking for. Collaboration opportunities, speaking opportunities, like whatever it is, uh, you know, sending people to their opt-in, anything like that, like how can I support you going forward? Or you could say, you know, is there anything that you are promoting right now that I can like help you, you know, get out there on my platform.

  So maybe they're doing, um, uh, like a free training coming up or they're launching something or whatever. Uh, if you feel comfortable, You like, it's a good connection. And like you really vibe well with them and you kind of serve the same audience where it would make sense for you to shout them out on like your socials and stuff like that.

  You can ask them, like, what can I help you promote? Um, and you could also say like, which types of clients are the best fit for you. So let's say they are, um, you know, B2B. And they do a content creation and you're like, okay, great. Like, who are the best clients? You know, is it, is it people who are newer is that people who are more established as the people who have a lot of content and you're just helping them repurpose it, like, because the more specific, again, the better connections you can make for them, um, in the future.

  And I would say in terms of like, where you're going to find these people is really looking at any of the other places that you're already engaging with people. So your social media, any community sense you're in. And you don't necessarily have to just like in your instance, stories would be like, Oh, Hey, I'm just putting up this link and any old, anyone can book a coffee chat.

  But I would say like, if you already have been DM-ing with somebody, you have a connection or you're in a Facebook group with somebody and you've seem to have a good connection going on, you could always reach out and say like, Hey, you know, we. Like I know we chat a lot in the DMS. Would you ever be open to a 20 minute coffee chat?

  And then if they say yes, give the booking link and then they can book in on. On your calendar and make it really easy. And I know in last week's episode, I mentioned, um, the virtual, like the digital networking, um, that my friend Lindsay of mine money balanced it and how I leveraged that for coffee chats.

  So essentially what I did was instead of just being like, Oh, well I networked and now great. I know these people, but like I'm not continuing the relationship with any of them. I was like, no, like. I w I actually really want to get to know some of these people better. And so I reached out, I sent a personal email to some of the people and I was like, Hey, um, if you ever, like, I know we didn't have a lot of time on like, on the event.

  Um, but if you ever want to do a coffee chat, here is my link. And again, there's no I'm making no assumptions. I may I'm. I am not hoping to get anything out of it. Other than a connection. I'm not like more hahaha like I'm sneakily going to get them to like become a client of mine or whatever. Like, no, because honestly there have been times I've coffee chatted with other people and then I'm like, shit, I need to hire you.

  Like I like, it's cool that I know you because like, I should probably hire you and, uh, like I want your services, right? So it's, I never assume that it's going to like lead to money. It's truly just like, I think you're interesting. I think what you're doing is interesting. I think you seem like a rad person.

  I really just want to be able to get to know you better in a more like intentional focused setting. That's it super, super simple, no pressure. Um, you know, just. Be be your cool normal self and that's it. And then, uh, you know, sometimes you will have like a better connection with certain people than others.

  Yeah. Not going to be batting a hundred probably, but I will say like nine times out of 10 when I do a coffee chat with people, um, it's, it's really great. And I, I just really love it. And for some people, like, I think I even mentioned it in her episode. Um, but the episode where I had kina, uh, um, talking about, um, you know, business financials and budgeting and all of that.

  We actually, I, we had like a 30 minute coffee chat that I think we literally were talking for an hour and a half. Like we just could not stop talking. It was so fun. It was so amazing. And I loved it, but it all started from. A coffee chat. So yeah. Try them out. You know, if it seems fun, I would say try it out.

  Uh, if you've already done them, tell me about it. I would love to know, uh, if you're thinking about doing it, I would also love to know and, uh, be sure, you know, if you're on, if you're on the gram, uh, go ahead and screenshot this and post it in your stories and tag me, I would love to know that is really the only place on social media, where I hang out.

  And I love to connect with the seller sister listeners. So go ahead and share it over there. Tag me so I can say hi so I can give you a heartfelt thank you for being a listener. And also it helps other people know about the podcast too. Cause I know if you got value, then the people that you're connected to will as well.

  And I really appreciate it. And until next week happy selling.