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how do you network in the age of Covid-19? part 1: recommendations

July 15, 2020

written by
Barbara O Stephenson

When you can’t meet people face to face, your online reputation precedes you.

Your online reputation is your social proof. It’s what people, real people, say about you. In a world where ‘fake news’ is a daily experience, it’s your online reputation that provides validity. There is a reason why reputation management companies charge a lot of money, the internet has a very, very long memory. And that matters because our daily face to face interactions dwindle as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on and shows no sign of slowing for months to come. So how do you network? How do you meet new people? How do you find new prospects? Conduct Sales? The only way how now; you move everything into the digital space. And to start off on the right foot, make sure they find positive things about you. Be that reviews, recommendations, testimonials-  it all comes down to nice things that someone says about you.

Asking hospitality clients to request guest recommendations has always been one of our SEM tactics here at 300FeetOut. But reviews are not limited to hospitality. You use recommendations to buy things online or to select the restaurant with the best take-out, so it shouldn’t be surprising that people use them before they talk to you. Every business should be requesting recommendations from their clients. Testimonials can be used on your website, proposals, pitch decks or any other sales materials.

There are a few ways to get recommendations from clients. The first is during actual email or verbal conversations in which a client says something positive. That sounds like the easiest way to do it, but trust me, remembering on the fly while you are focusing on an issue is not simple. The second is to ask them directly. In order to make it more likely that your clients will respond when you send them an email, provide a recommendation that’s relevant to your project. Lastly, you can also solicit recommendations via LinkedIn or third party applications like Clutch.

To see what our clients say about us, check out the new brags page on the 300FeetOut website.

Up next week is part 2: Digital networking