Shakehands - Networking App

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Make Your Attendees Love Your Event Even More!

  So, you’ve heard of the Shakehands app, but you’re an event organiser, not an attendee! What could you have to gain by using a networking app? Well, the team here at Shakehands would like to give a little whisper in your ear that …

Shakehands CAN make your job easier!

What’s the one thing that an event organiser wants from their event? We bet that attendee satisfaction is high up on your list. And we’re sure you wouldn’t complain about receiving some great reviews too.

Okay, enough about you. What do attendees want to gain from your event? We’re sure you’ve given this one some thought. Making sure your attendees zip around the room making new leads as they go, and leave, exhausted, pockets brimming with business cards.

So … let’s put the two together.

You want a successful event that attendees rave about for weeks to come. Your attendees want that all important new business lead. How about you help them get that lead? And, if you do, we’re sure they will love you for it!

This is where the Shakehands app can help you.

Shakehands is a nifty new networking app that connects your attendees to the leads that matter to them. In simple terms, when your attendees install the app, they simply link it up to their Facebook or LinkedIn profile, and their details are filled in automatically: their interests, their contact details and, vitally, their photograph. Next, they click through the app, and tah-dah! Every person using the app in the room will show up right there in front of them, with their details easily displayed. This way, your attendees can easily see who is who at your event and begin their networking right away! No more awkward silences, no need for you to work the room, and certainly no need for anyone to leave the event wondering why on earth they bothered to attend in the first place.

Sound good?

We thought so! Here’s a rundown of the Shakehands app’s features that will make your event go with a swing!

History feature: displays new connections and their information, including date and time of details exchange.

Icebreaker feature: Using users’ Facebook and LinkedIn information, matches users with other users based on common interests.

No One Is A Stranger feature: Finding mutual contacts with others at the networking event.

Follow Up With VIPs Feature: Getting in touch with people you missed out at the networking event.

No Business Cards? No Problem feature: Sharing business card information virtually.

We would love to hear what you think about the Shakehands app, or how you think you could make it work for you. Why not drop us a line on our LinkedIn group and tell us your ideas?

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3 Networking Approaches That Will Surprise Your Contacts.

Let’s face it, many of us are great at networking at events. We’ve honed our skills to within an inch of perfection. We can schmooze the pants off a top CEO at an event and work the room until our pockets bulge with cards, yet somehow still not make those lasting connections that make our business network thrive. So, after the event, how do we make sure that our new contacts set us apart from the other hundred-or-so people that they met that day? Here are the Shakehands top three networking approaches that will make you stand out from the crowd …

1. Don’t hard sell.

Everyone is selling something, whether that is a product, a business, or even just themselves. When your new contact expects you to come straight over and try to sell him something, don’t. The greatest pitch is the pitch that no-one sees coming. Find out what they are selling and let them sell to you first. That way you gain the upper hand in the conversation; your new contact has shown their cards leaving them more open to adding you as a contact as they have already invested their time.

2. Be a friend.

Yes, it’s a contact. Yes, it’s a business opportunity. But, more than that, it is a human being standing there in front of you, so treat them like one! Try connecting with your fellow attendees on a human level. Be friendly. By being friendly you can find out about them: what interests them, what you have in common, who they really are. If your new connection sees that you’re not just there for ‘the sell’ they will be more likely to see you as a potential friend, rather than just another pitch in a suit.

3. Do ask personal questions.

Most people love it when others take an interest in them, especially if they are there to showcase themselves and their business at an event. Why not try to make them open up about themselves a little more by asking personal, but non-intrusive, questions. The goal of any networking event is to engage and be remembered. Finding out what makes them tick outside of work might just be key to strengthening that all-important relationship. A shared interest with a new contact will make you more memorable, hence more likely to be accepted into their trusted network.

Shakehands is the mobile networking business application that gives you that all important head start. By organising the contacts in the room by their interests, you’ve already got a series of opening conversations that can get you that all important connection. Read more about the Shakehands interests feature: ‘Feature Focus: How Can I Use the ‘Interests’ Feature on the Shakehands App?

  Need help solving your networking nightmares? Join us on Twitter and Facebook. You can also find our company page on LinkedIn.

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Feature focus: Remember who you have connected with at your event with Shakehands’ history feature!

A really useful feature of the Shakehands app is the ‘history feature’, which is really easy to use! During, or even after, your event, all you need to do to use this feature is launch the app and click on the ‘History’ page in the bottom toolbar. This will display your new connections in a list for you to easily browse through and find out more about them in a single click.

    Once you have connected with a new lead at an event through the app, their details will show right up on this page, and remain there for you to look them up later. You can easily find out their name, what they look like, and of course, their interests. The app will tell you exactly when the request to exchange info was received, when it was sent, and when it was accepted, helping you to keep track of all of your new leads and easily follow up with them after the event. You can keep this information for as long as you want, allowing you to look back at any previous contacts made at any time in the future! To see how you can use this feature to your advantage, please read our post on how to leverage your existing business network to get more leads.

    Feel like telling us what you think of the Shakehands app’s features? Find us on Twitter, Facebook or find our company page on LinkedIn.

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Top networking tip of the week: How can I leverage my existing business network to get more leads?

  A great way to make sure that you build your business connections and consolidate those relationships into a trusted network is to regularly keep in touch with the people you have met.

‘One of the challenges in networking is everybody thinks it’s making cold calls to strangers. Actually, it’s the people who already have strong trust relationships with you, who know you’re dedicated, smart, a team player, who can help you.’ – Reid Hoffman

A great way to keep in touch with people easily is to assign them to interest list, to enable you to easily contact them about things that might interest them in future.

When you have some spare time, think about the types of people you want to build a business relationship with. Come up with just a few main interests that they might have, for example: business networking, events management or new technology. After an event, take a small amount of time to allocate each new contact to one of these lists. Social media makes allocating people to lists incredibly easy. Both Facebook and Twitter allow you to make lists of users, while Google+ lets you add connections to ‘circles’; use the shared interests that you have come up with for your contacts as titles for your social media lists. If you don’t use social media, you can always use tags to allocate these interests to your new contacts instead.

So, how can these lists be useful for your business networking? Easily, that’s how! You can choose exactly how much time and effort you put into using these lists depending on the time you have and returns you expect. If you have just a little time to dedicate, why not think about letting your past contacts know about interesting events in the area that you will be attending? This will easily give you a chance to catch up with them in person, using only the time you have allocated for networking at the event and minimising any follow-ups needed to maintain the relationship. If you have more time to really nurture these new business relationships, then why not use social media to share interesting, relevant content with them based on their interests? Or engage them in conversations via email about the things they love by staying up to date on the cutting edge developments in their area of expertise.

Shakehands can help with adding your contacts to your interests lists by using the ‘History Feature’, which easily allows you to re-engage with people you have met in the past by displaying their details right there for you in the app. Read more about this feature: ‘Feature focus: remember who you have connected with at your event with Shakehands’ history feature!’

  Why not let us know how this tip worked for you on social media? Find us on Twitter, Facebook or see our company page on LinkedIn.

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Feature Focus: How Can Upcoming Features of the Shakehands App Help Me Keep in Touch with My New Contacts?

Many people are too busy to nurture their business relationships as experts suggest as they just don’t have time! If you are someone who is guilty of foregoing the necessary courting of new business contacts, don’t worry, Shakehands can help!

We will soon be releasing an updated version of the app with a built in email feature. Shakehands currently keeps contact details in the app, but soon it will also automatically send an email to each of the new contacts that you have met at an event with all of your contact details included! Of course, this also means that all of your new contacts’ details will also be automatically be sent to you after the event, meaning that you can easily keep track of the new leads you have generated at that all important networking event. This automatic email will help to remind your contacts about you and boost your relationship building with very little time required – perfect for busy people!

Within 24 hours of the event, you will receive an email showing all Shakehands’ users that you connected with at the event and their business information, and of course the name, date and location of the event where you met them – just in case you are an avid networker!

Want to know about all of the latest Shakehands’ features, or just have a question? Find us on Twitter, Facebook or follow our company page on LinkedIn.

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Top Networking Tip of the Week: Don’t Forget to Follow-up with Your New Lead After the Event!

Top Networking Tip of the Week: Don’t Forget to Follow-up with Your New Lead After the Event!

Why not send your new contact an email a week after the event that lets them know that they are still on your mind? This shows them that you value them as a connection. Don’t forget to mention what you talked about at the event and make the message even more personal.

‘A network functions precisely because there’s recognition of mutual need. There’s an implicit understanding that investing time and energy in building personal relationships with the right people will pay dividends. The majority of “one percenters” are in that top stratum because they understand this dynamic—because, in fact, they themselves used the power of their network of contacts and friends to arrive at their present station.’ Keith Ferrazzi, 2014.

While many people who go to networking events are great at networking, collecting business cards as they go, they often go home, add their new connection to their email address book or social media accounts, and then never follow up as they are often just too busy! It is often difficult to write an email for every new contact made. A major key to successful networking is to build relationships with your new connections; after all, most business is done with people that are trusted contacts.

Master networker Keith Farrazzi suggests spending a lot of time cultivating these relationships, as this is what sets the most successful people apart from the rest. The first step is following up with your new contacts. By making sure that they know you remember who they are, you are, in turn, showing yourself as someone worthy of their time – someone who makes the effort to take the first step in building a relationship.

An important part of this first email after the event is to mention what you spoke about, and what you remember about what they said to you. Was there something about their current role or project that excited them in particular? Or a comment they made about a presentation at the event? Include these small details – these are the things that make your interaction personal and memorable – they know this isn’t information you can just look up on their LinkedIn profile, setting you apart from their other new contacts and showing that you are someone willing to put the time in to build a personal and lasting business relationship with them. Why not consider keeping notes about your conversations at the event so you can make your follow-up email personal? If you find that you are busy, why not pick out the three people from the event who you would most like to connect with and just plan to email these?

Shakehands lets you send your contact details to your new connections, so all of your new leads will be stored digitally so you don’t misplace them – whether this is a week, or even a month, later. Read more about this app feature : ‘Feature Focus: How Can Upcoming Features of the Shakehands App Help Me Keep in Touch with My New Contacts?’

  Why not drop us a line on social media and let us know how this tip worked for you this week? Find us on Twitter, Facebook or follow our company page on LinkedIn.

    References:

Keith Ferrazzi, 2014. Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. Find this book on Amazon.

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Top Networking Tip of the Week: Practice Your Pitch Before the Event!

While we’re all interested in networking at events, often we’re looking to catch up with the big players in the game and introduce ourselves and what we do. One way to maximise your chances of making the most of a split second encounter with them is to be ready with your pitch.

“Why not plan ahead to have things to talk about? Have a conversation plan; it is vital to starting conversations and infusing them with some purpose.” Baber et al. 2015. p34.

Now while a pitch is usually used for selling, remember that you’re doing just that – you’re selling yourself to them, and you have less than a minute to do it! Think about what you want to get across to them about yourself: What do they need to know?

Most of us know that it takes less than a minute to make a first impression! In fact, an article featured in the journal ‘Psychological Science’ by Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov state that it takes one tenth of a second for people to make their minds up about us. And further to that, they say that spending more time with us might not change this impression!

  A great way to ensure your pitch is focussed on what your new contact needs to know about you, and that you make a great first impression, is by asking yourself: ‘If they are going to take away just one thing that they remember about me, what would I like it to be?’ Then focus on putting that one thing across to them in the best way possible. Here are a few ideas to help you along the way:

  Think about the one thing that your new contact needs to know about you. Why does this one thing set you apart from everyone else at the event?

Why would this thing make your new contact want to talk with you more?

Think about how this thing might be helpful to your new lead.

Now write down your pitch in just a few sentences, making sure you include your ideas from the first three points given here.

When you have chosen your main topic to talk about, write this down in the centre of a piece of paper. Now, think of all the things that you could talk about relating to this first idea to take the conversation forward to avoid that ever-awkward moment of silence when a conversation goes stale! Write these things down around your central idea.

Next, think of all the things your contact might ask or say during this conversation. Write down suitable responses to be prepared, so you are not lost for words with the unexpected!

  Once your pitch is ready, with a focus on the ‘one thing’ that you would like your contact to take away from the conversation, remember to update your Shakehands app to highlight this. You can mention your ‘one thing’ in your profile, depending on what it is, you might want to put it in the current project section, list it as one of your interests or even set it as your status. This way, your new contact might just approach YOU at the event, as they will see this information on your profile!

  Remember that while having a pitch is a great way to approach a new contact, it is often said that the best conversationalist talk about other people. Don’t get too caught up with selling yourself; finding out about your new contact and their interests is important too. Make this part of your pitch. Think about the type of people you want to meet at the event. Think about your ideal new contact and ask yourself:

  What are their interests?

What type of projects are they working on?

Think of a list of questions and conversation topics that will help you hit it off with this ‘ideal contact’ based on your previous ideas.

  Show your best side to your new contacts, be clear about what you want them to take away from your first meeting and make sure that you let them know that you’re interested in them and what they do! Networking well is not a numbers game; it is about making lasting, valuable relationships with people. Being prepared is a key factor in this – put effort in to honing your networking skills and you should see lasting results!

Shakehands can help with your pitch by showing you exactly what interests your potential contact: from what they’re working on right now to their general interests. Make sure you use everything you know about them to make your pitch work! Read more about this feature: ‘Feature Focus: How Can I Use the ‘Interests’ Feature on the Shakehands App?’

  Why not drop us a line on social media and let us know how this tip worked for you this week? Find us on Twitter or Facebook. You can also find our company page on LinkedIn.

References:

Baber et al. 2015. Strategic Connections: The New Face of Networking in a Collaborative World, page 34. Find this book on Amazon.

Willis, J. & Todorov, A. 2006. ‘First Impressions’, in Psychological Science, vol. 12, no. 7.

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Feature Focus: How Can I Use the ‘Interests’ Feature on the Shakehands App?

One of the app features that we are most proud of here at Shakehands is the ‘interests’ feature. Some of us here at the Shakehands HQ find it really difficult to go out to a networking event and actually meet the right people! Some events are great as they have the right dynamic, but what about those events where no one is sure who is who, or what organisation people are from? A lot of great connections are never found because we spend a lot of time bumbling around trying to find out who does what and where! This can be a big problem at events that have a common focus, but attendees from many different industries. How can one person find out who they might have shared interests with at an event attended by professionals who are all interested in networking, for example, but all involved in very diverse companies – seemingly with nothing in common? Now, take out your phone and launch the Shakehands app!

The app handles this problem easily with the ‘interests’ feature. Using its 30m Bluetooth range, the app picks up all attendees at the event using the app, and shows their top 10 interests right there on their profile – all within a split second of you launching the app! ‘So how does this work?’ we hear you shout. Easy-as-pie, that’s how. When you install the app, it will prompt you to connect with your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. The app then takes the interests that you’ve chosen to display on social media and lists these interests for you to choose which to add to your Shakehands profile. Simply click on the interests that you would like to show on your profile to highlight them in orange. The ones that are selected will show on your public profile. Interests that are not highlighted will not show up to your potential contacts. It really is that simple, with no need to fill out your details all over again for your new app, and no need to think about what you should write. And the same goes for all your potential leads at the event: their interests are pulled straight from their social media profiles so you know who is doing what and, of course, who you should be talking to.

    A great Shakehands tip is to use this feature cleverly. You might have a lot of interests filled out in your social media profiles. Take a moment to think carefully about which interests are most likely to be shared by others at your event. Remember to choose the interests that show off your skill-set best. The topics that you know most about are great to showcase, as they are a good way of making sure you have a lot to say when other Shakehands users approach you based on what they’ve learned through the app! With a little forethought, you can use Shakehands as part of a strategic networking plan that can help maximise your business networking to its fullest.

Now, on to your introduction – what exactly should you talk about on that all important first meeting? Oh wait, Shakehands already covered that too! You know their interests, you know why they’re someone you just have to talk to; in other words, you know exactly why you want to talk to them, and exactly what to talk about. By making everyone’s interests clear, Shakehands cuts out all of those conversations that waste your time at an event by showing you who you need to talk to and helping you to get straight to the point of your conversation.

Now what Shakehands can’t do, we admit, is pour you a coffee after a long day of networking – but we’ll get our developers to work on that! 😉

  Fancy letting us know how the Shakehands app’s features are working for you, or have a question? Find us on Twitter or Facebook. You can also find our company page on LinkedIn.

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Supercharge your business networking 

Shakehands is the mobile business networking application that connects you to the leads that matter

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Old school? or Etiquette ?

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Dont forget to follow up with your leads.