48 | How to do a Coffee Chat

May 29

You hear me say it all the time: continue the conversation! But some of us may be wondering: ok... how?

I definitely do not want to make anyone feel like I'm telling you to fish without teaching you how, so today, I'm sharing my method and formula that you can use, adapt as needed, and have fun networking.

This podcast is more than simply listening: it's about you meeting new business owners!

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Episode Transcript

someone recently told me that one thing they wish I did more of was some solo episodes. And I think that sometimes I'll be honest with you. I hide behind my guest. I say that in the best way possible, because I love my guest. And I'm never going to stop having guests on my podcast. I don't know if I'd ever do a solo podcast. I don't know. But with that said, the truth of the matter is, is I just want to challenge myself to get a little bit more out there in here. I am. And I wanted to talk to you about. What it means to continue the conversation after listen to a podcast episode.

Especially here on the discovery call podcast. So you will hear this all the time. I will encourage you to reach out and book a coffee chat with someone that you. Listened to in the podcast and you connected with. And for some of us who are used to doing coffee chats. That's fine. We have this cat in the bag. We got this.

But I know that for some of us. Just kind of reaching [00:01:00] out to someone. It's kind of like cold emailing in booking a coffee chat. Based off of listened to someone on a podcast. My feel a little bit strange. And not everybody necessarily knows, you know? I don't know.

What would you call it? Coffee chat etiquette. I guess you could say there's a coffee chat etiquette. But I think I just want to do some clarification. For those of you who may be curious, and for those of you who yeah, I do coffee chats a little time. I know what I'm doing here. This might be just a fun refresher and , I dunno, hearing Danny's take on it.

But obviously there is a difference between a coffee chat. And a discovery call. What does that difference? The differences is that discovery call is pretty much a sales call.

If someone is booking a discovery call with you, they are doing this with the intention of potentially hiring you for a service or product

is there a kind of called sales calls. Sometimes when you're selling a product, you'll do like [00:02:00] a demo call or whatever it may be. That has a very direct implication of, Hey, I may hire you. Let's talk about it. A coffee chat. Is much more about networking. And some more of a collaborative it's kind of like.

You sit down for 30 minute coffee and you're talking to someone, but you are specifically talking about. Your businesses, right? So you are coming there with a genuine curiosity about who they are, what they do and what they're all about.

And if your mattress, someone who is equally as awesome as you, they are also generally curious about who you are, what you do and what you're all about. And so I wanted to kind of break down if you are going to reach out to somebody from this podcast.

and go into this with the intention of having a coffee chat. What does that look like? So first I would say, come prepared. All right. So review their website, have a good understanding of what they do. If you listen to this particular [00:03:00] podcast and you liked what they said or had some questions, write those down, have a quote that they said or pointed the mentioned. Come with some actual, genuine, thoughtful questions. I also have to take this a step further and think of someone that you may want to connect them with. If you have anyone. Or come together with an idea of maybe something you could collaborate on. Or at least have an idea of how you could add them to a list of referrals on your half, that you could basically end the conversation and say, Hey, if I hear anyone who.

He is a copywriter or is looking for an OBM I would love to refer you. And that would be one way you could kind of end that coffee chat and the collaborative way. So you're going to notice a common theme if you haven't already in this podcast. It's collaboration. In fact, I've been thinking about how I'm going to like structure my mission values. And I kind of feel like collaboration has to be on [00:04:00] there somewhere because it is a big.

Big theme for me. So. Come to the coffee chat with a collaborative spirit, and you're going to get so much more out of it.

My second tip would be, be curious about who they are and what they do. All right. I would say, do that for discovery calls as well. But it's expecially prevalent in coffee chats.

You want to come in there in this conversation with a genuine. Desire to know more about who they are and what they do. That means the questions you will ask are going to be good questions that kind of unpacks, maybe how they started off. I love talking about that part. Like, how did you get started in this, What was the origin story. And sometimes I find the best stories coming for that, but it's absolutely fantastic. But also, like, what is your current things that you're working on right now? What are your goals? What are some things that you're working towards? I find that a fascinating conversation as well, because a lot of times business owners we're always working towards something. Like [00:05:00] there is the, okay, so I'm doing right now. And this is what I'm working towards.

And then as you talk, you might find something you resonate with, or you have more questions with, but ultimately it comes from a heart of genuine curiosity. So you notice that. A collaboration. B. Curiosity. These are two ingredients that are so essential for a good coffee chat.

Now, generally coffee chats at 30 minutes. So be conscious of their time. You're going to want to keep an eye on the clock. I mean, sometimes people, he, for having a good time, it's really hard to kind of slow the roll and be like, okay, now let's get done soon.

And sometimes I get in coffee chats and it doesn't take the whole 30 minutes. I kind of feel like, wow, we kind of, we talked so concisely and. We're good at 15 that's okay, too. But be conscious of their time and aware about, you know, You don't want to go on for an hour when you basically set time aside for 30 minutes.

And that brings us to the third point. [00:06:00] When it is coming to a close about five, 10 minutes before you're done have this one question. Ready. Is there anyone that you were hoping to connect with that maybe I can help you with?

And the idea here is you're basically opening up your network to them. You may not be. Their ideal client. You might not even be their ideal person to collaborate with. But you might have someone in your network that is. Uh, or you might know someone who is looking for their expertise. Or they're looking for there.

Expertise, vice versa.

And it might not even be because they need their services or support. It just could be like, you can just tell that these two people, if they connected, I don't know what's going to come from it, but good things will. Right. These two people to enjoy knowing each other. That could be plenty because so many things can come from. Those kind of connections in that kind of growth of a referral network. Not all coffee chats. Lead to sales. Sometimes [00:07:00] coffee chats lead to a, another coffee chat that leads to another coffee chat that leads to maybe an ideal client.

Or one coffee chat leads to another coffee chat that leads to a collaboration to be on their podcast. Talk on one of their workshops or summits or what have you.

The idea is that you lean into that creative, collaborative curiosity. , spirit and you go into the coffee chats, looking at it as a multitude of open doors, not only for you, but also for them.

But I will say, if you come in with that question, there's a good chance. They will kick that question back to you.

And I have actually sometimes coming to coffee chats, not prepared on how to answer that. So, it's not that I'm asking you to come into the coffee chat with like, this is what I want to get out of this conversation. That's not the point. The point is if they were to come back to you and say, is there anyone that I could connect you with?

Have some ideas in mind. [00:08:00] Kind of have, you know, an, a general idea of who you are hoping to connect with next. And why. And see what happens from there.

Now number four. It is the things that you do after the coffee chat.

And this is actually something that I'm working on in my own business. . I am kind of coming at a season of head down, get the work done, try not to drown. And now as I'm starting to come up for some air, I'm kind of really have been evaluating. How do I handle the follow-up after a coffee chat?

So there's a couple of things to keep in mind, for example. If they're act skiing for a connection with somebody do that connection. Right away. You get off of that coffee chat. And do a email connection, right? Say, Hey. Brian, this is Tiffany. I just got done talking to them and Tiffany is a brilliant fill in the blank.

Brian is really good at filling the blank. And I think you guys would love talking to each other. I'll let you both take it from here.

[00:09:00] Now that would be a good email. If they're just kinda looking for a connection. If you know that they're looking like literally for a discovery call, this is pretty much going to be a sales call. Once you guys get on this call together, it would be good to insinuate. Brian is looking for a podcast manager and I thought it would be great for you two to talk, right.

So make that connection right away. Don't wait a day or two, I would say within. You know, by the time you go to bed, just make sure you make that connection, email.

But also make sure that you're following them on social media. Wherever they hang out and engage in their post,

get to know them become part of their community online. And stay connected through that way. It can lead to some messages and DMS here and there.

Anytime you're commenting on anyone's posts, you are helping them tremendously in the algorithm. I think that sometimes we forget about that. We kind of scroll through post and, you know, I, it doesn't matter if I comment or not.

But when someone takes a time to put a post out there, When you [00:10:00] comment, you're going to boost that post ability to be shown to more of their followers. And the more people comment, obviously it goes beyond their followers. It can kind of, you know, the whole viral thing. But every time you comment on someone's post, you are helping them. It is a wonderful gift to give to people. And I think sometimes we forget that like, Hey, thanks. You totally helped this post boost up a little bit.

It depends on the platform you're on, but when you post only about 15, maybe 20%. That's probably in the high end, see it within the first hour. And then it just kind of gauges on if people are. Liking sharing posting within those first two to three hours of a post life. So commenting and engaging on people's social media post. Is fantastic. And maybe even do a check-in, you know, you could do some follow-up emails a month later or a few weeks later and just see how they're doing.

Then if you have them on your referral list and someone comes along and you just know the, be a great connection. Make that connection. People notice the people that are making awesome connections for them. it's a so amazing. You're just kinda going through your day.

And someone sends you an email and says, Hey, so-and-so. I like you to meet so-and-so and like you, they just kind of made that connection for you. And you weren't doing anything, you're just kind of doing your own thing. So it's fantastic when people do that and it's always a gift as well.

So, this is kind of my little speech on how to do a coffee chat. And so in summary, come prepared, have a quote from the podcast that you really love. Misha check out their website.

And come in mind and how you may collaborate with them. May it be a share your network and et cetera.

Number two, be curious about who they are and what they do. Come with the attention to get to know them more.

And then return. They will get to know you more as well. Right. People share more when they feel heard. Three wrap up with the offer to open your network and connect them with [00:12:00] someone. That they may want to connect with. And also, you know, have someone in mind for yourself too, because they probably will ping pong that question back to you. Make sure you follow up with that connection right away. By the time the day ends, you make that connection email. It's pretty quick and easy to do those. And keep the engagement. Give them the gift of commenting on their post. And maybe the following up in the email later to see how they're doing.

If you file those for practices. I will guarantee you that you're going to never fall in this stalemate position where. You're not meeting any new people anymore. You're just like I write my networking is stale. I haven't met anyone new. If you do it this way, you're going to find that you are going to be meeting new people.

Growing your network . And ultimately broadening your opportunities. May it be through collaboration opportunities or new clients. All right. So with all of this new information,

go ahead. You know, find some of the old episodes and discovery call That stick out in your memory or maybe listen to some new episodes. Book those coffee chats, you have the formula and have some fun and also make sure you leave a review. Like if you have a success and you just had a ton of fun and connecting with new business owners through this podcast. Go to apple podcast or Spotify? Leave a review there. And tell us how it went. All right. I'm going to keep an eye on these things. And I may even just celebrate some of them on the podcast. All right. You know what to do and i will see you next time another discovery call