business connections

I was speaking to my friend, who is a Financial Planner, and he was upset because he has a few people who constantly call him for free advice, and he is not sure how to handle this situation. Sadly, this happens all the time.

For me the rule is simple, if you are asking for common knowledge advice, like how much money can I add to my IRA each year, then in most cases that is probably OK. If you are asking what investments to select to invest your IRA in, then you have crossed the line.

I had someone call me the other day because a friend of theirs said they should speak to me about my networking events. This person says to me “Just to be clear, I have tried events in the past and have never received even one referral from the people at the event.” When she said this I just chuckled. I hear this comment a lot and my response is always the same; How many of those people did you do business with or try to help out? The answer is typically none or maybe one of them. So why did you expect them ALL to do business with you?

Do you still need business cards? The short answer is yes, you do.

I am seeing many people request that you just connect with them on social media rather than exchanging business cards. The challenge with this idea is many people are simply not active on social media, so connecting with them will not help you build a relationship with them.