Linkedin and Tinders Love Child..

I’ve quite a few single friends that are largely into online dating; Tinder, Plenty of Fish and all the other dating apps I’ve no idea nor care for which. They’ve well and truly saturated the online market place and I’m shocked when one of them tells me that they actually met a guy IRL (in real life).

I remember having drinks years ago on a Friday afternoon with a few girlfriends at Ryan’s Bar; it’s an upmarket bar situated in the Sydney CBD. It’s where the suits converge for Friday after work drinks. I am in no way, shape or form a corporate, heel waring corporate, so not only was I completely uncomfortable there but my colourful dress sense and my tattoos made me stand out like dogs balls. To summarise it’s a meat market. I remember like it was yesterday, overhearing a few office BFF’s who probably during day hated each-others guts and probably threw the other under the bus first chance they had if there was an internal promotion on the table.

These women were in every essence bitches. I remember hearing them plotting and planning their concubine and seductress tactics on how they’d be planning to bed the investment bankers, that their business cards looked expensive and I shit you not that one had purposely skipper her contraceptive pill that morning “just in case”. It took every bone in my body not to slap these stupid women and shake sense into them.

To tell them that there was more to making sure Mum and Dad met you both at brunch and that the expensive Aramni suit he was wearing was probably one he wore every day and his credit card was maxed out.
It was human behaviour at its worst. For men the potential of a one night stand, for the women they were husband shopping and their behaviour and conspiring would make Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct look like Mary Poppins! Needless to say I’ve had no need or want to go back there .We’ve never been as connected or online as we have before and all information and human nature lean towards that usage only increasing.

After a night on the vinos with my single lady friends, there were a few things that stood out to me.

As a society, (and more so in the major capital cities) it has never been more important as to what our jobs are ,the salary we’re on, where we have real estate and that largely our careers define us.That whether we mean to or not, that almost automatically that whatever your motive is; whether it’s for business or pleasure, networking has largely evolved into a first date meets a first job interview. It’s as though Linkedin and Tinder had a love child and you bet your arse they just did!

As someone that’s worked within the events, marketing and PR industry, a huge part of your job is to build and create rapport with prospective and clients, suppliers or / or investors. It’s dating essentially. You build their trust, you look for common interests, you forge a relationship with them and you get them to like and trust you.When they’re only truly comfortable with you (and some quicker than others), will they allow you to plan their 40th birthday, to invest their hard earned dollars or will they sign a contract to do business with you.

They want to be schmoozed, they want the banter and compliments, and they want the romance. Most importantly, they want to know they’re the most important person to you, that they’ll be remembered and well oh don’t you dare think to not call them the next day (or at least follow up post event or transaction).

Think of any of your business interactions as situation of dating and I bet you’re nodding your head right now, now think about your relationships like that moving forward and I bet you see an increase or a better return or conversion, just don’t cross the line.

The way in which I have (and still do) is with mindset that I’m either on an interview with them; telling them why they should go with me and hire me, or why we should move onto that 3rd or 4th date where they’ll likely get laid (rhetorically of course). This is a simple sales tactic and I treat both men and women equally. Ask any of my staff, I could sweet talk even the most high maintenance of my clients and by the end of months of correspondence and interaction it was as though I was a trusted old friend or I would joke it was like we went to high school together. I would get invited to their events and they’d even save cake for me.

At no point did I mislead them, but I made them feel valued, feel important and that their business was the most important and only piece of business I had. If you’ve ever had a meeting with me it’s very rarely I let you pay for coffee ;). If I let you pay, then I’m letting you sweet talk me, or convince me to work with you.

I can honestly say that tactics aside, I get a genuine kick out of helping people, and it’s why I do what I do. As one of my old bosses summed it up, in that he knew they could always ask me for favours (even after I stopped working for him), and that I never would say no. That it was in my nature to “want to feel needed” and well I’ve now realised I probably am a bit too nice sometimes.

So having explained the above to you (and I’ve probably just broken something similar to the magicians code), you’d would I would be able to spot the sales of a salesman from a mile away right? Oh but no, even naïve Chrissy can get sucked in! I still get sucked in by the late night commercials and at that exact moment I MUST have the ice-cream on the add.That when I go food shopping there have been times where I’ve forgotten why I went but come home with a trolley full of washing detergent.

What’s worse, is that I’ve been hoodwinked a few times by people within the industry, that I thought to be my “friends”. It seems that nothing is fair game in business, and that somethings aren’t off limits (for some). Lessons learnt, and while part of me doesn’t know whether to applaud them for their excellent business tactics, the other part of me is unsure if I come face to face with a narcissist. The jury’s still out on that one.

Networking in any business and industry is important. The age old adage of “It’s not what you know, but who you know” could never ring truer, and especially if you’re a small business or if you want to get yourself known. When and if you’re doing everything yourself, it can be easy to not accept invitations to events. Pick the ones that you know will be of benefit to you and all that practice in front of the mirror of your elevator pitch can now be put to use, and what good are business cards if they’re still sitting in the box.

But let’s be real; a 7am breakfast meeting on a Friday morning going into winter, is not my idea of a productive networking event. Nor is the prospect of going to an event after a long day at work. Throw in that it’s raining outside, and your starving. While I’m sure that in the room there are some lovely and amazing individuals, but I’m not sure if meeting prospective clients or collaborators hangry is in anyone’s best interest.

So if you’re like me in this way of thinking, it was only going to be a matter of time right before Linkedin and Tinder got freaky and created a love child? Yes! We can now avoid these boring after work events and small talk, and just get down to doing business right? Well someone did have this idea and it’s going to look a little something like this and people get ready, because you’re going to want in on this!

While a relatively new concept, but one the genius’ out there have seen can be adapted and jumped on. I predict that apps which are built on the Tinder style model will fast become the norm and a way we interact within the market for the savvy business professional. It’s direct, it’s efficient and a to the point means to network and interact. It’s the networking quickie! (and yeah I totally just said that)

There are a few apps available in the play store but their download rates aren’t that huge. Let me talk you through two of the better ones I found out there, and then you can decide for yourself. Both of these apps work off of your existing Linkedin accounts, so the set up and integration process for both pretty are limited. They do allow you to update and customise an introduction section and which information you want on display. What you elect to display or what you’re looking for can be fully customised.

Linkry 
The app thus far seems to be more popular, with users located in the Middle East, Africa, some parts of Europe and Asia. Its founders (read more here) is that the site is “Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher .Linkry will definitely help you to meet the right people!!” as taken from their website. The app is geo based so it works if everyone is within the same room or also close proximity to you. On the app it’s easy to interact and say “hello” and you can add events too.

This would be good if you’re hosting and facilitating a conference, and as the organiser you had had everyone use the app. It would be far less tacky to use something like this, than the lame “Hello My Name Is” name tags, which most of the time wind up on the floor. There looks to be some other functions you can access (but are likely for paid users, (which I wasn’t about to get into) plus you can refine your search settings for those you’re looking to connect with. Currently they’ve around a 1,000 downloads through Android, so I’m not too sure what to think about this one.

It’s not really for me though, given the demographic of users and that it’s not really taken off locally. Unless there is a legitimate African prince who WILL send me millions of dollars, right not it’s probably not the way to go (but if you’re business is in any of these areas, then definitely a look in).

Weave
“Weave is LinkedIn meets Tinder – simply swipe left or right to meet local professionals and grow your professional network. App features”. This is the catchy intro on their website and whoever works in their marketing department has certainly gotten our attention. Everything from their fonts and colours, their description and their catch tag stands out to. Given the area I live in Sydney and it’s a shared postcode area for up to 5 suburbs, it’s already interesting to see who live locally I might have passed on the street that could be potential clients or business connections.

Their app is not only easier to use, but it has a cleaner interface. It has a range of various functions and features that from a business perspective are great. From employment search services, looking for funders and investors, as well as variety of general networking rooms based on your preferences and industry settings. Like they state “Expanding your professional network has never been easier – simply join the General Networking Room and start swiping on professionals who are experts within their field (marketing, advertising, business development, sales, product, strategy, research, etc.)

Conveniently use Weave to connect with like-minded, successful, and interesting people anytime, anywhere. LinkedIn is so 1990s start Weaving!” Similar to Tinder, that it must be a 2 way mutual match scenario. Both parties must be interested in a networking opportunity, and once the match has been confirmed, you’ve only 48 hours to contact before the offer and their details disappear. Damn talk about pressure and moving things fast!

This app has only been on the market since earlier this month from the looks, and their download data displayed on google play says it’s sitting around the 10, 000 -50,000 mark. That’s relatively low and shiny, though it looks as though it’s starting to catch on in the world that loves apps. Will it take off? Who knows but I think it’s a step in the right direction. It also gives you an opportunity to chat directly through the app, so there is an opportunity for those of you out there who might like to mix business with pleasure and the heaps horny of you.

We’re headed in a direction where we want to connect for whatever the reason we require. We want it quick, we want it to be convenient and we want to do it from the comfort of our phones (preferably in our PJ’s or on our morning commute).

I have a feeling we’ll see an increase of sites like these and apps popping up making a splash within the market place, that the physical time we allocate to face to face meeting and networking will diminish (especially now GOT and Netflix are here). We’ll take to swiping as we please, establishing who’s worthy of our limited time, and who we’ll consider taking time to discuss and do business with.  Add me on Weaved and let’s see how this unfolds (plus I need more people to swipe lol).

Chrissy