I’m often asked: do you just drink coffee all day?
This question usually comes from people wondering if I just hop from café to café every day or if I actually get some work done.
The short answer is simple but of course, there’s more to a meeting than showing up for the caffeine boost.
Yes, I do drink a lot of coffee. We live in Denmark where the Danes could have easily coined the term ‘coffee meeting’. At the same time, I attend many meetings, networking events and lectures on a daily basis.
Anyone can go to meetings from Monday morning to Friday night, but it is not enough to just attend and sit back, it’s all about being there and being present. I believe that it’s important to be yourself and that every meeting with a new person is an opportunity to give something of yourself.
I work according to a simple motto: It doesn’t matter if you have a great product if no one knows you or everyone thinks you are an idiot.
When I meet new people, I never see them as possible clients or customers and I’m rarely thinking about what they can help me with. The most important thing for me to learn is: who are you, tell me about yourself.
In my business, I believe that every deal we make is based on a personal relationship. If we don’t have any kind of positive regard for the person we want to do business with, there will never be any kind of deal. People want to know you. That’s ‘you’ as a human, not ‘you’ as a salesperson.
This is why I drink coffee all day long and this is, maybe, why I have built a business by meeting people. Before I do business with someone I want to know who I’m dealing with.
It isn’t about being best friends with everyone but it is important to have some kind of relationship and, for me, drinking coffee is the best way to get to know new people.
