TIL the Detroit Young Professionals group actually works for networking

I used to think those mixer events were a waste of time, but last Tuesday I went to the downtown one and landed 3 solid leads in 2 hours. One guy I met there set me up with a coffee chat that turned into a referral worth $500. Has anyone else had a surprise win from a local group you wrote off?

2 comments

2 Comments

anna98325d ago

wait, hold up - the one guy you met actually FOLLOWED THROUGH and set up a coffee chat that turned into a REAL referral worth $500? that's INSANE because usually people at those things just exchange cards and you never hear from them again. i went to a "young professionals" thing like 2 years ago and it was honestly just a bunch of people trying to sell their own stuff, not actually connect. but your story makes me wonder if i just went to a bad one or something. maybe the downtown events are better than the suburban ones? either way, that's a MASSIVE win for two hours of your time.

gracea1925d ago

I used to skip networking events for the exact same reason until I tried one in a smaller city where the group capped attendance at 30 people. That forced actual conversations instead of people just working the room for sales leads. Within 20 minutes I had a legit lead from someone in a totally different industry who just liked my approach to solving a problem he mentioned.