How to Gracefully Decline Pointless Meetings

hello and welcome have you ever been cornered by someone at a networking event who wanted to meet up with you but you knew that if you met up with them the conversation wouldn't be fruitful or maybe it would be a waste of time maybe you felt like that person was just trying to get to know you better if you know what I mean perhaps you feel like it was going to turn into them pitching you their product and service instead of having a meaningful conversation or perhaps you've met with them before and you realized that they were just kind of draining you of your insights your experience and your Social Capital without you ever really getting anything back from them hi I'm Jana henan founder of Weeno and today we're discussing how to navigate through the Maze of professional networking events and guide you on how to tactfully decline pointless meetings if you're like me we've we've been there before we've been stuck in meetings that didn't quite lead to anything and then we're stuck there one wondering could I have spent my time better elsewhere why is this important because your time is important sure if you spend money you can always go out and make more money but time is a finite resource we only have so much of it once it's spent it never comes back and I get it networking is about cultivating professional relationships so you can grow your professional sphere but there's a fulcrum or balancing point to it especially when it comes to business so let's dive in and talk about how to turn those dreaded onetoone invitations into non-time sucks for you first and foremost how to identify a pointless meeting one there's no clear agenda the person who's asking you for your time maybe they don't even know what they want to discuss during the meeting that's a red flag number two you've been down this road before with this person maybe you've met up with them face to face and realize this is not worth your time or there's a history of unproductive en cters with this person that's another red flag number three lack of mutual benefit you can't see any personal or professional gain from meeting this person another red flag in fact now we can stitch a lovely scarf with all of these red flags and mind you I'm talking about more in a professional setting okay if you see any of these red flags or number four if someone's coming off as sleazy skeezy or rapy which we talked about in past video networking dos and don'ts you're going to have to decline that meeting it's not an income generating activity and especially if you're a professional who is working 8 to five or in my case like seven to eight seven in the morning to 8 at night but only for a short period of time until I get all my systems in place and Sops which I'm working on the point is is your professional time is important and you should be spending the majority of it focusing on income generating activities so how can we go about politely and gracefully declining these pointless meetings number one propose a phone call wow thank you for the invitation to meet up face to face I'm really swamped at the moment can I propose a 10-minute phone call in the next week or two this shows that you're open but you also have a boundary with your time and you're mindful of your schedule number two inquire about the objective hey thanks for the invitation I'd love to understand a little bit more of what you're expecting out of the meeting what are some of your main objectives for meeting up face to face this places the onus on them to justify the meeting's value number three and this one's a little bit tricky recommend someone else wow thank you for the invitation I don't know if I'd be a good fit for this meeting however I have someone that I think can benefit you would you like me to make an introduction this not only saves your time but it helps them by putting them in front of the person that can help them most but keep in mind when you do make that introduction make sure you're not throwing the other person under the bus no one likes that number four suggest a later followup currently my schedule's incredibly tight can we talk about it in a month or two when my schedule slows down a little bit can we revisit this topic can we Circle back around hate that phrase this keeps the door open for future interactions that might be more timely and relevant and number five opt for email correspondence thank you for the invitation but given my current workload email corresponden might be the best way for us to discuss your objectives it's going to be efficient let's start there this method respects both parties time while still keeping you open for communication all of these ways are very graceful and Incredibly polite ways to decline pointless meetings that you know are not going to benefit you so in summary the world of professional networking is evolving it has been since covid-19 there's been a shift with a greater emphasis on efficiency and value by employing these strategies you can navigate yourself away from pointless time consuming and fruitless meetings freeing up your schedule to do and focus on more income generating activities your challenge reflect on your approach to networking meetings next time your proposition for a face-to-face meeting with someone and it doesn't quite feel right remember these tactics not every meeting deserves your time and that's okay it's about quality not quantity especially in networking I'm Yana henan encouraging you to network smarter not harder here's to making every interaction count and as always please like subscribe and follow us on our social channels [Applause]