20: Scott Oldford – Growing your Network One Dinner at a Time

Today’s episode is about building GREAT business relationships. This is not another episode about networking. Humans crave intimacy and great relationships. That’s what this episode delivers.

Scott has hosted more than 60 “Limitless Dinners and Lunches” over the past year on a quest to build limitless relationships.

A few weeks ago I received a mysterious email that intrigued me. The rest is history. The exact email I received inviting me to the Limitless Dinner is at the bottom of this post.

Take advantage of this philosophy and you can supercharge your relationships when you travel for business.

The dinner had 12 of us hosted at a great steak house and it was lead with 3 main questions:

1. What are you working on?
2. What’s keeping you up at night?
3. The last question is left as a random question for example; what’s been your most pivotal moment? What do you do to keep yourself energized?

Key takeaways:

• Start with your network. There’s enough people in your immediate circle like 1^st and 2^nd degree connections to make an amazing dinner.
• It’s NOT a Numbers Game. It’s about depth in relationships, otherwise you are just networking.
• Get the right people in the room. If you get similar, like minded people, they will naturally connect.(Scott shares a story gone wrong)
• Be the connector and facilitator.  You’re role is to make sure everyone has a chance to be involved in conversation.
• Lunch vs. Dinner. Lunch works best with 4-6 people so that you can keep it to a 2hr length. Dinner works best with 4-8 people and needs up to 4 hours or more. Also note that dinners tend to give you more time to go deep, and the ability to go out afterwards.

Exact email I got from Scott to this mysterious dinner.

Book Recommendation: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazi

Scott’s Podcast: Limitless Business Podcast / Executive Minute