Mastermind Dinners: Build Lifelong Relationships by Connecting Experts, Influencers and Linchpins
By: Jayson Gaignard (2015)
[Pigeonhole] A Practical Rule Book
[Premise] A “Mastermind Dinner” is one person’s effort to connect individuals with a similar commonalities through a curated dinner experience of 4-8 people. Conducting these dinners will deepen the organizer’s relationships with the attendees and build a stronger network for all that are involved.
- Background and Mindset (p 11-43)
- Build the guest list (p 44 – 75)
- Prep the location (p 76 – 77)
- Conduct the dinner (p 77 – 95)
[Key Points]
- Relationship building (or networking) is a mindset that stems from a deep caring for others
- I would rather have a closed Facebook community of 500 members for my podcast than an email list of 5,000
- Mastermind dinners are great for:
- Reconnecting with old ties
- Introducing people who can benefit from knowing each other
- Connecting with people who I’ve been meaning to connect with for quite some time
- “Local” Dinners are hosted in your home area, “Location” dinners are hosted when traveling
- Tip: Hold a dinner for speakers. Event producers rarely do anything for their speakers
- Be sure there is at least one commonality amongst your guests
- Don’t select people at both extremes of the unifying commonality
- Don’t invite anyone with a conflicting interest (competitors)
- Group of 3 is a little too small, 4 is a good natural set up. At 5 you begin to act as the facilitator. At 6 you should consider a round table and at 8 consider a private dining room.
- Run a couple of smaller dinners with less “known” names to get comfortable
- Be clear on your “Why”. Why are you putting on dinners? Why do you want certain individuals?
- Avoid reaching out to potential guests “cold”. Try to leverage direct connections or social media connections.
- You do not need to have a commonality with your guests, they must have an commonality. Commonalities include:
- an Organization
- a Platform
- an Event
- Build a guest list by inviting the most likely ‘yes’ first, then the second and so on (this is called the ‘Food Chain’ approach) – Or – Get a ‘big fish’ first and you will find getting other yeses will be easier (this is called the ‘Anchor Tenant’ approach)
- A good salesman knows that his first real sale is himself
- Sample sales video: bit.ly/mmt2013
- Trying to land a big name?
- “What works in the military works in marketing, and that’s the unexpected”
- Why are you reaching out to this particular person? What is the desired outcome? Be very clear.
- Are there alternative people who could help me reach the same desired outcome?
- The most important question: What’s in it for them?
- It’s imperative that you know who you’re reaching out to, inside and out.
- To reach someone, try to use the least ‘noisy’ medium for them
- The success of the outreach is often in direct proportion to the amount of effort you put into it. Getting them emotionally hooked and eliciting a response is more difficult than just getting a message in front of them.
- For emails use open-ended subject lines and try to include something specific to them
- Keep the email short and prompt a response that invites a second email
- Send personal videos to the attendees 6 months after the event
- bit.ly/videoreaction1
- bit.ly/videoreaction2
- Tool for no response: Yesware
- Try to restructure your email and provide a little more information
- Simply resend the original email
- Responding to a “No”: try “under what circumstances would you say yes?”
- Tools: connect.com | contactually.com | LinkedIn search
- Facebook post when traveling: “Traveling to San Diego, do you have anybody you think I should connect with while I’m in town?”
- For Local Dinners, set up one or two ‘go to’ locations
- Two approaches to guests:
- Don’t do any research so that the conversation is open and natural
- Know as much as possible about each individual so that you can facilitate good conversation and find ‘uncommon commonalities’ (recommended)
- Send a calendar invite for the event, but do not share the guest list
- Send a quick reminder email the night before
- Send a text the day of so that they have your phone number readily available
- Recommended that the host pay for the meal
- If it’s a ‘user pay’ dinner, invite the guests to a ‘dutch treat’ dinner and set up an Eventbrite page to collect money in advance
- Or, can play payment games such as credit card roulette or phone stacking
- With 6 or more guests, consider assigned seating
- ‘Table Searing’ is sitting the most interesting and outgoing person at the center of the table
- Switch seats at some point in the dinner to mix up the conversation
- Host should sit in the center to be the ‘conversation cop’
- Arrive 25 – 60 minutes early to make sure you have the right table and that no guests are left waiting
- Kick off the dinner by explaining your relationship with each person, why everyone is there and the ground rules
- Everything shared in the room stays in the room
- Order wine by the glass, not the bottle
- No cell phones
- Order first and get that out of the way
- Set the end time (you can always go to the bar after)
- Start off the formal introductions yourself
- Top professional or business achievement
- Top personal achievement
- a Bold Goal
- “Thorns and Roses” (something going well, something with potential (a bud) and something that is a pain
- Any other ice breakers
- Conversation should kick off after intros – be a facilitator
- Be conscious of people’s body language at the table
- make sure that everyone shares stories and experiences and enjoys themselves
- Take a picture of the group to share on social media, or to be part of a follow up email
- Connect people after the event with a group email or Facebook message
- Thank them for investing their time
- Include one or two points from the dinner
- Include a resource list of items that the conversations covered
- Carry a small notebook to record important points and resources from the dinner
- If a guests asks you how they can “deliver value to you” after the meal, ask them to connect you to an interesting person
- Email the group a year later to say “Happy Anniversary”
- use #Mdinners to enter into a monthly $100 drawing
- Contact the author at clarity.fm/jaysongaignard