Everyone knows that first impressions are important. 

But it’s our ability to find common ground with others that helps us build potentially profitable and long-term relationships.

Social capital is built over time and is multi-dimensional. It involves the way we dress, how we conduct ourselves at meals, what we say and how we say it. It also extends to listening well, showing interest in others and having meaningful conversations in any setting in which we find ourselves—whether it’s purely social or related to business. 

Your personal investment in building social capital will bring you increased professional confidence and success.

How our interactive group or individual sessions work 

It’s our goal to help you feel more confident in approaching and building relationships with clients and prospects in a broad range of social settings. Naturally, much of this is intuitive and is honed by long experience and close observation of socially skilled people. But we can help the process along by bringing certain things to your attention. 

We tailor our personalized seminars and individual coaching sessions to reflect your particular challenges and the opportunities on which you wish to build. 

All coaching sessions are led by Diana Wiley and Evan Thompson, Co-Founding Partners of Thompson, Wiley + Associates. Please visit our website www.thompsonwiley.com for more information. 

Our sessions include:

Practical tips on how to make the most of a variety of business and social situations: for example, the business lunch or dinner, mix-and-mingle cocktail or networking sessions filled with people you don’t know, mastering the social code at private golf or social clubs.

Developing conversational skills and how to follow-through after first meetings.Ways to enhance social confidence and sensitivity to others so that your core strengths will shine through. Skills to help you to initiate and build relationships, and build the credibility so essential in earning the trust of prospects and clients.

Connecting soft skills to your bottom line

The ability to skillfully negotiate and benefit from a wide range of social and business relationships depends on the extent of your social capital.

Social capital is a combination of social skills, cultural savvy, personal and business networks, and the ability to get things done using these networks.

The time, effort and money you invest in growing your social capital will yield high returns, which will make a big difference to your overall performance and, ultimately, to your bottom line.