Networking events are a great way to expand your connections and increase your awareness as a business, but often times what I have seen is some people get amazing results while others go home empty handed.
Here are 5 pointers that will help you increase your success rate.
1.) Don’t go in trying to sell your product/service in mind, instead try to honestly just make connections and see how you can help people. I’ve seen people pushing their product/service down other people’s throats and it just repels everyone. When you’re really interested in someone and you have something that can make their life easier, everything will just click naturally.
2.) Don’t expect people to approach you! Okay this is nerve racking for most people… especially if you are alone representing your company, but I’ve managed to excel by applying these principles:
a. Use the three second rule: Don’t over think, when you see someone interesting count to three in your head and say something, the good old fashion “hi my name is__________” Works great.
b. Build trust: Talk about how you’re connected to the event or what college you went to, this will help establish some common ground.
c. Ask questions: Be interested in them and see if you both might be a good match for potential business in the future.
3.) Know when to move on. There are so many different people and you paid a lot of money to be at the event, so realize that not everyone will be a perfect match for potential business. Learn to avoid time wasters (people that are their just to collect free samples and talk endlessly about their cats… we’ve all been their) but always make sure to be professional and respectful when avoiding these time wasters. If you spent an hour talking to someone that has no future potential in anyway, then you could have missed an opportunity to talk to someone who could really use your business, so just keep that in mind.
4.) Take Notes and Follow up fast! When you get contact information in any form, take notes about something specific in the conversation. This will allow people to remember who you are. Also make sure to follow up the next day at the latest; everyone meets so many people at these events that if you wait more, you might have lost the opportunity.
5.) Add every person you meet on LinkedIn. Building your circle on LinkedIn can bring amazing results, so just keep connecting!
If you take this advice you’ll start noticing a significant improvement in your overall success rate when going to any networking events. One last thing, be friendly. Everyone is in a similar situation at these events, so try to avoid negative emotions and just have fun with it.
