| B2B
– Beyond Business Cards to Actual Business
The
number one reason many people don’t convert business cards
into business is – they never follow up!
Effective
systems make or break good networkers. Master networking goes
way beyond just giving out business cards. Granted this is one
of the first steps in actually making new contacts – but
returning to your office with 15 business cards after attending
a Chamber of Commerce meeting, is totally useless unless you do
something with them.
Consider
the cost, door to door, for you to attend this event. Calculate
the number of hours from when you left your office or home to
the actual time you returned. Yes, you may have only been at the
function for two hours but door to door may in fact be closer
to four or five hours. Now, consider your charge out rate for
five hours – almost a full day. Include the cost of your
ticket and any parking charges and you have now come up with the
actual cost for attending that event.
Conservatively
lets say that your charge out rate is $100 per hour, the parking
another $25 and the cost to attend say $75. The total is now $600.
Then if we allow another hour for follow up after the event, (be
it sending information or just recording the contacts), we are
now looking at an investment of $700. And if your charge out is
more than $100 per hour – well you do the maths. For the
self employed person this equates to a considerable cost. For
the employed, it’s another cost to be absorbed by your employer.
No wonder they expect results!
So,
it’s important we get more value out of attending networking
events. Here are some tips to help you do that:
1.
Prepare before the event.
What outcomes are you wanting ? Who would you like to meet? If
you meet the ideal prospect, have you remembered your business
cards. At least one third of people attending networking events
for the sole purpose of doing business – forget to bring
their business cards!
2.
Change your focus
Rather than thinking you stop work and then go to the networking
event – consider the networking event is in fact an extension
of your workday – you are just changing locations. Conversely,
if you were attending a breakfast function, you in fact started
work at 7 a.m. today. With a work focus at this event, your priorities
will be quite different. Basically you are building trust through
communication. If you don’t talk to people, you cannot build
trust and rapport with them.
3.
Become a connector
At networking functions – practice linking people together.
Asking questions like, “What were you hoping to achieve from
tonight’s function?” or “Did you have a specific
objective for attending tonight?”
Get people talking about why they are there and then, if possible,
connect them with the people they are looking for or if that is
not possible, at least someone who may know someone. This is a
really valuable skill to master and in this information age when
information is currency, your role as a connector becomes invaluable
– during and post any event.
4.
Don’t over-commit.
If you commit to forward information post event, don’t over-commit.
Be honest, if you have a full schedule that week, indicate that
it may be 4-5 days before you can forward the information and
check if that is okay. Most people are quite okay with this. It’s
when you say you will do something and don’t do it that you
can lose credibility.
5.
Develop a post event system
This may include having a specific business cards holder for that
network, where you place all the cards from the people you meet
at this event. Prior to putting them in the folder, make a note
on the back of the card with the date and place you met the person
and something you remember about them – ideally something
they are interested in outside of work. Prior to going to the
next event at that network, you browse through the cards to remind
yourself who you met.
You
may also enter the contact details from the card of key prospects
in your electronic database and make a note to reconnect with
them in 30 to 45 days time. Remember you are building trust and
earning the right to gain business, as well as aiming to be remembered
positively – without being pushy.
6.
Pass it on
One of the easy ways of making contact with people post event,
is to send them a copy of an invitation to another event they
may be interested in attending. An email or fax: “Hi Joe,
enjoyed our conversation at the Chamber of Commerce, here is the
invitation I mentioned. Hope to connect with you again.”
Another may be sending an article that is relevant to the person’s
business or profession. You may in fact collect a file full of
these and forward them on as required. For your reference, www.corporatetrends.com.au
has a large selection of appropriate articles on a variety of
business subjects.
7.
Send an electronic postcard.
Visit www.networkingtowin.com.au and click on send a postcard.
You will find a variety of designs that are different, easy to
send and download quickly. The key point is that you follow up
– otherwise that $700 investment of time, money and effort
has gone down the drain.
If
you see attending networking events as a three part process, preparation
before you go, connecting with people at the function and most
importantly follow up after the event, you will really start to
see reward for your effort. Always remember small but significant
help can be extremely powerful and memorable.
Happy networking |
