Networking events can be a gateway through which to meet new people and build relationships, everyone you encounter is a potential business connection.
To help you navigate your way through your next networking opportunity, check out our Top Tips to help you connect with people in your industry and to get the very best out of every networking interaction.
Prepare Conversation Starters
Approaching people, individually or in a group, can be intimidating. You will often find there are other people flying solo and looking for people to talk to. Be prepared ahead of attending the networking session by having some conversation starters in mind, such as ‘What do you think about the event so far?’ or ‘Are you familiar with any of the speakers?’, and these will help you break the ice with your first conversation and give you the confidence to continue to interact with others.
Ask People About Themselves
When we introduce ourselves with an Elevator Pitch we tend to cover our names, our job title and a little bit about our business related role in a relatively short period of time. To ensure that the conversation continues, ask questions and make the other person the topic of conversation, this is likely to result in the behaviour being replicated so that both parties will get the chance to convey relevant information for form a business connection.
Practice Active Listening
Networking, Not Sales
Networking events are all about developing professional relationships to assist you and your business, making valuable contacts to get your foot in the door for future enterprises. Remember it is not an opportunity to do a full sales pitch or close a deal, the objective should be to arrange a meeting for a more detailed business proposal to happen at a later date.
Use A Queue To Your Advantage
If you need to stand in line at an event, whether for refreshments or lunch, this is an easy way to take the advantage to talk to the people around you in the queue. Although it may be a short conversation, depending on how long you are in the line together for, it still gives that opportunity to break the ice with someone and allow you to approach them again later with more confidence.
Make The Effort
This might sound like an obvious one but if you don’t make the effort to approach anyone at a networking event, you are going to miss out on opportunities. Be friendly and approachable when you speak to people and remember, if you see someone sitting alone, go and say hello, some people are better at starting conversations than others but who knows where that conversation may go?
Exit A Conversation Gracefully
Remember to ALWAYS be polite when it comes to ending a conversation, this person has spent time talking to you and therefore you should respect this. Continue to show engagement by bringing the conversation to a close by using phrases such as ‘Please let me know how you get on with that project…’, this will show you have been listening and leave you with a polite way of leaving to speak to someone else.
Follow Up Every Time
To ensure that people remember you and that you make that desired lasting impression (in a good way!) then please do make the time to follow up on all connections made at a networking event. LinkedIn is an incredibly popular way to do this by sending an invitation to connect and sending an accompanying personal message, explaining where you met and making that first step to a follow up meeting. Email messages also work well but whichever method you use, try to follow up within 24 hours of the event to show your interest.
Ready to go and try networking now? Remember, building up your business network takes time and patience, you might not see immediate results after just one event but every person you speak to may well open the door to future opportunities. Let us know how you get on!