I was thinking that I should do N is for ‘now’ as those of you who know me pretty well will have experienced what I’m like for getting things done in the moment! I’m certainly not a person who puts off until tomorrow.  However I was an event last week and something happened that made me think I should actually use N to talk about networking.

The dictionary says that networking is the process of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with other people. It’s the way we work to create, grow, use, assist and enable our own net of contacts. Networking is about knowing the right person to solve problems and provide services for you or your colleagues. And of course this can be either face to face or online.

When I first started out on my own, one of my main goals was to work with local small and medium sized businesses in North London. This meant that I had to get out there and meet them. I didn’t have a real plan, in fact in hindsight, I was a bit of a scatter gun. I went to breakfast meetings, lunchtime sessions and drinks after work. I even set up my own monthly networking meetings! I met some wonderful people and my contact list grew very rapidly, as did my waistline! However after a year, I realised that this approach was not resulting in paying customers. So I sat back and asked myself a few questions which I’m going to share with you.  

Why network in the first place? What results do you want to achieve? Once you are clear of your objective, it will be much easier for you to define your target market. However keep in mind that you don’t build a relationship on your first contact … it’s something that develops over a period of time, so make sure you factor this into your planning.

Who do you want to meet? Are you looking for key decision makers in organisations or wanting to find out more about the services in your area? When you are clear about who you want to meet and why, you will start targeting the right events to find these people.

It may help you to think about the following:

• What benefit / impact will meeting these people have on you achieving your goal?
• What will you be able to offer them?
• How do you expect them to be able to help you?

Which events will be best for you? Research the different groups in your area, or as far afield as you are willing to travel. If you can’t find the target audience for an event by visiting on line, why not give the person who arranges the meeting a call and ask them about their typical attendees.   There are various types of events that are available which are held at different times of the day, as alluded to earlier. Breakfast meetings are very popular as they occur early in the morning; some start at 7am and are finished by 9am so that you don’t miss much of your business day. Others take place over lunch time, whilst others are in the evening over drinks and canapés. There are also functions which give you the chance to be seen and heard such as Specialist Forums and meetings where there are speaking opportunities. Check them all out as spending a little extra time in the planning phase ensures you gain value from your attendance and saves you wasting your time and money in the future.

Where are the meetings held? Check directions so that if you’re driving, you know how long it is going to take to get there and where you might come across any bottlenecks. It’s also wise to find out if there is any parking, so that you don’t end up, as a friend of mine recently did – driving around the block for half an hour looking for somewhere to park! If you’re taking public transport, find out how far the event is from the bus stop / train station so that you know how much time you should add onto your journey.

Elevator Pitch Most networking events give everyone the opportunity to show case their business for anything between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. This is most commonly known as the ‘Elevator Pitch’. It’s an American concept taken from when you meet someone in the lift that you haven’t seen for a long time. As the doors close, the person asks ‘what are you doing with yourself these days?’ and you have until the lift door opens again to succinctly describe your role and hook the listener into wanting to find out more. If you’re not prepared this can be quite daunting, so spend some time thinking about what you’re going to say and practice saying it out loud before you attend.   I tend to think about four key areas which can be introduced in any sequence:

• Who you are and what you do
• Your unique selling point
• Your experience
• Benefits of using you

People who generally hook me are those who do something a little different in their elevator pitch. It may be linked to a story in the news, or it could just be something that makes me think ‘yes, I need to talk to you!’

Attending the event Make sure you turn up early. It’s much easier to start conversations with people as they arrive than try to link into larger groups. Although it may feel more comfortable sticking with the same group for the entire event, branch out and speak to others. I often go to events by myself as it makes me ‘work the room’ and speak to more people.   Be curious and find out as much about each person as you can. People like to speak about themselves so when you’re listening to them, give them your undivided attention – if you meet others in the room you can introduce like-minded people to one another or talk about their services. Always be thinking about how you can be helping others without expecting anything in return. It helps you to build better relationships. A number of people tell me that they don’t like going to networking events as they ‘don’t do small talk’ and never know what to say! Don’t allow yourself to get into one of those embarrassing situations where you’re standing with someone and neither have anything more to say as you’ve talked about the weather and the traffic! Why not think of some things that you’ve been doing recently? It could be a performance you’ve seen at the theatre, a book you’ve read or even a review of a new restaurant you’ve tried. It just helps you to create a connection with the other person. I also think it’s wise to think about the questions that others may ask you. If you have some stock answers to give, it stops you feeling awkward and on the spot. So if I was to ask you ‘What would be the best result for you today?’ What would your answer be?

Extricating yourself from situations gracefully Sometimes we can find ourselves in a situation where we’d really like to move on and speak to other people, but we’ve found ourselves stuck with one person. Take control. It’s easy if someone else joins your party as you can say goodbye and move on once the other two start talking. However, if it’s just the two of you, thank the person for their time and if you haven’t already taken their business card, ask them for it. If it’s the first time you’ve been to this networking meeting mention that you’d like to meet some other people in the room (after all, you’re there to network) and move on or else mention that there’s a particular person you’d like to catch up with in the room and make an exit. If all else fails, a toilet break might be the best excuse!  

Business cards Ask people for their business cards and jot down anything memorable about them on the back. You always think you’ll remember each person but believe me, 6 months down the line, it may not be the case. Do take your own business cards, leaflets about your services or any special offers that you are giving at that time. And make sure you have at least one pen that works in your pocket or bag!

Follow up It’s easy to walk away from a networking meeting and think you will action all the conversations you’ve had when you get back to the office but if you haven’t planned this into your day, you will get caught up with other priorities. Plan your admin time as part of your networking. I find it easiest to come back to the office and add each person’s details to my database. There are then a number of ways you can show each person that you enjoyed meeting them:

• Send them a personal note! Keep it short and add a link to your website or an interesting article. Offer a next step of how you could take the relationship forward
• Invite them to be part of your Linked In network
• Organise a one to one so that you can get to know them better – but keep your meetings short and sweet

So that leads us to the final part ….. YOU! If you’re going to network make sure it’s the whole you who turns up. I’ve been to a number of meetings where I’ve met people and wondered why they’ve made the effort to get out of bed. You can tell they don’t really want to be there. Remember it’s your body language that speaks loudest when you enter the room. Be mindful of what are you saying without opening your mouth!   People make assumptions about you the whole time which are based on two things:

1. Whether you are a good person to know, you’re interesting, you’re interested in them and you’re looking for mutual benefit
2. Whether you focus on them as an individual, you show genuine interest, you keep in touch and you want to maintain a relationship

You might find the chart below useful as your checklist!

So what has all this got to do with an experience from last week? Well, I attended a networking meeting last Friday that was hosted by Barnet & Southgate College on behalf of the London Borough of Barnet. And in the room were a number of people who I hadn’t seen for a long time. It was fabulous to see them all and catch up. But the nicest part was that some told me how they’d recommended me to their colleagues, another person told me that they’d heard about an event that I’d run that had been really positively received. Talk about feeling valued … I drove home feeling an inch taller. And of course it was this feedback that made me reflect on the benefits of networking. When you throw yourself into it, you meet lots of talented people. When you make the right connections, they will recommend you onto their network. Networking isn’t just about the people you meet, but it’s also about their network, which means you need to be clear about how you sell what you do. Make it easy for people to understand so that those you come into contact can act as your sales force. And you know how I like my quotes …. Well it reminded me of the quote by Bob Burg who said ‘It isn’t just what you know, and it isn’t just who you know. It’s actually who you know, who knows you, and what you do for a living.’ I hope you find this month’s newsletter useful. Enjoy your networking and make every connection count!