By: Alice Kemper
We all do it. We all go to a variety of networking functions: mixers, meetings, seminars, conferences. Just showing up certainly doesn’t guarantee getting connected or meeting people who are your buyers or can get you closer to your decision maker. Just showing up certainly doesn’t guarantee that you will increase your sales. And how often do you end up talking to the first person you encounter and never have a chance meet anyone else? That certainly doesn’t help you achieve filling the pipeline to grow your business.
What if you treated the next networking function like it was your party? You are the host. That means it’s your responsibility to meet and greet everyone in the room. Introduce people who don’t know each other to each other. Basically, be in charge of everyone else having a good time.
It’s an interesting concept and it does work. I was tired of getting “stuck” talking to the first person I met. And quite often they weren’t anyone who could be a potential client or put me closer to one. I got tired of feeling like I had wasted my evening, because these networking events were not helping me to increase my sales.
Then I began treating each networking function as if it was my own party. I would meet the first person, talk to them and find out as much as I could in a few minutes. With the right questions they’ll gladly talk about themselves. I knew I wanted to meet more people, so I’d invite them to go with me to meet others. I’d introduce myself and my new acquaintance, ask a few questions to get them talking and most of the time left them to each other as I went on to meet the next person.
I’d repeat the process throughout the evening. Before we were sitting down to dinner or whatever was next on the agenda, I had met a significant amount of people, given – and taken – business cards, and more importantly made everyone feel good about themselves. That, in turn, made me memorable. There were plenty of people who now wanted to “sit” with me.
The host and party format has worked well for me. My follow-up phone calls are taken and requests for other connections are well received. I’m making the connections to increase my sales and I’m having a ‘ball’ at someone else’s party.
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