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Seven tips to improve your Networking Skills:
Not Selling
Elevator Pitch
Talk about them first
Who are your “Big Fish”?
Own the room
Right events
Koffee
Tip 1: Not Selling
Have you ever been ‘sold to’ at a networking event? It doesn’t work, does it? You don’t like it, and they don’t make a sale.
When you think about it, when networking, the odds of finding somebody who wants to buy from you there and then … so much so, that they don’t want to talk to the other 300 people in the room … well, it’s just not going to happen. There’s no point hoping it will.
So, don’t sell. Instead, think of networking and selling like oil and water. Your business needs both. But they just don’t mix.
The aim of networking is to meet people and to start business relationships. The aim is not to close the deal.
Tip 2: Elevator Pitch
When you ask “what do you do?”, people often respond with “I am an accountant” or “I am a lawyer”.
In other words, Elevator Pitches are usually boring.
In fact, if someone tells you they are an accountant or a lawyer, it doesn’t even answer the question “what do you do?” - they’ve only told you what they are.
The best Elevator Pitches possess three components:
1. “I,”
2. a verb - “help”, “show” etc
3. Your main “AFTER” – what clients are left with AFTER they’ve worked with you
For instance, AFTER buying from an accountant, you might pay less tax. So, a better Elevator Pitch would be “I help companies pay less tax than they thought possible”. The only response to this is “how do you do that?”, and the accountant is straight into a conversation about the value they bring.
Similarly, “I am a lawyer” doesn’t work as well as “I keep people out of jail”, or “I help companies grow faster”.
Ask yourself, what are your clients left with AFTER they have bought from you? And weave that into your Elevator Pitch.
Tip 3: Talk about them first
There is nothing more off-putting than somebody who rants about themselves, especially when you’re networking. You know the sort of person I mean… They don’t ask about you. They don’t seem to even care about you. They often thrust a business card in your face and finish by saying “It’s been great talking to you”, then lurch off to attack another random victim.
That’s not the way to do it.
Best-practice is to, talk about the other person first. Ask lots of questions, and find out all you can about them.
There are many reasons for doing this. It’s good manners. It’s the right way to behave. It’s much better to be interested in them than interesting about yourself. (Also, of course, unless you find out about them, you don’t know if they are a ‘good contact’ for you or not).
The best way to do this is simply to approach somebody and say “Hi, I’m Andy”. They will respond “Hi, I’m John”. You: “What do you do, John?” John will say “I’m an accountant” leading to you asking him questions about that. You are now talking about John first.
Tip 4: Who are your “Big Fish”?
Networking is like being thrust into the middle of a fishing net, surrounded by big fish, small fish and wellington boots.
You want to speak to Big Fish – tasty, succulent… people who are useful for you to speak to – not small fish (quite useful) or wellington boots (no use at all). This will be target clients, target suppliers, key influencers etc.
Before going to an event, know who your Big Fish are (after all, unless you do, how will you know when you come across one?), and make sure you spend as much time as possible with them.
Tip 5: Own the room
Be a host, not a guest.
Hosts breeze in and out of conversations. They put people together. They own the room. They seem to have this inbuilt confidence that makes them great networkers. When you host an event, you’re like this, too.
So, when networking, pretend you are the host. It increases your confidence, helping you own the room. It is perfectly acceptable – indeed it’s good practice - to approach a couple of strangers and say “Hi I’m Andy, do you mind if I join you?” They will say “that’s fine, listen in.”
Tip 6: Right events
This ties in to the “W” above - “Who are your Big Fish?” Let’s say you know your Big Fish are lawyers. The right events for you are therefore events packed with lawyers. So, find which ones they are - Law Society events, legal dinners etc - and go to them.
Tip 7: Koffee!
Remember how we said ‘networking and selling’ are like ‘oil and water’? This means the best outcome you can hope for isn’t a sale, but a post-event meeting coffee with a Big Fish.
Think of networking as a means to an end, the end being that useful coffee. If a conversation with a Big Fish is going well, say “It would be useful to continue this chat when it’s not as noisy. Do you mind if I give you a ring in the next couple of days, so we can organise a coffee?”
Then, get their card, diary a reminder to call them, and your networking has been a success.
A final thought… the grass isn’t greener
I once asked Dr Ivan Misner (Ivan founded BNI, the world’s largest networking organisation) “what is your best tip for networkers?” His reply:
“People think the grass is greener on the other side, so they flit from person to person, from event to event, from networking organisation to networking organisation, because they think the grass is greener. It isn’t. The grass is greenest where you water it”.
In other words:
- Keep attending events where you will find your Big Fish
- Work hard to learn about them, by asking questions
- When they ask about you, give an interesting AFTERs-rich Elevator Pitch
- Don’t sell
- Water the relationship, and
- Get that post-event coffee, and start the mutually-beneficial business relationship
If you would like further help on becoming a more effective networker please contact us on 0151 231 6117 or email us at office@andybounds.com
