We get it. Unless you’re a type A extrovert with high-test coffee for blood, business networking can be a challenge. Getting over your shyness, approaching strangers, asking for introductions, and asking/answering the same questions over and over can start to wear you down after a while. It’s even more difficult if you aren’t getting the business you feel you should for the time you’re investing.
More than likely, if your business networking results aren’t what you would like them to be, it isn’t because you aren’t working hard enough, or because you have the personality of a broken doorknob.
You simply need strategies to help focus your efforts. Here are a few of our favorite business networking hacks to help electrify your networking experience.
Generosity: The 10X Rule
No one likes a mooch. If your networking approach involves viewing people as a means to an end, you’ve already lost. Instead, ask what you can do for them. Give 10 times more than you ask from others.
As digital marketers, we routinely offer to promote new contacts on LinkedIn, as a way to give. We ask them to simply send us a picture and a short blurb. It costs us nothing, takes very little time, but gets met with appreciation, and even surprise, from the people we meet.
By focusing the conversation on what you can do for people, and doing what you say you will, you can quickly build goodwill with a large network of people, people that now have a vested interest in helping you in the future.
Ask Intriguing, Leading Questions
If people come to networking events with any regularity, they’re tired of hearing, “So what do you do?” Try and distinguish yourself with new, interesting ways of getting the ball rolling. We have three questions that we like to ask, to get people thinking, and build deeper relationships and understanding of how we can truly be of service.
We ask:
“Who’s your ideal client?”
“Who is a great strategic partner for you?”
“If I could introduce you to one person right now who would you want to meet?”
These questions provide us useful information about our new contact, and many times I’ve heard “No one has ever asked me that before” – re the strategic partner.
This helps identify who the help, as well as who might best be positioned to help them. Then I look through my contacts and see who would be a good fit to introduce them to. We open the door to help them, an expression of the 10X rule. Sometimes we get referrals back, sometimes we don’t and that’s ok. It might be the opposite in another scenario.
Create a “Secret” Club and Offer People Membership
People attend networking events because they find them valuable. Many people enjoy the chance to have a beer, or other beverage, among peers. And some just come for the free nachos.
So, the next time you’re wrapping up a conversation with a new contact, don’t just take their business card. Give them something of value. Invite them to be a part of an exclusive group of professionals whose business interests intersect with the particular services you offer.
Tell them that you host meet and greets occasionally and frequently send out content they’ll find useful. People love exclusivity, and they’ll be happy for the chance to network with a more focused group of people.
And of course, then do the things you say you will. You’ll build a large network, email list, and quickly establish yourself as an expert among the people most in need of your services, and when they’re ready for help, they’ll come to you.
Be a Decent Human Being
This last hack isn’t really a hack at all, but it’s possibly the best advice you can get. Simply be a genuine human being that cares about other people. Listen to people when they’re talking to you. Ask questions, and pay close attention to the answers.
Work to make people feel comfortable. In short, don’t try to network people.
Don’t go into conversations looking for an angle to sell. This almost never works. Networking is most effective when you’re simply trying to make friends, with no strings attached.
Who do you call when you need a favor, or when you have a project you need help with? Some schmuck you met at a networking event that was desperate to get his business card into your pocket? No. You call a friend. You look to someone you trust.
Make friends. If you get something out of the relationship, great! You’ll certainly have a better chance. But if you don’t, you have a friend, and that’s great, too.
Social engineering takes time. Don’t worry if your networking chops don’t improve immediately. If you’d like to discuss strategies to build your brand and generate more leads, including online and social media options, contact us today. We’ll bring the nachos.
