Why Bother Networking?

Every sales and marketing course I have ever taken has the phrase “People buy from people” somewhere in the first 15 minutes. Which explain the runaway success of Amazon, Ebay and Waterstones online to name but three. The phrase is utterly and completely wrong. People only buy from people once they have exhausted every other avenue of avoiding face to face contact. As a sweeping generalisation businesses often prefer to deploy disinterested, slovenly, poor communicators as their public facing representative so the success of the online world isn’t surprising.

Most of you reading this are from very small organisations. I expect you’ve read the above and thought “not me”. I do all my sales through networking face to face”. Networking of course isn’t selling to the person you meet, it is establishing your name with them, communicating your offering and reaching beyond your initial contact. Every networker understands this, as demonstrated by how irritated we all become when we meet those few networkers that push too hard to make a sale.

Given this, next time you go to a networking event, try this experiment. Don’t follow up on any of the people you meet and see what happens. However to be reading this, I know that you wouldn’t waste an opportunity in that way and would consider the time spent to be far too valuable. So I did the experiment for you. If you don’t follow up after a networking session nothing happens. Absolutely nothing. You may get added to yet another newsletter. You may get on some mailing list. But otherwise. Nothing. No calls, no sales for you, no big contract. Nothing. I really don’t understand this. I always expected networking follow up to be a race for which party responds first, but it isn’t.

I have made new customers as a result of the last five networking sessions I’ve attended. Proof that there is business to be had. So the question is why bother if all you are going to do when you get back to the office is add the cards to a pile. Are you so busy and have so many sales that you don’t have to? Why did you go then? Networking for most businesses is by far and away the best route to establish your credibility and attract future business. There are reams of books, courses, blogs, and websites dedicated to teaching you how to network effectively but the essential rules are these.

• Have your message straight. What do you do, who do you do it for and why would I want it?
• Be presentable.
• Be interested and interesting.
• After the meeting drop a short note to everyone you took cards from. It takes 10 minutes to do and sets a far better impression of your willingness to help me or my friends, colleagues and other chance meetings in the future.

If you want some help to make the most of your networking look at some of my other blogs on the subject or drop me a line.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Chris Bryan

www.cjbcorporatecoaching.co.uk