It may not be everyone’s favourite pastime, but networking is one of the most important activities in building your location independent business – in fact, any business! And if you really are passionate about building a new life for yourself and growing your company then networking should be enjoyable for you – sure it can feel a little out of your comfort zone at times, but you know what they say – practice makes perfect!
I have been to many networking nights, weekends and conferences in my time – both for my online business, my property business and my day job, and what seemed initially a slightly uncomfortable thing to do, has now become something I look forward to and have made some amazing new friends from – so I’m happy to share with you some of the networking lessons I’ve learnt over the years.
Everybody Feels Self-Conscious Sometimes
At my first ever networking event I went to alone I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb, but in reality, everyone is probably worrying about themselves too much to notice you may be feeling uncomfortable! Remember this if you ever feel nervous about integrating with a group or starting a conversation with another person on their own – in reality they are probably relieved that someone is speaking to them, so be the one working the room, not the other way around!
Do Your People Research
Before an event if I know who may be attending, I always try to research who I’d like to speak to and a little bit about them. You don’t need to know their entire history, but having an idea of what they do and if they know anyone that you do will help you to start the conversation and build rapport with them – and they’ll also feel incredibly flattered you took the time to learn about them, so they will be impressed right from the get-go!
Prepare Some Conversation Starters
If you’re really feeling nervous about approaching others then go in with 3-5 conversation starters ready – eg ‘Wow, it’s really busy here tonight – do you come to these events often?’ or ‘I found the last talk really interesting….What are you hoping to get out of the session tonight?’.
It really isn’t much, but just having some ‘lines’ to fall back on will help you feel more at ease and get you integrated into conversations quicker.
Smile
One of the simplest things you can do, and one of the best. Someone once said that a smile can end a war so it can certainly help you to feel better at a networking event!
Smile at everyone you catch eyes with and trust me, you’ll appear open and approachable – people will want to speak to you, so never underestimate its power!
Ask Questions And Be Interesting
People like to talk about themselves, so ask them about what they do, their hobbies and what their opinion is on certain issues relating to your business – they will want to tell you, so keep asking more and adding your own pieces of info into the mix – don’t just stand there and nod, be interesting and they will want to keep talking to you!
Mingle
You may have found a group or person you feel comfortable talking to, but the whole aim of networking is to network – so excuse yourself from the group and start mingling. By now you should be feeling more relaxed and confident, so practise what you’ve learnt on a new group, and then another after that – soon you’ll have met everyone in the room, which is what you should be aiming for!
Follow Up
After the event is over it’s SO important to follow-up with people – it makes them feel good, and when they reply it will make you feel pretty damn good too. Just a simple email, Facebook or Twitter message will do – something along the lines of ‘Great to meet you, all the best with X (refer back to something you spoke about here), hope to see you again soon!’ – short, simple, but it works.
Don’t Go Into It Wanting Anything
One final note about networking, which I think so many people get wrong, is to go into it expecting nothing…except of course an enjoyable night! If you walk into a room desperate for business or wanting to make as many deals as you can, then there’s a good chance you’ll come across smelling like a used car salesman and not your interesting self, which you must admit isn’t the person that will be attracting the crowds. Going to an event in this head space will more than likely end in disappointment, so just don’t go there.
Instead, if you go to an event looking to connect with people, learn something and perhaps make some new friends then you can’t lose – and anything else will be a bonus. I know which kind of person I gravitate towards!
Happy Networking!
Photo Credit – Thanks to a_glitch (sxu license)
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This is a good read and great reminder. Networking is not something I do very well but I hope to do a better job of this in the future. I enjoy this series and am using this to try and market myself better and become better at what I do.
Hi Jeremy, thanks – I’m glad you’re finding the posts useful! Good luck with the networking – it does get easier! Thanks for stopping by : )
Some great practical advice there as always! I think the last one is key – as soon as you see someone with an agenda these things kind of fall in on themselves!
Cheers Will, gotta love a bit of networking : )