When I get asked the question about networking most people start to conjure up images of racing around the room loaded with other professionals dispensing business cards like candy from a pez dispenser. The advice I give is to “3 and bolt”. There are numerous books written on how to network and how to work a room. You have seen this and recognize the common characters. You have the group that is there for the free drinks and hors d’oeuvres and the meeting is an extension of an after-work party they would have had anyways. In the other corner there is the group from the same institution that hang together and of course the group that does not want to be there nor do they want to be infiltrated by an outsider. Of course, don’t forget the guy who runs around to meet everyone and when engaged in conversation, he is looking around the room for someone better to talk to.
Some of these settings are not real conducive for networking due to the fact that there is little time to talk, the room is noisy, and the room is loaded with sales people, not the audience that you are trying to connect with. My question I asked back to the executive networker is “To be efficient, what is the most beneficial part of the meeting?” Resoundingly the answer I get back is always the networking time before the meeting gets started. The meetings are an extra 90 minutes in which you can have no meaningful interaction to develop relationships.
Years ago, to be more efficient and effective with my time and business development, I developed the 3 and bolt concept and stayed disciplined to it. I found that if I went with a group of co-workers, I ended up spending 25 of the 30 socializing minutes talking to them so I started driving separate. What I did was to establish three people I needed to talk to. What they did or what I thought they could do for my business was not as significant as the discipline of the process. Here is who I focused on meeting:
The first person was someone I never met before. My goal was to complete the most uncomfortable piece of networking right away which is having a conversation with a stranger. I wanted to introduce myself quickly and then have a goal of spending most of the 10 minutes asking questions about them. People love to talk to people that show genuine interest in them. On the surface it may seem like they would not be someone that would impact my business, but you never know who they know and how that comes around. As a reminder, check on social media the next day and connect with them. See who they are connected with and hang out with.
The second person I spoke to is someone warm, typically a person that I had one conversation with as noted above. These were typically people that I had met once or twice before and I have a suspicion that they might be good prospects for my business. The point here is to try to qualify them with probing questions. They usually had the potential to be helped by my business or be a connecter to others. If you show remembrance of names and details from the first cold call meeting, you can push the relationship forward with leaps and bounds. When you walk up to someone and remember their name from a month or so ago, you are instantly respected. Review your notes of the previous meeting because usually, the same people attend the same meeting. Make the conversation a bit more personal at first but be ready to tell your elevator pitch.
The third person is a person I know well or have had three or more interactions. Typically, these are comfortable and specific, but they are definitely people that I have identified as a potential client. I use this opportunity to dig a bit further into my understanding of their business and set the stage of a face to face appointment to talk about business. These encounters are pre-planned and specifically targeted. I have completed my due diligence on their company and have already thought of questions that I want to ask them. The questions are to help them uncover a problem or a gap in their business that my business may be able to offer a solution.
The purpose here is to be efficient and effective. If you follow this process you will complete the most important aspect of network marketing which are qualifying your prospects and engaging in meaningful conversation.
