Essential Tips
Arrive on Time – Be one step ahead by arriving early. When showing up at a networking event early, it is easier to strike up conversations with attendees before groups start to form. This gives you a one-on-one opportunity to speak with participants.
Ask Simple, Straightforward Questions – Don’t overthink approaching someone. Attendees have the same goal: to meet business professionals in their community. Simply start the conversation off by saying “What brings you to this event?”. This is a great icebreaker question that will start the flow of the conversation. Make sure to actively listen to their response, and engage in the conversation.
Avoid Being a Salesman – Networking is about building relationships. Keep the conversation light, fun, and informal as people are more prone to do business with someone they trust and connect with. Once the relationship has formed, you can get into an exchange of services.
How To Get Good at Networking
Make Lists – You can make a list of people you have already connected with, but want to strengthen the relationship. The next list can be people you want to meet. These can be members of the community you want to be involved with, including those in your niche.
Create a Plan of Action – With the lists you have created, you can then decide actions you are going to take to strengthen current relationships or actions in building new ones.
Update Your Plan of Action – As you create connections and develop new goals, you need to update your plan of action. The more purposeful your efforts, the quicker you will build relationships.
5 Benefits of Networking
Increase Your Connections – Connections are the first start to building relationships. Increasing your connections helps you grow your pool of resources.
Enhance Your Career – It is all about who you know! Not only can you advance yourself professionally, but building connections gives you an expansive network for advice, handling certain business situations, and even mentoring.
Boost Your Business – Creating strong, trusting relationships can lead to customer referrals, candidates when looking to hire, advice on business dealing (marketing, operations, etc.), and insight on various professional fields that you may be able to apply to your business.
Refine Your Communication Skills – Communicating face to face can be intimidating, but the more you practice that more polished you become! You can learn how to effectively communicate your value to others while brushing up on one of the most important soft skills personally and professionally.
Helping Others – You can have a considerable impact when helping the community by providing your expertise to help other professionals overcome potential obstacles. When you take time to help others not only do you establish yourself as an expert, but you help businesses grow: making a direct impact on your community.
We hope you enjoyed these tips on networking, and hope to see you at our next event!
Contact us for more information at henrynetworking@gmail.com.