Going to conferences and going to local meet-ups is a terrific way to satisfy new people, but it isn’t a great way to learn more about someone. If you really want to be successful at networking you have to follow these steps:
Put Your Feelers Out There
Whenever you go to an event, you’ll discover that there are a few networking whores in the room who give out business cards to every person they see. They typically get to know thousands of people, however when it is time to hire a favor or request help, no one steps up to the plate since they have not constructed any personal relationships.
The objective with networking is to construct personal relationships and you don’t do this by being a whore. The next time you attend an event and are looking to network, here are a couple of things you can do:
Try to find the most popular groups in the room. These groups are popular because they are made up of the “it “A crowd. These are the type of individuals you wish to be connected with for obvious factors.
When you have discovered the popular groups, look to see what individuals comprise those groups. You do not want to cut into a group and try to sign up with the discussion due to the fact that it will develop an uncomfortable minute. Instead you want to wait till one of those people leaves the group for a moment (to get food, get a beverage, go to the bathroom) and begin to learn more about them.
After you start getting to know a couple of people in the “it” Â crowd, you can then sign up with the group they remain in. This way, there will not be an uncomfortable moment because you’ll understand a couple of people in the group.
When the conversation starts waning, you want to get individuals’s contact information. You can either do this in a casual fashion by trading phone numbers or by trading business cards.
Start Following Up
Within 24 hours of conference somebody in person, you want to follow up with them. If you don’t, they might forget who you are. The simplest method you can do this is by sending an email.
You need to do two things because email:
- The first was to provide a few options on meeting up
- And the second was to offer to help them out
By doing both of those things your opportunities of getting a person to follow up with you will be greater. If you simply invite someone for lunch or drinks, they may not respond. However if you do something for them, they’ll feel obligated to respond.
Setup A Meeting
As soon as you get someone consent to meet-up with you there are a couple of etiquette guidelines that you have to follow:
Select a conference location that is convenient for the other celebration, and not simply you. If you are the one who desires the meeting, why should they need to concern you? You ought to be the one driving to them.
Do not be late to the conference! I don’t care if there is traffic or if you have some household concerns, constantly be on time for a meeting you setup. And if you tend to be late to conferences, it is much better to be additional early than late. If the person you are meeting takes place to be late, that’s fine, you just can’t be late.
When it comes time to foot the bill, you have to be the one paying. Do not wait too long before you throw your credit card down, and if the other persons uses to pay, tell them that they can pay next time. The worst things you can do in this scenario is divided the bill in half or require time to toss your credit card down because it makes it seem like you don’t want to pay.
Develop A Personal Relationship
Meetings do not have to about work. Discussing cash or business all the time gets boring. If you wish to successful at networking you have to develop personal relationships and not simply business relationships. You can do this by discussing basic topics such as sports, family, or anything you think may intrigue the other person.
When chit chatting, pay close attention to their body language. If you are feel the other person is getting tired, alter the topic. You want to talk about stuff that you both discover interesting.
Conclusion
Once you complete your first meeting, you’ll notice that you are building a friendship and not just a business relationship. This is the secret with networking since if a buddy asks you for something, you are more likely to do something for them compared to if a business coworker asked you for something.
And last but not least, you’ll wish to have much more meetings with the very same individual. You never construct excellent friendships over one conference you build friendships over years. So don’t expect your networking to settle within a few weeks or months, it can take years before you see a ROI.