Continuing the series on marketing for the newly promoted, today’s post is about networking. Networking is another one of those things that we are told to do, but we aren’t given a lot of instruction on how to do it effectively.
Much of what I’ve already written in this series of posts applies to networking. To be effective at networking, you certainly need to be able to talk about what you do in a clear and concise manner. You must understand what your customer really buys and the process they use for making purchasing decisions. The ability to listen and being able to connect people by giving referrals will certainly improve the results you see from networking.
As professional service providers, we are often told what not to do at a networking event – don’t try to make a sale at a networking event. Well, what is it that we should be doing?
The Goal
In most cases, your goal is very similar to the goal of cold calling – to set an appointment. Not make a sale, but to determine if there is enough reason to get together for a meaningful conversation.
That means you need to determine:
- Does this person appear to be the type of person that your serve?
- Do they know people who fit your ideal customer profile and are they willing to introduce you to those people?
You don’t have to pull out a 4 page “fact finding” questionnaire in order to do this. It really boils down to 2 things – listening and not being afraid to hear “no”.
Listening
When you and your conversation partner were introducing yourselves, did you get a clear understanding of what they really do? Most people aren’t very good at explaining this in their “30 second commercial”. It’s going to be hard to help them if you don’t get a clear understanding of their needs.
Also pay attention to how they react when you tell them about your business. Do they seem to identify with what you are saying? Are they looking for an excuse to get away? Do they ask follow up questions that make it clear that they didn’t “get” what you just told them?
Go For the No
My sales coach, Dan Stalp, is always teaching us to “go for the no”. In essence, what is teaching us is that it if someone is going to tell us no, it is better to hear about it sooner rather than later.
In the case of networking, if there is no chance that you will be able to work with someone, wouldn’t you want to know that sooner than later? In order to do this, we need to have a little guts and ask questions that allow someone to tell us “no” and be willing to hear that without feeling like they are rejecting us as a person.
How do you “go for the no” in networking? One way to apply this is right after you explain what you do for a living, ask a question similar to this – “Is it ok if I ask you a question? If you or someone you know ever had a need for what I do, does someone come to mind that you could turn to or recommend?”.
I find that a couple of things typically happen if you ask this question. First, it is common that the other person may suddenly realize they only have a generic idea of what you do and they will start to ask you more questions in order to learn more. Second, they will generally tell you if they already have someone they work with, they are not the decision maker, or they don’t have someone like you in their network and they would like to learn more.
If you think it makes sense for you to continue the conversation, then you must ask if they feel the same way. Be clear about what you want to happen in the follow up conversation. Remember, as much as you don’t like hearing no, people are just as uncomfortable telling you no. Unless you work together to really figure out if you can help one another, you are going to have a lot of nice coffee and lunch meetings that don’t lead to any business.
One last note – just because someone initially tells you they already have someone they would turn to, don’t be afraid to find out if they ever feel the need for having more than one person as a resource – a backup to turn to when the first choice isn’t available.
Following Up
At this point, I hope it’s clear that what we are working to do is to get permission and set the expectation for a follow up call or visit. Hopefully, it goes without saying that you must follow up if you want to see results from your networking efforts.
