Some of you may know that I am a member of Athena the ladies only networking organisation, the meetings I attend are run by the lovely Karen Fowler who runs Athena East Berkshire and Basingstoke.
During our meeting, this week she recommended a book called Networking for Dummies and highlighted a section named Networking Gaffs, which we discussed during the meeting and was very useful and thought provoking.
This got me thinking, and I decided it was worth writing a post about.
We are all familiar with pets, partners and children popping up on our zoom meetings, forgetting to unmute before we speak etc. but on a serious note there are some key habits to consider if you want to be successful at networking, make a good impression, build lasting relationships, and grow your business.
- Don’t go to meetings with the sole intention to sell to everyone there – this will put people off, nobody likes to be sold to.
- Be interested in others – ask questions and get to know people. Don’t be the person who dominates every conversation.
- Don’t assume – you don’t know who anyone knows or what they know, it is important to keep an open mind. The most unlikely person could be your best connection.
- Don’t judge – like don’t assume, it is important not to make snap decisions about people.
- Be clear with your introduction – practice how introduce yourself, so you make the best first impression and people are clear on what you do.
- Don’t overrun on your presentations – at most meetings there is the opportunity to introduce yourself in 30 to 60 seconds. Be considerate of everyone else, the meeting is on a timeframe so be respectful of that.
- Do not use your mobile phone while at the meeting and keep it turned off.
- Not following up – it is important to follow up with the other attendees, 121’s is where the magic happens.
Let me know your thoughts, and any I might have missed.
#reccobiz #businessnetworking #referralmarketing
Author: Reccobiz Ltd
Helping small business owners connect and communicate with your prospects and customers more effectively to help you build lasting relationships and solid reputations is what I love to do. I am sure as a business owner you value testimonials and referrals. My question for you is do you get enough of them? and do you do enough to get them? It’s not enough to have a Google my Business, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other page and expect testimonials to appear by magic, people do not automatically refer you after one fleeting experience with your business. If you rely on repeat business, you need to focus on building relationships. When you have solid relationships with your customers it becomes easy to ask for and get testimonials, your customers will be so familiar with you they will naturally refer you to their family and friends. Isn’t that a great position to be in. Do you have all your customer contact details stored in one easy to access place where you can communicate with one, some or all of them at the click of a button? Email, call or text? Do you struggle to keep your prospects and customers up to date with...