As the Regional Lead for the no fuss networking brand of Business Buzz, across the Midlands I am constantly being asked for tips & hacks to being a better business networker. So, here are a of few the things I mention when asked:

Networking Is Not Selling

We all hate being sold at! How often do you go & make a cup of tea during advert breaks on TV or skip through them completely on demand? 

Going networking is not going selling! What it should be about is having genuine conversations & building trusted relationships that then lead to opportunity. I am often asked by potential visitors to Business Buzz if someone else from their sector will be attending, & where the answer is “yes”, more often than not that person does not show.

The networking that I organise, as part of Business Buzz is drop-in by nature, so I never know who will be in attendance in advance. 

So many people fear their competitors because their approach is focused on snagging the next sale. It is true to say that in order to get results & see a return you have to be consistent in your approach. No marketing campaign delivers on day one, so it is unrealistic to expect a lot of sales from visiting a single Business Buzz or any other networking event. I recommend that visitors forget the scattergun approach of being in as many places as they can & adopt a simpler option of making one Buzz event a fixed point in their calendar, where they show their face every month. Remember, my ideal expert may not be your ideal solution or the next person’s. it is very unlikely that you will secure all the potential work on offer. That is just not how the world works.

I believe that If you are confident in your service, your brand, your pricing & your product, then you don’t need to sell because your passion & enthusiasm & the genuine desire to help will shine through. You will be remembered, people will make introductions & want to collaborate

Know Why You Are Networking

Not everyone visits networking events for the same reasons. So, it is really important to know why you are attending. Develop a networking strategy.

Firstly, attending any networking should form part of your working day. If you choose to network then it should be an integral part of your marketing plan.

Be selective in what you do. Find a format that works best for you. Business Buzz is informal & relaxed in style with a commitment you create for yourself & it’s pay-as-you-go. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for many people it offers a tonic to the strict regimes operated by many membership networking organisations.

Secondly, don’t focus on a quick return on investment. Networking is a long-term strategy. Yes! There may be some instant wins, but to build your business, your reputation & your credibility you need to be remembered for all the right reasons. This takes time & it is a while before other business owners will think about what you do intuitively & make those all-important introductions. 

And thirdly, not everyone is looking for customers or looking to buy. From personal experience I know that being a solo entrepreneur can be lonely & isolating. My reason for networking is to meet other small business owners, to have conversations with like-minded people & to have a sounding board for ideas & concerns. My partner, although supportive, has never really understood the complexities of why & how I do what I do or the challenges being a self-employed small business owner presents. Getting away from my home office, the day-to-day tasks & talking to similar people to myself helps create re-assurance in what I am doing, builds my confidence, helps me find solutions & makes me more robust for future challenges.

Networking has given me the chance to build a brilliant & reliable support network. When I started my business my primary driver for networking was not to sell my services. It was to support my mental health & to build both my personal & business brand awareness. My business has evolved since I started it back in 2017, so this means that my networking drivers have also evolved. Of course, I need sales, but the way I have those conversations has altered to meet the differences in my business. What networking has delivered is the ability to create a reputation that is second to none in my sector, with my core audience & in the communities where I choose to work.

The Real Magic Happens Later

It is great to meet lots of people when out & about networking, but what happens on the day is very superficial. The real magic happens afterwards. 

As the Business Buzz Regional Lead for the Midlands I encourage my teams to support their visitors to schedule an hour long 1-2-1 meeting with at least two of the people who they met on the day. 1-2-1 meetings are more engaging if they take place over coffee & cake. Now that we are all so much more familiar with using virtual solutions, virtual meetings can be a cost effective & time saving solution for follow-up after a networking event. Do you know that Business Buzz offers a dedicated virtual meeting space as one of the benefits of becoming a Buzz Plus subscriber? So, there is no need for a Zoom or Teams account. 

Be proactive in arranging your 1-2-1 meetings, connect on LinkedIn & send a message or simply pick-up the phone to get a date in the diary. You want to make the other person feel that you really want to talk with them, so avoid the impersonal touches like making your first point of contact a Calendly link. 

Each 1-2-1 meeting should be no longer than an hour & with the conversation split evenly. This is the opportunity to find-out in more detail about someone else’s business or circumstances & for them to get the measure of you. These conversations should be free flowing & natural. Always look to ask questions, listen & then wait to be asked about what you do for work or business.

There is no harm in having a straightforward agenda. Both sides may have specific things they want to discuss or mention & that is perfectly OK. If you agree to an action, such as making an introduction to another business owner, set an expectation as to when you will be able to achieve this. Personally, I like to do introductions & referrals by email & then let both parties’ pick-up the conversation with one another separately. 

The real power behind the 1-2-1 meeting is that both sides have invested time (& possibly cake) to find out about one another. You will have created a better understanding of each other, as well as what you do & who potentially your ideal customers might be. The more times you do 1-211 meetings the stronger your network becomes, the more trusted you are, & the more recommendations you will receive.

Find Your Tribe

So, to round off there are many networking opportunities available. It does not matter the format or style of a particular event, you will only you reap what you sow. Ideally you want to surround yourself with people who are like-minded, have similar values to yourself & who will advocate for you because they trust you. They support your marketing, where a personal recommendation gives you an edge. How do you build your tribe? Avoid the sell, know why you are attending a particular event, appreciate that networking is marketing & lastly follow-up with people who can add value to your business proposition.