The profile of a successful business will often look quite similar regardless of what type of industry they are in, as they will all have a product or service that there is a good demand for as well as a good network of customers, suppliers and useful contacts.
If you are looking to emulate that winning formula, you will need to make the most of your business networking efforts, which means that you probably be attending plenty of conferences and trade events around the globe.
Hopefully you won’t get experience any flight delays or cancellations when making your way to meetings and conferences, but if you do, the simple task of downloading a flight claim template letter will at least help you to begin to claim any compensation due.
Once you are ready to network, here is a look at a few ways to help you get the best return out of your efforts.
Choose your events wisely
One of the best tips when trying to make the most of your time and effort to develop a good network of contacts, is to ensure that you choose your events wisely and try to find the right business networking event, which means finding an event that is most likely to help your business in some way or another.
Annual trade shows and events can be very useful if they are relevant to the industry that you are in and you know that many of the people you might want to talk with are likely to be in attendance.
You may well find however that regular networking events like working breakfasts and more informal business gatherings could turn out to be particularly useful. You are much more likely to be able to get some quality time in front of a useful contact at one of these sort of networking events, than a brief conversation at a large-scale conference event.
Prepare your pitch
There is nothing worse than being presented with an opportunity to talk to a real mover or shaker who is not easy to get face time with, and then fail to have any meaningful dialogue with them because you have not got a prepared pitch to use in these scenarios.
There is a lot of mention about having a compelling elevator pitch, but working on a brief statement about your business and exactly what it is you do in a clear, concise but snappy style of presentation, will create a good impression and improve your odds of arranging a more detailed dialogue at a later point.
It really is worth taking the time to create a brief but compelling elevator pitch, that you can use whenever you are asked to introduce your business and what you do. Make sure you include a unique selling point in your pitch, which demonstrates you know your business and encourages further contact.
Make sure that you circulate at these networking events and always aim to create a lasting connection, rather than trying to sell anything on the day. If you follow some of these simple rules of engagement, it should help you to make the most of your business networking efforts.
Ron Murphy has worked in business events planning for many years, and has a wealth of other business advice to share with those needing help. Nearing retirement Ron is now enjoying taking a step back from the day-to-day running of his business and playing more of a mentoring role.
