Add Value to the Room (And Four More Tips That Will Make Your Networking Efforts More Effective)

Building your network takes time and effort. However, this lengthy process can become more straightforward if you have proper networking skills in place.

You already know that networking helps build relationships that lead to opportunities for your small business.?

But you also know that it’s not enough to simply engage in a conversation or be in the same room as somebody for new opportunities to arise.

To build more quality relationships, it’s essential to learn how to network effectively.?

And this article will help you to do just that. You’ll find below five tips for making your networking skills more effective.?

The Five Tips

Tip #1. Always Add Value to the Room

Your goal may be to create a diverse client base when you’re just starting out in business. But as your business grows, you become more selective about your target clients.?

And to get those clients’ attention, you need to show up at the same events that they usually attend.

Once you identify these events of interest and start going there, you want to ask yourself: “How can I add value to the people in this room?”?

As you start engaging with your prospective clients, you want to learn more about them and their business.?

Have them talk about their work and ambitions as much as 80% of the time then share things about you for the rest of the period, though you may want to do so gently. Most importantly, don’t try to sell right away.?

Your goal is to uncover more about their business and look for links where you can potentially add value.?

It’s because the value for your business will come from understanding their business.??

Tip #2. Be Prepared to Kiss Some Frogs to Find Your Prince(ss)

As you work on your network, you’ll most likely have to kiss many frogs along the way.?

In fact, small to midsize business owners will often take on work that they would never take on as the business matures.?

Whether it’s about profit or the people that you bring into your life in a business sense, chances are that you’re probably saying “yes” to things that you shouldn’t.?

This is normal in the process where you learn what you really want and get closer to those who can deliver that.?

In truth, most start-ups are aware that they have to kiss the frog to get to the prince(ss).?

Tip #3. Know What You’re Looking for Before You Network

As you get out and start networking, you want to understand that person’s appetite for growth. You want to look for clients who can derive direct value from your offer.?

For example, if you’re in the marketing space and you meet someone who’s pretty happy with where they are now, marketing most likely won’t be their priority.?

Also, you want to look for a personality match. You invest a lot of time in your clients after all.?

If you get the impression that the client won’t appreciate or value your service, you probably won’t be willing to give them the best outcome.?

In such cases, it’s better not to pursue that relationship. If you believe that it will end in a horrible heap, you may not want to bother.?

Tip #4. Focus on Taking People on a Journey

Whether you’re out networking or presenting your products, you always take people on a journey.?

If you see interest coming from them and the excitement levels are up, you want to keep raising the excitement levels before slowly bringing them down to the state they were in prior to talking to you.?

You want to keep them excited, but not overly so. It’s because you don’t want them to experience things like buyer’s remorse after they purchase from you.?

While you want to spark their interest in the prospect of pursuing things further, it’s best to not ask for huge commitments such as signing up right away. The main goal should be to identify their needs.

That’s why you should go for smaller commitments first, such as meeting for coffee, before pursuing the business relationship any further.

Tip #5. Only Make Offers When You Know You Can Solve a Problem

When you’re familiar with the client and their needs, the next step is the offer. But only make your offer when you know that it will solve the client’s problem.?

This step encompasses all other advice in this article.?

You want to get really close to that person business-wise. Find out whom they speak to, what presents the best value to their business, and what are their conversion levels.?

When you’ve got these things straight and you see that your offer would be beneficial to the client, go for it.?

This is what The Business League members do. And those who pursued their relationships further resulted in $200,000 in potential value, with an enormous ROI for the ones who seal the deal.?

Build Relationships that Matter

As you attend networking events, you could meet 100 or more people in a single day. But you’ll most likely want to reach out to only 10 or 15 of them.?

Focus on hearing their story and getting them interested in yours without pushing for sales right away. That’s key to networking effectively.?

The Business League community has seen thousands of dollars worth of deals and it continues to be one of the main networking places for many small business owners.?

If you could use some help making meaningful connections, The Business League can help. Consider doing any of the below and explore how we can help you expand your network:

• Join our free networking workshop.?
• Join us for a networking event.?
• Book a Brainstorm Call with our team.?