Burton Chamber Of Commerce Networking Talk - April 2015

9 Guaranteed Steps To FAIL
At Business Networking
www.conspicuous-cbm.com

“Effective business networking
done well is consistently the lowest
cost marketing any business can
employ to boost sales,
opportunities and profits.
!
Do it badly and it can kill!”

What You Will See
• Who am I?

• Introduction

• Why Networking?

• 9 Steps To FAIL at Networking!

• Final Thoughts

Who Am I?
• Chartered Accountant
• Social Media Addict
• + outside interests...
• Corporate Stooge
• Referral Marketing Specialist

• Social media junkie - Twitter, Google+, Instagram
• Blogging Junkie & now published author
• LinkedIn Fan - 40 posts, 2400+ connections, 100+
recommendations, 100s Endorsements

• Most successful RD in BforB history
• Helped hundreds of new business / start-ups /
established businesses
• Friend of other networking gurus including Rob!
I Am Not Rob Brown! But…

Introduction
• Fact - Networking brings companies a rich stream of new
contacts and business that can make them more successful
& proﬁtable

• Fact - Networking help them to understand their
customers and the marketplace better whilst testing their
message and its effectiveness.

• Fact - Many people who do networking or referral
marketing make mistakes which can cost them winning
new business & damage their reputation.

• Fact - We all make mistakes.

• But what can you do to maximize your networking
activities by avoiding these costly errors?

Why Networking?

Networking Referral Marketing
Reputation Building + Social Media
4 Things To Do!

4 Words!
Hard Work Discipline
Perseverance + A Plan!

4 Elements For Success
Presence 121s
Enthusiasm Focus

The 9 Steps To Failure!
• These are the 9 Steps to Networking Failure
• Study them hard
• See which ones you have tripped-up over in the past
• See which ones have cost you business
• How are you going to avoid these errors in the future?

7 Things We Won't Be
Talking About Today!

Behaviour Smiling Humour
Time keeping Dress Social media
+Follow-Up!

The 9 Failures
Not Listening Sell Sell Selling
Deadly Dull Pitches Going For The Quick Fix
Prejudging People Not Taking the Limelight
Being A 1-hit Wonder Not Talking Up The Beneﬁts
No Clear Objective ++++++

STEP 1 - Not listening

• One of the most important skills to have.

• Not about hearing what is said - it is understanding what people really mean.

• Real listening requires your complete focus and attention.

• What are people really looking to achieve?

• What is really important to them about their business, job, personal ambition, and
family?

• People don't listen because they are too busy focusing on what they want to say
next in a conversation.

• 2 choices - be an interesting person or an interested person. You decide!

• We are all at networking meetings to sell “ourselves”, but if we don't connect
emotionally people will run a mile in the other direction - so LISTEN!

STEP 2 - Sell, Sell, Selling!

• Business Networking is not about sell, sell, sell.

• The aggressive nightmares are easy to spot!

• The question is, areYOU ever guilty of talking when you should be listening?

• Top networkers know how & do follow up + keep in regular contact.

• The people you meet at business networking are equals - they do not want to be
sold to and deﬁnitely do not want to be treated as prospects

• Your objective is to build rapport and turn them into advocates of your business -
they may become customers or clients in time!

STEP 3 - Deadly dull pitches

• Business Networking is not about telling the whole story of your business.

• Brighten your 60 seconds up with humour, a picture or an interesting statistic.

• The point of the pitch is to stimulate people's curiosity.

• Today we're all overloaded with too much information - even worse at a Business
Networking event.

• Give people as much information as they need at a later point.

• So do people a favour - FAVOUR simplicity over detail.

STEP 4 - Going for the quick fix

• Business Networking is NOT where a sale occurs each time you network.

• If everyone thought otherwise, who would we sell to - the catering staff?!

• Networking is all about building relationships.

• People can make great connections the ﬁrst time they attend a Business Networking
event but it is not something that you should expect.

• Real gold is in the long-term mutual beneﬁcial relationships you form.

• You never know where where one conversation that you have in January could lead -
don't be surprised if it's made you thousands by the end of December.

STEP 5 - Prejudging people

• Some of the best referrals we see - come from people who we think cannot help
us or anybody else!

• You cannot afford to prejudge people

• You simply do not know who they know or who they can connect you to.

• The saying is, never judge a book by its cover, but many of us do.

• Give people time and your attention by getting to know them via 121s.

• The ﬂipside is that all that glitters is not gold, be open-minded and don't rush into
all relationships.

STEP 6 - Not taking the Limelight

• Presenting - Public speaking scares many people witless:

• Grab any opportunity to present to get your message across & grow your reputation.

• Conﬁdent speakers? They learnt this conﬁdence by practicing. They too were once scared!

• Talking to strangers - Normal to feel apprehensive:

• In business, talking to complete strangers is only way to generate interest and contacts for your business.

• Only talk to the people you already know and deal with? You’re missing out on big opportunities!

• Set targets before you attend any networking event. Decide how many new contacts you want to make etc

• Make it fun and get out of your comfort zone with practice and determination.

• What was I worried about....

STEP 7 - Being a 1-hit Wonder

• You will get great results if you go back and get to know the other members.

• You never know what JV or referrals will result from the trust that grows out of
regularly attending a networking group.

• Don't be a deal chaser in networking. Cannot afford to have an attitude of What's
in it for me. Replace this with the mantra - How can I help you or How can I serve.
Make a positive impact on someone's day!

• Effective networkers take a farming approach. They focus on cultivating relationships
for mutual long term beneﬁt and they deﬁnitely do not chase deals or instant sales.

• You may attend a networking forum and do business initially (The Law Of Recency)
but referral's work best if you develop a long term know like and trust strategy with
the people you meet.

STEP 8 - Not talking up the benefits

• Talk about the beneﬁts you deliver to your clients, suppliers and contacts.

• Talk enthusiastically.

• What is unique about you? How do you deliver more value than others in your
sector?

• Don’t fall into the trap of saying that it is your service or quality of your product that
differentiates you. This is far too common and generic.

• Everything you say should be relevant to the needs of the other people in the room.

STEP 9 - No Clear Objective

• Want quality business?Your objective MUST be to build relationships on the following
3 criteria: know, like and trust.

• *Know - getting to know your contact first is vital. Get the conversation going by asking open-ended
questions in which the person cannot easily answer yes or no!

• *Like- this is all about building rapport and getting on well.

• *Trust - mutual beneficial business relationships must be built on trust as it is your reputation - there must be
no hidden agendas.

• DO: Have a plan for what customers or businesses you want to meet or be referred
into.

• Other people can't guess what you want!

• Worse still they will waste your time with the wrong referrals if you are not CLEAR,
PRECISE & FOCUSED on what your top targets are.

• Let people know who you want to be referred to specifically, NEVER say anybody or
everybody. You will usually get referred to nobody !

• Nothing screams professionalism and "refer me with confidence" than having that
laser-like focus on your referral targets.

Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
• Networking is a marketing tool and not just an event that you go to.

• Make it the core of your marketing. Good for business and fun too!

• Follow up without hesitation.

• Find a professional business networking organization to join.

• Observe the successes and failures of others’ networking efforts.

• Don't be afraid of making mistakes.

• Don't get your message across today, there's always next time....

5 Final Actions

1-2-1s

Social Media Challenge

21st April Stafford
http://staffordshirechambers.co.uk/events/one2three-club-3/

http://staffordshirechambers.co.uk/
Lets Do Mentoring

https://wtdesigns.leadpages.net/refer-refer-refer-by-stuart-walton/
Refer, Refer, Refer

Contact Us
Phone - 01785 244481 or 07706 171851
Email - stuart@conspicuous-cbm.com
Blog - www.conspicuous-cbm.com
LinkedIn - uk.linkedin.com/in/stuartwalton/
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THANK YOU

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Burton Chamber Of Commerce Networking Talk - April 2015

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