Network Like It’s Your Party

Where do you weigh in on attending networking functions?  Are you one who really dislikes it and says they are a waste of time?  

Or do you walk out with quality leads and potential referrals and look forward to the next one?

What makes the difference?

How can you be the guy or gal that walks out with quality leads?

Just showing up certainly doesn’t guarantee getting connected or meeting people who are your buyers or the ones can get you closer to your decision maker.

Just showing up certainly doesn’t guarantee that you will increase your sales.

I bet you’ve shown up at your share of events and end up talking to the first person you encounter and never have a chance meet anyone else.

That certainly doesn’t help you achieve filling the pipeline to grow your business.

People do that because they really don’t know how to work the room.

It’s really quite simple…

Treat the next networking function like it was your party.

You are the host. You invited all of these people.

What would you do at your house?

You’d meet, greet and talk with everyone in the room.

You’ll even introduce people who don’t know each other to each other.

Basically, you are in charge of everyone else having a good time (so they rave about your party for weeks on end).

So, Treat your next networking event like it's your party. Click To Tweet

It’s an interesting concept and it does work.

I was tired of getting “stuck” talking to the first person I met. And quite often they weren’t anyone who could be a potential client or put me closer to one.

I got tired of feeling like I had wasted my evening. Because these networking events were not helping me to increase my sales.

Then I began treating each networking function as if it was my own party.

I would meet the first person, talk to them and find out as much as I could in a few minutes.

With the right questions they’ll gladly talk about themselves.

I knew I wanted to meet more people, so I’d invite them to go with me to meet others. I’d introduce myself and my new acquaintance, ask a few questions to get them talking and most of the time left them to each other as I went on to meet the next person.

I’d repeat the process throughout the evening.

Before it was time to sit for dinner or whatever was next on the agenda, I had met a significant amount of people.

And more importantly…  everyone I spoke with felt good about themselves because I let the conversations be all about them.

That, in turn, made me memorable. There were plenty of people who now wanted to “sit” with me.

The host and party format has worked well for me. My follow-up phone calls are taken and requests for other connections are well received.

I’m making the connections to increase my sales and I’m having a ‘ball’ at someone else’s party.

What are some networking tips and tricks you use to make the most of a networking event?