Networking Events and the importance of the Follow-up.

It is important to see every event as having three consecutive parts; (1) Before the event.  (2) During the event.  (3) After the event.  In turn these need planning, focus and administration.

BEFORE:  Plan; work out what you want from the event and then prepare and practice an approach most likely to deliver.  Preparation will help you relax allowing your personality to prevail and stop you from going into 'sales-monster' mode.  All of this does not have to take too much time. I found that the travel time to the event was often all the time I needed to work out my strategy.

DURING:  Focus on your approach.
  

1. Interacting with as many individuals as possible is at the heart of good networking. I use the word interacting because networking involves as much listening as talking.
2. Always say hello to the organisers.  
3. Smile, actively listen and engage when appropriate.  Having something relevant to say is important.  Base your conversation on the event theme and why you were so interested in attending.  Keep in mind knowledgable questions are always a good fall-back if the conversation lags.
4. Don’t browbeat.  Assume that everyone there has the same agenda and don’t want to pinned-down in one conversation.  Introduce yourself, make your approach, exchange details, say you will be in touch and move on.  How long this takes is a judgement-call. Be mindful of the fact you can always circle-back later.
5. Consider only taking notes and/or collect  business cards from the people you actually interact with.  A card without some sort of background story is not much better than a phonebook entry. Note:  Remember physical cards are great but people often run out and  technology can help.  I use the Scannable App in conjunction with Evernote. Scannable will scan almost anything you put on a white background and allows you to save straight to Evernote or share with photos, files etc.  
6. Ask for selfies.  This trend offers us the opportunity to put a face to the name you collect.  It’s a good idea to mark-up the image immediately with the persons name.

AFTER:  Do the admin ASAP!

1. Whatever the collection method sit down and sort through what you have collected.  The main task is to  make a list of the contacts in order of common interests and your sense of how well you hit-it-off.
2. Before following-up do some research. Find out as much as you can about the people you met.   This can often be done through the organiser and then via social media generally and LinkedIn specifically.
3. Follow up in a timely manner.  Don’t let time dull the memory. Use your homework results to fine-tune your approach and make a call.
4. Attract don’t Attack.  This type of prospecting can bring instant results but is best viewed as a medium-term project in relationship building.  To that end ONE followup call is enough.  If you talk ‘live' the only objective of the call is to arrange a meeting.  If you leave a message it should be designed to arouse curiosity and conclude with a promise to keep in touch.  If they are motivated they will return the call; if not add them to your prospect list, make notes on what happened and diary forward six weeks to call again.  Every follow-up call from then on should include something new and interesting and be designed to arouse interest and curiosity.  Done diligently and professionally medium-long term results will come.

NOTE:  If when you call you have something interesting and relevant to say you will be on the way to becoming a trusted provider of reliable information and people will look forward to your call.  Anything else and you run the risk of being seen as a pest.

Good Luck. 
Coach Walsh.