Networking. Stop Rushing to Tell People Everything That You Do
I’m a big fan of business networking. It’s been great for my business, but more than that, it’s been great for me personally too. For example; Like most people, I didn’t used to like public speaking, but now I love it and have no problem standing up to speak to a room full of strangers. I’ve now been a member of a national networking organisation (4Networking, do check them out!) for 6 and a half years, and still really enjoy it. I typically go to 4N meetings a couple of times a week, usually locally, but also around the rest of the country.
As part of a 4Networking meeting, and of course, most other business networking groups, there is a time when you get to introduce yourself and your business to the whole room. At 4N this is called the 40 seconds round, where everyone in turn, gets to stand up and tell the rest of people in the room who they are and what they do. And yes you’ve guessed it, they get 40 seconds to do so.
Quite often the purpose of this introduction is misunderstood in my opinion. To me, there are 2 main reasons for these 40 seconds introductions. The first is to spark enough interest for people to want to find out more, the other is that people understand what you do, which also makes it easier for them to pass that information on to others.
Something I see quite often is that people try to appeal to everyone in the room. The best way they see to do so, is by trying to get as much information about as many services as they can, crammed into their limited time. So if there’s a printer at a meeting, they may say something like “We can handle all printing jobs, large and small, and can deliver all over the UK. We do business cards, leaflets, roller banners, brochures, posters, cards, signs, custom mugs, printing on t-shirts, branded bags, and more. We also recently branched out and can design web sites, e-commerce sites, and can run your social media too.”. All this will do is confuse everyone in the room. It’s not specific enough, and they’re trying to make the introduction a full on sales pitch for everything they do. This isn’t the time for a sales pitch. This introduction is to get people interested in speaking with you.
It may be better if they went along the lines of “We’re a local printer (most people know what that is) so can offer free delivery. If you’re running low on business cards today, we have a special offer on them at the moment, ask me for more details.”. This short snappy introduction will be far more effective at getting you into conversations. It’s in those longer conversations that you’ll get to understand what peoples needs are, and if you can help them.
In this printer example, they may only supply some business cards for now. But by doing a great job with them, and building a real relationship with that client, when the client needs a fancy brochure further down the line, the printer will be there to help with that too.
So think about the long term where everybody wins. Don’t try to sell everything to everyone. And finally, have more patience.
Thanks
Richard
