From Schmoozing to Closing the Sale at Networking Events

If you are in a sales or marketing role at your organization, networking events and/or trade shows are almost certainly part of your repertoire. If you are like most sales practitioners, you probably dread going to yet another room full of people where everybody's selling but nobody's buying. That's the trouble with most networking events, the people who already know each other comfortably stick together. This unfortunately leaves those new to the scene trying to infiltrate and make new contacts. Here are some simple tactics to make sure you leave your next event with more than a free bagel and cup of coffee.

1. What do you hate most about attending a networking event or trade show? Not being part of a conversation! Start by targeting other "loners". If you see someone standing by themselves approach them with a simple introduction including your name, your company, and ideally, your company's primary business. Then ask them what brings them to the event. By taking these two steps, you are not only offering a short sales pitch but you are also leading them to provide information about their business and therefore, how they fit into your value proposition. Just remember: Keep your introduction brief, smile, and make eye contact.

2. Don't ever leave a conversation without asking for a business card. It is more important to collect business cards than it is to distribute them. Why? Think about it. They can do whatever they want with your business card once you give it to them including throwing it away or adding it to a stack of a number of others to collect dust in a drawer. But if you have theirs, you're golden. You have different channels of contacting them and as a result: offering your services, announcing news, and inviting them as your guest to more networking events.

3. Take notes. Take a time out at different times of the day to record the valuable information you will glean from the various people that you meet. The business card will provide you with the means of contacting your prospects but that is not enough. Take the time to write any pertinent information or interesting facts on the back of each person's business card. This will help you remember, for example, who happens to vacation at the same resort you do or who went to the same high school as your spouse. When you reach out in the future, you want to give them a compelling reason to respond to you. Personalizing your letter, email, or phone call by using your notes as conversation points will achieve this goal.

4. Be the hero, not the zero. Remember those "loners", just like yourself, that you introduced yourself to earlier in the day? Start introducing them to each other as you run into them throughout the duration of the event. Now not only are you someone that can provide them with a valuable product or service, but you are also the one that connects them to their own potential clients. This is priceless.

5. Have fun and show it. Nobody wants to be around someone who clearly doesn't want to be at the event. Greet everyone with a smile, be enthusiastic about the organization you are representing, and show genuine interest in what other people have to say. Even if you know right away that you won't be doing business with the person, they may send a referral your way at some point. As they say, it is not always what you know, it is who you know. So get to know as many people as you can.

6. Follow up. If you don't continue the conversation with your prospects in some way after the event, you might as well not show up in the first place. This does not mean inappropriately sending random emails or adding them to your joke forward list. Every communication should have a purpose. A new product announcement, a relevant press release, or an invitation to lunch are all reasons to reach out to prospects. The idea is that you will establish a relationship and stay in the forefront of their mind. As a result, when they need what you sell, they will think of you immediately.