I’m always amazed at how many people invest their time and energy into getting into attending multiple networking events, yet they spend so little time on the other important facets of the networking ‘event’.  What about getting “ready” for an event?  Most people will spend more time selecting what shirt to wear out to have dinner with friends than they will getting prepared for an event that might open up the door for their “opportunity of a lifetime”.  What about after your event?  What do you do?

First, if you know any of the people that will be in attendance at an upcoming event, DO YOUR HOMEWORK.  The information that we all have at our disposal now is amazing and in just a matter of minutes you can find out a great wealth of information about someone you want to meet.  For Example, many of the Chamber events will have a list of “already confirmed attendance” and you can scan that list to see if anyone/any company looks like they could be a positive fit for you and your services/products.  If so, DO YOUR HOMEWORK: Go to their company website, see if they’re on Facebook, see if they’re on LinkedIN, “Google Them”, etc.  You might have both attended the same College, maybe you both grew up in the same town, maybe you both volunteer for the same Charity Organization, look for this information.  You do this and you will FEEL and BE more confident as you attend the event because you know your main purpose and goals with regards to who it is that you MUST make contact with in order to ensure that this was time well spent.  Do you ignore the “other people” at the event, NO, not at all.  I just want to stress the importance of doing your homework to ensure that you do have a top of mind list while you are there.

Now, the event is over, what to do?  Immediate notes on the back of business cards you have received from your contacts and if no card, then notes on ANY paper source will do.  I’m of the mindset that states you are much more likely to remember something when you WRITE IT DOWN and so I like writing down the info.  Yes, this info WILL be transposed later to my Blackberry, however I still like writing it down to begin with.  I try to be very descriptive of the person, including “unique items”, if during the conversation they stated they are a huge fan of a certain Bed and Breakfast or a Certain Sports Team or a Certain Cause, make sure you make notes of this.  These items are at the core of who this person is and remembering these items shows the person that you really were attentive during the conversation and you didn’t zone out once they said they weren’t going to be doing any spending for the next two (2) quarters.

Now that you have met people and have recorded your notes while these notes were still fresh in your mind, FOLLOW-UP!  So FEW people do this it AMAZES me.   This is where BIG PICTURE thinking comes into play.  I don’t care if they aren’t a potential client of my product/services, what does their spouse do?  What does their best friend do?  Who else do they know?  What if they switch jobs in the near future? (there’s just a LITTLE bit of career switching going on right now)  Send this person a follow up email AND a Handwritten Note.  I call this the point where “Old School and New Age Collide”.  I am a big fan of emails and utilize this tool as often as possible, however in writing a letter, you must slow down, take your time and focus on JUST writing the letter or you’ll have mistakes everywhere and you’ll be writing this letter ten (10) different times.  This is also relayed to the recepient because they do NOT get that many hand-written letters (outside of Mom and the Aunt who remembers everyone’s birthday sending you a hand-written birthday card each year).  This act sets you apart.

By the way, I mentioned LinkedIN above as a great way to “do your homework” and I realize that LinkedIN is an application that is still relatively new or just one that many people don’t have a lot of experience with.  Well, my advice is to go to:  Www.RockTheWorldBook.com This website has a TREMENDOUS amount of Information including an awesome book on LinkedIN.  This book takes you through EVERY step of LinkedIN and how to get your profile up and running and how to utilize LinkedIN.  I personally know the authors (via Networking ofcourse, remember our theme in this post) and can tell you that they literally, eat, sleep and breathe LinkedIN and other Social Mediums.  Go order the book now.

Here is the BEST Book for LinkedIN!

As always, I hope this helps and look forward to hearing from you!

Advertisement