3 Ways to Get More Business at your Next Derbyshire Networking Event

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Article by: Jason Smith

Jason Smith, Executive Director for BNI, the Worlds Largest and Most Successful Referral Organisation,  co-writer of this article, has helped more than 1000 local businesses over the last 8 years to increase their business through word of mouth marketing.  He is happy to discuss how he can help your business increase its Turnover through Word of Mouth Marketing.

 Called the "father of modern networking" by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author.  He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization.  His newest book, Networking Like a Pro, can be viewed at www.IvanMisner.com. 

Businesspeople sometimes lose track of the fact that networking is the means—not the end—of their business-building activities.

For example, regularly here in Derbyshire businesses attend three, four, even five events in a week in a desperate grasp for new business. The predictable result is that they stay so busy meeting new people that they never have time to follow up and cultivate those relationships. And the mistake we all make is that we expect to get new business from, or introductions to, clients of someone that we have just met.

Meeting new people is an integral part of networking in Derby, but it’s important to remember why we’re doing it in the first place: that is to develop a trusting relationship that will eventually lead to a mutually beneficial and continuing exchange of referrals.

When meeting someone for the first time, focus on the potential relationship you might form. As hard as it may be, at this stage don’t set out to sell your services or promote your company in Derby. You’re there to get to know a new person. As our parents taught us from a young age “make friends and play nice”. That’s especially good advice when interacting with new contacts.

This certainly doesn’t mean you’ll never get to sell anything to people you meet while networking; however, it means you’ll need to employ a different approach. Networking isn’t about closing business or meeting hordes of new people; it’s about developing relationships through which future business can be closed.

Once you understand that and put it into practice, you’ll notice a few things happening to your business.

Stand Out in the Crowd: Ask Good Questions

Derby businesses often ask me how they can get business at a Derbyshire networking  event when there are so many other people trying to do the same thing. I simply tell them to stand out from the crowd by doing things a bit different. A good way to do that is by asking a new contact good questions and taking the time to listen to their answers. (A “good” question is one that gets the person talking about themselves while helping you understands their business. It is not an opportunity for you to vet this person as a client.)

Good questions not only get the ball rolling, they take the pressure off you to carry the conversation; meeting new people can be hard enough without feeling you have to be the life of the party to do it.

Differentiate from Your Competition

Another good reason for adopting this advanced networking approach Derbyshire events is that it will differentiate you from the competition. This is vital for Mortgage Brokers, Estate Agents, Insurance Companies, Accountants, IFA’s, and others in highly competitive industries. You can’t go to a networking event without running into at least one person in some of those fields.

When you’re networking like pro and treating new contacts as future referral partners, you’ll blow away any competitors who will still feel compelled to meet as many people as possible. Why? Because when you call your contacts, they’ll remember who you are and be willing to meet with you again.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at some specific steps you can take toward getting more business from your very next Derbyshire event.

1. Limit the number of contacts per event. The most important thing is the quality of the contacts, which means the type of contact, the relevance to your business and interests, how good a connection you’re making, and the individual involved. At a typical event, five to ten might be all you can handle. This may not seem like a lot of contacts, but it’s really more than enough when you’re talking to the right people. If you attend two events per week, that’s 10 events a month, or 30 to 50 new contacts every 30 days. Continue to do that over the next couple of months—while following up with the people that you’ve met—and you’ll soon have more than enough high-quality contacts to keep you busy

1. Spend five to ten minutes talking and listening to each person. Just because you’re not handing out your business card to 1,001 people doesn’t mean you should spend 20 minutes talking to just one individual. Invest a few minutes in getting to know each person. Make sure to ask for their business card. Then follow up with them after the event; this is where the Networking takes place. Remember, all we’re doing now is setting the stage for future business.

1. Write notes on the backs of peoples’ cards. Not only do notes help you remember what the other person said at an event, it slows you down a bit so you’re not running around trying to meet the next person. On the front of the card you can write the date and name of the event where you met the person; on the back, a few quick notes about the conversation. When you contact the person later, this will give you something to refer to.

Using this simple, Givers Gain approach, you’ll see an increase in the amount of new business and referrals you get while networking here in Derbyshire.

If you would like to meet 40 + local business for networking and growing your business, just drop us an email through the enquiry form below  and we will get you a worm introduced to several potential customers.