Presentations are not always about slides, in a room or in front of a large audience. If you’re ever in a business networking event, every conversation you have with anyone is a mini presentation. The moment someone ask:
“So [Insert Your Name Here], what do you do?"
That’s an opportunity for you to promote yourself, your services or your company. If you pull up Eventbrite or Meetup or any event app that you have, you'll probably find tons of events you can go to. Heck, you may already been invited to a few - component events, exhibitions, networking luncheon, and the business-themed events can go on and on.
Being in the event business for the past decade (gosh that's long…) I thought of compiling a few tips here so help you maximise your exposure and opportunities at business networking events.
Before we start, let’s be clear. As nice as it is to be able to sell something on the spot upon meeting someone new, let’s set the bar lower and aim for a follow-up meeting, for a few reasons. One, most people at these events are not in the mood to buy, and if you’re pushing a service or product, you may strike off as pushy. Two, setting the bar too high will yield poorer results, and it may demotivate you from trying again. Three, hustling is good, but you don't want people to avoid you like a plague. Be smart; the key here is to give a lasting impression, exchange contacts, and secure a follow-up email, call or meeting.
Taught to me personally by New York Times' Best Selling Author of the Law of Attraction, Michael Losier, this technic is probably one I most often use. When someone ask what I do or what my company does, I’ll reply with the problem my product solves, in the form of an question.
For example, in a HR event for business leaders, and I want to talk about Plaseed.com, my Talent Development firm, when someone ask me what I do, I'd say,
“You know how sometimes companies struggle to motivate, train and keep Gen-Y employees? Well, my company solves that problem.”
I like this method coz in less than 10 seconds, the other party knows what I do within a good context. Of course, if I know what the other person does for a living, I may even tweak the question to be more targeted and relevant.
My friend and training partner, Richard La Faber, usually taught this in his workshops, and I thought it's so powerful that I want to share it with you here.
You know how sometimes you get into a conversation and don’t know how to exit it? That’s one thing SET can help you with. (This is also an example of tip #1). It stands for Statement, Evidence and Transition, and here’s an example:
“The recent presentation by the CEO is effective (statement), and it’s obvious from the support that he got for the tough policies he’s implementing (evidence). What are your thoughts on it (transition)?”
A well-executed SET is an opportunity to promote something, to show that you have good opinions and to politely invite another person into a conversation.
So you’ve explained about your products/services, and name cards has been exchanged. Here’s where you go in with the deal-sealer, and remember, the objective here is to secure a meeting, not close the sale.
Using the Permission Close, you can simply just ask the prospect if it is okay to call him the following day to arrange a meeting, or even if you feel that he’s already very keen, ask if he wants to meet within the next 48 hours. An alternative close is also good, like:
“So, if it’s okay with you, let’s meet up next week to discuss more in detail. Is Tuesday or Wednesday better for you?"
No, of course not in your bathing suit!
When I say naked, what I mean is for you to go without any of your usual marketing materials, or even name cards. So here's what usually happens at a name card exchange,
"Sorry, I ran out of cards. We just did a CEO power talk earlier and I just gave out all my cards. Since I have your card, can I drop you my details over email later?"
Ok, so this is strategic for a few reasons.
So, what do you think? Think you got what it takes to rock your next networking event? Let me know your thoughts, or perhaps any tips that you've personally used and found to be useful.
Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I mostly blog about Steemit Success Strategies, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, psychology, community and random thoughts.
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