FSB North Staffs Presentation - 9 Steps To Fail At Business Networking

9 Guaranteed Steps To FAIL
At Business Networking
www.conspicuous-cbm.com

“Effective referral networking if
done well is consistently the lowest
cost form of marketing any
business can employ to boost
sales, opportunities and profits.
!
Do it badly and it can kill!”

What You Will See
• Who am I?
• Introduction
• 9 Steps To FAIL at Networking!
• Final Thoughts

Who Am I?
• Chartered Accountant
• Corporate Stooge
• Referral Marketing Specialist
• Social Media Addict
• + outside interests...

Who Am I?
• Recognised social media person - Linked-in, Twitter, Slideshare,
Facebook....
• Regular posting on CCBM website & other original content to share.
• Linked-in guru - 25 published posts (nearly 2100 followers / 2010+
connections)
• 90+ recommendations & hundreds of endorsements on LinkedIn
•Most successful RD in BforB history
•Well respected in Staffordshire & beyond community - helped
hundreds of new business / start-ups / established businesses
• Friend of other networking gurus

Introduction
• Fact - Networking brings companies a rich stream of new
contacts and business that can make them more successful
& profitable
• Fact - Networking help them to understand their
customers and the marketplace better whilst testing their
message and its effectiveness.
• Fact - Many people who do network or referral marketing
make mistakes which can cost them winning new business
& damage their reputation.
• Fact - We all make mistakes. But what can you do to
maximize your networking activities by avoiding these
costly errors?

• These are the 9 Steps to Networking Failure
• Study them hard
• See which ones you have tripped-up over in the past
• See which ones have cost you business
• How are you going to avoid these errors in the future?

7 Things We Won't Be
Talking About Tonight!

Behaviour Smiling Humour
+Follow-Up!
Time keeping Dress Social media

STEP 1 - Not listening

• One of the most important skills to have.
• Not about hearing what is said - it is understanding what people really mean.
• Real listening requires your complete focus and attention.
• What are people really looking to achieve?
• What is really important to them about their business, job, personal ambition, and
family?
• People don't listen because they are too busy focusing on what they want to say
next in a conversation.
• 2 choices - be an interesting person or an interested person. You decide!
• We are all at networking meetings to sell “ourselves”, but if we don't connect
emotionally people will run a mile in the other direction - so LISTEN!

STEP 2 - Sell, Sell, Selling!

• Business Networking is not about sell, sell, sell.
• The aggressive nightmares are easy to spot!
• The question is, are YOU ever guilty of talking when you should be listening?
• Top networkers know how & do follow up + keep in regular contact.
• The people you meet at business networking are equals - they do not want to be
sold to and definitely do not want to be treated as prospects
• Your objective is to build rapport and turn them into advocates of your business -
they may become customers or clients in time!

STEP 3 - Deadly dull pitches

• Business Networking is not about telling the whole story of your business.
• Brighten your 60 seconds up with humour, a picture or an interesting statistic.
• The point of the pitch is to stimulate people's curiosity.
• Today we're all overloaded with too much information - even worse at a Business
Networking event.
• Give people as much information as they need at a later point.
• So do people a favour - FAVOUR simplicity over detail.

STEP 4 - Going for the quick fix

• Business Networking is NOT where a sale occurs each time you network.
• If everyone thought otherwise, who would we sell to - the catering staff?!
• Networking is all about building relationships.
• People can make great connections the first time they attend a Business Networking
event but it is not something that you should expect.
• Real gold is in the long-term mutual beneficial relationships you form.
• You never know where where one conversation that you have in January could lead -
don't be surprised if it's made you thousands by the end of December.

STEP 5 - Prejudging people

• Some of the best referrals we see - come from people who we think cannot help
us or anybody else!
• You cannot afford to prejudge people
• You simply do not know who they know or who they can connect you to.
• The saying is, never judge a book by its cover, but many of us do.
• Give people time and your attention by getting to know them via 121s.
• The flipside is that all that glitters is not gold, be open-minded and don't rush into
all relationships.

STEP 6 - Not taking the Limelight

• Presenting - Public speaking scares many people witless:
• Grab any opportunity to present to get your message across & grow your reputation.
• Confident speakers? They learnt this confidence by practicing. They too were once scared!
• Talking to strangers - Normal to feel apprehensive:
• In business, talking to complete strangers is only way to generate interest and contacts for your business.
• Only talk to the people you already know and deal with? You’re missing out on big opportunities!
• Set targets before you attend any networking event. Decide how many new contacts you want to make etc
• Make it fun and get out of your comfort zone with practice and determination.
• What was I worried about....

STEP 7 - Being a 1-hit Wonder

• You will get great results if you go back and get to know the other members.
• You never know what JV or referrals will result from the trust that grows out of
regularly attending a networking group.
• Don't be a deal chaser in networking. Cannot afford to have an attitude of What's
in it for me. Replace this with the mantra - How can I help you or How can I serve.
Make a positive impact on someone's day!
• Effective networkers take a farming approach. They focus on cultivating relationships
for mutual long term benefit and they definitely do not chase deals or instant sales.
• You may attend a networking forum and do business initially (The Law Of Recency)
but referral's work best if you develop a long term know like and trust strategy with
the people you meet.

STEP 8 - Not talking up the benefits

• Talk about the benefits you deliver to your clients, suppliers and contacts.
• Talk enthusiastically.
• What is unique about you? How do you deliver more value than others in your
sector?
• Don’t fall into the trap of saying that it is your service or quality of your product that
differentiates you. This is far too common and generic.
• Everything you say should be relevant to the needs of the other people in the room.

STEP 9 - No Clear Objective

• Want quality business? Your objective MUST be to build relationships on the following
3 criteria: know, like and trust.
• *Know - getting to know your contact first is vital. Get the conversation going by asking open-ended
questions in which the person cannot easily answer yes or no!
• *Like- this is all about building rapport and getting on well.
• *Trust - mutual beneficial business relationships must be built on trust as it is your reputation - there must be
no hidden agendas.
• DO: Have a plan for what customers or businesses you want to meet or be referred
into.
• Other people can't guess what you want!
• Worse still they will waste your time with the wrong referrals if you are not CLEAR,
PRECISE & FOCUSED on what your top targets are.
• Let people know who you want to be referred to specifically, NEVER say anybody or
everybody. You will usually get referred to nobody !
• Nothing screams professionalism and "refer me with confidence" than having that
laser-like focus on your referral targets.

Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
• What next? Networking is a marketing tool and not just an event that you go to.
• Follow up without hesitation. Don’t allow the little voice to put you off.
• Find a professional business networking organization to join. Will help you become
more successful and improve your networking skills.
• Making networking the core of your marketing activity will be one of the best
business decisions you make. And fun too!
• Always observe the successes and failures of others’ networking efforts. There is a
lot to learn from them.
• Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Success is impossible without some failure.
• If you don't get your message across properly today, there's always next time....

What Do I Want?
Continue the conversation
Social Media challenge
Let’s Do Mentoring
Opportunities to speak or network
Accountants

Contact Us
Phone - 01785 244481 or 07706 171851
Email - stuart@conspicuous-cbm.com
Blog - www.conspicuous-cbm.com
LinkedIn - uk.linkedin.com/in/stuartwalton/
!
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THANK YOU

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FSB North Staffs Presentation - 9 Steps To Fail At Business Networking

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FSB North Staffs Presentation - 9 Steps To Fail At Business Networking