How do you ensure that you will be successful at networking events? The key phrase to remember is that you need to be interested, not interesting. That should set you apart, because everybody else is there with the other agenda of being interesting.
The amount of knowledge that you can generate by being interested will put you in position to ultimately sell these folks.
How does it work? Well, what’s the first thing that anybody says to you at a networking event? They say, “What do you do?” The way I respond is to say, “I run a company that helps grow other companies’ sales faster than they could do it on their own. But tell me about XYZ company that you’re with.”
So if they open up by asking you what you do, give them the value statement and quickly turn it back to them. After all, they don’t really care what you do anyway. All they want to do is talk about themselves, so let them talk.
What you find out is their non-verbal communication style, their needs, their desires, and everything that you can use to position yourself to go forward. All you need to do is give them enough intrigue that they think that you could be valuable to them down the road, without telling them exactly what you do.
It’s the same concept as collateral material. You do not want to give them enough information to say “no.” You want to whet their appetite with just enough information so that they will say, “I’m interested in hearing more.”
The first rule is: know what your outcome is. Your outcome is simply to get them to agree to sit down to a meeting. Create intrigue and establish yourself as a good listener, and, chances are, you’ll be setting appointments at every networking event.
