Some advice & tips for B2B networking at events
Conference and events season is in full swing, and post-COVID events and conferences will be well attended meaning there are lots of opportunities to develop your professional network.
At an "in-person" event you will inevitably want to connect with new contacts and make a memorable and positive impression on them.
Here are some tips and hacks for doing so that I have found useful over the years, so I hope you find some value in them.
Eye contact, Smile & Handshake
This is the first step. It seems obvious, I know but it is important. When you make eye contact with someone you are meeting for the first time smile warmly and BEFORE you open your mouth to speak, hold out your hand for a handshake.
The physical connection of the handshake subconsciously builds rapport instantly. The handshake must be firm, but don’t squeeze hard.
It is equally important not to have a limp or soft handshake. Nobody likes this and it can be off-putting for the other person.
Opening Statement
Credit to Lucy Jeffrey of Bare Kind for this;
"Hi I am Phil; I don't know many people here. Who are you?"
This is a great quick statement to engage the other person without coming over as cocky, and it works.
Remembering people’s names
I am bad at this, really bad. Great with faces, poor with names. At an event where there are loads of new faces and names to remember it can be particularly tricky for me. To overcome this difficulty, I do a few things that help a bit;
I repeat their name silently in my head over-and-over while I am listening to them speak.
I associate their name in my mind to someone else I already know with the same name. This can be a real person or a character from TV or anything really. So, if their name is "Nigel" I might picture another Nigel, like the great boxer Nigel Benn in my mind’s eye, for example.
Doing both these things really helps "save" their name in my leaky brain. Due to my inadequacy in this area, I also say something like this to them very early on;
"Nigel I am a very visual person, meaning I am great with faces, but shit with names. Please don't be offended if we run into each other later and my recall for your name lets me down".
This is a good rapport builder. It shows a degree of vulnerability but may also make them laugh or prompt them to tell you that they have the same issue. It is quite a common thing to struggle to recall names.
It also gives you a "get out of jail free card" for later if you do meet them face-to-face in the carpark or on the train, and your memory lets you down.
Also I use the word "shit" purposefully in that statement.
It can be slightly jarring for the other person, so it gets their attention, but it also gives me a quick read on their character.
I must confess I can be a bit sweary when I am being my true natural self, so if the person squirms or seems mildly offended by my early use of profanity in our dialogue this is a signpost for me.
It tells me I might need to adapt my personality a little for this person or simply just accept that any lasting rapport with this contact may be tricky to maintain as we have very different personalities.
After that I follow up with lots of open questions like; "what do you do?", "what are you hoping to get from the event today?", “what was your journey here like?” etc., etc.
At this point the goal is to get the small talk going and keep them talking about themselves for as long as possible.
If they ask me a question while I am still probing, I answer politely but briefly and go back to questioning them and listening intently and carefully to their answers.
Everyone likes to be listened to and we all take mild offence when we feel like someone is not properly listening to us.
For this reason, it is really important to maintain eye contact and avoid distractions like glancing at your phone or other people in the room for example.
This open questioning technique helps me to determine early on if the contact is of interest professionally.
If not, I politely close down the conversation down and move on without expending too much time telling the other person about myself.
On the other hand if the contact is of interest then I go to the Elevator Pitch.
The elevator pitch is probably worth a post on its own. It is basically a clear and concise 30 second intro into you, and what you do, that is intended to garner interest quickly.
If you are unfamiliar with this concept, click here for a guide from the Centre for Career Development at Princeton University.
It articulates the concept nicely.
Get contact information and follow up
If you have got to this stage with a new contact, it might be tempting to go “in for the kill” and pitch your company, service and all the features and benefits that you can think of.
DON’T.
Ask politely to exchange contact details, agree a rough time frame for follow up and move on.
I would also suggest leaving it a few days or until the following week to get in touch. Assuming your new contact is a senior person in their organisation they are going to be busy after a day or two out at an event.
I would personally follow up with them by phone but if email is preferred don’t send it that day or the following morning as they will be busy and most likely will ignore it for “later”, and then possibly forget about it altogether.
Time is precious, particularly at events and conferences and you usually only get a moment to make a good and memorable impression so hopefully some of the above will be helpful to you in doing so.
Happy networking!