It is always fascinating how business professionals approach business networking.
This is particularly true when you get to see how business professionals set themselves apart through smart business networking techniques.
Business Networking Techniques that Created Results
Here are five recent business networking techniques that stood out:
1. When meeting someone new, call attention to your shared networks.
One way to highlight your common network is printing your shared list of LinkedIn connections. This simple business networking technique can move a conversation ahead in positive ways. At a recent meeting, the other individual handed me a hard copy list of shared LinkedIn connections; the list was surprisingly extensive. Scanning it, I discovered a childhood friend who SHOULD be a prospect for the other individual’s service, and I provided background on why he should follow up with my friend.
2. Don't give up making a meeting happen, even if the introduction is months old.
Several people contacted me right before my wife, Cyndi, had surgery and my availability for non-essential meetings shrank dramatically. One individual followed up four months later before abandoning the possibility of making the meeting happen. His email and phone call combo instigated our in-person meeting months after the initial introduction occurred.
3. Follow up an informal first meeting with a second invitation right away.
At the closing Content Marketing World session, I sat next to someone new. We hit it off, had a wonderful conversation, and identified Pam Didner as a shared contact. Before parting company, he invited me to a dinner he was having with a client. Back at the hotel and planning to head to another event I had already paid to attend, he texted me with specifics on where they were headed. His invitation and follow up turned into a great dinner getting to know him better along with two of his clients.
4. Make your follow-up personal, not formulaic.
After the recent networking event prompting the "you have to keep up your blog current once you start it" post, one person I didn’t get to meet reached out via LinkedIn with more than the standard, "Join my network” message. He recounted leaving the event early to tend to a diabetic pet. Having had a diabetic pet ourselves, his personalized message created an instant connection.
5. Have a good memory (or good notes) of why you met originally met someone.
Right before Cyndi's surgery, I did squeeze in a networking meeting with someone new instigated by friend and blog reader, Michael Irvin. With everything else on my mind, I remembered it was a great connection, but by the time we reconnected, I could not remember the specifics. The other individual came to our second meeting, however, with detail on why we were meeting again and what we hoped to accomplish. What a great boost to a productive second meeting.
What have you seen work with smart business networking techniques recently?
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the free Brainzooming blog email updates.
