Imagine you are at an in-person event. A presenter appears on stage and starts to talk. She tells you her name, and makes you aware of her expertise. And then she launches into an explanation of how great her product is, what problems it solves, how you can acquire it for yourself… and It’s not something you care about.
Did you attend the event to hear someone pitch you? If so, you likely were told beforehand and would not have attended if you were not already somewhat curious about this product.
Stop trying to sell to them! No one goes to a networking event to buy.
They go to a networking event to CONNECT, to meet new people or further cultivate relationships with those they have met before. Yes, sometimes this means learning about new offerings, but it never involves long explanations, lists of features, technical jargon, and details about how something works. Those discussions happen in 1-2-1 meetings or sales events away from networking events.
What if you do offer the perfect solution to a problem you hear someone express at an event? That’s good, but before the person who needs your help will buy from you, they need to get to know, like, and trust you.
You can’t just walk into a room and tell everyone “I’m here, you’ll like and trust me if you get to know me. Let’s skip past all this small talk so I can impress you.” Well, you can try that, though I sincerely doubt you’ll achieve what you want unless that is to look foolish and alienate people.
Here’s the secret to how you connect with your audience at a networking event:
Never sell to the people you meet at the event.
Focus on sharing the following information at events:
Help people to know who you are (your name and who you represent)
Help people to know for whom you solve problems (ideal connections to introduce you to)
Help people to know what problems you solve (what pain does the person you help have)
At the same time, collect the same information from the others you meet.
Follow-up after the event with those whom you’ve made personal connections (examples: a conversation was had, they asked you a question, they said something that made you curious, etc.) to learn more about their answers, explore areas of common interest, and discover ways to help them (this is how you get people to LIKE YOU AND TRUST YOU).
Obviously, I’m oversimplifying here. If you do those things, over time people will be talking about and introducing you as the person who can help! You won’t have to hunt for people, they’ll be sent to you!