Networking 101
Ways to be great at networking and few that will help you crash and burn!
Did you know that the best B2B networking relationships are built from not even talking about business?
It's true...
I know this may sound a little strange but here's the thing...
If your intention is to constantly push your business to unqualified prospects and push your products and services in a confronting manner, you will change the energy from fun to boring in a matter of seconds and more than likely drain your prospects energy making them feel exhausted and wanting to avoid you in the future as well as just flat out pissing them off.
Hmmm.... not a great start to start building a solid long term business relationship!
Maximise your networking potential
When someone new walks into a room, it is human nature to start checking them out and making assumptions about whether they're someone you need to know. Within minutes you can categorize that person based on how smart, attractive, successful, and confident you perceive that person to be. And, once your mind is made up, it's hard to change the thoughts you've associated with that person's brand.
Too bad this works both ways. While you're busy sizing up someone else, ten other people are making judgement calls about you. It's important to learn how to make a great first impression. Since you only have one chance to make a first impression, you have to figure out how to present your best self, every time you step out.
How to create the perfect pitch!
When crafting your pitch there are two key things to keep in mind: its content and its form. In other words, it's not just what you say but how you say it. After all it's not what you know, more about who knows what you do!
Here are 7 tips to keep in mind as you craft your elevator pitch.
Be succinct. According to Wikipedia, an adult's attention span is eight seconds, so be sure to give just enough information (and more importantly perhaps the right information) so that after only hearing a sentence or two, someone knows what you do - and if it's a pitch, what you need.
As Mel Pirchesky advises, "The objective of the first ten or fifteen seconds is to have your prospective investors want to listen to the next forty-five or fifty seconds differently, more intently than they would have otherwise."
