A Story of Networking
A young professional walks into a banner plastered, sponsored event that his boss requested he attend. He’s alone and solely represents the small digital marketing company he works for. He’s been in the workforce less than two years. And tonight, he has to collect at least six business cards to make his “networking quota”. He is feeling uncomfortable going up to strangers to ask for their cards. He’s worried if he doesn’t, his boss will think of him as fearful, lazy, and not doing his job. The young man can’t help but think to himself, “In an instant, with our digital world, is there even a reason for networking nowadays?” The glum and reluctant professional now wanders the event alone, with no guidance on how to properly network in 2023.
Networking can seem stressful and fruitless at times, but we all know the power of having a great network. According to Zippia, “79% of people agree that networking plays a vital role in their career progression, and 40% of prospects become new customers after a face-to-face meeting.” Remember, people do business with people they like and they trust. Be the person they want to do business with.
Back to our young man; let's call him, Jim. Since this is his first event, he’s very nervous. He clenches his sweaty palms and attempts to dry them on his khaki chinos. It’s time for the first interaction of the night; he eyed a gentleman that is working the room and seems to know a lot of people there. Now, this gentleman networks rather frequently and has over 4000 connections on his LinkedIn profile. Jim observes and appreciates the gentleman named Allen’s relatability to other attendees and his enthusiasm for networking, but Jim doesn’t quite understand its true benefits.
Jim reluctantly approaches Allen, introduces himself and asks, “May I ask why you’re attending? You seem to know everybody here, so why do you feel you need to keep up with networking? You seem to have it down.”
Allen smirks, “You never have it down. Networking is about building relationships and one can only build meaningful relationships by meeting people face-to-face. How do you expect to make connections if you never meet an individual?
Jim is quick to point out the power of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. “I can see who sees my content, when and where, and their device of choice.”
Allen points out this fallacy. He states that information is incredible in your day-to-day work, but not when making real human connections. Don’t put pressure on yourself to hit some quota; think about “making friends”, think about how you can help someone, and think about how you can learn about another business.. “No wonder you’re so nervous.”
Having LinkedIn connections and an active social feed is just one part of having a powerful and useful network, but the other part is making real connections at networking events, happy hours, board meetings, seminars; any place to increase your influence. Our friend Jim was focused on the virtual side of networking which can be an incredible source of information, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture. When attending networking events, IN PERSON, you get to share unique experiences with potential prospects and partners and gain real insight from them.
How can You and Jim Prepare?
Perfect your elevator speech. Don’t bog down the conversation with blubbering and misleading statements. Prepare what you’re going to say to seem confident and professional
Be informed about what’s happening in the business community; read local business news
Have a few icebreaker questions in mind
“What brings you here?”
“ Have you ever been to an event like this before, what can I expect?”
“Who are you trying to meet?”
Jim can also refer to Dinkel Business Development’s other blog posts about networking:
Are You New to Networking? Here are Our Best Practices for Beginners
Networking Stats: Effective Insights for 2023
I think we can all see a little bit of us in Allen and Jim. Both of them are taking the right steps to building their networks and growing their business, but they both have different ways of interacting with the world. Networking can seem like a nerve wracking task for anyone coming in cold. But, it’s something necessary and crucial to build your network and your business. An emphasis on virtual networking deprecates the power of in-person conversation and makes it harder to build meaningful relationships. The power of data is real and most definitely necessary, but technology cannot replace genuine connections.
Partner with Dinkel Business Development, LLC Today
If you want to learn more about good networking strategy and the benefits of metric-driven business development, we’re here to help. Please call us at 443.226.0163 or reach us via email at john@dinkelbd.com to get started.
