A directory listing, like an elevator pitch, offers a bare minimum of information. You have to engage in conversation to flesh out the details. To start the relationship with a fellow member, introduce yourself by email. Focus on YOU, the reader/member, and establish shared interests. Your goal is to have the next conversation.
Hold a pre-meeting meeting. Arrange to meet your guest for a coffee 30-minutes before the meeting. Use this time to re-connect and catch up on their latest news. Hear what their agenda for the meeting might be. Plan to work the room together and maximize the moment.
Try ALL FIVE strategies and then focus on the ones where you feel most comfortable. Networking may be your favorite and speaking may give your stomach butterflies. Or vice versa. The e-book gives examples of how you can take some practice swings and become more comfortable with the approaches you don’t ordinarily use.
Prepare in advance to share your contact details. You can easily copy and paste your name, email and phone in the Zoom chat, preferably in the middle of the networking session, when everyone has arrived and settled in.
Save this contact information block as a DRAFT email to keep it handy. You’ll never worry that you typed so quickly you dropped a digit from your phone number.
I’ve sat through a lot of networking meetings with well-meaning business people reciting their all-about-me elevator pitches. Mine was better than most, but with so low a bar, that still didn’t make it good. It just didn’t deliver any real value to the audience. Janet’s ideas helped me energize my pitch, sharpen its focus, and […]
Janet has given engaging and extremely practical programs at NYCLA’s CLE Institute. Attendees learned techniques that they could implement to build their networks, as well as hands on training on how to get noticed and quoted by the media. She is a pleasure to work with and a true professional, who I highly recommend
Play to the audience of your elevator pitch. It’s helpful to have several versions that you can tailor when you are speaking to one person, a trio of workshop participants or a room of networking group members. Consider also whether the audience is from the same profession as yourself, are members of a target market or represent a random assortment of occupations. Adjust your remarks accordingly.
These are among the most common networking groups. Consider letting your clients know about an upcoming program of possible interest, so you may attend together.
1. Professional membership associations
2. General business organizations
3. Interest groups (e.g., women-owned, ethnic)
4. Community service organizations
Janet gave an excellent presentation to the Financial Executives Networking Group (FENG) not for profit special interest group on networking. Her approach focused on making connections with the leaders of organizations hosting networking events and was a refreshing change from the usual networking strategies. Janet is a very engaging speaker. I would recommend her to […]
Posing problem and solution questions will highlight the types of issues that the respondent likes to tackle, the approaches she offers and the clients she targets. Based on the answers, you may determine how this person meshes with your contacts and resources.
One week before you attend a networking event sponsored by a membership organization, contact key officers and committee chairs to apprise them of your interest in the group. The Program Chair, Membership Chair and Communications Chair, as well as the chairs of any committee that aligns with your profession, will be eager to meet you. At the event, ask them to introduce you to the President of the association, which enhances their stature and helps you join the inner circle of leaders.
