When Networking Is Not Working:
5 Mistakes You Could Be Making In Attempts To Find Business Contacts
Networking: it’s something that businesspeople are often urged to do, but exactly how well they can do it is another question. If you are a businessperson yourself, you have probably never been given a handbook on how to leverage networking to the best effect.
Sure, you might have been invited to many corporate networking events — but what should you do at them? Well, we should probably start by addressing what activities you shouldn’t engage in…
Dressing In A Thoughtless Manner
The invitation for the networking event might specify its dress code. In an article for AllBusiness.com, business expert Nellie Akalp says: “If you’re not sure what the dress code is, I recommended erring on the side of slightly overdressed.”
This is because, at worst, you will “look a tad more professional than everyone else. No-one will think less of you for that.” Even at relatively casual events, you should avoid going overboard with the informality of your attire, as it could risk coming across as disrespectful.
Being Too Preoccupied With What You Can Get Out Of Networking
Yes, there are many potential benefits of networking — including finding new customers, clients and partners who could help you to sustain your company’s growth.
However, you ought to ultimately see these as long-term objectives rather than things you can expect to gain from a single meeting. Your initial focus should be simply on building up healthy relationships with other attendees — and that means taking a large interest in what they say.
Descending Into Cold Calling Rather Than Networking
This can easily happen when you see the event primarily as an opportunity for selling, rather than subtly promoting, what your business offers.
While networking is about meticulously developing relationships within the business community, cold calling involves trying to make as many pitches as possible in the hope that at least one of them will land. However, the latter approach can backfire in a networking setting.
Only Making Use Of In-Person Meetings
Of course, the word ‘cold calling’ is used above in a figurative sense. When attending a traditional networking event in person, the way it works is that you simply chat face-to-face with people rather than make audio or video calls with them.
However, the word ‘call’ does make more technical sense in the context of virtual meetings, which you could have too easily overlooked in your search for networking opportunities.
One example of a two-way video networking platform you could use is ON24 Forums, which would even let you reach out to people based overseas.
Rudely Interrupting Conversations
If you are at a networking event and see two people conversing there, you should probably avoid interrupting them lest you come across as rude. However, if the group chatting consists of at least three people, you could politely ask if you would be able to join the conversation.
Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, suggests to Business Insider that you initially ask the group: “Hey guys, do you mind if I join you just to eavesdrop?”
