{"id":39826,"date":"2024-11-21T16:48:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T16:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/uk\/blog\/networking-101\/"},"modified":"2024-11-27T14:19:51","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T14:19:51","slug":"networking-101","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/blog\/networking-101","title":{"rendered":"Making the business case for your RSVP this holiday season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Events are a great way to make connections that will benefit your business – you just need to make sure you approach them properly.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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This time of year is party season: between September and New Year\u2019s Day, you\u2019ll find many calls on your downtime. But can you justify slipping out from work early to put on your glad rags? What about the loss of productivity the next day when you\u2019ve got a dry mouth and a stubborn headache?<\/span><\/p>\n

There are good reasons for saying \u201cyes\u201d to the right invitations: you could find yourself making new connections outside your usual circle, or strengthen old relationships (I\u2019m often finding myself speaking with people I\u2019ve met peripherally elsewhere).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Help is at hand. As Swoop\u2019s #1 Champion Networker, here are my top tips for getting the most out of a networking event. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Understand the tone<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Getting the tone right is everything. Some events are more sociable and some are more business-focused. Why does this matter? Because it informs a lot about your approach: what you can expect to get out of it, how you\u2019ll approach people and even what you wear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you go straight from the office with a pocket full of business cards? Or do you need to spend a bit more time getting ready? You can get some mileage out of confounding expectations – I once saw a woman in the construction business wearing a pair of steel-toed boots with her designer ballgown. An unforgettable look.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You might need to read between the lines of the invitation to get the right answer. If in doubt, you can always call the organiser and confirm expectations. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Give before you take<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Don\u2019t go to events expecting to walk away with a full-order book. Instead, take along your ideas and your experience and give them away like they are going out of fashion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have a book, branded merch or something else that\u2019s a bit more exciting than a business card, make sure you have a few of these to hand over to people you get chatting with. It helps if they are useful things to keep around.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Giving advice at parties is risky, particularly if talking shop is frowned upon. But you can cloak your advice in a case study: \u201cI had a client with that problem last week. They were able to do XYZ which saved them a couple of thousand a year – you should check it out.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Polish your pitch<\/b><\/h3>\n
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We all know \u201cwhat do you do?\u201d isn\u2019t a great opening question, but it is the most common, so make sure you have a great answer for it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Try to frame what you do as a solution to a problem – so rather than \u201cI work in finance\u201d, you might say, \u201cI help SMEs find the funding they need to grow\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Specificity helps. I was at a party where someone said, \u201cI work with computers.\u201d I thought, \u201cIt\u2019s 2024, we <\/span>all <\/span><\/i>work with computers.\u201d Making a solution out of your job or business helps people think about how you might help <\/span>them<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have 60 seconds to introduce yourself, don\u2019t go over the time. Practice an elevator pitch. Again, if you can make it about solving their problem and throw in something about yourself that makes you approachable, you\u2019ll have plenty of people ready to talk afterwards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A couple of other things you might find useful: have the QR code to your business or LinkedIn page easily to hand. I have mine as a lock screen on my phone (I\u2019ve created a \u201cnetworking\u201d mode just for these kinds of events). I also have the QR code on a branded shirt (for events) and on a magnetic badge (because the badges you usually get at networking events are those awful-looking sticky labels that curl up and fall off within half an hour). Wear name tags on the right not the left – it\u2019s easier for the other person to read.<\/span><\/p>\n

If someone gives me a business card, I always find it helpful to write something on it as a memory jogger for follow-up. If they see you doing this, it cements in their mind the idea that you are going to continue the conversation. If you have a business card, make sure there\u2019s a light space and it can be written on. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Imposter or introvert?<\/b><\/h3>\n

The two big reasons for not going to networking are that you don\u2019t feel you belong there, or you\u2019re an introvert. Neither of these is a real reason.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a touch of imposter syndrome, go up to a random person, and say \u201cI feel completely out of my depth here, I don\u2019t think I fit in at all.\u201d You\u2019ll find they feel the same or they\u2019ll take a minute to talk you into why you do actually belong.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an introvert, that\u2019s tough but you\u2019re not there to represent yourself, you\u2019re there to represent your business, so hide behind that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My top tip if you\u2019re as introverted as I am: grab a bottle of whatever they\u2019re serving (I try to get a bottle of red <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> a bottle of white) and suddenly you have a job to do. You can go up to <\/span>anyone<\/span><\/i> and offer them a drink. And if they bore you, you have an excuse: \u201cThat lady\u2019s running low, I\u2019d better go and top her glass up.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If it\u2019s a good party, people will think you\u2019re responsible. If it\u2019s a bad party, people will think you\u2019re gamely trying to rescue it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is my favourite thing to do at parties, and I\u2019m only telling you this because I\u2019m confident the extroverts will have skipped this section. <\/span><\/p>\n

Follow up<\/b><\/h3>\n
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The most important thing you can do with your pocket full of connections is make sure they don\u2019t just disappear into the LinkedIn contacts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I always chase up people I\u2019ve connected with at events within 48 hours. Conferences give you a bit of extra time because people will have dozens or more contacts over a busy day or two, so tackling them is a big task. I always make sure to say hello, remind them of where we met and pick up the conversation: \u201cHello John, great to meet you at Business Connector on Wednesday. Hope you eventually found a canape that you actually liked\u2026 meanwhile here\u2019s that link I promised you to MCAs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With new LinkedIn contacts, go through their recent activity to like, share and comment anything that catches your eye. \u201cLikes\u201d aren\u2019t rationed and they make the other person feel positive towards you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Time at events can be time well spent: you\u2019ll meet new and (hopefully) interesting people, widen your network and perhaps find some serendipitous connections. But things rarely just happen, you have to make them happen and the time-honoured principles of being a good guest, making yourself easy to connect with online and taking responsibility for the next contact will get you into the top percentage of networkers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those are my tips – what are yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Events are a great way to make connections that will benefit your business – you just need to make sure you approach them properly. This time of year is party season: between September and New Year\u2019s Day, you\u2019ll find many calls on your downtime. But can you justify slipping out from work early to put […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":39827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","category":[340,59],"class_list":["post-39826","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-swoop-guides","category-blog"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1.png",1600,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-300x169.png",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-768x432.png",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-1024x576.png",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-1536x864.png",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1.png",1600,900,false],"image_blog":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-408x252.png",408,252,true],"image_blog_full":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-1600x660.png",1600,660,true],"image_podcast":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-397x298.png",397,298,true],"image_banking":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-36x20.png",36,20,true],"image_blog_internal":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-840x480.png",840,480,true],"image_blog_medium":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-1024x500.png",1024,500,true],"image_single_banking":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/Blog-banners-1600-x-900-BCC-4-1-80x45.png",80,45,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"

Events are a great way to make connections that will benefit your business – you just need to make sure you approach them properly. This time of year is party season: between September and New Year\u2019s Day, you\u2019ll find many calls on your downtime. But can you justify slipping out from work early to put on your glad rags? What about the loss of productivity the next day when you\u2019ve got a dry mouth and a stubborn headache? There are good reasons for saying \u201cyes\u201d to the right invitations: you could find yourself making new connections outside your usual circle,…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Swoop guides<\/a>, Blog<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"Ian Hawkins","url":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/author\/ian-hawkins\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/39826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/39826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=39826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}