Article Summary: The penultimate goal of networking is to meet or be introduced to “Key Decision Makers” (KDMs). They are your influencers, opinion leaders, check-writers, and contract signers at your prospect’s organization. In today’s sluggish economy, they frequently weigh price heavily before making purchases. Strong relationships will likely tip the decision-making process to you. The three “must do” activities to ensure that networking pays off include 1) Research your prospective key decision makers; 2) Develop your ideal event profile; and 3) Develop your target networking plan. The glue that brings all three of these together is be deliberate. <<< Read complete article below >>>
Make Networking Pay Off: How to Find the Right Events for You
© 2009. ThinkBusiness Magazine and The Chief Storyteller®, LLC. Used by permission.
Ira J. Koretsky
November 2009
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of them all? A little play on words as I think about the sheer number of networking opportunities there are in any given month. To give you an idea, type the phrase “networking organizations” into any Internet search engine. Bing shows 2,360,000 results for San Francisco, CA. Google lists 87,900,000 for Washington, DC. Yahoo displays 2,620,000 pages for Austin, TX. Obviously, not all of the pages relate to professional networking. The point is that networking is everywhere. So how are you to choose which events to attend?
A common complaint of networking is that it is a waste of time. After talking to thousands of people about networking over the past years, two major reasons for this perception begin to emerge. The first is that many networkers do not have a compelling business story—an elevator speech that prompts further conversation. The other is that people are not attending the right events. Let’s focus on the second challenge.
The penultimate goal of networking is to meet or be introduced to “Key Decision Makers” (KDMs). They are your influencers, opinion leaders, check-writers, and contract signers at your prospect’s organization. In today’s sluggish economy, they frequently weigh price heavily before making purchases. Strong relationships will likely tip the decision-making process to you. Here are three “must do” activities to ensure that networking pays off.
Research Your Prospective Key Decision Makers
As part of each new client engagement, I ask a wide variety of questions related to how the sales team communicates, networks, and attracts clients. One telling answer is that they read only what interests them. It is, of course, natural for us to read what is interesting to us.
In sales, it’s all about them. Them refers to your Key Decision Makers. When you customize your various sales and marketing pieces, you have to know what they are thinking, talking about, losing sleep over, etc.
To be successful at networking, research 1) what are the KDMs thinking about and 2) where are they going to find answers to learn more. During your sales process, ask them direct questions about what they are reading and thinking. Ask where they network to learn new insights, to meet colleagues, and to find new business opportunities. Start your own mini database listing the associations and groups your typical KDMs attend.
Supplement your knowledge and add to your event database with competitive intelligence found on the Internet. Perform searches related to your KDMs and the types of events they are attending. LinkedIn is a good resource to start your research. Find some Key Decision Makers in LinkedIn and look at the categories and kinds of groups he or she has joined. Use these insights to help refine your networking strategy.
Develop Your Ideal Event Profile
There are events for breakfast, lunch, dinner, after dinner, coffee, weekend socials, children’s activities or school-related, religious social gatherings, fundraisers, fancy galas, association meetings, conferences, educational events, private parties, and the list goes on! How do you choose? Follow Rod Tidwell’s (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) advice in Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money.”
Only attend events that provide benefits to you. Benefits can be new clients, partners, ideas, referrals, and suggestions. The key is having an Ideal Event Profile (IEP). An IEP spells out the events that will yield benefits time and time again. The IEP is completely focused on finding Key Decision Makers or people that can introduce you to KDMs.
Remember that the IEP reflects the KDM’s choices, not yours. In your IEP form, include the basics such as industries represented; best time of day to attend; purpose of event (e.g., conference, education, meeting, networking, social, and training); and cost (cost is highly correlated with job titles—generally, the higher the cost, the more senior the attendees). Now add other fields to customize the IEP to your sales process and ideal clients such as favorite associations, charitable events, social clubs, and preferred special events.
Develop Your Target Networking Plan
Put your KDM hat on. Armed with research and an ideal event profile, develop a rolling three-month plan listing the events to attend. Prioritize your list based on how the KDM thinks and acts. Also try mixing the time of day and geography (some people stay close to their office or home when it comes to attending events) to maximize the number of people for you to meet.
Attend events from your list. Measure success. Are you meeting KDMs from prospects that are a good fit for your organization? If not, then evaluate if your story is working, is your IEP is on target, or if you are attending the right events.
Be patient. It generally takes four to six months of consistent networking to build rapport and begin to establish trust. If your deal size is six figures or more, prepare for a longer relationship cycle.
Successful Networkers are Deliberate
Will Durant, in The Story of Philosophy, referred to Aristotle’s approach to happiness. Durant wrote, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” As part of prospecting, you develop call plans and call visits based on targeted research. Successful networkers follow the same approach. Successful networkers are deliberate in researching events to attend, choosing wisely who to spend time with, and selecting target clients with follow up activities.
For the majority of my clients, I can track the source of the introduction or meeting back to a specific person, keynote, workshop, or event attended. Can you?
Ira Koretsky is the president of The Chief Storyteller®, a firm that turns your business stories and messages into results, with keynotes, workshops, training, and consulting. He can be reached at tbmag@thechiefstoryteller.com or www.TheChiefStoryteller.com.
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Make Networking Pay Off: How to Find the Right Events for You
© 2009. ThinkBusiness Magazine and The Chief Storyteller®, LLC. Used by permission.
Ira J. Koretsky
November 2009
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of them all? A little play on words as I think about the sheer number of networking opportunities there are in any given month. To give you an idea, type the phrase “networking organizations” into any Internet search engine. Bing shows 2,360,000 results for San Francisco, CA. Google lists 87,900,000 for Washington, DC. Yahoo displays 2,620,000 pages for Austin, TX. Obviously, not all of the pages relate to professional networking. The point is that networking is everywhere. So how are you to choose which events to attend?
A common complaint of networking is that it is a waste of time. After talking to thousands of people about networking over the past years, two major reasons for this perception begin to emerge. The first is that many networkers do not have a compelling business story—an elevator speech that prompts further conversation. The other is that people are not attending the right events. Let’s focus on the second challenge.
The penultimate goal of networking is to meet or be introduced to “Key Decision Makers” (KDMs). They are your influencers, opinion leaders, check-writers, and contract signers at your prospect’s organization. In today’s sluggish economy, they frequently weigh price heavily before making purchases. Strong relationships will likely tip the decision-making process to you. Here are three “must do” activities to ensure that networking pays off.
Research Your Prospective Key Decision Makers
As part of each new client engagement, I ask a wide variety of questions related to how the sales team communicates, networks, and attracts clients. One telling answer is that they read only what interests them. It is, of course, natural for us to read what is interesting to us.
In sales, it’s all about them. Them refers to your Key Decision Makers. When you customize your various sales and marketing pieces, you have to know what they are thinking, talking about, losing sleep over, etc.
To be successful at networking, research 1) what are the KDMs thinking about and 2) where are they going to find answers to learn more. During your sales process, ask them direct questions about what they are reading and thinking. Ask where they network to learn new insights, to meet colleagues, and to find new business opportunities. Start your own mini database listing the associations and groups your typical KDMs attend.
Supplement your knowledge and add to your event database with competitive intelligence found on the Internet. Perform searches related to your KDMs and the types of events they are attending. LinkedIn is a good resource to start your research. Find some Key Decision Makers in LinkedIn and look at the categories and kinds of groups he or she has joined. Use these insights to help refine your networking strategy.
Develop Your Ideal Event Profile
There are events for breakfast, lunch, dinner, after dinner, coffee, weekend socials, children’s activities or school-related, religious social gatherings, fundraisers, fancy galas, association meetings, conferences, educational events, private parties, and the list goes on! How do you choose? Follow Rod Tidwell’s (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) advice in Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money.”
Only attend events that provide benefits to you. Benefits can be new clients, partners, ideas, referrals, and suggestions. The key is having an Ideal Event Profile (IEP). An IEP spells out the events that will yield benefits time and time again. The IEP is completely focused on finding Key Decision Makers or people that can introduce you to KDMs.
Remember that the IEP reflects the KDM’s choices, not yours. In your IEP form, include the basics such as industries represented; best time of day to attend; purpose of event (e.g., conference, education, meeting, networking, social, and training); and cost (cost is highly correlated with job titles—generally, the higher the cost, the more senior the attendees). Now add other fields to customize the IEP to your sales process and ideal clients such as favorite associations, charitable events, social clubs, and preferred special events.
Develop Your Target Networking Plan
Put your KDM hat on. Armed with research and an ideal event profile, develop a rolling three-month plan listing the events to attend. Prioritize your list based on how the KDM thinks and acts. Also try mixing the time of day and geography (some people stay close to their office or home when it comes to attending events) to maximize the number of people for you to meet.
Attend events from your list. Measure success. Are you meeting KDMs from prospects that are a good fit for your organization? If not, then evaluate if your story is working, is your IEP is on target, or if you are attending the right events.
Be patient. It generally takes four to six months of consistent networking to build rapport and begin to establish trust. If your deal size is six figures or more, prepare for a longer relationship cycle.
Successful Networkers are Deliberate
Will Durant, in The Story of Philosophy, referred to Aristotle’s approach to happiness. Durant wrote, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” As part of prospecting, you develop call plans and call visits based on targeted research. Successful networkers follow the same approach. Successful networkers are deliberate in researching events to attend, choosing wisely who to spend time with, and selecting target clients with follow up activities.
For the majority of my clients, I can track the source of the introduction or meeting back to a specific person, keynote, workshop, or event attended. Can you?
Ira Koretsky is the president of The Chief Storyteller®, a firm that turns your business stories and messages into results, with keynotes, workshops, training, and consulting. He can be reached at tbmag@thechiefstoryteller.com or www.TheChiefStoryteller.com.
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