Business Networking Sage Advice Missing Important Info
Have you heard this sage advice?
Attend business networking and trade show events to find new clients and grow your business.
A SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) survey revealed that 57% of companies attend business networking and trade show events for exactly that reason, to showcase their company and find new clients.
Business networking is one of the best ways to find new clients, but exchanging business cards is only the first of your business growth strategies steps.
If you would like to find out more about how you can turn your business networking business card leads into sales and take your business to the next level, pick up your free copy of the Business Growth Strategies Report, You Have Worked The Room – Now What? here on the Home page of Kickstart Your Company.
Maybe you’ve heard this piece of sage advice also.
Meet for coffee to get to know the other person and find out more about their business.
Another survey tells us that 48% of business professionals who attend events and collect cards, will NEVER follow up past that 1st contact conversation.
Meeting people for coffee is a great way to begin building trust, which is a critical component of turning leads into sales. So if you meet for coffee, you have beaten that stat.
But many of my clients tell me they run all over town drinking coffee, only to find that they are not turning enough leads into sales. They simply run out of time and energy. The only thing that is really growing is the stack of cards on their desk.
These 2 pieces of sage advice are a great start but are not a complete business growth strategy.
Another statistic reveals that 80% of sales are WON on the 5th to 12th contact.
Whew .. that sounds like a lot! There must be more effective business growth strategies than attending events, collecting stacks of business cards and running all over town drinking coffee!
One of the first thing I tell my clients is Networking is
Step 1 – Start The Conversation
Step 1 of the Business Growth Positioning System is not about selling, although in time it definitely leads to sales,
but that is not the objective of Step 1.
The objective is to start the conversation and begin
Step 2 – Market Research where you discover common ground and uncover needs and begin to build a bridge connecting the conversation in the room to your follow up after.
Now you know why I called my program – Set The Stage – because this 1st Contact Conversation leads you forward into follow up.
You probably have Step 1 down pat, you have the stacks of business cards sitting on your desk. If not, click here to pick up Your Audio Training Seminar
Step 2 of the Business GPS is Market Research – Be a detective.
When you meet people and start the conversation, ask questions to discover that common ground and how you can help.
This is were you ID Your Ideal Client. Find out more about that here.
Ask questions to find out – What goal are they trying to reach?
Next put your thinking cap on and search your archives to find out if you have information that can help them reach their goal. That’s the other side of Market Research – ID Your Expertise.
It’s possible the right answer is your product or service, or it may not be. Either way offer that information and deliver it via email.
That’s a simple way to start packaging up your expertise into Follow Up Connection Tools. Simple, effective strategic pieces that build the know you, like you, trust you factor so critical to establishing the relationship and the first step of the sale.
There – You have beaten the stat 48% of business people NEVER follow up past the 1st contact conversation and you’re one step closer to developing the know you, like you, trust you factor so critical to turning leads into sales.
The best past … …. you didn’t have to run all over town meeting for coffee.
Your next step to take your business to the next level is to learn how to package up your expertise and Create Your Own Signature Follow Up Business System to sell more?
You’re on your way to skyrocketing your sales!
