10 Ways to Make Sure Your Networking
is NOTworking
1. Have bad breath.
2. Hang around the food or drink as much as possible - no-one will guess it's because you’re feeling like Jenny/Johnny NoMates.
3. Wear a name badge with a small font. This draws people in by making them have to peer at it to read it. Women have the additional advantage of being able to place it just over a breast: a great way of embarrassing men, which is one way to remind them who's boss.
4. Mumble your name, thrust your business card at as people as soon as you possibly can, then scurry away. Alternatively, stand and recite your one-minute elevator pitch into their faces. Then tell them you'll sign them up to your e-newsletter (that's known as 'Value Add').
5. A great one if you're male and reasonably tall, this: make sure you keep your back fully to anyone who might be hovering, trying to join in with your group's conversation. Works a treat on short people and many women. (And some men too, though they're less likely to admit it.) Especially effective when wearing a dark suit - those back views are powerfully intimidating!
6. Hijack other people's conversations: look for two people who are intensely engaged with each other - possibly just about to decide they'll do business together - and barge in, proffering a handshake and introducing yourself loudly.
7. Learn as many stock phrases as you can and use them as much as possible when you talk about your business: things like 'we offer bespoke solutions', 'our range of services is second to none', and 'our clients include major global players'. Jargon is also useful - especially TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms). If anyone challenges you about what you mean, look surprised and slightly insulted. (People who don't understand what you're talking about shouldn't be pretending they might want to do business with you anyway.)
8. Use the time someone takes to tell you about their own business to be running a quick check over the rest of the room to spot who might conceivably be a bit more interesting to talk to.
9. Seek to impress by standing apart from the crowd and being mysterious and rather arch about the work you do when someone approaches to strike up conversation.
10. If someone tells you this is their first time at a networking event, smirk.
---------------------------------------------------------------- On the other hand...
If you are truly not guilty of any of the above, the chances are you're better at Networking than you think.
But then again, if you could do with a few more positive tips and techniques than the ones given above, why not seek help from a professional Personal Impact coach?
Back to work in earnest after the holiday season - and a little jaded by that end-of-summer feeling?
Watching the dreaded march of the Credit Crunch as we're persuaded to worry about the very roofs over our heads, never mind what it all means for business?
In such times, there's much to be said for finding new people to meet, new places to go, new ideas to proffer...
It's just that the thought of actually doing it - networking, that is - can be daunting enough to send you into a dejected slump... whatever the economic climate.
That's why this time, Play4Real continues our fabulously useful series of freebie advice on how NOT to do business... with a cornucopia of canapes about how NOT to network.
So if you're negative about networking, read on and see who you recognise. And whether that's yourself, a colleague, a client - or even some stranger you just bumped into at a networking event... Play4Real can help you get positive, so get in touch.
All the best,
Lin Sagovsky
Key Player
101 ways
to make balls-ups in business...
without
even thinking! by Lin Sagovsky An absolutely free
and indispensable compendium
for you to collect!
Look out for Part 7 with the next 10 tips in the series arriving in your Inbox soon!
You're receiving these tips either because we've met and chatted at a networking event (at which we were both, doubtless, exemplars of good networking behaviour), or at some other time you've expressed an interest in the many ways Play4Real helps people in business to rehearse... in order to give a better performance.
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