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How to present at networking meetings without being pushy

Hilary

Are you starting out on the networking circuit, trying promoting your business to local groups and building relationships with like-minded independent business owners? You may have asked yourself how to get your message across in a consistent and authentic way, without feeling like your pushing sales...


It’s a common question - lot’s of business owners don’t want to sound pushy when they promote their business, and can quickly recognise a ‘hunter’ in the room too. I find the best way to talk about your business is with genuine passion for what you do and talking about your WHY (Simon Sinek’s, ‘Start with Why’ is a great read by the way).



All networking meetings give you an opportunity to speak for up to 60 seconds - some call it an elevator pitch: what would you say if you had no longer than an elevator ride with your next best client? Personally, I'm not keen on elevators, or pitches, but you do have to make sure your point comes across...


Before the meeting

Even before you arrive or log on at your meeting you will need to set yourself an objective. This is how you can measure your success there. For example, your objectives may be;

  • Be brave enough to attend a meeting for the first time

  • Get two 1:1 meetings

  • Get feedback on a new product

  • Find a new supplier.

Knowing what you want to achieve will not only help you determine if the meeting was successful for you, but it will help you focus on making your point and find ways to achieve them with relevant conversations.


TIP: Take something to give away, if you can... Some of the most impactful business presentations I recall included a card at my table setting and a little something like a minty tea bag, a Prosecco-jelly filled champagne flute and one Christmas I even scored a shot glass of ginger whisky!


60 seconds

Given a formal 60 seconds, we recommend you start with your name and business and a quick overview of what you do, ‘Good morning, I’m Hilary Nightingale from Carbon Copy Social and I help independent business owners grow relationships through copywriting and social media...’


The middle can be whatever you want it to be, according to your objectives; a poem, an example of how you’ve helped your best customer, a favourite or recent testimonial, examples of people you’ve been speaking to or an overview of your product, website or special offer. All this educates your group about who you help and how.


Then, ask to be connected with someone you’d like to help. This is really important because you need to help people understand how they can help you. If you listen to someone speaking week after week, but don’t realise they’d love to speak to one of your contacts, how can you ever help them?


By the time you’ve finished speaking, that quick overview will have been forgotten, so it’s useful to end with a similar or humorous tag line, ‘Thank you. I'm Hilary, helping you socialise (your business that is)’.


TIP: 140 words. As a guide, 140 words takes around 60 seconds to say clearly...


5 -10 minutes

As a member of a group, you may be given the opportunity to speak for longer and this is where you can introduce PowerPoint or props!

Planning is key here, so try splitting your time into segments;

  1. Introduction

  2. The meaty bits

  3. Summary

  4. Closer.

Again this is about educating people about you, your business and how they can help you grow, so present in that order. Business is founded on relationships so there’s nothing wrong with including a bit about yourself – but we’re here for business, not to learn your life story and read your CV off a slide!


TIP: PowerPoint should illustrate your speech, not replace it. If people are too busy reading, they won’t be listening. Try using images, bullet points and simple charts.


The meaty bits can include your USPs - unique selling points; what makes you different from the rest? And don’t say you care, or you deliver on time, or are qualified, of course you are and so is everyone else! Talk about what led you to this business, your story and WHY you do what you do. Oh, and you can tell them what you too and show examples or give out samples.


TIP: Create a Zoom background. This is a great way to illustrate your virtual presentation or show images of your products.


In summary, tie it all together with who you help; what type of people or businesses they are, how you can ease their pains, and why they need you. Ask for introductions, mention that you're on LinkedIn or other social platforms and if your meeting is online, you can put this important stuff in the chat box too so you can start building connections right away.

Then close with your thanks and memorable tag line...


TIP: Make use of the open networking. Time available after the intro’s round is important to approach those you want to have a 1:1 with. I know you might be keen to get back to work, but this is an important part of the meeting.


After the meeting

There’s a phrase in business that goes something like this: ‘The fortune’s in the follow up’, meaning you won’t gain anything if you don’t contact people after the meeting, or go through with the actions you’ve set yourself.


Did you want to get two 1:1’s? Then find the attendees on LinkedIn or email them and ask for a meeting to learn more their business.


Did you want to share a new product? Again, find them on email or social and tag them in to a promotional post about it.


Networking is primarily about building relationships, and social media is an extension of that, so take the opportunity to tell people about you and your why, and connect outside of the meeting...


TIP: Ask for introductions from the organisers. If the meeting you attended didn’t circulate attendee details, get in touch with the person who invited you, or the person running the meeting and ask for help making connections.

If you focus on building relationships at this stage, you won't come across as pushy.


If you have any great examples of how a presentation went, or any that were particularly memorable please share with me on LinkedIn, I’d love to hear your stories!

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