Southwestern Sales Talk
Have you ever walked into a large party, and moved toward the first familiar face you saw? Or maybe you’ve been to a big conference that sponsored a social event. If you work with The Southwestern Company, you get good at meeting people and making good first impressions in their homes. But what about approaching people in a larger professional setting?
Recently, I attended a Nashville Chamber of Commerce event—specifically, a networking event called Walkabout 180. They cleverly had 6 30-minute training sessions, wherein an attendee could get a lot of useful info in short seminars. Even more cleverly, they asked me to speak (insert smiley face here).
Now, since this was a networking event, I was interested to see how these business executives, in fact, networked. Prior to the first training session, there was a half hour dedicated solely to networking, complete with sundry breakfast items. As I entered the room, there were little clumps of people talking, exchanging cards, and shaking hands.
Most of my conversations were brief, either because people wanted to meet & greet as many attendees as possible, or they found me incredibly dull. It wasn’t exactly like speed dating, but some people were better than others at making good first impressions.
“And what do you do…?” This came up a lot.
For me, a Neophyte Networker, it was a bit weird–creating mini-relationships, collecting business card souvenirs, and then moving on. Or hearing conversations die out after names and the “and what do you do” were exchanged.
Luckily, there was a really good session dedicated to the art of networking. It was conducted by Cindy Hazen of Sales Executives. In her session, she pointed out the real definition of networking: a lifelong process of meeting people, making contacts, developing friendships, and building professional relationships.
Cindy explained how to “work a room”: 
*approach groups of three or more. If you approach two people in a conversation, it can be considered interrupting. With a group of three or more, it’s not. (You can also help out the poor soul who’s standing alone.)
*when you are in a group of three or more, welcome newcomers. Say hi and ask them about themselves.
*write the date on their business cards you get and unique notes about them (hobbies, interesting facts they shared).
*send them an email as a follow up, or better yet, a hand-written note. You can ask them to join you in your Linkedin network.
As with any sales encounter, if your focus is “what can this person do for me?” or “how can this person become a customer?” Your networking will ultimately fail. On the other hand, if your focus is “how can I help this person?” and you get in a state of curiosity, you’ll be much more successful.
What are your tips and strategies to “working a room?” How can you make your networking a success? Share your thoughts; leave a comment.
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That`s a great post, Lee! Thank you for that.
And also a great point is not to interrupt people, but going where they are into groups of 3 or more.
I remember when I started university – and that is a bit different of course – (and in fact when I had to go into High School after Middle), all of the people in the class/group were unknown to me. And people used to stand a bit quietly alone and trying to figure out should they talk with someone or no. What I decided to do is just to go around, greet and meet everyone, as they were going to be my new mates there I had to know them. That happened to be an ice-breaker for everyone and they themselves became more confident to speak with other people too. So my point here is in a room full of a lot of people we don`t know probably the best thing we can do is just take action and approach people with more confidence.
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Very good points!
I was recently at the Midwest Economics Association’s annual conference in Chicago, and it was amazing to me how little networking seemed to be taking place! Even though there were lots of people from all different areas of the profession, people seemed to stick exclusively with those they already knew.
I wish I would have known these tips before I went, so that I could have been more effective as well!
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
I may do a part II to this blog. I learned a lot there. Thanks for the comment Jaselyn!
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Wow Lee this is an amazing tactic to use. A common saying is, it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know, and learning how to network effectively is a great tool to know how to utilize. I really appreciate this, and I too agree about approaching groups of 3 or more. Simple, but complex.
I look forward to trying this out!
Maggie Mulvaney
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Yeah, I learned quite a bit from this particular seminar. I thought I knew stuff! There is a follow up I may do to this story.
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Really helpful webinar. I liked this post too, it’s good to constantly remind myself “how can I help this person?”
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These are all really good points when it comes to networking.
There is a book available “What’s up with your handshake?”, and it talks about the soft skills that are so important when it comes to making first impressions. The book covers a wide range of ideas but also hits the topic of networking. One of the points it talks about is if there is ever exchanging of business cards, don’t just put their card in your pocket. Its important to look at the card and make a small comment about the card that they have given you. The reason behind this is because they have just given you a small card with their ‘life story’ on it. It goes a long way to make a positive comment about a card that means so much to them (and they’ll remember that too!).
Thanks for the post Lee!
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Good follow up comment, Steve, and thanks for the book recommendation. Well done.
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This is a very interesting concept you are talking about Lee. I have learned, through being in PR and attending different student conferences, that most people don’t consider networking a way of building relationships, they tend to have a ‘I want to meet as many people as possible and see who I find interesting’ attitude. This often times ends up leading to nothing because a stack of business cards whose names you don’t remember won’t help you get to know another or develop a relationship.
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Lee McCroskey Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Great insight. I like your analysis of the attitude: “I want to meet as many people as possible and see who I find interesting”–this is prevalent.
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