Networking for Success | Theresa Reaume | TEDxWindsor

I love walking into a room full of strangers. She said no one ever. Networking is a marketing tool that can help you build your business and your network. The good news. Networking is a skill. A skill that anyone can learn and improve with practice. I remember talking to a young woman who was new to business and

networking

. She told me how she went to an event one night. She walked into the room. She looked out at the sea of ​​faces. car and started crying. I have heard this story several times and it breaks my heart and no the woman was not me but I know how intimidating it is to walk into a room and have to strike up conversations with strangers.

I'd like to share with you some

networking

tips today, tips on how to network and how not to network, and my hope is that you take away some concrete ideas to help you become a more effective networker. These networking tips are made to make things easier for you, these are made to help you do yo - yo face to face business with an old fashioned handshake networking we're talking brand building networking here what i mean by you are your brand so how you carry yourself will help you how people know you like you and trust you our good old friend Zig Ziglar taught us that meeting and talking to people is not as easy as it seems and these networking tips will help you project a more

success

ful image first tip body language when you walk into a room you will see people standing in circles standing face to face you may see two people staring at each other talking intensely stay away from those people are having an intense conversation you will see other people stand in sort of semi-circles and you will see an opening in that circle which is their way of telling you that you can come and join our conversation it works i have tried many times so look for open circles keep watch your own body language too if you are standing with your arms crossed and a scowl on your face someone will want to approach you of course not so be aware of your own body language as well as the body language of others people. what, where, when, why and how open-ended questions that promote dialogue and show that you care about other people these are the questions you should be asking people you should also add value read the newspaper watch the news read interesting articles on trends commercials in progress so you can contribute if you're asked if someone you know is coming to an event and you've wanted to meet that person.

Google it ahead of time. You will be surprised at the common ground. in a similar interest that interest can be anything that interest can be sports travel books music movies side networks connect in a similar interest what this will help is instead of walking in the room while i collect from the insurance salesman know now your bill the guy who likes baseball and guess what i like baseball so i like to talk to bill about baseball now that i've come to know how confidently bill there's that line again and now i really want to hear what bill has to say say about insurance this is how that works the networking disconnect networking is not about closing sales let me repeat networking is not about closing sales networking is about building a relationship and building trust and networking is about building relationships that doesn't happen overnight it takes time at the end of the day networking is about helping other people without expecting anything in return the vcp process the father of networking where i learned a lot of this advice from the brilliant dr.

Ivan Meisner talks about the vcp process visibility credibility profitability you have to get out and be visible first you have to go to these networking events belong to referral networking groups service industries like a newspaper one of the best ways to give back to your community I am a huge supporter out of this go out and volunteer then comes credibility and credibility happens over time it happens by making sure you show up on time wearing the role and behaving appropriately if you behave appropriately and do all these things Over time you will build credibility which in turn It will lead to profitability and doing business together.

Be memorable. Be memorable for the right reasons. come on we've all come across that person so be memorable for the right reasons follow up follow up follow up if you don't follow up you might as well stay home after events or connect on LinkedIn from an article you think they might be interested in in sending them a meeting of cards for coffee. What this will do is continue to build your credibility, which again will lead to profitability in the future, so be sure to follow up when you're out in the world. networking remember to be aware of your own body language and that of others remember your lateral networking remember do not sell at these events do not close sales remember the vcp process of visibility credibility profitability and remember to follow up after all the fortunes in follow up I would like to close with this christine lynch quote networking is marketing marketing yourself marketing your uniqueness and marketing what you stand for thank you