Effortless Networking

How do you find and meet decision makers?

This question is a more focused version of last week’s question, so it’s a good follow-on topic for today.

Let’s say you’ve just met someone from an organization or company that is a good prospect for you.

How do you now find out whether this person is the decision maker? (The assumption I’m making here is that you’re out *prospecting*; i.e. you’re looking to meet the decision maker because you want to sell your product or service.)

The short answer is that you ask questions, and *network* your way to the “right person”.

More specifically, you start by asking for information — such as, how are decisions made within the organization in question, what is the role of the person you’re talking with, and so on (through not necessarily in this order).

Based on the answers, you’ll know whether or not you’re talking with the right person.

If not, ask for an introduction to the decision maker, or at least someone in the “right” department.

This is networking!

By this time, hopefully you have convinced the person you’re talking with that what you have to offer is of interest and relevance to the company. So an introduction to the decision maker is a reasonable request.

Also, it’s a “manageable” request — you’re asking for an introduction only; not an appointment, not a decision to buy, etc. So it’s easier for you to ask for, and easier for the other person to agree to.

More details on *how* to ask for what you want so you get the results you’re looking for, is in the same program I mentioned to you last time: “3 Secrets for Effective Networking“.

I hope you find it useful.

Till next time,
– Sri

This week let’s talk about how to meet the right people.

This question has surfaced in a few different ways, such as “how to identify what events to attend”, “how to meet my target”, “knowing whom to speak with”, etc.

Well, as I mention in the “5 Simple Ways to Network Successfully“, the first order of business to clarify for yourself what your goal is.

What are you looking for?

For instance, do you want to meet people in Human Resources, or do you want to meet engineers? Do you want to meet executives from large companies or do you want to meet small business owners? Or perhaps you want to meet people within a particular industry, regardless of job position?

Although there may be events where you might find all of these kinds of people, typically each group has its own professional association and related conferences, trade shows or business mixers.

So if you’re clear about *whom* you want to meet, you can then look for directory listings of professional associations and find out about their meetings and events.

Then, you can focus your networking efforts and attend only those events where you’d have a direct opportunity to meet the kinds of people you want to.

Chances are, however, that depending on what’s going on in your business or company, the people you want to meet will vary.

For instance, sometimes you may be looking for prospective clients or customers, while other times you may want to meet people with whom you can establish a business alliance or strategic partnership.

And the profile of your ideal customer will probably be different from that of your ideal business alliance partner.

So you may want to take a step back first, and identify all the different kinds of people you want to network with in general, given your overall business goals and needs.

Once you have this information, you can select your organizations and events, and begin to network strategically, making the most of your time and energy.

In my “3 Secrets for Effective Networking” program, I go into more detail about how you can do this kind of assessment, and also provide a worksheet to help you with this process.

Additional information on this is also available in “Business By Referral“, a book by the founder and CEO of BNI.

Good luck!
– Sri

When you meet someone for the first time, especially at a business mixer or networking event, it’s sometimes difficult to engage in a meaningful conversation right away.

What *do* you talk about, after you’ve exchanged names and company information?

Many people seem to get stuck at this point, and wonder how to “break the ice” and get the converation going.

Well, the answer depends on what would be useful for you.

For instance, perhaps what you want is to simply find out whether this person is a prospective client or customer, or a potential source of business leads for you. If not, you’d prefer to move on.

So maybe the real question is, “How can I have a useful and relevant conversation with someone I’ve just met?”

Here’s what you do:

1. Be clear about what you’re looking for. In other words, what would make a conversation useful for you?
2. Ask questions. The questions you ask will direct the flow of the conversation. So direct it towards what you want.

For example, the two questions I personally like to start with in situations like these are (and please remember that you may come up with a different list of questions):

• What would make this meeting/event a success for you?
• What’s your biggest challenge these days?

In either case, it opens up a relevant and useful conversation for both of us.

I am able to find out meaningful information about the other person: what they do, the type of business they’re in, the concerns and challenges they’re facing, what they’d like to get out of this meeting or event, and so on.

This kind of information allows me to determine whether I can help the person myself, or whether to introduce them to someone else who can help them better and move on. Such conversations also help me find people with whom I want to build a long-term professional relationship.

The other person also benefits from such conversations because they get something they want and need. And whether I’ve helped them directly or indirectly, they usually remember me for it — and this is useful in any future interactions we may have.

So, what kinds of questions would be useful for you to ask, to open up converstions that are interesting for you?

This article is an excerpt from the Effortless Networking book. If “networking conversations” is a topic of interest to you, click here to check out the book — it has 2 whole sections on it.

Till next week,
– Sri