Cynthia D'Amour Helps You
Build the Relationships
That Fuel Your Business Success

9 Deadly Mistakes to Avoid Making
At a Networking Event

by Cynthia D'Amour

1. Hang with your friends for the whole event.

If you are at an event to build your network, you need to take action to meet new people.

Hanging with your friends can be lots of fun — but it doesn’t help you build your network to increase your referral sources.

It also fuels the reputation that you only speak to friends in your clique or, perhaps, are an elitist.

Find ways to merge your time spent with friends with new people too.

If you want to sit with your friends over a meal, make a point to include a new person or two at the table as well.

If you are hanging with your friends because you are too nervous to network, pay special attention to the section that follows about how network with more confidence.

2. Cut down people who are not present.

You’ve got to be really careful about cutting people down. You never know who they know or who they are related to. A few poorly-chosen words can damage your business reputation.

Consider the following…

Zack asked Marcia to recommend an accountant to help with his bookkeeping.

Marcia suggested Zack call Melvin.

“Melvin!” Zack screeched, “You’ve got to be kidding me! I worked with that dork a few years ago. He’s one of the biggest idiots I’ve ever met. No one in their right mind would want to associate with Melvin,” Zack proclaimed.

Marcia was surprised at Zack’s outburst — and felt their networking relationship melting before her eyes.

First of all, why would Zack ridicule someone Marcia suggested? Out of respect alone, he had no business being so bold in his rejection.

Secondly, unknown to Zack, Melvin happened to be married to Marcia’s lifelong best friend — and Marcia thought the world of him.

Marcia used to be one of Zack’s biggest referral sources — until he slandered Melvin so publicly.

This story may sound too outrageous to be true — but sadly, it did happen.

The world is smaller and more connected that it’s ever been. Don’t ever forget that.

3. ALWAYS concentrate on finding the best person in the room to talk to.

It’s good to be strategic in your meetings — but not when it comes at the expense of being rude to the person you are talking to.

There’s nothing worse than having the person you’re talking to only half-listen as they scan the room for a more important person to hook up with.

Your lack of attention paints vivid images of what it would be like to work with you — and it’s not the image you want to project.

4. Be a conversation hog.

Meeting people at events is a social process. Just like a tennis ball in a game, conversation should go back and forth between the participants.

Recently at a dinner, I listened to a woman monopolize the entire table’s conversation opportunity as she belabored every illness that had happened to her family — and her best friend’s family (!) in the last two years.

While I certainly empathized with her pain — I cringed that I was stuck at her table for the entire meal! She was preventing me from getting to know the others at the table.

Later on, I noticed people also avoiding the woman.

Too much information is not a good approach.

5. Break your promises made at events.

When you offer information and promise to get it to people, they expect your word to be good.

In fact, they may be counting on you to help solve a big business problem for them.

Your lack of responsiveness speaks ill of your business and your integrity.

6. Focus on giving away as many business cards as possible at events.

Yes, you want to meet people and build your business with your networking — but there’s a lot to be said for quality over quantity.

If you don’t talk to people long enough to make an impression, they won’t remember you — or send business your way.

Meet two or three new people at events and have a good conversation with them.

Now more than ever, people want to know that they can trust the people they send business to.

NOTE: Trust takes time to build.

7. Focus on giving out your cards — rather than collecting them.

The most important cards in a networking situation are the ones you get versus give out.

Having the card in hand gives you the contact information and opportunity to launch a relationship with the people you meet.

If you only give out cards, you have to cross your fingers and hope that they call.

8. Always tell people things are “Going great!”

Imagine this...

You’re asked at an event by a networking acquaintance, “How’s your business going?”

Your business is hurting — but, you want to impress them how good you’re doing and why they should do business with you.

You put a big grin on your face and proclaim, “Business is great! I’m as busy as ever.”

Your acquaintance hears the message you are too busy to take on new clients.

She had a big referral for you — but decided to pass it on to someone who has time to give her lead the attention they need.

Here’s a growth-orientated answer to her inquiry, “It’s going great and we’re in a growth mode. I’m looking for a few special clients to add to my list.”

People will either respond with a noncommittal, “That’s great.” and the conversation moves on.

Or, they may ask for more information about what you offer or who you are looking for.

If you’re really lucky, they may have a referral up their sleeve for you.

Any way, you’ve let your acquaintance know that you are open for more business.

9. Launch an “in-your-face sales attack” at events.

People attend networking events to build and further relationships to help their own business.

They do not invest their time and money to have on the spot, in-your-face sales attacks.

When you enthusiastically launch into a heavy sales pitch with someone you view as a hot prospect in the middle of a networking event, you are disrespecting the person you’ve met — AND the product or service you’re attempting to sell.

If your product/service is that great, it deserves the full attention of your prospect.

If you meet someone hot, exchange business cards and suggest a meeting in the near future.

If you’ve honed your defining statement as discussed in chapter two, your hot prospect will be asking for your card — and insisting on the meeting.

I don’t care how hungry you are for business, aggressive sales behavior in a social setting reeks of desperation — and it’s rare to find people who want to do business with a “loser.”

Besides, sales where the client feels like they are in charge are much easier to close — and close more often than those that are unwillingly forced.

This is an excerpt from Cynthia's D'Amour's new book, Are You ONE Relationship Away From Making BIG Money? It's jam-packed with ideas you can start to use right away to fuel your business growth.

For information about how you can order a copy, click here.