Get more from those networking meetings

If you are reading this, you have indicated an interest in Networking. But are you getting enough from the process?

Let’s start with what you bring to the party. First, can you state your own USP in 10 words or less?

When you go networking, i.e. when you meet people in the flesh, you need a clear understanding of the value you could offer to those you meet. You don’t have to wear it on your sleeve, but you need it on the tip of your tongue, in case you are asked. And you will be asked.

Second, what’s your offer? How do you describe it? Most people describe it in a fairly literal way, as though they were listing all the parts in a car’s engine. That approach is guaranteed to lose your listener in about 10 seconds flat.

At a Networking function I met a man who told me his business was to provide a different kind of online shopping process. He described what happens when you wish to buy certain kinds of products online, and how he provides choice and an agreeable experience.

After some questioning from me we identified the real benefit, which was the ‘lifelike shopping experience’ as distinct from ‘online buying’. So when I re-worked his Elevator Speech, starting with the ‘experience’, he realized that he needed to think differently about his company’s offering.

So what’s your offer? What’s the main benefit it delivers to your customers? What’s the ‘pain’ it removes? Identify that, work out a 15-second statement about it, relating it to a typical customer’s needs, and you’ll get much more interest.

Here’s my own USP in under 10 words: I can help you get your point across convincingly. And whenever I have the opportunity to state that, I immediately ask, “Tell me what you do.” My focus is always on the person I meet.

There’s more. I have put my ideas in a brief e-book called “Getting More from Networking Meetings”. Send me an email with Networking in the subject line and I’ll email you a pdf of the book. Free of charge.

Please also write Yes please if you will allow me to send you relevant information on verbal communication from time to time.

Phillip