Both!
It’s very short-sighted if we try to sell to others in the room when we go networking. Not only will we most likely not make a sale, we’ll also miss out on building a relationship with the other person AND their contacts. They say that every person knows another 1000 people. So if we wheel out the ‘sell, sell, sell’ treatment just once at the event, that’s up to 1000 potential clients gone!
Yet tapping into these 1000 people is quite easy. It just needs some relationship-building and some patience. All we need to do to get going is start off with Contact No1, ie, the person we’re speaking with. By taking time to find out about them and starting to develop a relationship, we can then naturally and patiently move towards the point when they’ll be happy to introduce us to their contacts. (and vice versa, of course)
You have a choice between trying to go for the quick sale (that probably isn’t there to make anyway – has it even been qualified as a potential sale?) or taking your time to make multiple sales in the long run. It shouldn’t be a difficult choice
“To be successful, you have to be able to relate to people; they have to be satisfied with your personality to be able to do business with you and to build a relationship with mutual trust” George Ross
To network for less, choose our 3-for-£99 networking credits option (before the upcoming price increase!) click here to find out more