Networking in your first industry event

For building a network of professional contacts, you can start from scratch or be provided with some initial contacts. In whatever the case, first thing you got to do is find out where to meet the right people: industry events. You need to go out there and get all the relevant contacts that you can. You can do a preselection if the event organizers publish a list of exhibitors, sponsors and attendees (in the case of conferences). It is important you learn the rules of the game in that exact country: who are the most successful partners? Who are the guys who closed better deals last year? Who are providing the most innovative product? What is the community mentality and who are the leaders? All of those and more are the questions you should be making yourself before going to any industry event. From fashion to ICT, from Food &Beverages to high technology production, transport services, education or pharmaceuticals. Each industry has its main events where all the most important players of that market show up. Here is a short guideline how to confront your first industry event if you are just attending. No exhibition booth, no sponsor advertising, it's only you and the show. For getting out the most of it and going back to your office with contacts that will be closed deals in less than six months.

First of all do all your homework: research! The event website, the previous editions, their results, the type of exhibitors and their website, the sponsors, the type of attendees, the impact in the industry, and so on... You need to know as much as possible so one month before going to the event you need to start doing all of your research.

The first impression you are going to give is decisive. It is how you dress, how your business card looks like, is your company going to ring any bell in your audience ears? You rather choose a very neutral professional look, nothing to show off, so you are perceived as more accessible. It is also important that when you approach potential business contacts you show yourself as an agreeable person, somebody nice to talk to, with a soft voice and your face of “I'm carefully listening to you..”.

Since you do not have a booth to exhibit your products of services, you better focus on just networking selected or unexpected contacts that could be develop later on. So it is about some kind of speed-dating your future distributors or partners in that geographical area.

Last, but not least, make sure they will remember you, because you mentioned something they liked, or just because they had a nice chit-chat with you. Also make sure you deliver your business card with all your contact information... No leaf-lets, no white-papers, no product information. You must mention your product or services on offer so they make a link later, but if you give them printed or digitalized information they will just misplace it during the event. But they will for sure count all the business cards they got during the event. Another little trick is to write something done on your business card, like a blog address, for example, something that may pick up their curiosity when they review all the cards back at home.

Please do not join the parties the first time. One thing is to join the side-party of an industry event when you already know everybody and you feel like a fish in the water... Another very different thing is to show off too much first time you go into an event. Let the veterans enjoy their party... You will join them in one or two years when you have made yourself a place in that professional community.

Obviously, no alcohol, no drugs, no misleading or doubtful behaviour, nothing that could feed bad intention gossip. You want to make a good professional impression, you are not out making friends, you are working. Never forget that.

You will for sure find very nice people who will help you learning the rules of the game of that industry in that specific country. Do not forget to thank them later when you have achieved your objectives. We will talk about in another post of the win-to-win philosophy, however, it is key to mention here, that you should reward the people that helped you in that first industry event with some winning back for them whenever you have the chance.

Once you are back to the office, study all the business cards you got. Check all the websites. Organize them in a proper folder and put them all in your list of CRM contacts. For those you think they could bring you any qualified business opportunity in the coming months, you should send them a short email thanking them for their time and help during the event, show a bit of interest in their business and ask them how the show worked for them. Don't send them attached files with the information from your products... it won't work. Rather than that, try to establish some line of communication which will allow you to call them in a couple of weeks or latest a month to catch up and see if you can cooperate together. Leaving all the doors open for future collaboration is the essential approach of the first communication you have with them just after the event.

Good Luck!

#networking