In my latest column, I talk about finding your niche, doing your prep then networking like crazy. It pays off!
You are reading this week’s column as I am mid-flight from Amsterdam back home to Dubai. Four blissful nights of sleep in a hotel without a baby feeding through the night! Although I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it.
I went to ‘The Dam’ for a show called Money 2020, which is a who’s who of the banking industry: banks, payment technologies, FX solutions, credit card acquirers and more. I wanted to make connections and find new suppliers for Clique, our banking platform for SME’s and I was told that this is the place to be.
It was three days of power networking but was worth every minute and penny spent. So let me tell you about it and teach you all you need to know about how to maximise business networking events like this.
First Things First: The Ticket Price…
This event was not cheap. €4700 for a ticket! (Although it did include all the Mac & cheese and croissants you could eat!). Even I found it slightly eye-watering at first, but an hour into the conference and it felt like an absolute bargain. And that highlights the importance of ‘niche-ing down’ when it comes to networking in entrepreneurship.
You want to be concentrating on specific targets, people who are directly useful to you and your business – and at a niche company event you can guarantee that the people you want to meet are there. It’s niche – it is everyone in your industry. When you see conferences that are more general like business networking events – they might call themselves ’start-up show’ ‘entrepreneurs conference’ ‘businesses owners’ event’ etc etc, they are so broad that the chances of meeting people that can supercharge your business growth are slim to none.
One of the great things you got with this conference was an app that you get access to as soon as you have paid and registered. The app shows you the full schedule for the show so you can plan your diary but more importantly, it shows you the full profile for every single person who is attending. Name, company, what people/sector they are interested in, other contact details etc, etc.
For anyone who doesn’t realise it – company networking is the only reason to go to these trade shows and conventions.
Sure, the talks might be interesting, but they are rarely essential and can usually be seen online from some kind of post-show recording. The only reason to take three days out of the office and pay the associated costs is to be in a room with people you need to meet.
So, once I had access to the App, that is when I really started to put the effort in. Last week I spent circa 15 hours working through the details of EVERY attendee and sponsor company for the event. What their business did, where it was based, who the key staff were, and who was best for me to see. I then created lists of the people and companies I needed to be meeting with, based on my research, and I got to work! Individually connecting with and messaging them all to introduce myself and pre-book meetings at the show with them.
Obviously, there is no guarantee that any of these people would get back to me. Maybe they are being lazy and don’t check their app and messages because they are planning properly for the show. Maybe they did check me out and thought I wouldn’t be a good fit or effective use of their time, so they ignored me or declined me. Either way, I wasn’t leaving it to chance or a limited number of decisions.
So, as well as messaging them on the app I also found them to connect with on LinkedIn and messaged them on there too. And if there was more than one attendee from a company coming, I connected with them all. (Obviously, CEOs were my preferred choice, but I don’t have an ego about it – I will use the window cleaner to get me a foot in the door if that is necessary.)
When connecting with people in industry networking situations like this, or in general, you should be making your intro messages as personal and relevant as possible.
Don’t look like you are smashing out connection requests willy-nilly. Show them that you have put the effort into researching them. Make reference to common connections, or interests (I told anyone from Finland that I had a Finnish girlfriend as my bonding trick!), and exactly why you want to connect with them so that everyone knows the relevance and can avoid wasted time.
If people knock you back or don’t reply, don’t cry about it. Business networking is just sales – it’s a numbers game! Move on to the next connection. The more effort you put in at the front end, the more effortless things will look at the back end.
I couldn’t have been any better prepared. So, by the time I arrived in Amsterdam, my diary was planned with military precision. I had about 20 pre-planned meetings each day, and time left in my calendar to walk around and seek out other connections that I may not have realised at the time would be there.
At the show, the meetings I set up were all 15-minute ‘power meetings’. I loved this as I hate wasted time and small talk. I can’t tell you how much I hate the new year when 15 days in people are still asking if you had a good new year!! Can you imagine how much time is wasted on useless small talk?!
“The number of connections I have made and useful information I have learnt, and potential partners I have met is HUGE.”
Matt Haycox
Sure, I would have met some people just by walking around the show with no planning done whatsoever. But the level of effort and preparation I put into it made sure the number of useful relationships I made was on steroids!
And that is the secret. Which like most ‘secrets’ isn’t a secret! It is just another situation in life where a lot of effort and preparation is required to get a successful outcome. Effort and preparation many people are too lazy or arrogant to put in.
If, in the next 12 months, I don’t get £1,000,000 of value out of the last 3 days I will be staggered. £4,700 on a ticket and probably another £7k in ancillary costs is looking like an investment with an ROI to make even Warren Buffet’s eyes water.
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