TOTAL SELLING SYSTEMS BULLETIN
Free Resources for Professional Salespeople from Warren Wechsler

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/  /    Networking   /  /
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Today's theme is all about networking. I'm not talking about network 
marketing-type businesses. I have a lot of friends who are in those, 
so don't read anything into or out of that. I'm talking about how to 
work a room. We as professional salespeople get many chances to 
work a room, whether it's in a business setting or a social setting. 

I'm reminded of a client, one of the Big Six accounting firms that 
had a tremendously successful practice in the Twin Cities. It was 
one of their regional hubs. They had such a great track record that 
many of their clients would hire the accounting professionals to 
come to work inside their corporations. 

As it turns out, over a decade or so if this, there were literally 
hundreds of this Big Six accounting firm's professionals who were 
alumnae of the firm who now were working in corporate America, 
literally all over the country. To their credit, they understood the 
genius of this concept. 

Once a year they invited all the alumnae of the Twin Cities regional 
office of this particular accounting firm to come back for a big three-
day celebration that included continuing education requirements, 
seminars and workshops on what was new or hot in their particular 
line of work. And they also had every evening and every late 
afternoon and early morning, networking opportunities for the 
people that used to work at the firm to come back and talk to the 
people that still worked at the firm. 

What do you think the agenda was of the people that were still at 
the firm? Obviously, they wanted to find out what was going on 
inside these corporations, many of whom were still clients, but many 
of whom had other divisions that this accounting firm didn't have 
any relationships with. Over time, this networking function became 
one of the best business-building tools that this accounting firm had. 

One year they asked me to come in and do a session on networking 
- how to work a room. I had a great time. It turned out that it was so 
well received that I added it to my repertoire of things that I did for 
my clients. So today what I'm going to do is to give you the 
snapshot, the mini-seminar, the fifteen minute version of a two hour 
or half day program that I do for my clients all over the country. It's 
what I call how to network, or how to work a room.

You'd think it's easy. Doesn't everybody know how to do this? And 
the answer is no. Like many other parts of the sales process we are 
trained in what's called the "go-get-em" model, which is: "Oh, here's 
this big room of people. You know what to say. You know how to 
approach them. Just go do it. Go get 'em. Go for it. Just do it." This 
is what all those ads tell us.

There is a technique that we use in working a room as professional 
salespeople, and that's what we're going to talk about today on the 
show. There are a couple of distinctions we need to make first. The 
first distinction is that there is a difference between working a room 
in a social setting and working a room in a business setting. If 
you're invited to your cousin's Jolene's wedding, and you show up 
with a box full of business cards and engraved pens and notepads, 
and you're handing out cards all over the reception at your cousin 
Jolene's wedding, if I were Jolene's groom or father or uncle or 
cousin or brother, I'd toss you out of that social setting, that wedding 
reception, on your ear. Obviously what I'm getting at is that at a 
social setting you really want to underplay this networking approach 
to business that I am such a fan of.

Now in a business setting, people expect that you will do what's 
called networking, or working the room, or schmoozing, or whatever 
you want to call it. And it's absolutely appropriate to be handing 
cards out and taking advantage of opportunities to work yourself 
into groups where people are chitchatting, especially if you've 
identified people you're looking to get a hold of and then basically 
do what I'm going to explain to you as far as how you do it.

But the first distinction is there is a difference between the social 
setting and the business setting. That's not to say that if you meet 
somebody in a social setting that you don't do any networking at all. 
The point is that you keep it very much understated, abbreviated, 
and very light in a social setting because obviously people are there 
to have fun, to enjoy the moment, and not to talk to you about your 
business or their business.

There's another distinction, and that is that even within some 
business settings, there are certain protocols where it's not 
appropriate to solicit members for business. I'll give you an 
example. I've been a member or Rotary groups since 1985, first in 
Minneapolis-St. Paul, and now for last year here in Fairfield at the 
Fairfield Rotary Club. There is a protocol within Rotary. In fact, the 
logo, or the slogan of Rotary is "Service Above Self", meaning that 
you join a Rotary group to be of service to the community at large, 
and to other members. The key here is that if somebody in your 
Rotary group is, for example, a banker or an accountant, it's not in 
their interest for them to approach you as a Rotarian. The way it 
works is that if you have an accounting question or a banking 
question, you go to the accountant or the banker in the group, and 
you ask them if they would be kind enough to answer your question 
or consider being of service to you. The point here is that you don't 
go out and solicit Rotarians openly for business. It's up to them to 
come to you.

There are many other groups that actually encourage people to 
network and do business with each other. One example is the 
Chamber of Commerce. It is expected behavior at a Chamber of 
Commerce function that you will be approached by other members 
explaining their products and services. And you probably will be 
asked if it's appropriate for them to call on you or consider doing 
business with you.

So within those types of settings, within trade associations or 
Chambers of Commerce it's completely OK, and in fact, expected 
behavior that the members are going to solicit each other for 
business. Putting aside that distinction between the social and the 
business and some groups that don't allow or permit or suggest that 
you do any networking or business-building, most other groups are 
OK about it.

Now we have to talk about what the heck are you supposed to do 
when you go to one of these functions. The first thing you have to 
do is prepare yourself. That means that you take three things with 
you to every business-opportunity meeting that you come in contact 
with. The first is that you need your business cards. I can't tell you 
how many times I've been to an event, I talk to somebody, and I 
seem to have an interest in what they are providing, but when I ask 
them for a card they get flustered because they don't have any. It 
doesn't have you come off being that professional if, when 
somebody asks you for a card, a standard business tool, you don't 
have any. Needless to say, if you ask me, I've got cards falling out 
of every pocket. I've got them in my wallet, I've got them in my day-
timer, I keep them in my briefcase, I keep them in my workout bag, I 
keep them in all my suitcases. It's a very rare occurrence when you 
catch me without a business card. The first thing to take, therefore, 
is business cards.

You also need a pen or a pencil, and something to write on. A lot of 
times you'll have a chance to make notes on quick conversations 
you've had. And you can either take out your business card and jot 
notes on the back of it, or during a business card exchange, you 
can take the other person's card and make yourself some quick 
notes. When I meet someone, after we've had a chance to 
exchange cards, in private I will stand aside, away from the action, 
towards a wall or in the restroom, or in a phone booth or hotel 
lobby, and I will jot down the date, the event, and something specific 
about the conversation I had with that particular person.

The third thing you need to carry with you is some type of paper. If 
you don't want to write on the back of business cards, you could 
take some type of notepaper, so if you decide you need some more 
extensive notes on what you talked about, you have notepaper 
available.

Another thing that's optional, and it all depends on what you use to 
manage yourself and your time.In some of the business-to-
business settings, you might have an opportunity to book an 
appointment with somebody when you are networking. If that's the 
case and if you don't have your daily planner with you, then it's hard 
for you to know when you would be able to book that appointment. 
You don't want to get into a conflict situation. My day-timer is just 
slightly oversized, so I don't generally bring it with me. In that case, 
if I find somebody who is interested, I tell them I will call them right 
away, and I'll get a chance to compare calendars. However, having 
said that, I think I might miss opportunities occasionally because I 
don't have my device with me. Some of the Palm Pilot-type devices 
that are out there you can just slip into a pocket. They're a lot 
smaller than some of the smallest day-timers. That again would be 
optional. So you take cards, pen, paper, and pocket day-timer is 
optional.

Now you're at this event. What the heck are you supposed to do? 
The first thing you do is to think strategically about what's 
happening at this meeting. I usually scan the room. There have 
been many times when I know certain people whom I might want to 
have some influence over are going to be at a particular meeting. I 
scan the room to find out where these people are so that I have a 
chance to work my way over there. I target the types of people that 
I'd like to speak with. If you're new to a group, and you don't really 
know, then you have to take advantage of whatever tools are 
available to you at the event, whether it's nametags that people are 
wearing, or a roster of attendees. Or you might be looking for 
specific industry-type groups, or presidents and owners, or you 
might be looking for tall, overweight men, or you might be looking 
for flashy, young entrepreneurs. The point is that you define who 
your best prospects are at a meeting like that, and then you start 
targeting your efforts so that you make sure you have a chance to 
talk to those people.

Interestingly enough, I was doing a class on networking and 
marketing and working a room for a group of stock brokers who 
happened to be in the Twin Cities for their training. This was when 
the Mall of America first opened. We found out that the Gatlin 
Brothers opened a big Western bar/restaurant/dance floor/live 
dance club in the Mall of America when it first opened in 1992. One 
of the stock brokers challenged me, "OK, you're so good at this, Mr. 
Instructor. I've got two tickets to the grand opening of this Gatlin 
Brothers social event. There are going to be hundred of business 
people there. Why don't you come with me and show me how you 
work a room?"

Well, not being one to back down from a challenge - I thought it 
would be pretty cool anyway - we went there together. In forty-five 
minutes I dug up almost ten good, solid business referrals for 
myself. This guy was absolutely astounded at how well these 
techniques that I'm about to share with you work. In fact, after I 
coached him, as he watched me, he went out and developed three 
or four relationships that night, and one of them turned into a huge 
account for him.

Having said that, what do you do? You scan the room, and then you 
start working from small group to small group, and the best thing 
you can do is go talk to strangers. As I said during the opening of 
the show, that flies in the face of everything you learned when you 
were growing up because your parents said, "Don't talk to 
strangers." Here I am saying, "Go find strangers."

Most people go to meetings like this, and you know what they're 
looking for? They're looking to be in their "comfort zone". This 
means that they get to a meeting, there are hundreds of people, or 
ten people, or fifty people they don't know. And what do these 
people do? I know, you're thinking they do exactly what you do. You 
go find somebody you know because you want to stay in your 
"comfort zone". What I'm saying is get out of your comfort zone and 
go talk to strangers.

Then you might say, "Warren, how do I do that if I'm looking at a 
group of three or four people whose nametags or the way they're 
carrying themselves lead me to believe they'd be great people that I 
should get to know? What do I do? Do I just barge into their 
conversation?"

The answer is no. What you do is go to the group and look for the 
best place to stand. In other words, they're not locking arms 
together. There's going to be some gap. It's usually not a symmetric 
arrangement where people are talking. You get into that group, but 
on the outside, and just stand there politely smiling. As people get 
to know that there's somebody standing there, give them some eye 
contact. Smile at them. Eventually what will happen is that a 
particular conversation will end, or a sentence will end. Someone 
will turn to you and introduce themselves. Or if they just turn to you 
and look, you can start by introducing yourself.

I know this sounds really bizarre and really bold, but I've been doing 
this for decades. I just work my way into a group, stand on the 
fringe, and smile politely with my drink or hors d'oeuvre in my hand, 
and eventually somebody acknowledges me and asks me who I 
am. Or the conversation slows down and I have a chance to 
interject myself, not being too forward, but just starting to get 
involved in the conversation by introducing myself. That's how you 
break into a small group and that's how you're able to talk to perfect 
strangers.

Now, when you're in the group, there's a tendency to talk too much 
about yourself. Anybody who has heard this show before knows I 
stand opposed to that. I like other people to talk about themselves. 
In this particular setting what you do is focus your attention on the 
other people. "Tell me about yourself. What brought you to this 
group tonight? What type of work do you do? Where do you work? 
What do you do there? What are some of the types of products and 
services that you produce or manufacture or distribute? Who are 
some of your customers? What are some of the issues that are 
facing your business? What do you think of the speaker we just 
heard? How's the food here? What's the weather like? How are the 
Cubs going to do this year?"

You basically ask them questions that relate to their own self-
interest. After they're done talking about what's important to them, 
what do you think they're going to do? They're going to ask you 
what you do. And now you have a chance to tell them who you are, 
what you do, whom you're of service to, what type of clients you 
have, or what type of value you provide in the market place. So you 
have chance to tell your story. But the best way to go about it is to 
have the other person tell their story first.

Let's say you find somebody who seems to have a great interest in 
what you're doing. Should you just drop everything, drag them by 
the arm, and spend the next forty-five minutes monopolizing their 
conversation? The answer is no. If you're in a one-on-one situation 
and you talk to someone who has an interest in what you're talking 
about, you say to them, "Hey, this is really great. I'm happy we've 
had a chance to get to know each other briefly at this event this 
evening. I'd like to call you sometime and maybe we can get 
together and talk further about your company and your needs and 
how my firm or my company or my product or solution might be of 
benefit to you. Can I call you next week and look at our calendars 
and see if we can organize an appointment?" They're going to say, 
"Sure." Then you say, "Great. Can we exchange business cards? 
Here's mine." You offer yours and ask them for one of theirs. If they 
don't have one of their cards, that's OK because you've come 
prepared. Remember? You've got your pen and you've got your 
business cards. So you simply take one of your business cards, turn 
it over on the back, and write all their information down, the name, 
the title, the company name, the address, the city, the state, the zip, 
the phone number, and nowadays, the email and the website. After 
you've done that, you say, "Hey, great. I've really enjoyed meeting 
you. I'm sure there are other people you'd like to talk to while you're 
here. I'll make a note to call you next week. Thanks again." And 
then off they go, and what you have a chance to do is go network or 
work the room to find someone else. This is how we do networking. 
This is how we work a room. 

The keys that we talked about are understanding the distinction 
between business and social settings, what to take, how to open 
conversations, the protocol of what to say and what not to say, and 
the point that your objective is just to meet people and look for 
interests. It's not to monopolize people's time and take them away 
from the main reason they're there which is either the business or 
the social setting.



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For free, in-depth information to make you a better sales 
professional, visit my site: http://www.totalselling.com
Warren Wechsler - (888) 778-7335
Helping People and Companies Step up to Excellence since 1987 

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