I often recommend that my business support clients build their networks to build a strong set of relationships with potential customers and referrers. Sometimes this can be done simply by joining a networking group and getting involved so people know who you are – that’s been my strategy in getting so involved with the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce.

Sometimes though, your customers aren’t on your doorstep, or they’re more difficult to reach. If you’re selling to corporates, or in a specialised area, you need a more in depth strategy. And even if you are building up a good network around you, you still need to be able to target the right people.

Target Sign by Mr T in DC

So here are some ideas on how to do that:

Who do you want to meet?

Often we’re networking for the sake of networking. This can be good because of course the person you meet at a business breakfast may have a cousin who is married to someone at the BBC who is looking for the expert to host a show about how to grow businesses, which is going to transform your career forever. Do let me know if your cousin’s wife works at the BBC and is looking for that person.

My point is that random connections can work really well. If you have a group of people who like you, understand what it is that you do, and want to recommend you, you’ll probably do well. But sometimes we need a bit more structure to make this work.

The first step is to be very clear about who you want to meet. Who are the decision makers who are going to give you the sale? Which companies do you want to meet with? You need a hit list, either of specific individuals (usually for high value sales of 50k+) or the types of people, e.g. HR Directors of companies with more than 350 employees.

Where do they hang out?

You need to find out where these people are likely to be. Consider specialist trade conferences, seminars and training events, private members clubs, geographically specific networking groups. Dig deep into your target sectors and find out where the people on your hit list are likely to be. You can use LinkedIn to find specific people, and then find out who could introduce you to them, or find LinkedIn groups which have these people in them.

And ask. This is where your slightly more random network of people comes in really handy. Last year a client needed to find people who worked at Virgin in their sponsorship department, and when I asked around, someone I knew put me in touch with the very chap I needed.

Create something

If there are not really groups or networks which your target market decision makers are part of, or if you can’t get into those networks, consider creating something. I’ve worked with a couple of clients who have created networks or seminars for the people they want to work with. They’ve done this as pro bono work, seeing it as an investment in the future. And sure enough, after a little while, my clients have been able to create some good relationships, and then say, Oh, by the way, we’ve got this thing… would you be interested in buying it? Large cheques have followed.

The lessons

• Work out where the people you want to meet will be, online and offline
• Find a way to get there
• If you can’t find them, create a space where they will come
• And ask people for specific introductions to the right kinds of people

Other posts on networking for business success

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Other articles on networking include:

Which business networking groups in Brighton and Sussex are right for you

A more general guide to getting going with business networking

Using LinkedIn for business

A couple of days ago someone wanted to give me some feedback about the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce breakfast event that morning. I’m President of the Chamber, so I always want to hear what people have to say.

The main point from this guy was that he didn’t feel that there was enough time for networking at these events. In case you haven’t been to one of our breakfasts, the format is that everyone comes in at 7:45, has coffee and pastries and circulates and chats for about 30 minutes, then we sit down and have breakfast. After breakfast there’s a speaker for about 15 – 20 minutes, usually someone who is talking about their own business journey and passing on some ideas and inspiration. By 9:30, we close the meeting and some people go off to work, and some people hang on and have a bit more chat.

Mr Feedback’s problem was that he didn’t get to meet enough people. What he wanted to do was meet as many people as possible, see if they wanted to buy anything from him, and if not, then move on to the next person. This is called working the room.

My experience

For me, this is a real misconception about networking. I had been at the same breakfast that morning, and I’d spoken to Peter, Rosie, Toby, Rebecca, Rebecca’s friend, Robert and Mark.

I’d said hello to about half a dozen more people, and I’d been able to get hold of the guy that Rebecca wanted to speak to and send him over to her. For me, this is plenty enough people for one event. I want to be able to have in depth conversations with people, and to say hi (therefore reminding them of my existence) to others. I don’t know if there will be any direct business benefit to me from going to particular breakfast, but I know that I learnt some interesting things from the talk, found out something new about Robert which might be of use to one of my clients, and that I had fun. Again, that’s plenty, and well worth the twelve quid.

The risk of working the room

If you work the room, your desire to separate the wheat from the chaff means that you risk offending the people you discard. Those people are not going to want to be your friends.

Very few of us sell anything the first time we meet someone, especially if you sell services (this doubles if you sell complex service). So if someone doesn’t want to buy right now, make sure that you establish a good relationship with them, because they might want to buy later. And of course, they might not want to ever buy from you, but you want them to remember you and like you, because you want them to recommend you to their aunt’s boyfriend’s best friend, who does want to buy whatever you’re selling.

Don’t be a doggie

The other risk with working the room is that you can look needy. You’re like a doggie, sniffing each person to see who is going to give you the money. And no one is going to trust you or buy anything if you appear to be desperate.

Don’t be tempted to work the room – networking is a long term game, with big potential results. Some of the people who have done me the biggest favours in business have been people who I’ve known for years, and who are very unlikely themselves to be my clients, but I’ve got to know them and they’ve been incredibly helpful, recommending potential clients, setting up speaking opportunities (where I do meet potential clients) and media opportunities. You only need a handful of great people like this to make the difference.

I’ve already written about using LinkedIn for business and this article is great for people who are just starting out with LinkedIn. Now I want to talk about using LinkedIn as one of your essential tools to really lift your business, and help you make the most of your networking.

You can use LinkedIn as a business development tool in many different ways. Here are the three I want to concentrate on here:

• Developing your status as an expert and a lovely person
• Reach out with your brand
• More direct business development

Developing your status as an expert and a lovely person

I’m assuming that you have already given some thought to your profile, and that you’re keeping it up to date. Lovely photo, you look good there, by the way.

The next thing to do is to develop a good number of testimonials on your LinkedIn profile page. I just had a look at a handful of my LinkedIn contacts, and they averaged 3 recommendations, which is not enough to form a decision on. 3 recommendations looks a little half hearted. Potential clients will be looking at your LinkedIn profile, and trying to decide if you’re the person they should work with. So you need to make sure that other people are telling them that they should give you lots of money. LinkedIn is the perfect place to get people to write good things about you.

Remember that you want a good handful of recommendations, don’t be one of those people that have hundreds of recommendations as no one will ever read them, and it’s either going to look like complete overkill, or like you’ve spent your life asking people to recommend you. I have 20 on my page, which is more than enough to tell you that I’m one of the good guys.

Reach out with your brand

You want people in your network to remember you, understand what you do, and think well of you. That way, they will recommend you, buy from you and create opportunities. And LinkedIn can be a fantastic tool for reminding people of who you are, and getting a chance to get your brand in front of some new people.

If you’ve only really been using LinkedIn as an online cv, and a way of collecting some contacts, you’ll probably have missed some of the great new features they’ve been adding. Have a look around at some of the LinkedIn groups and work out which ones apply to you, and are relatively active. By joining up, you’ll be able to see what other people are up to, and learn what’s going on. It’s better to lurk a little first to get the hang of things, and then start joining in debates or helping out with referrals and advice.

More direct business development

One of the things I often recommend to clients is to put together a hit list of the people they want to work with – your target clients. I’ve just done this with a client who wants to sell to businesses based in Brighton who do business outside the city, for example. We’ve now got a spreadsheet of names to start contacting. Now, I wouldn’t advise using LinkedIn to contact these people – you need to be a lot more subtle than that in your hunt. However, LinkedIn is invaluable in finding the people you want, and getting lots of interesting information about them.

Maybe you know that you want to sell something to Giraffe Ltd. You know from their website that Mr Frog works there. So you look up Mr Frog on LinkedIn, and find out that he used to work for Hippo Ltd, and where your friend Ms Lioness still works. So not only do you know exactly what Mr Frog and Giraffe Ltd do, and that he is the right person to talk to, you can also ask Ms Lioness to either introduce you, or if this isn’t appropriate (maybe Ms Lioness doesn’t know him that well) she can give you some more really valuable information, such as does he like phone or email, or where does he hang out.

This approach only works well if you’re looking for high value business to business sales, but in this area LinkedIn can be a remarkable tool.