I’m sure that you already follow up the people you’ve met at networking events by an invitation to join your LinkedIn network.  But if you just use the standard invitation saying “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” you’re missing something.  Everyone knows that’s the same invitation that they get from all the other people – but I thought you were different.  When I met you, I thought that we’d had a good chat and got on well, not that you’d send me the same template email that everyone else uses.

It’s much more pleasant, and takes about 30 seconds longer, to say something specific in your LinkedIn invitation.  Mention what we talked about, when we met, what made you think of me.

Although I work with many different types of businesses, there are several issues which clients experience time and time again, and I’m going to share these with you so you can apply them in your business.

Sometimes I’ll find myself saying this one several times in one day to different people.

“You might find it helpful to set some targets for your business.”

Now of course this sounds completely obvious (like many things I find myself repeating) but it surprises me how many businesses have only the vaguest targets.

Without a set of targets, you’ve no idea whether you’re doing well or not.

If you haven’t aimed for something, you don’t know if you’ve hit the right thing. Imagine a darts player just throwing the darts at the wall of the pub, with no dartboard. You’d imagine that he’s a madman, just throwing darts randomly – surely that’s dangerous?

There’s something strange about the act of setting targets for your business. When you set a target, as long as it’s realistic, you’re pretty likely to achieve it. Some people who have discovered this effect have thought that there’s something magical about it, something caused by the power of thought. But there’s nothing magical about it –

You’re more likely to achieve an explicity target if it looks like you’re not going to reach the target, you’ll do something about it.

If you’re selling shoes and you’ve been told that each day you need to sell £500 worth of shoes, and by 2 o’clock in the afternoon you’ve only put £65 through the till, you’ll know that you’d better be nice to the customers and sell some shoes. You’d pay attention. But if you think of your job as just standing around and making sure that no one steals the Jimmy Choos, it will be a different story.

Setting targets focuses your attention on what you need to do.

If you know that you need to do more networking, set yourself a target for how many networking meetings you’re going to go to each month, and how many catch up coffees you’re going to have with people who might send business your way. If you know that you need to get more clients of a particular kind, make that your target. If you have something which consistently gets pushed out of the way because other things are more important, then make sure it’s on your target list.

I’ll write another, more technical, article soon about how you set targets, and how to monitor them, but get thinking about what targets your business needs to set and reach.

I’m a big fan of networking to build your business.  I’ve written about how to get started with networking, what to expect when you go to a networking group, and here’s a list of which business networking groups to go along to in Brighton.

So here I want to go over a few things not to do when you’re trying to build your networks and make friends with people, especially when you’re at a business networking event.

While it’s great to follow up and say hi after you’ve met someone, it’s really not a good idea to send this “damning with faint praise” email.

“Just a short follow-up note to say what a pleasure it was to meet you at the BHCC Breakfast on Friday.  Your work sounds interesting and I will bear you in mind for those of my clients who could be in need of your type of service.” I’m really not expecting any referrals from this guy, who has obviously sent the same email to everyone he met that morning, and possibly everyone he has ever met in his whole life, including his mum.

Then there are the people who “work the room” and collect as many cards as they possibly can, without taking any real interest in anyone, and certainly not making any friends.  If you can meet 3 people and have a genuine conversation with each of them, then you’ve had a successful event. Networking is about making relationships, not collecting people like they were football stickers for your album.

And there’s the people who are talking to me, but make it clear that they’re desperately trying to find someone less boring.  If you’re looking out for someone in particular at an event, why not ask the person you’re talking to help you find them. They might be able to introduce you, or help you out with this.  And if I really am boring (I know I can go on about the joy of spreadsheets) and you want to move on, then just say “Shall we mingle?”  Don’t just keep looking over your shoulder for someone better.

When someone offers you their card, please don’t refuse to take it, as I saw someone do to a friend of mine recently.  This guy thought he was doing my pal a favour, as he didn’t want to take a card unnecessarily, but he ended up being ridiculed by me, and upsetting my friend.  You can always throw it away later (although you never know if that person might be useful, so I wouldn’t) but there’s really no need to be rude.  Think about how you might feel if someone did that to you – it wouldn’t feel good.

If you’re desperate to sell something, then please don’t be so very obviously desperate.  The whole point of this networking thing is to make friends with people who may buy from you or encourage their friends to buy from you.   If you rush round telling people about your product, or shoving leaflets at people, they will be disinclined to buy from you, even if you’ve got the cure for cancer ready to be dispensed.

Right, that’s enough ranting about poor behaviour for now…I shall be watching out for more dodgy techniques and will probably rant some more.  Feel free to add your comments about what not to do at networking events.