It’s all over in 60 Seconds, or is it?

Networking is the new “Black” for the SME Business.

Or at least, it is the most popular Marketing Tool for the Micro to Small Business. Many try to make a living by utilising ONLY Networking, though only a few succeed with any degree of real success. In this article we will consider how one aspect of Networking, ‘The 60 Second Introduction’, can help to generate high quality sales enquiries.

What are you an expert in?

The key to success from Networking is Building Relationships. To do this you must firstly understand what you are an expert in and be able to explain your product or service in simple, understandable and memorable ways.

You would assume someone in business would know what they are an expert in. However, this is not the case in many cases. I’m a Life Coach! Or I’m a Training Facilitator. Maybe even ‘We provide Engineering Consultancy Services’. To the expert these terms and Job Descriptions tell everyone what they do. However, to everyone else they only tell us what ‘Industry’ they are members of and do very little to help us understand what they actually do.

The title, ‘Plumber’ may well tell someone that you fix leaks but that may not be the type of work you specialise in. A Plumber I know fits the plumbing into ‘New Build’ Properties, and that is ALL they do. So if I gave them a lead to install a Washing Machine for a family member they would not thank me. They are geared to fitting the plumbing in to 20, 30, 50 or 100 Houses on a new Housing Estate being built. They are so good at it they can fit 3 houses in the time it takes a general purpose plumber to fit just one house. Consequently they have contracts all around the U.K. for some of the largest builders in the country.

So before you go to your first Network Meeting, spend some time thinking about ‘what you are an expert in’. Look at it from your point of view and then look at it from your client’s point of view. Remember, people buy for their reasons not yours. You need to consider your business in terms of what it can do for your clients. ‘We provide Sales Training Seminars’ is an explanation of my services, from my point of view. ‘By attending my Training Seminars you will be in better position to convert more sales enquiries to sales than you ever thought possible’, is an explanation of my services from your prospective.

People ONLY buy after they have a positive answer to their question “What’s in it for me?”

Build a Relationship!

We all know the story of the race between the Tortoise and the Hare, and we should consider that message for all of our Networking. Networking is NOT about closing on the day; it is ALL about building Trust, Friendship and Understanding.

· Trust - No one will do business with you if they do not trust you or your business. After all, you would not do business with anyone you did not trust!
· Friendship - We all PREFER to do business with people we know and like, rather than strangers or people we do not like.
· Understanding - No one can do business with you unless they KNOW what you do. I don’t mean what you can tell them in 60 seconds. The 60 second speil is to get people to say “Tell me more”. In 60 seconds you can only ever give a superficial overview, whereas for someone to give you money; they need to really understand what you do and WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR THEM!

So how do we use our 60 second slot?

Many in business may be great at delivering their product or service but may not be great orators or sales people. So don’t try to sell and don’t try to give a great speech. Simply spend some time with friends and tell them about your business. Remember if you network every week you have nearly an hour over the course of a year to explain to your fellow networkers what you do and how they can help you. And that’s only within the 60 Second Slot. Utilise other time in the meeting to discuss yours and their business so that they understand what you do and you understand what they do.

As a result many business people fear the 60 second slot to tell their fellow Networker’s what they do. Do we need to develop an Elevator Pitch that sums up everything we do and a “Killer” ‘Follow on Question’ or is there another way?
Tell a story, spread over a number of weeks, that gives a deeper understanding of what your business does and how it has helped other people/businesses.

Lets take an example to show what I mean.

The Business: A Same Day Courier Service to collect and delivery anything from a parcel to a number of pallets from anywhere in Europe to anywhere in Europe.

Week 1: Good Morning, my name is Keith Ayres from KAA Couriers. “We deliver your promises!”

We have drivers across the UK and into Europe who are waiting to collect and deliver what ever you have promised.

It could be … “A Tender that has to be in London by 10.00 am tomorrow” – A promise not to charge you for the delivery if we fail is not a guarantee TNT!
It may be … “Labels that must be in Nottingham as quickly as possible, to ensure that a Production Line does not stop” – Tomorrow may be too late!
Or even … “Components that will allow your client to fulfil his promise to his client, and they must be in Copenhagen tomorrow.” – A Happy client is worth a thousand promises.

So if you promise your clients that something will be somewhere at a particular time, call KAA Couriers because …

… “We deliver your promises!”

Week 2: Good Morning, my name is Keith Ayres from KAA Couriers. “We deliver your promises!”

I want to tell you about a delivery we did for a client recently that may help you to understand what we do.

A major Financial Institution had to deliver a cheque to The Financial Services Authority tomorrow afternoon. The cheque was in Manchester and the person who was going to deliver it was in Exeter, and the FSA was in Peterborough. The cheque was for £2,000,000!

The Client wanted the person in Exeter to have the cheque by 6.00 am.

So what happened? We collected everything at 11.00 pm when it was finally ready. Our driver set off with plenty of time to get to Exeter well before 6.00 am. However, just north of Birmingham he was involved in a serious accident due to Black Ice on the Road. The Van was a write off, though the driver was fine.

We pulled in a driver from Birmingham to collect the cheque from our driver and to deliver to Exeter. We were now pressed for time. After communication with the person in Exeter we met them at the Train Station.

Cheque and Client were united and they delivered in Peterborough ON TIME.

At 9.00 am we told the client what had happened.

So if you want a company that ACTUALLY “… delivers your promises!” call KAA Couriers.

Week 3: Good Morning, my name is Keith Ayres from KAA Couriers. “We deliver your promises!” .............

Now you can add another story. Don’t be afraid to give what seems like a negative story providing you bring it back to why they should do business with you. Everyone makes mistakes but a good business can be differentiated from a bad company based upon how they deal with their failures and how they plan their operation to minimise mistakes.

Whilst your company and its services or products may be totally different than KAA Couriers I’m sure you can develop stories from your company. Talking about what actually happened in your business life as a way to inform listeners to help them to decide to do business with you takes it away from a “TALK” to a chat with friends. Terror can be reduced.

Remember to talk about what the prospective customer gets and less about what you offer. Stories do just this and your listeners will be able to understand what it would be like to do business with you. This will take away the fear of doing business with a new company as they will almost feel like a customer before they ever part company with any money.

Keith A Ayres
ClarityClarity

Turn your 60 second slot into a chat with friends to reduce the terror element.