Business events can be nerve wracking things, especially if you’re not used to putting yourself out there. You’re taking yourself and your business off to a conference or trade show where it’s going to be scrutinised by every single person that walks by, and you’re supposed to be able to accept that, and work with it?
It’s a hard thing to do, and it’s something people struggle with all the time when it comes to networking and making a name for yourself, but it’s important, and there are some great ways to make an impression. The business world is filled to the brim with hard decisions and even harder work to do to see them come to fruition, and this could be a great place to start for both you and your business.
So in the interest of ensuring you make the right impression at your next business event, we’ve listed a few of the best below for you to have a look into. It’s time to see if they can work for your business, and if you can come up with the confidence to ensure you can pull them off. Don’t worry, more people fake it til they make it than you first realise.
Research the Attendees
Before you attend any kind of business event, it’s good to do your research. Find out a bit more about the people who are inviting you along, and how long the event has been going for, and most of all, who else is going to be turning up on that 3 day weekend. Because when you know who you’re going to be networking amongst, you can prepare yourself much better, and learn how to pitch yourself right in order to appeal to them personally.
Which means you’re going to have to find an attendee list or two, or keep up to date with news alerts surrounding the event’s name on the internet. You should be able to find most of the confirmed attendees on the event’s website itself, or if you’re invited along and have accepted already, you can email the organisers to ask for more information on who’s coming along too.
Once you’ve got your hands on the attendees list, or you know who’s going to be going along thanks to your connections on sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook, it’s time to think about who you’re out to impress. Because if you’re going to come up with an elevator pitch, you need to know who it’s best to pitch it to!
Know Your Elevator Pitch Inside Out
Following on from the point above, the elevator pitch you’re going to give needs to be prepared in advance, and extremely flexible to use. Simply put, you need to know it inside and out. When you do, you won’t ever mess it up, and you won’t ever feel like you’re winging things from the sidelines - you’ll have something to say, and you’ll be able to say it confidently.
The first thing to do is to come up with an introduction; you need to explain who you are, how pleased you are to meet this new person, and you need to be clear and concise about this. Be friendly in your demeanor, stay open, and get to know the body language you’re going to be putting across!
Then it’s time to explain what you do. Now this is the section people find hard to write most of the time, and find it even harder to get down to 50 or so words. You don’t want to bore or overwhelm the person you’re talking to. So, ask yourself some questions, and write down on a piece of paper everything that comes to mind. Where have you come from? What do you do on a daily basis? What are you trained in? What experiences are under your belt? Once you’ve got answers to these questions, it’s time to string them together in a way that flows, and in as short a sentence as you can fit them into.
Then it’s time to present what you want from the person you’re talking to. You’re not doing this out of the good of your heart - you’re in business, and whoever you’re talking to will know this, and expect a proper expectation and/or call to action from you. Make sure you include something you know they or their company does well that’s relevant to what you do, and then ask for what you want. Even just asking if you can call them will go down well here.
Paint Your Brand Everywhere
The brand you’re going out there to represent needs to be your number one priority. After all, you wouldn’t be booked to attend this event without it, and you need to bring attention to it, to ensure you build a customer base and some proper recognition in the right circles.
Which means you need to paint your brand everywhere - hopefully you’ve got a logo to print on the front or the side of everything your employees are wearing, as well as on the vehicles you turn up in, and the booth you end up putting together on the trade show floor.
Don’t worry, it’s much easier to make sure your brand is in as many places as it can be than you might first think. It’s very easy to cast an oversight here and miss a couple of prime placements, but if you visit websites like the one right here, you’ll be able to get into the swing of branding yourself just right.
Remember, if we want to get to know a brand, and we want to recognise their image, we need to see their logo, name, or message about 5 times (and preferably 7 times) before we think about buying with them. Keep this rule to heart if you’re thinking your branding efforts are a bit too much, or that you’ll be annoying anyone attending the event with you.
Give Yourself the Opportunity to Follow Up
Once you’ve presented a call to action to someone, you need to follow up on this. So, before you forget, write down a note about everyone you’ve promised to call or text, and make sure you have their contact details safe and secure somewhere on your person.
This is why a call to action within your elevator pitch is so important - it gives you the opportunity to follow up with a person or a company, and ensures you get the right details to get in contact with them. It’s all about securing a personal phone number, or the email address of a department head themselves.
Then, give yourself a schedule to work off of. Make sure you call or email someone on the day you promised, or within the timeframe you’d assured them you’d be in touch, to ensure they continue to think they’ve made the right first impression of you. You won’t to fulfill their expectations here, in such a small and simple way that carries a lot of impact.
Can You Make a Good Impression?
Of course you can, as long as you prepare accordingly, and know who you’re attending a business event with. Get to know the people around you to strengthen your networking abilities, make your brand stand big and tall, and always have something to follow up with. Even if you only leave with a couple of numbers in your pocket, it still means you made a good impression on someone!
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