Keys to Successful Offline Networking

Offline networking has the powerful advantage of face-to-face opportunity. Compared with online networking, offline networking has the potential to be faster, and more effective.

It still takes time. The critical factor of networking is always building relationships. And that is something that just cannot be hurried.

I’ve heard people tell me they joined a Chamber of Commerce so they could gain marketing benefits. Then they quit it, because it didn’t do their business any good. When asked what they did with their membership, they say they did nothing.  No wonder it didn’t work!

Our local chambers have been some of our most powerful marketing dollars. We get contracts from them. But we don’t just sit around waiting for referrals.

We got to know the chamber leadership. We made ourselves useful to them – offered small things free. We attend Business After Hours, we volunteer to teach classes. We get out of our own comfort zone, and shake hands when we’d really rather stand in the corner.

We set up a booth at local events. We make sure we leave people with something, even if it is only a business card.

Twice, we’ve gone beating the streets, dropping cards and brochures at local businesses.

We’ve taught classes through the University Enrichment Program. And we’ve done other things to develop a local reputation.

I also attend local Women’s Roundtable meetings once a month – I didn’t just go once, I keep going. And I keep introducing myself.

Offline networking is very powerful once you get the hang of it. It is really about two things:

1. Meeting people and getting to know them. You develop relationships with people, and become friends. It takes time to get past the initial suspicion in networking circles – they won’t trust you as a friend until they know for sure that there is more to you than an advertising tagline.
2. Let them know what you do – not in a pushy way, but matter of fact. “Hi, I’m Laura, I am co-owner of Firelight Web Studio.” My business is part of who I am, so I just include it when I say my name. I wear a nametag – a custom one, not handwritten – that also announces my name. When I leave someone with something, it has my name on it also, and my company name. My business is part of me, and I want them to think of it along with me. I don’t get obnoxious about it, it is like the sig line at the bottom of an email – it is just THERE, if you choose to pay attention, but I don’t beat them over the head with it.

Over time, as you KEEP showing up, and keep doing things, it sinks in. You become part of the fabric of the business community. That takes repeat appearances though.

There are a HUGE number of companies that come and go. They show up, and then disappear. People do not remember them, and networking circles go right on without them. So when you show up for the first time, people welcome you, and then promptly forget about you. They’ll dismiss you completely and not even consider you, even if they have that very need the next week.

Why do they do that, when you just told them what a new and neat thing you do?

Because you have not proven yourself. They won’t take you seriously until you do! You have to KEEP showing up. You have to be there, with a smart answer, whenever they have a question. You have to show up where they think you ought to be more often than you are absent. THEN they remember you. Then they know you take your business seriously, and they’ll admit you to the circle of “real businesses”. If you don’t do that, they won’t bother – because they can see that you don’t bother.

Half of networking offline is BEING there. And this is the real advantage over online networking. You can visit a forum and be a lurker, and nobody will ever know you are there. If you just SHOW UP at a networking function, someone will eventually notice you, and introduce themselves. Just by being there each time, you gain ground, and learn to make it work. Pretty cool!

Find a networking venue. And then BE THERE!