Networking is a form of prospect “sourcing” that allows you access and exposure to a number of prospects through some arranged medium. This could be an association meeting, a trade show, or otherwise.  It is a true exposure, meaning you are face-to-face with an influencer or potential buyer as opposed to trying to get past a gatekeeper. Networking is also using your contacts, and theirs to meet potential clients. Let’s talk about what networking is and what it can do.

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Networking – The Skill

Networking is also a skill set that can yield strong results efficiently.  Quick reads as to whether someone is receptive during the personal contact will help you determine who is an immediate prospect, and whom you need to work on.

That means that although you do not get benefit of racial anonymity, as a Black sales professional you get a chance to impress and inform. If you are solid and you are armed with some of the items below, the networking introduction might be all you need to secure an appointment.

This document is short and to the point and discusses how to prepare for a networking event.  It gives some great guidance about the process, objectives, and preparations.

Networking – The Activity

Networking is an activity that is casual and non-threatening and takes place in many settings. The forums (associations, chambers, etc.) are designed to make these comfortable and easy places to have relevant business discussions.  I would make the statement that if one does not want to be involved with entrepreneurs and sales representatives, they would never attend such  events.

Here are some examples of networking opportunities that are available to sales representatives:

Local Chamber of Commerce Meetings – There is one for each significant municipality.

Trade Association Meetings – Retailers, construction companies, wholesalers, transportation firms, etc. all have some group they are involved with.

Trade Shows – These are great sources of leads with many designed put a particular trade or industry group in the room with those particular organizations that supply and vend to them.

General Networking Events – Usually pre-arranged ‘Meet and Greets’, business cocktail hours, etc.  Usually sponsored by some organization that stands to benefit from getting local organizations together, these allow for easy face-to-face contact with others and can be profitable, yet are not as focused as the others above.

Your event or forum should be thoroughly investigated to avoid wasting your time.  You might ask a couple of relevant questions:

• How many of your current key clients will be there? They can introduce you to many others, and that is a great way to get credibility and get the immediate referral. Do not be afraid to ask a client to introduce you to some of their peers.
• Does the group have your type of prospect/customer there? Research the group well for your specific target prospect.

Three Minutes of Fame

You only need that brief opportunity, 3 minutes, to be successful if you consider a few very important points:

• Have a solid easy to follow introduction that serves you and your company well.  Practice it!
• Know your ‘elevator speech’, which is your value statement. This is called an ‘elevator speech’ because you have just enough time to tell it between floors to a prospect.
• Have a closing line prepared. This is the one, which gets you further contact or the appointment.
• Have your informational/promotional material to hand out “prepackaged” if possible.
• Keep solid notes and data records.  This is extremely important.

Proper Follow-Up Is the Key

You must do timely and effective follow up to have the whole event be meaningful.  Follow-up with a note or e-mail as soon as is practical.  I prefer a note if possible as I covered in Black Sales Journal 2/3, “Make Yourself Memorable”.

Also follow-up on any promise you have made regarding information or referrals within, or outside, your organization.  Strike while the iron is hot!

Attempt to do these events on a monthly schedule, or try to do one a quarter to increase your scope and prospect base.

Remember as we have said before, be personable and tactical, and you could find yourself sourcing more prospects than you know what to do with.

Give it a try.  Please let us know how it works. You can reach me at Michael.Parker@blacksalesjournal.com.

Make your commitment to be the best!  Last week we talked about the skills and attributes of the very best sales professionals.  This week we take it a little further, and go even deeper!  You can actually change the game.  This post is access to a ton of information that will help you!

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We continue to revisit this important topic on an in-depth basis.  This is where the differences are made!

In Part I we took an in-depth look at the traits of the Ultimate Sales Professional. If you missed it, you can access it by clicking here: Black Sales Journal 3/23, The Ultimate Sales Professional – Is it You?.

Part I looked at the traits that made this individual so highly desirable for sales managers and customers alike. Part II will look at the activities, which set this individual, apart. I am not saying that by doing these items you will be the ultimate sales professional, but it will be well on the way.

These activities exceed the norm for many sales professionals. Being Black and in sales means you have to always be on top of your game.   This group of actions is not over the top. These items represent what one must do to be the ‘best of breed’.  This is a chance to see how these items, applied well, can make an individual the crème de la crème of sales professionals.

Activities of Sourcing Prospects

Finding that next customer is something every sales professional has to think about on a daily basis.  This activity is the most important activity a sales professional will ever have. If you have this activity solved, you are well on the way to professional success.  This is the way the ultimate sales professionallooks at sourcing prospects:

• Know Your Prospecting Formula and Ratios. This individual, the ultimate sales professional, knows how many prospects he or she really needs to be successful (Black Sales Journal 2/28, How Many Prospects Do You Really Need). This sales professional grades his or her prospects and recognizes how much time to spend on those with the highest grades while at the same time knows the ratios and law of large numbers.
• Be accomplished at getting past the gatekeeper. This professional knows how to get past the gatekeeper and when that does not work as desired, knows how to get around the gatekeeper (Black Sales Journal 2/17, Getting Past the Gatekeeper).  Using these techniques on the phone and in person swells the prospect numbers creating a cache of potential proposals that his/her colleagues covet.
• Be resourceful in the prospecting process. This individual knows how to get prospects in ways other than cold calling.  An example of it is that the ultimate sales professional finds prospects by conducting informational seminars not only for the benefit a customer/prospect, and also for his/her own benefit in finding ready-to-buy customers (See Black Sales Journal 3/24, Finding Prospects Through a Seminar).
• Be an adept networker. This individual is solid in the art of networking. He or she knows that being at the right function with the right people can net leads beyond the normal cold-call.  This was explained in depth in Black Sales Journal 2/21, Networking for the Black Sales Professional.   The effective networking undertaken efficiently will pay dividends when the time is right.

Now that we know the rudiments of how this resourceful individual will find that necessary and continuing stream of prospects that turn to customers, lets take a look at how this individual works with customers.

The Customer Interface – Master It!

Once you have a valued customer, you must recognize that even though the customer can represent a lasting stream of income, almost an annuity, they also require “care and feeding”.  I know that this sounds somewhat abstract, yet think of it this way, and you will also be able to relate it to some things that you need to do on a continual basis.

The Ultimate Sales Professional does this extremely well.  Let’s look at a few of his tactics:

• Write ‘personal’ notes and cards to your customers. Show your appreciation. These notes do things that emails and phone calls cannot possibly do.  They show class and they make you memorable.  (Black Sales Journal 2/3, Make Yourself Memorable – An Important Task for The Black Sales Professional)
• Listen intently to your customers. Know and understand the importance and give full attention.  You will hear things that others don’t hear, and your solutions will begin to show your insight.  Your customers know when you are listening.  (Black Sales Journal 4/14, Are You Listening to Your Customers?)
• Ask your customers for feedback. This professional knows that consistent communication will solves problems and promotes good will.  Asking “How am I doing?”, is a good way to find out if you are giving value. (Black Sales Journal 4/28, Should You Ask Your Customer for Feedback?)
• Covet your most important customers. Never surrender them through neglect or take them for granted.  There are eight (8) activities in B2b and B2P that will make a difference.  Know them and work them well.  If you are coveting your best customers, there are other sales professionals doing the same thing.  (Black Sales Journal 4/11, “Wall Off” Your Most Important Customers)
• Deliver solutions, and then sell. Formulate solutions for your customers.   If you are selling a product, and not solutions, you may win, yet not as often as the professional, who gives the necessary forethought to solving the problem, then delivers a cogent solution to a needy customer.  (Black Sales Journal 6/20, Deliver Solutions, Then Sell!)

Don’t forget the customer relationship issues discussed in the last post, as these points beckon stronger, more durable, relationships that are founded on value.  (Black Sales Journal 7/15, The Ultimate Sales Professional Part I)

More To Come

Knowing the activities and customer interface techniques that the best would need to be accomplished, you can now rest assured that it does not stop here.  Black sales professionals should embody these traits as your quest for ‘preference’ in the eyes of a buyer is riddled with inequities, including the fact that you will need to be better than your peers.   In the next post Part III (which will post on Thursday 6/13, we will examine the other elements that pull it all together.  Join us as we discuss “where the differences are made!”

Let me know how you receive these and whether the picture is getting clear.

Your comments are welcome. You can reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.