Maybe you are a morning person. You could be a nigh owl. Maybe you are your most energetic somewhere in the middle. Back in university, I liked sleeping in until 10AM but would start writing papers at 11PM after my roommates went to bed (or were out on the town). It took me the first two years of university before I realized that I didn’t have to attend 8AM classes. Knowing my natural ‘power hours’ was one of the most important things I did during my educational years.

In business, it’s the same. If you are tapped out by 5PM and can’t face anything other than take out and American Idol, let alone a networking event, then don’t book to go to networking events after 5. There is an abundance of network building opportunities throughout the day. In Seattle, there are networking events that happen at 6AM and 7AM. Then others at 1130AM through to 2PM. There are also a lot of after work events (5PM on). I travel from city to city and there are litearally dozens of events each week at each time of the day. I used to be a night own, but now, I like the morning events. I’m the person that at 5PM, I’m ready to head home and hang up the briefcase.

If you think you have to get up early but are dragging your butt, that’s going to show. If you have put in a full day and then show up for a cocktail party at 730AM wishing you were in bed, others are going to know. Business development is about showing yourself in the best light at the best time of day. You don’t want to be out and about feeling 50% (either too tired to show well or not having fully come awake yet.) Decide when you are at your best and look at events that support that time. If you aren’t feeling 100%, you are wasting the opportunity to connect with prospective clients, colleagues, referral partners, champions and strategic alliances.

Square peg in a square hole. Make time serve you rather than you serving time.

All the best,

Chris.

www.GhostCEO.com

Building on the last post regarding market research, let’s get a bit more strategic in our thinking and have a look at the competition. At networking events, you can find out a lot about those that share your market space.

I actually prefer talking to the clients of competitors rather than the competitors themselves, because you get information that is less guarded. Keep in mind, sometimes your competition might not be another person or company. It might be an online resource, a book, or some other tool that people are using instead of you. For travel agents, their competition might be Expedia.com For researchers, their competition might be Google or Wikipedia. Regardless, finding out where you are positioned compared to other services in your space is crucial to keeping ahead of the curve.

Here are some questions I might ask at a networking event:

1. Is you company offering any professional development for your female staff?
2. If so, who are you using?
3. Is it working for you? Measurable results?
4. How long have you been using it?
5. Are the staff responsive?
6. How is it effecting the bottom line of the company?
7. What parts of the current program do you most enjoy?
8. What parts are missing or would you like changed?
9. Is there any wiggle room to look at other options?
10. How is this work budgeted for? Do staff pay. Does the company pay? Is there a certain amount of money set aside for each employee?

You can start to find out what is happening in the market. From this information, you can see where you fit and where you don’t. Remember to give a business card after the interaction and offer to be of service. You never know when someone, dissatisfied with service, may make a change if given the option.

Best,

Chris.

Networking functions are a great place to find out what is happening in the market. Like all the tools in your networking arsenal, it is necessary to do some pre-planning prior to attending events to decide what information you want to find out. Thousands of dollars are spent by companies every year trying to identify market trends. You can do this for free (or the cover minimum to attend the event) and get the information in real time.

Let’s use, for example, marketing as a platform that you want to gather information. You own a travel agency. You want to know how to best market to people and when to send information. You also want to know how people like to receive information and how often. Some of your questions might be:

1. How many trips do you take a year? How many are business and how many pleasure?
2. Do you travel alone or with someone?
3. Do you book your own travel or does someone else do it?
4. How do you decide where you are going? Do you go to the same places over and over again or to new destinations?
5. When considering travel, do you do your research online, prefer a physical catalogue, or meet in person with a travel agent?
6. How far out do you book your travel? Weeks before or the same time each year?

These of course are just sample questions, but you can learn a lot of valuable information from the market as a whole by asking these questions and keeping track of common responses. When you know what people want, you are better able to supply them with relevant and information in the format that fits for them.

Don’t forget to hand out your business card after the questions and offer to be of service. Aside from collecting data, it’s a great time to position yourself as a resource for them.

Best,

Chris.