We already talked about how important it was for us to remember the people we speak with at a networking event. Using their name and, in particular, the name they choose to go by, will really help us stand out amongst the networking crowd.
So, here’s another quick tip: Help them remember us.
We’ve all been in the situation where someone walks up to us and acts as if we’ve met them before. Unfortunately, our brain doesn’t click in with the name or any other identifying information and we end up either grinning like an idiot while we wait for the person to stop talking and leave or swallowing our pride and admitting that we’ve forgotten their name. That never feels good, right?
So don’t make someone else feel that way if you can help it.
When you follow up after the event, give them a little reminder as to who you are. “Hi, Bob. This is Greg Peters. I sat next to you at the Chamber lunch on Wednesday. We had that great discussion about your upcoming travels in Thailand.”
If you bump into them at a different networking event, again, help them out as much as you can. The more specific you can be about the details, the likelier it will be that they will remember you.
You are not trying to get them to remember your business or your product or even that they said they had a million dollar contract for you. Your goal is just to make them feel a lot more comfortable to be around you. The rest of that stuff will take care of itself. Suddenly, you aren’t that guy who looks kind of familiar, but rather you are a close acquaintance who is well on the way to becoming a friend.
Now, are you going to be able to do this every time? Not likely. Heck, I’d be telling a real whopper if I said I remembered every single person I ever met at a networking event. Even so, the better you can be at this, the faster you can grow strong connections within your network.
And strong connections are what leads to success in business and in life.
Photo credit: Henk L
