Beginners' guide to networking for salon owners.
Monday 2nd January 2023
If you want to be successful in business, you need to surround yourself with other successful people and thought-leaders from your industry.
The quality of your business relationships can make a huge difference to the growth of your business and one of the easiest ways to grow your contacts and build relationships is through networking events.
networking is really just chatting - and we all like a chat right?
However, to many people, the idea of networking can be intimidating. For some people, the very word conjures up frightening images of standing alone in a room where everyone else seems to know each other and you feel like you don’t belong!
But essentially, at its most fundamental level, networking is just chatting – and we’re all capable having a chat, especially if the topic of conversation is your own industry, or more specifically your business, right?.
Mixing with like-minded professionals allows you to chat at peer-level and learn from the ideas employed by these people who face similar business challenges to you on a day-to-day basis.
So how do you learn the art of networking?
For the purposes of this article, I think it’s safe to assume that you know the strengths and virtues of your own business and can talk about them effortlessly, but the challenge is how to start the conversation without coming across as pushy or ‘salesy’ or even needy.
an unusual icebreaker
In these circumstances, what you need is an icebreaker; a simple way to casually open a conversation so that you can build rapport before you shift into business talk, and I found a neat little trick – a saying actually - which helps me keep a series of topics at the front of my mind in these situations.
This rather unusual saying is, “It’s Raining Chinese Dogs”.
Before you think I’ve lost my mind, let me elaborate. This saying encapsulates three of the most common conversational topics that pop up everywhere, all over the world.
- It’s raining = The weather. Who hasn’t complained about, or rejoiced about the weather on any given day? I’m assuming most of the readers of this will be British and what do we Brits talk about more than the weather?
- Chinese = take-away food, or just food in general. We all have a favourite cuisine/ restaurant or dish and using this can be a great conversation starter.
- Dogs = Pets in general. The Brits are famously dog lovers, and every dog owner will have an amusing anecdote to share about their pooch. But it may be cats, or rabbits, or exotic reptiles that take your fancy and you will undoubtedly have an story to share which will allow you to start chatting.
So, having opened the conversation, it’s much easier to transition into business talk, and if you show interest in your networking partners' businesses this will usually lead to an opportunity to introduce your own business.
The Elevator Pitch
At this point, it’s helpful to have a well-practiced ‘elevator pitch’. That is, a brief summary of your company’s services and USP's which can be delivered in approx. 15-20 seconds (roughly the duration of an elevator ride).
Most attendees will have their own elevator pitches fine-tuned so, ideally you want either your own pitch, or your conversation starter, to be as memorable as possible.
Whether it’s amusing, endearing or just out of the ordinary, it will help the person to remember you and your company’s name after the event, which is one of the primary goals of attending.
And finally, don't forget to get the contact details of every person you meet, or request these details from the event organiser, so you can follow up at a later date.
I hope this brief article helps you prepare for future networking events and to approach them with more confidence.
Please do let me know how you get on,
P.S. If you have other strategies for improving your networking skills, if you have a great elevator pitch, or if you know a particularly amusing anecdote involving your dog, I’d love to hear from you.