Five years ago this Thursday, my business partner and I shook hands and formed our company. Aside from working on client projects, my primary role was business development, and, like most service professionals, I put networking among peers, colleagues, clients and prospects at the top of my business-development list.

When I think back over all the business functions I’ve attended, one function – the very first one, in fact – stands out as the most productive networking event of my entire career. The evening meeting was put on by the St. Louis Small Business Network and was attended by executives from small to mid-size businesses in the area. It was only a couple weeks after we started our company, and I was both excited and nervous to be announcing our entry into the business world. So I put on my best suit and my favorite tie, and headed out – making sure I would get there early, so I’d have more time to network.

When I arrived, I checked in, got myself a drink and walked up to two guys who had also arrived early. After the three of us shook hands, one of them asked, “What do you do?”

I replied, “I’m a technology consultant.”

Have you ever had one of those moments of total clarity? You know, an epiphany, of sorts? Well, I had one of those moments when the guy laughingly said, “What does that mean?”

Charitable Events

The St. Louis Small Business Networking function was the most productive event of my career, because it made me realize that I was foolishly wasting my time by attending events without a clear and precise strategy. I purchased that lesson with my own embarrassment, and it’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made.

This week’s tip is on event strategy. The specific topic of this issue – charitable events – was prompted by a question on one of the list servers in which I participate. The issue I’ll address is the purchasing of eight to 10 seats at an event dinner table, and the question of who you should invite.

First, this can be logistically challenging. But if you know your clients as well as you should, it actually isn’t as tough as it sounds. That being said, since we’re working with an event for which you have eight to 10 seats to fill, identify the following three clients (I’ll call them Clients A, B and C):

• Client A could potentially benefit from Client B’s solution, and could potentially provide a solution to Client C.  
• Client B could potentially benefit from Client C’s solution, and could potentially provide a solution to Client A.  
• Client C could potentially benefit from Client A’s solution, and could potentially provide a solution to Client B.

Once you’ve identified the first three-client group, repeat the process and identify three more – Clients D, E and F – bringing your attendee list to six.

Invite these clients by calling each of them and saying something like, “I’m inviting two of my other clients I think you should meet. One might be able to use your services and the other might be able to help you with a problem I learned about last week.”

 Once you’ve gotten firm commitments from your six clients, select two, three or four of your people who will attend, depending on the table size. Be sure each of them has at least one of his or her own clients in attendance. For example, if you had a nine-person table reserved, the group would consist of:

• Employee 1 who works with Clients A and B.  
• Employee 2 who works with Clients C, D and E.  
• Employee 3 who works with Client F.

At the event, and before the program begins, your people should facilitate introductions between your clients. When they make those introductions, they should be specific, as in, “Bob, I remember your telling me last week that you were having a lot of turnover problems, which is why I wanted you to meet Joe, with B Staffing Solutions. His company can possibly help you decrease turnover through executive training programs, and help you find new employees, too.” (If your people don’t know what issues their clients are facing, they should start asking.) Employees should continue making introductions as the clients arrive.

Once you've all been seated, your highest-ranking person (Employee 1) should start making introductions as follows:

1. Employee 1 introduces Client A to the rest of the people at the table, and tells everyone at least one thing about Client A that should be remembered by all. Employee 1 then does the same with Client B.
   
   Once that’s done, Employee 1 introduces Employee 2 and describes his or her practice specialty.  
2. Employee 2 does the same with Clients C, D and E, then introduces Employee 3.  
3. Employee 3 introduces Client F, then says something like, “And Employee 1, of course, is the head of our XYZ Practice Group.”

Once the introductions are finished, Employee 1 should tell everyone to enjoy dinner, then let the conversations flow naturally.

Of course, after dinner, or before dinner but after the introductions have been made, each of your people will be free to “work the room.”

Use a charity event such as this to connect your clients, and you will:

• Add value to your relationships with your clients by introducing them to the solutions they need.  
• Create potential business relationships between your clients, which may perhaps create additional work for you.  
• Introduce additional services to each client, at the same time providing immediate references for those very services (such as when Client A tells Client F about all the wonderful things Employee 1 has done for his or her company).

And because of the desire to reciprocate favors, you’ll be amazed at the number of introductions your clients make on your behalf later on.

The point, of course, is to have a strategy to produce specific results. Otherwise, you’ll be spinning your wheels, just like I did five years ago.

Have a great week!

Gill