The Secret of Successful Sales Networking

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I was reading a book on networking (my car was in the shop so I needed to kill time and it had a nice cover, okay?) and some points came out that I thought would be incredibly valuable in the year of a down-economy.

First, it articulated a painful truth that I’ve always thought (but management typically disagreed with), that most of the attendees at “networking” events are not high-level decision-makers, but people who want to sell something, as well.

For most people, I’ve found, that when they realize you’re just “another sales person” they disengage and start looking for the next person.

I usually try to start some kind of conversation, but until now, it’s been more generic, such as “How’s business?” and some will literally expand their chest, put on a huge grin, and talk louder: “It’s great!”  I’ve had others tell me right off, “It’s the worse I’ve ever seen.”

Well, being boastfully pollyanish or depressed are not good options.  For those who seem a little more proactive and creative, I’ll ask: “Think there’s a way we could work together to find prospects faster?”

An article which I’ve mentioned before (and will keep referencing) talks about the importance of indirect sales networks.  These are folks not in your immediate sphere (such as fellow employees or even customers) whom you can network with to access new accounts and contacts.

Other sales people are great for that.  In “investment” terms, if you can find reps who target similar accounts and contacts but have a low correlation to your existing contacts, that’s a win.

Tomorrow, I’ll share an exercise I do almost every day to keep up on partnerships and see how abundant they are if people would just do this one thing.

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