We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Privacy Overview
Login
Your Role
Challenges You Face
results
Learn
Resources
Company
How to determine which networking events to go to for lead generation.
There are hundreds of networking opportunities in every major city in America – from chambers of commerce to simple clubs and groups. All you need to do is Google “local networking events” and you’ll find tons of opportunity.
But be sure to have a strategy before you run off to your first event. I recommend targeting your efforts. In other words, make sure you go to events where the prospects you need to meet are most likely to hang out. Don’t waste time at events that are off-track or you’ll end up with a ton of dead-end leads. And we suggest you avoid getting hooked into any networking that requires a commitment yet provides poor results.
I know a salesperson who drives 25 minutes each way (50 minutes total) to go to a networking luncheon for 90 minutes (now we’re up to 140 minutes) once a month. Twelve times each year. That’s 28 hours. So she spends 4 full days (almost one full week) at a networking event trading business cards with people and hoping for referrals. And after over a year of this I asked her if she ever got any business from it. “No”, she replied. “But they tell me I need to be patient and make sure to go every month.”
Duh!
If she spent time at the RIGHT place, she’d get more leads. Or, better yet, if she spent 28 hours cold-calling, I’m sure she would have found more leads than she did driving back and forth to a monthly event that had no real prospects.
Bonus: And here’s the key that most people miss – don’t sell at networking events. Simply ask people what they do; be interested in their business; ask lots of questions. If there’s a fit, it will emerge. Of course that’s when you’ll want to trade business cards.
Subscribe
Login
0 Comments
Get the book!
Feeling like your job is getting harder because donor expectations have changed and competition for the charitable dollar is growing?
Finding that the old orthodoxies and conventions espoused by so-called experts in online echo-chambers and at conferences don’t work anymore?
Want to help more people make impact by facilitating their acts of philanthropy but feel like too many obstacles keep getting in your way?
Then this book is for you.
Engagement Fundraising was developed from the perspective of a donor who discovered firsthand that the impersonal, spray-and-pray approaches of his beloved charity were not only offensive but also wasteful and ineffective. So he took action. And now, you can too.
Get smarter with the SmartIdeas blog
Subscribe to our blog today and get actionable fundraising ideas delivered straight to your inbox!