Why I stopped passing-out at those networking events

A few years back I often found myself passing-out at networking events. I had business cards printed with bold lettering, embossed design and a holographic logo. I spent a lot of time of the card's design because I was convinced that these special cards would make my business pop.

I was primed, with cards in hand, to attend the very next networking event. I'd made it a point to arrive early so I would have maximal opportunity to immediately begin passing-out my business cards. I would extend to right hand not to shake their hand but to pass out my newly created business icon.

Beginning to get the picture?

Well, after several events, I saw a pattern. 

First, I was not getting the rush of new business that I’d expected.

Second, some of those other guests were even more aggressive than I was at passing-out their business card. I found myself becoming increasingly annoyed at their apparent lack of interest in me (besides being more aggressive than me :-), much less in my business and its obvious value.

Third, after a busy networking event, I also discovered that it was challenging to place any importance on the cards I'd collected. So I threw out most of them. The cards I did keep were because there was some significance connected to the card. 

Perhaps the person actually gave me eye contact, took the time to say ‘hi’, or even asked some questions about who I am and something about my business. Maybe we also made a commitment to follow up with each other for further brainstorming.

Fourth, I eventually realized that the cards I'd chosen to keep was because of the significance of the person sharing their card with me, not because of the cards' sheen. 

The cards I’d kept were based on new relationships that hinted at further value. When this epiphany hit me, I stopped focusing on simply passing out my business cards. I'd decided that I also wanted my 'compelling' cards to be kept by my recipients. 

Now at networking events, I concentrate on taking the time to introduce myself and learn something about the person I'm currently in contact with. Admittedly, I don't meet as many people but two new things are happening.

First, I'm actually accumulating resources that may benefit my business in ways I hadn't thought about. Perhaps it might simply be a new contact that I could refer back to a prior contact. The referral might actually enhance my value to that earlier acquaintance.

Second, the frequency of follow up meetings has become much higher than when I was still focused on passing-out. I'm now spending more time meeting to brainstorm possible projects, instead of trying to set up new appointments to sell my business. Some of my fresh contacts are even inviting me to some of their networking events.

It's now very clear to me that taking the interest and time to build relationships have far more value than simply passing-out, so I've stopped...passing-out at those networking events.

JNL Creative Tours, LLC builds relationships through bus tour events. 

Bring your prospects on board before the competition does.