10 top tips to effective speed-networking

Speed-networking is fun, energetic and dynamic and a very effective way of meeting a lot of new business contacts in a short space of time

How it works is simple – two business people each have 90 seconds to tell the other about their business and what they can offer them. 

You are seated opposite each other and when time is up one of them moves on.

Think of it as a mini interview, make notes and ensure you follow up afterwards.

1.   Ideally be in the group of people not moving

2.  Be natural don’t sound as if you are following a script

3.  Try to go second, then you can tailor your pitch based on what you have heard, they will be more focused on listening to you and not what they are about to say

4.   Exchange cards at the beginning of the session

5. Either have a brief leaflet on what you do or lots of business cards

6.  Have a pen and write down notes on the back of their card to make it easy for you to follow up afterwards

7. Lean slightly forward when listening to show you are interested and focussed on what they are saying

8. Remember their name and use it for the biggest impact

9. Practice does make perfect so the more sessions you attend the better you will become

10. Make sure you follow up afterwards

The 24 deadly sins of exhibiting

Common mistakes of exhibiting 

1  Planning is key
One of the biggest reasons that businesses are unsuccessful at exhibitions is that they haven’t promoted and marketed their presence in the weeks and months leading up to it. Not planning or promoting your presence is fatal to your success.Use signature blocks on your emails, develop a social media campaign to highlight your presence, and personally invite clients & suppliers to meet with you.  

2  Not reading the exhibitor manual 

Ensure you read through whatever information that the event organisers send you. Don’t just assume everything will be provided.

3  Not thinking about your objectives 

How can you know if your exhibition stand has been a success or not and the return of your investment without some pre- stand planning beforehand? What are your reasons for exhibiting?  How many leads are you looking to achieve?

4  Being shy

Choose confident friendly staff that are more than happy talking to strangers and are comfortable ‘interrupting’ people passing by in a cheerful, friendly manner. These staff are representing your business so excellent people skills are essential to make sure a lasting impression. 

5  No training

Not training your staff to run the show behind-the-scenes could be detrimental to your conversion rate!

6  Your exhibition stand doesn't clearly communicate your business

Think carefully about your stand design and graphics.  Always assume that people have no prior knowledge of your business. Pictures really do tell ‘a thousand words and so ensure your graphics clearly illustrate your offering.

7  Give people a reason to come to your stand

The power of a compelling incentive. Not creating a great, innovative reason for people to visit you on the day can have enormous consequences on getting the leads.  Display the benefits of choosing you over competitors and the value they will receive from signing up with you. 

8  Not making an effort or giving enough thought to your presence 

Make your stand exciting and stand out! Think about what you could bring on the day to intice potential customers over to your stand, and maybe consider a competition you could run or something equally interesting! 

9  Acting Disinterested

No matter how long your day has been, try to keep up a friendly smiley face and make eye-contact with potential customers at all times. Make sure staff are standing on their feet in an approachable manner and engage with as many people as possible… 

10  Having Too Few Staff

It is important to have plenty of staff to cover breaks and make sure that people are always seen to as soon as possible.

11  Having Too Many Staff

On the other hand, you don’t want your stand to be over filled with too many staff wanting potential customer’s attention… 

12    Staff Who Know Nothing about Your Product or Company

Ensure all staff working on your stand are completely knowledgeable of the whole company and its key information. Even if they are long term staff make sure that they are briefed with a coherent message and approach. Your staff need to be confident and be able to deal with any enquiries in a professional manner. 

13  Compel your audience to visit your stand

 Work on ways to compel your audience to visit your stand, it will dramatically increase your capture rate on the day. Being proactive never lost anybody a sale. You can’t remain at the edge of your stand and expect your leads to flock over. You can afford to leave your stand for 5 or 10 minute missions.

Get out and about, listen to the speakers, go to a workshop, engage with people at the café, when you are getting lunch, visit other stands and see how they are getting on – it’s not just on the stand that you can make contacts, be open and easy to approach. This approach will gain you leads.

14  Not Perfecting your Elevator Pitch

You will need to explain your business and its products/services countless times during the exhibition, so make sure you and your staff can explain the succinctly and effectively.

15  Not Listening

Make sure to really listen to any potential customers to answer as best you can any questions asked, and engage in a conversation with them.    

16  Not having information to take away

A lot of people will not want to be overloaded with bits of paper, but if asked you should have some simple/detailed information that people can take home with them if they wish!

17  Being Cagey about Pricing

Be prepared to answer any questions about price and be upfront! Even if you offer a bespoke service, be sure you can offer them a rough idea on price.

18  Taking Forever to Record Leads

Contact customers that have left their details as soon as possible- Don’t leave them hanging around!

19  Spamming 

If you are to send customers information, make it useful and exciting! Don’t end up sending the same content time and time again. Create interesting, innovative content that people will enjoy reading.

20  Exhibitors commandeering the time of other exhibitors

Respect that exhibitions are for strictly time for business, not to be used to socialise with industry colleagues and suppliers.

21  Uninspiring Tweets

Continually telling people during the exhibition to come to your stand, doesn't necessarily mean they will unfortunately. Give your social media messages some thought! Upload pictures and videos to maximise engagement.

22  Badmouthing Competitors

Be professional at all times- Focus on selling your brand to potential customers!

23  Packing Up Early

Packing up early at an exhibition is prohibited and you will be looked down on. You should be making the most of every last minute at your stand, networking and meeting. Packing up isn't just a potential health and safety issue but it reflects terribly on your organisation.

24  Not Following Up Leads Post Event

The final pitfall between you and gaining business from an exhibition is the way you approach leads after the event. Convert your hard work into strong sales and stop yourself from squandering the great work you did to capture new business prospects.  

Economic Outlook for the South East: Stormy, With a Chance of Adventure - Guest Blog from Rift Accounting

Running a small business has always taken strong nerves and the tenacity of a pit bull. Running - or even starting - one in the eerie silence after a major financial crisis requires something more. With businesses all over the world nervously checking the ground under their feet, it's worth taking a moment to look realistically at the situation. It turns out things may not be as catastrophic as some are suggesting. In fact, the more intrepid business adventurers are already starting to hammer the dents out of their battered optimism. There are more of them than ever, too. An incredible 581,173 new businesses were launched in the UK in 2014, which was a 10.4% increase over the previous year and the third year in a row that the number of new start-ups has risen!

Britain's economic growth generally slowed down a little in the last months of 2014, dropping from 0.7% in the previous quarter to 0.5% - which some are calling more of a suspicious birthmark you should probably get checked out than a "growth" at all. However, looking at the wider context, it still places the UK at its highest overall growth rate since 2007 for the entire year. It's not the kind of momentum a lot of businesses were hoping for, but the Office of National Statistics reports that Britain's overall 2.6% growth for 2014 puts it on track to have been the world's fastest-growing major advanced economy that year!

It's also important to remember that we're not talking about a universal, disastrous failure to recover, either. The end of 2014 was more like a slightly disappointing Christmas present from a confused but well meaning uncle. Some business types(construction, for example) were more disheartened than others - and the retail and services sectors actually stayed pretty buoyant about the whole thing. On the whole, the UK economy is now actually 3.4% larger than its peak before the financial crisis hit. It's definitely taking longer than we'd hoped to get where we're going, but we're still heading in the right direction.

Looking at the South East specifically, small business owners have been gritting their teeth, popping their collars and getting set to tough out the recovery in style. They know how to focus on their goals and their eyes are always set on the road ahead for chasms to leap and opportunities to seize. They understand the benefits of innovation and their resilience owes a lot to the adventurer's spirit in their hearts. The South East is a good place to be right now, with support and investment coming in from both government and business. Theme parks are being built, sea fronts renovated and unemployment is dropping as more and more businesses are looking to expand their horizons.

Of course, there's no adventure without risk. With a general election looming and no clear front-runner, the business community as a whole may start to get a little twitchy in the next few months. Whatever the result, it's pretty clear that there's no easy ride for small business. Investment and support from the government have been strong lately, and alternative funding options are taking hold where traditional lenders are turning smaller businesses away simply because they don't know how to assess the risks involved. For every door that closes, small businesses are bursting one open, building a new one or simply breaking down the walls themselves. Hope and audacity are alive and well, but the climate is still stormy and no-one's getting through this on pure optimism and blind faith in their dreams. That tenacity needs to be matched with the strategy and agility to covert simple survival into lasting success.

The whole economy of the South East is changing rapidly, with the Kent and Medway Growth Deal aiming to invest £80 million per year over the next six years in the area. Traditional industries and models are receding, while entirely new ways of doing business are emerging too fast for conventional institutions to understand or even recognise them. The waters are still turbulent and the weather unpredictable, but with RIFT Accounting as the lighthouse and lookout for your enterprise, you've got the brightest beacon in the business to guide you.