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

Top ten secret tips to exhibiting!

1  Set your objectives -  what you wish to achieve 

   
    Design your stand to meet your objectives and plan your staffing needs early

2  Train, train, train

    80% of the success of your stand is down to your staff

3  Exhibiting is not just for leads but also to find suppliers and to ...

    Develop customer relations, find business partners, research competitors, 

    launch a new product, get new ideas

4  Market your stand to both customer and prospects

    Invite them to meet you at your stand or in the networking area

5  Messages on your stand
 
    Should be simple, visual and in LARGE print which stresses benefits, less is more

6  Can I help you?
    Not a good question, ask open questions that require more than a one word answer

7  Don’t just wait for visitors to visit your stand

    Lead generation can be anywhere, getting coffee, at workshops and speaker sessions-   
    Talk to everyone you can wherever you are!

8  Networking is about helping other people

    Hard sell is not appropriate and not appreciated and less effective

9  Don’t

    Use a mobile, eat on the stand, sit down, have your back to the aisle, have a messy stand
    or have cheap tacky giveaways

10  Follow up
      Follow up leads as quickly as possible after the exhibition

       

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.  

Top Ten Reasons to attend East Kent B2B – free conference and exhibition

1. In just 2 weeks Doug Richard a former BBC Dragon headlines - learn from one of the top business speakers and serial entrepreneurs in the UK (11.30 am)

2. The largest gathering of business people in East Kent – THE meeting place for those serious about business success.  Golden opportunities to meet new contacts you normally would not have the chance to meet.

3. Discover new suppliers, reduce costs and gain industry knowledge from our expert exhibitors and speakers

4. ‘Brilliant, thought-provoking and inspiring – Not to be missed’ Business Breakfast with Andrew Priestley - 8 Questions that will deliver you a really profitable business (7.00 am)

5. THREE outstanding businesses, THREE outstanding entrepreneurs from East Kent – Hear how they did it
   Zoe Murphy Design, Guy Holloway Architects, Steve Trim Venomtech (9.00 am)

6. ‘My passion is helping business people achieve more.  Let me show you how’Keynote Speaker QJ (2.15 pm)

7. Free speed networking - exciting and high impact that produces fantastic results (sessions all day)

8. Discover how you can get value from business Conferences and Exhibitions Click here for SEVEN things you must do

9. Meet the team behind the Digital in Kent Conference and find out about re-marketing, and why it is taking the digital world by storm and how it can help your business (3.15 pm)

10. Do we really speak a different language? - Women only session   (10.45 am)

There is something for everyone, whether you are starting a business or an established business there is a lot of information in one day.

We have your details from last year, so just reply ‘Book me on the East Kent B2B’.

The one stop shop for EVERYTHING BUSINESS

Director General of the British Chamber of Commerce urges the Government to not be hasty with interest rate rises as he takes to the stage at Kent B2B

The annual Kent B2B took place on Tuesday 8th July at the Ashford International Hotel hosted by the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce. Amongst the keynote speakers was John Longworth, the current Director General of the British Chamber of Commerce. Following the release of the 2nd Quarterly Economic Survey by Mr Longworth to the press in London he travelled to the Ashford event to discuss the results with the business audience from across Kent.

Survey results show stabilisation in growth

The survey is the result of 7,000 businesses across the UK and amongst the key headlines of the latest report were what the Director General called an “unsurprising” decline or stabilisation of the growth of the economy after it had “jolted forward” in the first quarterly survey results. However, these figures should be taken in context as many of them are actually still higher than their pre-recession 2007 levels and should therefore be viewed in a positive way.

Mr Longworth commented “these are strong results that show the recovery is moving forward.” As the first survey of the quarter to be released the BCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey is keenly anticipated by both the Treasury and the Bank of England. As such Mr Longworth argued that the Bank of England should consider carefully whether now was the right time to raise interest rates in the “very short term” or whether this would serve to limit the growth ambitions of many businesses.  At the Kent B2B Mr Longworth’s speech was wide ranging touching on key current political issues such as the Scottish referendum and the upcoming General Election along with key business issues such as infrastructure and exporting.

Alongside Mr Longworth’s key note the Kent Invicta Chamber’s business to business exhibition and conference saw 2 marketing experts take to the stage offering invaluable advice to businesses across the county. Daniel Priestley spoke of the Key Person of Influence concept, outlining how any business person can begin to build their influence to become a key player within their niche. Warren Cass spoke of the recent trend of disruptive marketing and its impact on they way firms do business.

High quality content and networking opportunities

With 90 exhibitors and nearly 1,000 people attending the Kent B2B successfully mixes the needs of businesses to keep up-to -date with the latest innovations within business alongside offering fantastic networking opportunities for exhibitors and delegates alike.

Jo James, Chief Executive of the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce commented “The Kent B2B is the longest running of our B2B events, as such it offers a broad range of businesses the opportunity to learn, network and do business. Today has been a fantastic success with many people commenting on the high quality contacts that they have made. Our keynote speakers and workshops are firmly focussed on offering delegates the very best advice and leaving them with real life actions that they can immediately implement in their business - whatever sector they operate in and at whatever level.”

Jo continued “All in all I think it was great day for businesses in Kent - finished off with a brilliant evening with our Annual Dinner hosted by the inimitable Gordon Banks. We will now focus our attention on our next B2B which will be in East Kent, in Canterbury on the 11th September. With ex Dragons Den star Doug Richards, Andrew Priestley and QJ confirmed as keynote speaker it’s shaping up to be another great event for businesses in Kent, and from further afield.”

10 top tips for effective networking at the Kent B2B exhibition

*Keeping engaged with the event will:

1 .Keep you up-to-date with all the latest news about the event.

2. Offer you tips and advice to ensure your attendance is a success.

3. Show you how to promote your presence - in local media, online and with existing/prospective clients.

*Keep in touch with us:

4. Join our Kent B2B LinkedIn group we post all the latest event news there, as  well as lots of useful advice from our blogs. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Kent-B2B-Exhibitions

5. Follow and like us on Facebook www.facebook.co.uk/kentb2b - share and comment on our updates.

6. Follow us on Twitter - @KentB2B and #kentb2b - join in the conversation.

*Social Media:

7. Increase your activity across your social media channels.

8. Tweet your plans for the event - a countdown and how you are preparing for it, thank clients that have agreed to come, mention businesses you are looking forward to meeting, speakers or workshops you are planning to visit and retweet our tweets.

*General:

9. Change your email signature to include a message about the event and  encourage people to attend the event.

10. Update your website with the event details, perhaps a banner on the landing page that links to content explaining why you are attending.

West Kent funding opportunities for small businesses

The Escalate scheme has recently made £5.5 million available to micro and small businesses in West Kent and is part of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. The aim of the scheme is to offer interest free loans to businesses that are experiencing growth and need funding to help them develop further and create new jobs.

The Regional Growth Fund 

The Regional Growth Fund was created by Government to help regional businesses and economies expand. So far, over £1 billion has been made available with around 3,500 firms benefiting from the funding. Aiming to help local businesses protect or create jobs, build on creativity and strengthen their business through investment, the scheme invites local businesses to apply for the fund via their local scheme.

The West Kent Partnership looks after the Escalate fund for the area around the A21 corridor, it hopes to create around 1,250 new jobs in the area through around 150 companies. With business finance still a major issue for many small and micro businesses the programme is looking to support those businesses that are growing, but may be struggling to find the means to accelerate as quickly as they want.

First business receives support

Great news then for DotImpact, who are the first business to receive funding from the Escalate programme. Established to support SME’s that want to increase their online presence but don’t have the budget or expertise to do so, DotImpact is a full service marketing agency that offers a range of services from website design, email marketing, social media & SEO, digital marketing strategies to traditional branding design and print. Amanda Robinson, MD, of DotImpact commented, “Now we have the support of the Escalate fund, our plan is to create employment opportunities within the business with the aim to help further SMEs in Kent achieve their growth potential”

West Kent B2B offering advice and tips on applications

The West Kent B2B on the 30th April at the River Centre in Tonbridge, is backed by the West Kent Partnership. On the day there will be opportunities to hear more about the Escalate programme and how your business could benefit from its’ funding solutions. The event is free to attend and along with local and county-wide exhibitors there is a fantastic programme of key-note speakers and workshops - all with a definite slant to the small business sector. If you pre-register there is also the opportunity to gain free advertising for your business via the on-site screens and a welcome coffee as well. 

To find out more and how to register your place click here.

Why small businesses should be blogging

If you aren’t changing your web site, on a regular basis, then what have you really got? An online brochure is the answer that many professionals would give you. So, how to keep your web site content fresh should be top of any small businesses marketing agenda. With fresh content comes (hopefully) fresh traffic. Your web site can be jam packed with information about your product or service, have loads of testimonials and recommendations but nothing can develop engagement as quickly as a high quality blog.

Blogs will .....

Blogs offer not only a great way of engaging with your clients but also a brilliant way to increase your authority with them - showing them exactly how much knowledge you have, not only about your product or service, but, also your target market - them! 

Blogs enable people to make immediate contact with you by commenting - offering the perfect opportunity for you to then engage with them in the future, perhaps even making a time for a phone call or a meeting.

Blogs are well loved by the search engines too - Google likes web sites that are updated and many industry experts see them as a one of the most natural ways to build SEO.

Blogs offer your prospective clients more opportunities to find you, as the search engines will be able to pick up on the words within your blog and display them in the search results on those certain words.

What your blog should look like ...

So the reasons why small businesses should have blogging at the top of the “to do” list seems clear - but how to go about it? There are now lots of great, easy to use options for creating blogs - Google and WordPress are two of the favourites. But, bear in mind that ideally you should have your blog hosted within your web site, so that the site also benefits for the traffic your blogs creates. 

Then it pays to do some planning - one of the most important factors is that your blogs are consistent. You are aiming to build a following of people who look out for, or even search out your blogs - don’t leave them hanging. Try to blog two or three times a week - but, at the very least make sure its once. The content needs to be top quality as well - offer useful tips, great insight, share your knowledge, add pictures, links, video clips. 

Developing your social media strategy as a small business owner can seem daunting - so many channels, where to start right? Well, blogging could help you here - creating great content and sharing it across the social media channels can help you to build your networks, whilst directing traffic back to your web site too. A win, win. 

Want to find out more about why blogging is so important? Come along to the FREE workshop at the West Kent B2B on the 30th April at The River Centre, Tonbridge. To book your FREE delegate space that gains you entry to this workshop (and others) plus access to talks by expert key note speakers including Daniel Priestley, Stuart Smith, Katie King and speed networking sessions click here

30 April - The River Centre, Tonbridge