Networking: How To Get The Most Out of Networking Events

With the Franchise Leadership and Development Conference right around the corner (September 23-25 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago), I wanted to go over a few networking opportunity tips that I have come to learn over my years attending events like these.

TACKLE OTHER PEOPLE’S MISTAKES
It never ceases to amaze, how many times I meet someone at a networking event and they do not have a business card with them. Make your business card like your AMEX card: “DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!”

Don’t rely on your memory. When you meet someone at an event and exchange cards, make notes on the back of their card as a memory trigger for reference. If you work your way through a networking event correctly, you should have collected far more cards than the average person’s memory can account for, without a reference point.

EXCHANGE OF BUSINESS CARDS
Meet and swap cards with as many people as possible and save your more in-depth conversations for a follow-up call or meeting. Taking too deep a dive at the event will limit your opportunity to meet more potentially interesting and valuable contacts.

STUDY YOUR APPROACH CAREFULLY
Approach the same level of interest and sincerity as you would exhibit in a meeting with a new or existing client, but remember the timeline is more like a lightning round than that of a longer, fact-finding or consultative session.

Also, approach networking opportunities with interest in learning just enough to make you want to know more; conversely, sharing just enough to make someone meeting you want to learn more as well.

Finally for preparation, here’s the trick I use: keep your business cards in your left pocket, and those that you collect in your right. You NEVER want to give someone a card that has notes on it—yours or someone else’s.

I will execute these simple, yet effective, strategies at the upcoming Franchise Update Leadership and Development Conference, one of my favorite events for networking within the franchising community. While many in attendance will be those that I already know well or have met at past franchise events, I will also meet dozens of franchising industry professionals for the very first time. In the almost 10 years that I have been attending this event, great things have always resulted from the networking that I did during the conference.

I have continued to come back for this conference annually because it is laser targeted and specific in its content. It is big enough to attract high quality industry leaders, speakers and keynotes, yet small enough to still feel intimate. One can actually look for and find just about anyone that they may want to circle back to and have a deeper conversation and not have to compromise “official” networking time to do it.

FRANCHISE DEVELOPMENT, Not just about the Sale… It’s more about the Relationship

Many business people boast of their unique approaches to the sale of their products or services. Not to sound trite, but in the world of franchise development, it should NEVER be about the sale, but rather, about the relationship between the parties. Personally, I have no interest in selling franchises. It’s a new world, a new era and at RetroTax, a concept that I co-founded, and whose day-to-day operations I direct as President, SELLING franchises is a non-starter. No, I am not parsing words, with reference to the difference between “awarding” vs. “selling” franchises. I’m just telling it like it is. To date, each of our franchisees have been personal referrals. That notwithstanding, if a prospective franchisee presents himself to us, but does not meet or exceed our baseline for shared vision, values and ethics, they’re out of here, on the first pass, despite the fact that they may have been referred. That is not just lip service either, it is fact. It is real, it has already happened and it will happen again, I’m sure.

As the IFA Convention approaches, (barely a week away, in warm San Diego) it is important for fellow franchise executives and suppliers too, for that matter, to examine their selling practices. Take stock of this fundamental statement: neither your customers nor potential franchisees want to be “sold.” Rather, each of your prospective clients, customers or franchisees, would prefer that you appeal to a deeper level of connection, communication and relationship between all parties to the potrential transaction as well as to your product or brand.

My own personal experience repeatedly demonstrates that it’s more about relationships. Some of these relationships were built months, years, even decades ago. While some of these didn't provide any quantitative value at the time that they were created, several are now front and center and are intrinsic to the growth and development of my company.

There is actually no better evidence of this than the relationship between my partner and me. It took us more than a dozen years of talking about it, prior to putting our program together and our case study is just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond us, I cite the following:

RetroTax Franchisee No. 1, Kevin is an 18+ year friend and peer, a consummate franchising professional.

RetroTax Franchisee No. 2, Jim was a personal referral from our CPA.

RetroTax Franchisee No. 3, Iraida yet another personal referral, came recommended from one of my most highly valued IFA peers.

Prospective franchisees No. 4, 5, and 6, were also introduced to me via personal relationships, from other IFA peers, one of which is actually the President of yet another franchise concept. To my point, it’s much more about the relationships in franchising, than about the sale.

When you attend the upcoming IFA Convention, think about the relationships that you make, renew or update with new, old and established peers and friends. All of these connections represent opportunities for you to seize the moment, every moment, every opportunity, both real and perceived, with each and every contact that you make or renew. As my partner Al Newcomb so often says, no meetings are bad meetings.” As the old saying goes, “Carpe Diem.” Seize the moment and don’t let any opportunities that are worthy of your consideration, pass you by.

Get the Most Out of Industry Meetings -- NETWORK

FRANCHISE UPDATE FALL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE:
Pictured from left to right: Casey McEwen, Partner, FranSystems, Josh Greenbaum, student, Stan Friedman, Steve Greenbaum, CEO PostNet and Chairman, IFA

While attending franchise industry meetings, conventions, conferences, etc., my takeaways come from collecting information and experiences from the speakers. But there's more than that, much more. Beyond the speakers, the greatest value at these events comes from networking. Be it with a prospect for a franchise, a company executive that can benefit from our (RetroTax’s) services, someone that needs to meet me or someone that I need to meet... I cannot ever remember leaving an industry event without some golden nuggets... I'm talking about gems that make me richer for the experience, born out of networking.

In our down economy, franchise executives and partners are searching for better, more creative methods to grow their business – especially when attending industry events – and they're focusing more than ever, on building connectors, networks of shared information. Such was the case at the recent Franchise Update Fall Leadership Conference in Chicago. I know of no other industry or business conference where the franchising professionals in attendance are as caring and sharing as they are at this one, bar none.

The IFA Convention, in San Diego, will be the next big networking opportunity for the industry. By then America will have elected a new President and the economy will most certainly be in a different state than today (not necessarily better or worse, just different). It will be interesting to see what types of information franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers try to pull there. While the IFA Convention is the granddad, the largest of all franchise industry conferences, as with anything else, you'll get what you give at this event. Earlier this year I got to thinking about the upcoming IFA and said to myself, "Maybe this year I will go as a spectator, lighten my load and just enjoy the convention with fewer commitments than usual. Then I thought about it again – and said, nah.

IFA’s convention is loaded with incredible amounts of intellectual capital, crossing every conceivable discipline of franchising. Franchise development, operations, marketing, relationship building, legal updates, etc. There’s just so much opportunity to give, to get, and network. Whether you're attending for the first time, or for the 20^th, get focused on one or two issues that you deem to be amongst your highest priorities. Lock and load on those topics and drill down deeply with speakers, exhibitors and peers who are all there with you, at the same time, in the same place, for the same reason.

Don’t miss this opportunity to network and find business solutions. Then, fasten your seat belts and get set for the ride of your life in 2009.