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.

IFA Convention Less Than One Month Away

As you probably read on my previous blog post regarding Franchise Expo South, I am convinced that franchising will rebound from our tough economic situation more quickly than many other market segments. Still lots of rocky road ahead, but hopefully, this prediction will be shared by others in San Diego, at the upcoming annual IFA Convention.

This is going to be a compelling year for new ideas to come to the fore, regarding the growth and development of franchised businesses. These challenging economic times make attendance at this year’s convention all the more compelling.

Start-up franchisors – IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR YOU TO ATTEND THE CONVENTION. Once you are registered, start your planning. Use the Convention as your opportunity to get focused. This conference has gotten too big to just attend without an action plan. Tailor your plan around learning during the concurrent educational sessions and networking on the floor of the tradeshow. Don’t leave anything to chance with reference to connecting with and speaking to those who can most positively impact your business. The days of just running into the right people at the IFA are gone. Anymore, the convention is just too big to go and just "hope for the best."

Established franchisors – this applies to you, too. It’s a whole new world out there and you want to maximize every opportunity to positively return your investment of time and money.

Last word in these challenging times, for ALL franchisors, regardless of size or maturity of your brands, I invite you to make yourselves rockstars to your franchisees by offering them the opportunity to glean the benefit derived from the tax credits that RetroTax administers. By telling your franchisees that “but for the fact that you’re one of our franchisees, RetroTax would quite likely never have known about you or your business... and that because of that, RetroTax will perform these services at the single unit level, something that is usually available only to much larger businesses.” Feel free to email me (stan.friedman@retrotax.com) to schedule some time to talk, either at or before the Convention. I am looking forward to making many new friends at this year’s IFA, as well as seeing all of my long-time associates from all over the world of franchising.

Are You in Atlanta? The ATLFA Wants You!

For those of you not familiar with our franchise group, The Atlanta Franchise Alliance is a networking group that I Chair in Atlanta. Our mission locally, is to follow the IFA's model of bringing franchising’s best practices and people together. We meet several times a year to network, learn, share fellowship, and exchange valuable nuggets that help us each individually and collectively, to strengthen the business model that is franchising. Whether you are a franchisor, a franchisee or a supplier, you are more than welcome to attend any of our events.

In 2008 our Alliance grew significantly and in 2009, we are going to get bigger and better. We will grow by bringing in more people to our networking events and providing them with everything that they came looking for and more. We will host networking events on the following dates, so mark your calendars: January 15; May 21 (also an IFA franchise political action committee fundraiser); August 20; and November 12. Locations for these meetings are TBD and will be posted on our Web site, at least two weeks in advance of each event (http://www.atlantafranchisealliance.com/).

Anyone interested in attending these meetings can find more information at our site. Don’t hesitate to email me (http://www.blogger.com/stan.friedman@retrotax.com) either, if you have questions or would like to be added to our mailing list.