One of the most asked business questions I get during my business coaching sessions is..
Where can I go to get a kick start in developing more business?
Bottomline: The most effective way to rebuild or develop a deeper customer/client base is to meet more people..more live people…more REAL people. The internet is great for doing what you are doing..gathering information and getting answers to your questions, but when it comes time to bringing revenue in, the person to person meeting is the ONLY way to build the solid relationships needed to get a business going.
What works well are conferences or seminars. Depending on your business depends on which conference best suits your interest. Naturally going to a tradeshow as part of your business offering would make sense. However, to develop new business or meet new contacts you should consider going to a conference that has some tangible relation to your business’ mission.
For instance…
For a high tech business the tendency would be to go to a number of gatherings where High Tech businesses gather. True, staying in the industry, showing ‘face’ to the industry, helps with gaining recognition. However, very few new business leads are gathered in peer groups.
Going to a conference for Start-Ups or for even an open Business Educational seminar would bring in more opportunities to meet new people who know new people who could be your new customer. Yes, make the conference opportunity a business networking opportunity.
Truly, it is going to take a restart of the business market to get the economy back and recovered. Get your calendar out and plan out your conference schedule for the next year and add conferences that are off the beaten path from your industries mains highway of gatherings. You don’t have to find the biggest or the most attended functions. The small niche conferences that are developing are more productive. Even getting involved with a New conference or seminar that is being developed would get you in the door as a greeter to those who attend. Think quality not quantity. That doesn’t work on Twitter, why would you think it would work offline?
Example:
A few years ago I went to a Cooking School…yaw, yaw,,,give me a break. this was a school, not a Betty Crocker Fest…this was strap on the apron and wade off into a restaurant’s kitchen set up where the REAL work of meal preparation is taught. And NO, the Mr Business Golf Chef Schools are not going to happen anytime soon.
The point here was I went to something totally off the wall for what I would normally tend to attend.
As a result I was placed in a venue with 25 other people for 8 hours rapidly going through all of the nuances of preparing a four course sit-down dinning experience. And for your information, it was not a Mac-n-cheese casserole. For you chefs out there reading..I was put through every facet of preparing a French cuisine which on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = easy and 5 = Professional)was a level 4.
No! This was not one of those mind numbing bore of an experience where you stand around with a glass of wine and listen to the chef speak in French. Plus, we got (or had) to eat what this large team of newly created chefs prepared. Yes, I am a true risk taker.
What I learned and who I met are still with me today. The Class truly connected me to an entirely different level of client. And YES, over half of the attendees at this cooking class who were business golfers..but I did not know that until I attended.
Get out of your box. Invest in your business’ future. Go to a conference down the street or across the country. Learn something new and meet new people. All of this is basic business development and is no secret..well OK, it must be a secret about going to conferences because so many people say they don’t go to conferences. However, conferences of any size are great places to rebuild your client or customer base.
Let me know how I can help?
