Last month’s remarkable gathering of the great and good at Davos, a wee Swiss town, was based on one premise – it’s good to get together and chat with your peers be they Blair, Soros, Sarkozy, Gates and Bono or a bunch of plumbers from
Plymouth. Why would the world’s most powerful people gather together in one very small ski resort? The answer is networking – and it works. It is a cost effective and efficient means of getting your marketing message across to an eclectic audience and therein lies its beauty. You never know who you may meet and then – and here’s the fun bit – it’s the people they know who may be of interest to you! Most people like helping others and if you approach these meetings with a positive attitude, you will usually meet someone who can help your business and who can carry this message onto their friends! It’s not always easy to walk into a room of people for the first time, so what can you do to ease the pain? Be confident, watch your body language – smile, introduce yourself to the host and just be yourself. Remember all that stuff gurus have taught you about ‘people buying from people’ so just be yourself, and try to relax. It’s all supposed to be fun. Note to self, if it’s not fun, drop me a line at Bill@AngelsDen.co.uk and I’ll tell you why you have to leave your business. Be prepared to answer ‘what do you do?’ and try to relate it to their experience – obviously you will have already asked them what they do?! People relate so much more to people who are interested in them. Don’t get stuck with just the one group/person, even if they are stunningly attractive, remember this is business and love can wait – who ever heard of meeting someone amazing at a random meeting? Oh yeah, well I suppose it’s ok if they are really attractive.

I have this brilliant ability to be introduced to someone and instantaneously forget their name; I overcome this by constantly repeating their name and keeping their business cards within eye range. Name badges have also helped me – whoever invented them gets Bill’s big award. Another tip I have is to pick off the stragglers in a room – you know the ones – taking an overly zealous interest in the sandwiches or paintings or fumbling in handbags. It is much easier to talk to these people than break into a large group. Hey, why not set up your own group by introducing your new-found-friend to someone else (unless off course, they are the attractive exception mentioned above). I met a girl at a networking event in the city, who carried a big yellow plastic container (for storing bananas, or so she said) in her handbag. When conversation dried up she whipped it out. People remembered her, she broke the ice and it’s her way of making an impact. Get your own ruse, but don’t overdo it – my personal experience is that I remember her as the girl with the BYPC and have no recollection of what she actually did. Ok… there is one more little thing you have got to do and this is the bit most people find hardest, which is to follow up the leads or contacts that you make at these events. The whole emphasis of networking is that you should get on with the people you want to do business with (I do genuinely believe that business should be fun), so cultivate the relationship rather than chase the money.

Most of the success of The Den has sprung from networking, be it online with Facebook, Business Scene or similar sites and socially where we have told some Titan of Commerce about Angels’ Den and they have told someone else. Lois and I now network for a living and attend at least one event a day – next month, it’s The Angels’ Den Diet. One of the many errors I made in our original business plan was that people would just find out about us and beat a path to our door; they didn’t and now our best suppliers and angels have been through at least four degrees of separation.