Business networking is one of the most effective ways of generating new business, but it can seem daunting for the less extrovert doing it for the first time.  However, even the most shrinking violet will gain confidence and effectiveness with practice.   There are many different types of networking event and different times of day in which they happen.  Most will let you try them out once or twice for a small fee.  Once you have attended a few, chose the ones where you are most comfortable and have had the most success.   To help you make more of the opportunities present at your next business event, here are my top 10 tips for networking effectively. Draft an 'elevator pitch' - a short (approx. 30 seconds) overview of your business, that you can trot out when asked “what do you do?”. It is best to have a few variations so that you do not say exactly the same thing every time, and so start to sound like a recorded message. Take a plentiful supply of … [Read more...]