Limitations and Perks to In-Person Events

June 27, 2022

Web Sales

Face to Face sales with web marketing

There are legitimate and substantial limitations to in-person events that must be accounted for before wasting an afternoon attending one.

  • They take a lot of time. Time is money in business. If you don’t have a purpose and plan for the time you are going to invest, you are just hanging out at the bar. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but it is not a work activity. Planning creates a purpose that can be achieved.
  • There are many people who don’t go by any of the rules that are in this book, and they are tough to escape. You recognize it the moment you get stuck talking to them— your eyes dart frantically in a desperate search to get away from them. It’s the coyote ugly morning-after of the business world—you’d gnaw off your arm to escape. Have a plan.

It’s hard to find out (in the time allowed) what you have in common with someone, especially when most participants are just trying to communicate what they sell. Give your pitch while you actively listen to everything they are communicating. Uncover a possible opportunity they can give you or someone you could refer them to. If none is present, mention that there’s a phone call you need to take and excuse yourself. Work your plan.

In-person events are a legitimate segment of today’s business world, because there are perks.

  • People are there to talk about business. It’s not only allowed, but it’s expected. If you spend too much time discussing non-business related topics, attendees will pass by you as wasting their time. Social business events are both social and business. Stay on task.

Select the people you will be around. This is easy to get wrong. Select groups based on the likelihood of your target client being present. If it’s not a group your target client is present, at least be sure you are in the proximity of potential referral partners. Groups that are of personal interest to you may be enjoyable and even expose new tools and tricks of your trade, but don’t pretend that your personal growth and social time can be categorized as sales or marketing.