Hosting a networking event is a great way to find new business contacts and open up plenty of opportunities for the company. When you’re putting on your own event, all of the power is in your hands. That means you can get more out of it but it also means you’re in danger of making mistakes. It’s going to cost you a lot of money to host this event so you must be careful that you don’t waste it by making one of these errors.
Inviting The Wrong People
Having a packed event might seem like a success but it’s only a good thing if it’s packed with the right people. There’s no use having hundreds of people there that have nothing to do with your business or niche. When you start planning the event, decide what you want to get out of it. This will help you decide on the guest list. If you don’t have a plan, you’ll end up inviting people at random and you won’t make useful connections.
Bad Food And Drink
Obviously, the main reason that people are there is to conduct business. While they are there, be sure to offer refreshments such as food and drinks. You’d be surprised how much longer people will stick around if you put a good spread out. It might be tempting to try to cut costs by getting cheap stuff in but the event will be more of a success if you get proper venue contract caterers to do the food. The event will stick in people’s minds and they’ll be more likely to tell others about your company.
Long Pitches
When you’re meeting potential clients, you need to get them interested in your business quickly. Your guests are there to mix and mingle, not get stuck with you for half an hour. Be brief, and have a short pitch prepared as you make your rounds. If you’re giving people a long pitch, they’ll soon switch off. You should be able, to sum up your company in a minute or two. You’ll be able to meet more people in less time.
Not Following Up
If you get everything else right and avoid all of these mistakes, you should make some good connections. The biggest error you can make is not following up on those meetings properly. Always make sure that you’ve got plenty of business cards on you. In the days following the event, send an email to all of your new contacts and arrange a meeting with them. If you don’t follow up properly, the whole thing will be for nothing and you’ll have wasted a lot of money.
Avoid these mistakes and your networking event is sure to be a huge success.
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