To feel comfortable at a business event, dress for business. For women, that means a high enough neckline and a low enough hemline to be perceived as professional. For men, that generally means a tie, jacket, dress pants and dress shoes. Even if the event is listed as business casual, business dress is appropriate. If you saw the Casual Friday commercial on the Super Bowl, you probably laughed, said “ouch” and got the message.

Be punctual

Be on time for the event. It is no longer considered professional to be “fashionably late”. It can be perceived as showing a lack of respect when you are late. That does not mean that you need to be the first in line to get in. Put yourself in the shoes of the host and imagine when you want people to show up. Additionally, if you are a bit earlier than the bulk of the group, you can offer to assist with any last minute details, be the unofficial greeter as others enter, and be visible. That’s why you’re there, isn’t it?

Get organized before you arrive at an event

Have everything you need to take in with you close at hand. If someone is looking out the window as you arrive, it probably would not give a professional first impression to be digging around in the trunk of your car or even in the back seat. As you step out of your car, walk around to the other side to get your briefcase or other materials out of the front seat, use good posture, walk with confidence and have a pleasant expression on your face. If you have been on the phone as you arrived, conclude your call before you step out of the car. Someone may be watching.

Step out of the way when you enter the room

Step to one side as soon as possible when you enter the room. If there is a table there for you to make a nametag, you can still step to the end or to the other side of it as you write your nametag. Ideally, you already are wearing one that people can easily read from a handshake distance. If not, you still don’t want to be in the way. Conclude your stay at an entry table as soon as possible. If someone engages you in conversation right away, delay your participation in the conversation until after you are away from the entrance. You might say something like, “Let’s step over here where we won’t hinder someone else coming in.” You may have seen people bent over the table, interrupted in their process of creating a nametag, talking away with someone. That’s not a particularly good look anyway. Don’t be that person.

Hold any beverage in your left hand

If beverages are available during a mingling time, try to hold it in your left hand. That frees up your right hand to shake hands with someone else, and it also offers the other person a warm, dry hand. I’ve shaken a lot of cold, clammy hands and you probably have, too. I’ve also seen people try quickly to shift a beverage to their left hand and accidentally spill some of it. Holding it in your left hand in the first place avoids both of those problems.

Find a place to sit to eat

It is extremely difficult to balance a briefcase or purse, a beverage, food, and handshakes. If at all possible find a place to set down your food and/or beverage. If you can, sit. If there are tall bar tables, use them. If you are sitting, try to stand to shake hands. Refer to a previous article of mine about effective business introductions for more information on this.

Practice good networking skills

This includes recognizing when someone else wants to move on, moving on yourself, monitoring your volume, listening more than you speak, courteously presenting and receiving business cards, making polite conversation, not being too salesy or pushy, and following up after the event. It also includes finding and thanking the host. After all, if you host an event, you want them to attend, knowing that they will experience an event hosted by someone (you) that demonstrates professionalism.

Five Keys to an Effective Business Introduction

Name yourself.

The people you meet at business events want to know who you are. Use both your first and last name. Speak slowly and clearly. If you have ever listened to a phone message more than once just to catch the name of the person who has left you a message, you understand the importance of this key. Listen to your own voice. Do your listeners immediately recognize whether you are a man or woman, what regional dialect identifies you, and whether you sound educated, in terms of grammar, etc? If you have any concerns, work with someone who can help you.

At a live event, wear a name tag if possible. If you write your own when you arrive, be sure your name is large enough to be seen from a handshake distance and legible. Stand to shake hands if possible. It shows respect for the other person and also makes your name tag easier to read. In a crowded event, it will also help the other person hear you clearly.

Name your business.

As you tell the name of your business, you might also have the opportunity to mention your tagline. You are doing well if your business name and tagline create a problem/solution scenario in your listener’s mind. The best business name and tagline combination leads your listener to ask, “Oh, really? How do you do that?” Consider yourself extremely fortunate if that happens. If it does, be prepared to tell briefly what you do to solve the imagined problem. Be ready to tell a story about your service to others. If you are telling a story about a client relationship, do not name the other person or give any identifying attributes that will alert the other person to your client’s identity. If you already have established a permission marketing strategy with the other client, you might be able to reveal their identity. If you do so, you must let your listener know that you have obtained permission from the previous client to reveal who they are. Otherwise, the person you just met may believe that you will talk about them as well.

Ask for the same information from the other person.

Be seen as generous. I believe it is better to obtain the kind of information spoken of in the previous section of this article from the other person first. You can initiate that conversation at the beginning by asking open-ended questions of the other person. Let them tell their story. Comment favorably on it and segue into revealing your own business name, tagline, scenario, and so on. As the other person speaks, maintain eye contact and use body language that indicates you are an active listener. Nothing is more discourteous than “looking over someone’s shoulder” as they speak with you.

Excuse yourself when it is time to move on.

Be courteous. You might part by asking if you may refer to them. Mention that it was a pleasure to meet them and have a conversation with them. You might ask if they have a business card. I think it is best if you wait to be asked before you offer yours. Be sure to recognize the signals from the other person that they are ready to move on as well. They may be ready to move on before you are. Allow a professional exit.

Follow up.

If you did receive contact information from the other person, be the first to initiate follow up. In your message by mail, email, or telephone, reference the event and your conversation with them. Express appreciation specifically for something they said to you. You might even mention that you are looking forward to seeing them again at another event. Depending on the budding business relationship, you might even offer a coffee meet.

Building a Business is Like Solving a Jigsaw Puzzle

If you are like most people, you have had some experience solving or working a jigsaw puzzle. What did you do first? You probably dumped out all the pieces and propped up the picture on the box so you could use it as a reference. The second step for most of us was to separate all the edge pieces from the others. Next, you worked to complete the edge, or the framework of the puzzle. After that you probably sorted all the other pieces by color and worked to place every piece in the proper location without forcing any of the pieces into places they would not easily go.

Think about how well you would have done if all the pieces were given to you without a box or a picture to reference as you worked. Suppose all the edge pieces were removed so you couldn’t tell how big and what shape the finished product would be. Suppose further that all the pieces were the gray color that is typical of the back side of the pieces. No edge, no size, no color, no reference point. How easy would it be to complete the puzzle?

The second scenario is pretty much the way most people go about trying to build a business by themselves. If you work with a mentor or instructor, you will realize along the way that the first important bit of advice or support will give you the “picture on the box”. That picture can be altered as you develop your business. However, it is a crucial first step in determining how big you want to grow. Starting small, with just a few clients, is the most common means of business startup. You can refine as you go, offering more services, products, or processes. In some cases, working for client (or customer) share is more beneficial than working for market share until you have a loyal base who will refer you.

One crucial tip may provide the “edge pieces” that you need to determine the various revenue streams that are available to you. Will your business rely on 1:1 work with a client base? Will you primarily speak to live audiences? If you speak to live audiences, do you offer ancillary products, a follow up process, or online support? If you offer online subscription services, do you include video and pdf materials? If you are not a speaker, but you do work with teams or individuals, could you develop the necessary presentation skills to speak to other groups in your area of expertise? Sometimes people who regularly lead meetings at work and facilitate discussions during staff meetings are tapped to speak to other groups. Would you be ready to do that? If you don’t believe you will ever speak to live groups, you might be called upon to write articles in your area. Could you save those? Would there be an opportunity to develop a newsletter? Would there be enough newsletters to create an ebook?

Another lesson may fill in “the color” to help you sort through all the options there are. Online research into your desired market will help you determine if there really is a market for what you want to do. If nobody is offering what you want to offer, either there is no market for it or you are the first to think of it. On the other hand, if lots of people are doing what you want to do, there must be a market. The next step for you would be to find out how many of them are local. Check out the competition. Can you be just a little bit different? Can you offer just a bit more service or a slightly different product or process?

I realize that there are more questions here than there are answers. That is intentional. I believe that the answers are within you. Go. Work a jigsaw puzzle and apply what you are doing to your business.

Why Work with a Coach?

Have you been thinking about starting your own business? In these chaotic economic times, you may feel that starting a business now is just too risky. That is not necessarily the case, if you have sound ideas regarding your area of expertise. Here are some very useful questions to consider. What are you good at? What do you like to do? How would the market respond to your new idea? Do you have the time? Let’s examine each question.

First, what are you good at? Consider making a list of all the skills you have, including hobby skills, household skills such as organizing, cooking, baking, decorating, cleaning or gardening. Consider childcare skills such as storytelling, transporting kids to activities, supervising, coaching and the like. Is there something there that you not only are good at, but that you enjoy?

If gardening is high on your list of skills and something you enjoy, think about how you could find out if there is a market for your goods and services. Could you grow enough to set up a flower, fruit or vegetable stand? Could you offer to plant hanging baskets or patio planters? Could you offer to plant spring flowering bulbs in the fall? The first place to ask if there is a market for your idea is among your friends and acquaintances and among theirs. You could ask the local teachers, families with whom you worship or anyone with whom you have regular contact. Check at local senior communities as well. Your only limit is your imagination when it comes to checking out the market. One of my neighbors sells dahlia tubers in the spring for a very reasonable price and sells cut flowers from the many tubers that are not sold later in the summer. For her it is not only a two season business, but something she enjoys immensely.

If baking is a love of yours, you might think about offering cookies, pies, or other homemade goodies at someone else’s garden stand. I have a friend who does that. People know her as the Pie Lady and ask for her at the stand.

Another two season business could be raking leaves and garden cleanup in the fall and putting up Christmas lights for the holidays. Sometimes people just need help with chores they used to handle themselves.

The point to this exercise is to get you thinking about new ideas. You will develop many ideas based on your unique skill set. Get some ideas, ask those questions, and get the feedback you need to move ahead.

The next issue is the whole question of finding time to develop, implement, and market your idea. Start small. See how time consuming your idea really is, before you decide whether or not you are going to be a neighborhood business or something bigger. If your idea takes off and you can’t handle all the referrals you receive, you might consider partnering, franchising, or some other means of connecting with all your customers. Who knows? You may be on to something huge.

Change From the Inside Out

Why do people, including me and you probably, resist change? I think it is because most changes are imposed from the outside. We see this all the time with New Year’s Resolutions, weight loss plans, and other supposed self improvement systems. What if you could guarantee yourself change? What would that look like and, more importantly, what would that feel like?

Let’s take a look at a process that you can apply to almost any change you want to make. It is composed of four steps that seem to be too simple to really work. One of the fascinating aspects of this process is that you can be working on more than one change (or goal) at a time. With that said, it probably is better to cement one change at a time.

The first step is a two-part assessment. This simply means to determine where you are. I like to suggest to people that they create a list of skills, interests, and assorted points about themselves that they feel good expressing. This is not the time to be overly modest or humble. Give yourself credit wherever it is appropriate. You can categorize if you wish, into various areas of your business and personal life. As you do, you will notice that some areas have more items from the list than others. We all do. A balanced list is generally indicative of a balanced life. Perhaps you will decide that balance is worth your effort, in terms of your desired change.

The second part of the assessment is to create another list that is developed around perceived shortcomings. Don’t beat yourself up, but do be realistic. This might be a list of items that, if corrected, strengthened, or eliminated, would help you to feel good about expressing.

The next step is affirmation. Change the items in the first part of your assessment to “I am” statements. Change the wording of the items in the second part of the assessment to positive “I am” statements. This is not kidding yourself or deluding yourself into claiming a skill that you don’t currently possess. Your subconscious doesn’t know the difference and it will work hard to create the reality you have claimed.

The third step is association. Many systems for change leave out this critical element. When you include association, you are including an emotional component that is extremely powerful. Here is how it works. Think back over your life to a very strong emotional memory. For me it is walking down the aisle toward the man I love, to marry him. I can replay that moment at any time, seeing the people I love on both sides of the aisle, hearing the music, smelling the candles and the flowers and well, you get the idea. Right in the middle of that beautiful, emotional memory, I repeat the affirmation I am working on. The combination of emotion and logical statement forces the concept deep within me.

The last step is application. Assessments, affirmations, even associations are nothing without action. This is where you give legs to the change you want. Decide what to do to bring it to fruition. Set benchmarks or objectives along the way as you work toward your goal. Repeat the affirmations and associations frequently. As I mentioned earlier, if you give your subconscious something reasonable to create for you, it will.

Follow this process and you will always know you can be the change you want to be.

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The Best To You and Yours,

Alexis Mason