Building Connections: The Importance of Networking | 037

How important is it for you as a business owner to go to

networking events or other in-person events like conferences and workshops?

Well, if your answer is not very important.

You might rethink your position on it.

After this episode of architecture business club, the weekly podcast for

solo and small firm architecture practice owners, just like you who want to build

a profitable future proof architecture business that fits around their life.

I'm the host John Clayton.

And if you want the business in architecture that gives you more freedom,

flexibility, and fulfillment, then go to architecture, business club.com

forward slash blueprint and download the architecture business blueprint.

It's the step-by-step formula to freedom for architects, architectural

technologists and architectural designers.

And it's absolutely free as a gift from me now let's discuss

networking and in-person events.

Hey everybody.

Welcome to the podcast today, it's all about networking and

attending in-person events.

So I'm going to talk a little bit about.

Why these events matter?

And to give you some suggestions about how you can handle them,

particularly if you're a little bit shy.

Or perhaps if there isn't anything local to you.

Why bother to go to networking events or, or the in-person events

like workshops and conferences?

There are an opportunity for growth so you can meet new people who might be

potential clients, future collaborators, maybe your next mentor, you can get

new ideas, you can discover new trends, whether that's, within architecture, if

you're attending an architecture specific event or whether that's to do with.

Business and marketing.

If it's a more general business networking event or workshop.

But ultimately it's about meeting people and building relationships.

There's also opportunities for learning and development Visibility,

you can build your visibility.

You can be seen as the face of your practice.

People can get to know you and it can help build your credibility.

if that is enough reason to go along then there's usually free tea and

coffee and maybe some free pastries.

If you're lucky.

So there's a few common myths about networking.

That networking's only for extroverts, that if you go to a networking

event that you need to like sell aggressively and that's going to

be the same that other people are going to be trying to sell to you.

Thrusting business cards into your hands.

That if it's a regular event that you need to attend every time.

Also the networking doesn't really lead to any tangible results.

That you have to be some kind of smooth talker.

To be successful at networking.

That networking is just a one time event once and done.

And then go into networking in person events is just about

what you get from all those.

So, I mean, I could challenge all of those points.

I always think it's best to go with the serve first mindset that if you go to a

networking event with the attitude of.

I'm here to listen to people, to hear their stories and to

find opportunities to help them.

Then that is a far better approach than going in there.

In a sales mindset thinking I need new customers.

I need to.

Get at my target is to give out as many of my business cards as possible.

I really would not recommend that approach.

To networking events and in-person events at all.

I'm going to talk a little bit, actually about the point about

the distrust for extroverts.

There are.

Plenty of ways that introverts can push a little bit out of the comfort zone and to.

Get a really good return on investment for the energy that they

put into going to networking events.

We'll swing back and talk about that in a little while.

Do you really need to go to any networking or in person events?

Nobody's forcing you to go to networking events or to conferences.

You don't have to go, but it's definitely beneficial for you.

And your business.

So.

It's a case of weighing up the pros and cons for you.

Based on your goals, on the goals for your business.

There are alternatives.

If for whatever reason.

You just can't get to in-person events.

You can attend online events.

There's plenty of virtual events.

That is definitely an option for you.

You can engage in online communities and forums and you can still

get benefits there and start to build relationships that way.

But I don't think anything beats the impact of just.

Being somebody in person and just getting in front of somebody in person.

So what if you're shy?

Now.

Believe it or not, this might surprise you.

Would be being a podcast.

I'm.

I'm quite shy.

I'm not an extrovert.

I'm really more of an introverted person.

And I mean, my early experiences of networking, I got invited

to networking events.

I said no to most of them.

And, I would kind of actively go out of my way to avoid going to

networking events or in-person events.

Uh, didn't really feel comfortable.

Um, there was some that I went to in the early days where it was

like a lunchtime CPD organized by a local building control company.

And.

That felt a bit more comfortable because I knew that there was going

to be a few familiar faces that.

But the thought of walking in a room full of people that were all chatting away and

me not knowing any of them, it kind of scared the living daylights out of me.

So I really didn't do.

Anywhere near north networking or attending events for many years.

And in particular, when we, as a family, relocated across the UK from

Lancaster to Norfolk back in 2016.

And at that point, I totally avoided going to any networking

events or in-person events.

And with hindsight, I think as a consequences was one of the reasons

why I really struggled to get my.

Architecture business off the ground in Norfolk.

Sales typically call from four different ways.

There's referrals.

Relationships, outbound sales and ads.

So advertising.

But then I didn't have the budget for paid advertising.

I didn't even know the outbound sales was a thing.

My past relationships had generally been built by accident.

There was no strategy behind it.

Pretty much all of my work, all of my paid work, all of my

clients had come from referrals.

And how to realize that building new relationships was one of the most

potent ways for me to get new customers.

I would've leaned into that.

Instead of hiding behind my computer.

Writing.

Social media posts and creating social media graphics because.

That's what a lot of the online gurus had taught me, the videos that I'd seen

on YouTube about how to get customers.

A lot of those people online were telling you it was all about social

media, Some people get sales from social media, but, you know, in

terms of what you can control.

And what has the most impact.

Focusing on people and building relationships.

I believe now is far more important than any of those other

things that you could be doing.

Remember.

Don't forget to download the architecture business, blueprint the

step by step formula to freedom for architects, architecture, technologists,

and architecture designers.

You can grab the blueprint without any charge@architecturebusinessclub.com

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Now, back to the show.

So.

What if you're shy.

Trying to answer this question for you now.

I mean, Things that you can do.

You can start small.

You can attend a smaller event where it's easy to engage with people to have

one-to-one conversations, without it being too overwhelming, you could bring a

friend or a colleague along for support.

If there's a local event that you could go to.

You can do a little bit of preparation in advance, so you

can do little bit of research.

There might be a list of attendees.

And if there's a speaker.

That could be, a speaker or speakers.

If it's a bigger event that you can connect with in advance, you

can actually reach out to them.

Do a little bit of, I don't want to use the word stalking, cause that sounds a bit

creepy, but essentially that's what it is.

You be going out on to LinkedIn, for example, and.

Finding the speaker, that's going to be at the event and commenting

on a couple of their posts and maybe dropping them a message to say,

Hey, I'm going to be at the event that you're talking about next week.

Really looking forward to meeting you.

It's just.

A little icebreaker so that when you get in the room in person with them, whether

that's the speakers or the attendees.

You've already broken the ice.

You've already got something that you can talk about.

while you were at the event, I mean, Focus more on listening.

do more listening than talking.

So ask some open-ended questions, listen to what people have got to say.

Show some genuine interest in what people have got to talk about.

Listen to the stories, you know, people.

I appreciate good listeners and it takes the pressure off

you because then if you've got.

less that you need to talk about yourself because not every one,

particularly if you're an introvert.

Most of us introverts are, are not comfortable talking about ourselves.

So what I've thrown any events near you?

Something you can do is you can be strategic about which events you attend.

So you could consider traveling to a smaller number of larger

events during the year.

So rather than committing to doing something every week or every month,

you could just go, okay, I'm just going to go to one or two larger events where

there's going to be more people there to meet in a shorter space of time.

And that can work for some people.

So depending on where you're located in the world, it could be something like.

New York build or Chicago build.

If you're in the states or the AI.

Annual conference.

if you're out in Australia, it could be something like city bills.

If you're in the UK.

It could be something like, the Annual conference.

they have a marketing conference called guerrilla tactics and

a lot of regional RBA events.

CIAT for architectural technologists, they have an annual AGM conference event

on their half of the AT awards in London.

later on in the year.

And you've also got London build, which is another huge industry

event in the UK, which I'll talk about a little bit more later on.

So the other thing you could do, you could even host your own event.

If there is anything local.

You could always, you organize your own local meetup or workshop.

this doesn't even need to be anything fancy.

you don't need to provide catering.

You don't need to have speakers.

It could literally just be.

We're doing a meetup and it's at a local cafe or local Pope.

And it's just an opportunity for other business owners to come together.

It could be industry specific for architecture.

If you live in a big city.

It could be a property specific for people from the worlds of property,

construction and architecture.

Or it could be something that's more, generic for the small business owners

and there's advantages to doing.

Any of those types of events, but don't, over-complicate it just,

go out there and give it a try.

Do you think that I should mention again, just a reminder, you can

use online platforms so you can do.

I attend online events.

So you could organize your own online meetups over zoom or

Google meets, whatever you prefer.

And again, it's just another option for you.

If in-person, for whatever reason is it going to be possible?

So when it comes to the networking in-person events, what would

be my top recommendations?

Well, I think the first one really is just got to be.

Be yourself.

Like.

Be your authentic self.

When you go to these events, Share your interests and experiences.

And that authenticity shines fray.

I think that if you can turn up in a room full of people and you can be

comfortable to genuinely be yourself.

That authenticity, like people pick up on it.

It really helps to build trust quicker and it will help you to

build lasting relationships because.

your people in that room will be drawn to you.

If you are your true self while you're there.

Another top recommendation is to actually follow up, going to an

event and meeting people is great.

But if you just meet them once and nothing happens afterwards, like

what a total waste, this could be.

An amazing working relationship that you have together.

It could be a new friendship.

It could be a new partnership.

There could be an ex business partner.

There could be a next mentor.

Follow up with them.

And if you had a really engaging conversation and you've exchanged

contact details, just follow up afterwards and just say, Hey.

Really enjoyed that conversation.

We were having it, they event the other day.

feels like we, we didn't finish the conversation.

Are you interested in catching up sometime?

So that could either be again in person for a coffee.

It could be, online, over zoom.

You figure it out, but do follow up and maintain those connections.

Like those.

Relationships like meeting somebody new.

That's just the star.

the magic is in the follow-up.

What comes afterwards?

The other thing I would suggest you consider is actually setting, setting

some goals around networking in person events and to actually have some

kind of strategy behind it because.

They can be time-consuming and they can cost you money.

Particularly if you are traveling to big industry events that

aren't local, maybe having to pay for a train ticket, a flight.

Hotels, that sort of thing.

The cost of attending an in-person event.

can really Mount up and then obviously it's your time.

Like you never get your time back.

Like that's time you could be working on something else in your business or

delivering results for your clients.

So I would be quite strategic about which events you choose to attend.

And before you get to those events, just be clear on what your goals

are like, what is it that you're looking to get out of this event?

Are you going there?

Because you're looking to learn something.

Are you going there because you want him to make.

X number of new industry connections.

What is it?

What is the reason why you, that it might be a really different reason?

It could be that the main reason is just to be visible.

Maybe you're a new business and you're just wanting to get your name out there.

Get your face out there because you know, people buy from people.

They want to see the face behind the business.

But just be clear on what your own goals and objectives are.

So I hope you found this useful.

If you're interested in attending a large in-person event in the UK with lots of

networking and learning opportunities.

And if you'd like to meet me in person, then.

Why not come and join me at the UKs leading and largest construction

show London Bell's 2024.

It's taking place in November in London.

And I would absolutely love to meet you that if possible.

I'm really excited to share that I'm an opening speaker at the skills and

marketing hub at London bell 2024.

I'm going to be on stage at 10:00 AM or Wednesday.

The 20th of November, you can join me there for free.

At London bills, the event is on the 20th and 21st at the Olympia in London.

And you can register for free tickets using the link that

I've put in the show notes.

And I should also add as well.

But I'm planning to host an evening meetup, ideally,

a nearby pub to the venue.

It's going to be really casual.

It's just, you know, no kind of speakers or cringy like intros or anything.

It's literally just going to be meeting with some friends or

like-minded architecture, business owners and people within architecture.

at a nearby Pope to the venue, and I will share more details

about that in the coming months.

Once we pin down the details.

Okay, so that's it for this week.

So I will catch you next time.

Next time I'm joined by IO ABAs to talk about digital marketing.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of architecture business club.

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Remember.

Running your architecture business.

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This is architecture business club.