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Are you a B2B business owner or leader who attends conferences and networking events, but struggles to translate those opportunities into meaningful connections and qualified referrals? Do you wish you could genuinely expand your professional network without feeling transactional or overwhelmed?
Welcome to Mastering Conference Networking, hosted by Catherine Brown, founder of the Good Humans Growth Network. Catherine, an accomplished entrepreneur, community facilitator, and author of How Good Humans Sell™, is here to transform the way you approach in-person events.
Move beyond collecting business cards and discover how to truly engage, create reciprocal value, and make your time at any business event incredibly productive. If you're ready to master the art of strategic networking and elevate your business development through genuine human connection, this podcast is for you.
Brooke_Greening
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Introduction to Brooke Greening
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Catherine Brown: [00:00:00] I am joined today by my friend Brooke Greening, who is going to be sharing some things about. How to maximize your experience at conferences, trade associations, chamber events and conferences with the Good Humans Growth Network. I love welcoming another sales professional because I think we're really gonna get into some of those.
[00:01:00] Secrets that come from trial and error and we wanna give them away, so you learn them more easily than we did, and so I'm looking forward to diving into that conversation. Brooke, would you introduce yourself to everyone?
Brooke Greening: Hello. Thank you so much, Catherine. My name is Brooke Greening. I am co-owner of Building Momentum Resources and I just firmly believe you do not have to be a jerk to be good at sales. And so I'm excited to be able to talk about how can we do this in regards to networking and conferencing. 'cause sometimes that can start to feel really uncomfortable and it doesn't have to.
It can be a great tool to continue to grow your business.
Catherine Brown: That's wonderful.
Maximizing Conference Experiences
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Catherine Brown: And so one of the things we've established in some of the other conversations about around conferences, and just to give people context, that this is the first episode they're listening to is we have talked about how there are all kinds of ways to maximize an experience while you're at the event because you have referral partners in the room.
You have buyers in the room, you have these different pipelines. There are strategies about what you can [00:02:00] bring. Have a QR code, make it easy to connect with people, keep good notes, all these kinds of things like that that we've discussed. And what I really wanna focus on in this conversation is how. How is it?
Why is it, and how can we encourage people to understand that when they get home is when the revenue generating activities really start?
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Catherine Brown: How can we help them be readier and excited about it and understand what is quote normal? Because it's been my observation, having held several large conferences now as well as attending all the ones I did, you know, just in different capacities before I had the Good Humans Growth Network.
I think we just are always misaligned and surprised how tired we are when we come home and what is left for us.
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Effective Networking Strategies
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Catherine Brown: So, so let's start with. Place yourself, Brooke. In the middle of the event, you're in the middle of the event working it yourself. You've captured your notes somehow. [00:03:00] Walk us through what you'll do.
You've captured your notes of what your various follow ups are. How are you capturing that? Where are you capturing that? What happens next?
Brooke Greening: Sure.
Capturing and Organizing Notes
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Brooke Greening: Well, the very first thing I want to encourage is sometimes when we're having our conversations and we're having it face to face. We almost feel like we can't set the appointment right then and there, and I just wanna encourage you that we should, because all momentum starts to go away after we walk away.
Literally as we're talking to someone and then we say, oh yeah, we should probably get together. We need to talk about this, or, that's really intriguing to me. I'd like to know more. And then we walk away. That momentum starts to fade. So the very first thing I wanna encourage is if you really wanna talk to them.
Just ask them right then and there and say, Hey, I know I could probably reach out to you in a week or two, but if you're really interested in wanting to be able to do this, are you okay for us to set up a time right now? I've got my phone. I know you've got your phone, and people are there at the networking event.
They're going [00:04:00] to probably be able to do that. And so that's one thing I wanna encourage. We don't have to wait when we're talking to them face to face, and we feel like this is a good. Idea to move forward. I'm not saying we're doing this with everybody that we meet, that would be a little exhausting, but we know this is a good connection.
This is what we wanna continue to develop. Do it right there.
Intentional Follow-Up Techniques
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Catherine Brown: Brooke, I'd love to jump. I'd love that. I'd love to jump in. It's not just about momentum, although that's very much a part of it. It is also, may I suggest that you be as specific as you could be? Because if I had a dollar for every time. Someone post-event, like a member of the Good Human Growth Network kind of joked with me, but not really joking, you know, and said, so I have all these cards and I took some notes, but I can't even remember when I agreed that the reason was we were gonna get together.
Like so it might be, well, they're fractional and I'm a fractional, but it's like [00:05:00] we discussed this and the idea was the collaboration around X, Y, Z. Then when you get ready to reset the agenda, to remind 'em about the call, remind them why you're talking because they can't remember either.
No one can remember
Brooke Greening: No. And if the cold conversation starts with, tell me where you're calling from or what's going on, we've got a little bit of a problem because neither one know exactly what's going on. And it doesn't, it doesn't have to be that way. You can be intentional, and it doesn't have to be intrusive, it doesn't have to be pushy, but you do need to be intentional.
And so as you're having these conversations, you are thinking in your mind. They're gonna be coming into two categories. One, can I help you in regards to the services that I offer? Or two, are you in front of the people that I can be able to help? Those are the things, and it's okay to tell them that. And say, Hey, it sounds like this might be a really good fit.
Can we be able to set up a time, or, it sounds like you and I would be able to, to work well together in regards to [00:06:00] I'm interacting with people that would benefit from working with you. And it sounds like you're interacting with people that could benefit working with me. Would you be open to having more of a collaboration conversation and then setting it right there and like you said, then recapping that afterwards?
Because when you walk into a conference, there can be hundreds of people and you're just not going, you're not gonna remember.
Catherine Brown: So good.
Building Relationships Post-Event
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Catherine Brown: And let's say that someone learned your name or you don't remember why the person wanted to talk and they wanna reach out and book, Hey, would you like to grab a coffee? I feel like what I'm seeing with people who have been involved in the network longer and longer is that they're becoming pickier.
And I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean that in a really good way because they're getting more and more clarity where they're realizing, okay, I've been at this a couple years and what I've learned is that only people that serve these three industries really, really are positioned to. To get me in front of the right people.
So I would say just because someone follows up with you and responds, it's actually I think it's Brene Brown that says Clear is kind. Right, like just say, I'm looking forward to [00:07:00] visiting. If it still makes sense, may I give you a little more information about what I'm looking for and then it's okay.
You don't have to give them 30 minutes or an hour if they're really not your person. It's on every person to be clear of advocating for themself. What do I need? Who am I trying to meet? And making that agenda clear. So just saying, follow up after sell well, or Follow up after chamber event, or follow up after grow.
I'm gonna say that's not good enough because all of our time is more valuable than that. And so let's say what we wanna get out of the call and be really straightforward about that because people appreciate that clarity.
Utilizing CRM and Tools
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Brooke Greening: Yes, and when you're putting your notes in wherever it is, I highly recommend like having a CRM because that is meant to work for you, not going against you. But if you don't have one, if you have an Excel spreadsheet, you have to put in notes that help you to remember what that conversation was about.
Because if you're like, well, they're looking to grow their business. It reminds me of when I used to work in the senior living community and I'd be like, Hey, I [00:08:00] met this daughter. She's looking for a place for her mom. She's really sweet. She's overwhelmed. Okay. And then I go look at it again. I have no idea because everybody is in that category, and so you want to have specific things that you're writing down to be able to, to build that relationship.
It also shows that you care enough about their business and what's going on. That, and we talk about this in our service sales framework, it's establishing that rapport piece. And that is really important. And what I mean by that is we're looking at what's going on in their business, not to diagnose their problem, not to get them to work with us, but to truly understand what's driving them and motivating them, and what kind of questions could we ask that show we care about what's going on and the struggles they're facing.
Not because we're trying to get them to work with us necessarily, that will come, but that's not, that's not in the beginning.
Catherine Brown: And that's to our referral partner and to a buyer. Right? Like what is important to them right now? Exactly. I've heard too, like quick pro tips. [00:09:00] I've heard some people say that they will step away for a second, walk down the hall, actually do a voice memo. If they have an assistant, they'll do a voice memo to the assistant and just do brain dump everything they can think of about that conversation right then.
So someone else actually enters it. Which I think is really clever. Others will do a memo to themself and make a plan that that night they sit down and enter their stuff before they go to the next day. So there's not two or three days worth of stuff, but only one. I thought both of those were good suggestions.
Brooke Greening: Yes. And if you don't have something that's like electronically connecting things, just take a picture of the business card. 'cause it's so easy to lose it and it goes somewhere else. And so to take a picture and then you can write a note in regards to what's going on. I agree a hundred percent if you have the mental capacity to put the information in your CRM or whatever notes that you're doing.
That day, that night, that is gonna be so much easier than coming back and then trying to remember all the things that are going
Catherine Brown: So just congratulate yourself a [00:10:00] thousand times over. You know, it's like. it's like when you wake up the next morning and you manage to skip dessert, you know, you're like, I'm
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Catherine Brown: you know? Okay.
Setting Up Future Meetings
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Catherine Brown: So now we're home. So we all like sleep a little bit later. The next couple mornings we're, you know, we're recovering.
'cause it's a lot of people, whether an introvert or an extrovert. And then you're starting to work on your rhythm. And follow up. So we talk a lot in my network about having templates, having a plan, thinking about what you're gonna share. One thing that was kind of cool after one event I did, I was doing some coaching with someone who had been a sponsor and we were talking about how a lot of the same collateral that might be interesting, like case studies or blogs that had been formatted in certain ways, things like that.
Those would be all interesting to referral partners too, because. What we don't wanna do is get in a situation where we've tried one or two times, we can't get them back on a call, and then we start saying things like just checking in because that feels so, it feels so bad to [00:11:00] everyone and it feels like it's not valuable.
But we do that because we don't actually have a plan.
Brooke Greening: No, a hundred percent. My goal is that anytime I'm having a conversation, we have a plan of what we're going to be doing. So in any sales conversation we're having, any network event that we're doing, we're gonna be asking ourself this question, do they know what they need to do next to move forward with me?
And do I know if they're going to do it? If so, when and if not, why? If that's not answered, it all goes into vague follow up land. And then that's what happens. We start doing, circling back or checking in, and we're asking them questions that they can't even respond to. How are you supposed to respond to, I'm checking in.
How are you supposed to respond to, I'm circling back? You have to have intentional questions for them to even be able to respond back to. that would be one of the pieces to do. The other piece is. I know you're tired and all of that, but before you even leave block off time on that Monday or Tuesday, whatever day it is.
And make like block it off [00:12:00] so that then you can go back and you can, so if it didn't work to get it scheduled at that point, now we're doing it again. 'cause it gets awkward if it's week two, week three, Hey, we met at the conference, we were kind of talking about something. And like all that momentum has has gone away.
So block it off so that you can be able to use that. But the other piece I would encourage in what you're talking about of being specific. What you wanna do even before you get to the conference, is have things that people could get excited about and start with you right away. Like we're not jumping from zero to 10,000 to a hundred thousand or whatever it is.
Like people don't usually make that decision immediately and one conversation, but have an offer. That gets people excited to be able to work with you. That starts that relationship that could then lead to retainers and things like that. Have that set and ready to go. So that, those are the things you can be talking about.
Those are the things that you can keep moving forward because I think so many times people put so much [00:13:00] pressure and they feel like, okay, we gotta, we gotta make up, we gotta do the ROI for this. We've gotta do all of these things, and we feel like I have to do all of it. Like I need them to give me referrals right now.
I need them to buy my. 10,000 retainer, whatever it is, have something that's a little bit easier to digest where it allows you to get to know them and they get to know you, and then we get to figure out, yes, this would be a good idea to have a long-term relationship, or no, it would not. And I'm really glad we figured it out sooner rather than later.
Handling Objections and Assumptions
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Catherine Brown: I think one of the things that people forget when they feel like they get moved into a sales chasing role, like in that follow up. You know, black hole is, they forget to lead themself. They forget that they can be a leader to themself and they can be a leader to other people. And so thinking specifically around a conference, whose intention is networking?
Like, what's coming to me as you're talking is I'm thinking [00:14:00] if I were starting all over again, you know, I, I would have a plan of. Maybe five things I could say share or do that I was committed to doing with each person, and I would do everything in my power. Don't forget, Brooke already said, just go ahead and schedule that meeting while you're at the event.
Like if you can say, this has been such a fun thing to talk with you, Brooke, can we go ahead and pull our phone's out. And I would joke, I need to pull my glasses 'cause I can't read the print that small, you know? And I'd say let's go ahead and pick a time, even if it's a month from now, even af whenever it's, let's get that picked and then I remind you when that gets close, I remind you why we're talking.
'cause I kept good notes. So then we, we pick that back up if for some reason it's just, we're about to rush in and we're walking in to sit down and we, we miss the chance to do that. You are gonna have to set that meeting and you're gonna have to go ask for that meeting.
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Catherine Brown: That's where I think people will ask once or twice, and then they kind of spazz out because they think that they are being overly pushy and that name, which used to look woman friendly to you.
The longer [00:15:00] the time passes, the more you feel fearful about it, and that's where having a plan to say. I promised my former self when I was in my right mind and not scared that this was the plan I was gonna follow.
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Catherine Brown: Right? And the plan might be, make sure I'm connected to every person on LinkedIn. I'm gonna comment, I'm gonna comment on their stuff.
I'm gonna double click the bell and comment on their stuff. Right? What, what are other things the plan could be?
Brooke Greening: Well, I think also just know who you are and own it. So many times we get so scared and we're like, they're gonna think I'm pushy. They're gonna think this is going on. And like you said, you're creating that plan. Well know who you are and own it and know that this is how you can be able to help. So are there other resources that you might be able to send them that is not, it's, it's not going to, when I say resources, we talk about like lead generators and things like that, but these are tools that are going to be helpful for them, whether they choose to work with you or not.
Catherine Brown: Yes.
Brooke Greening: Is there something that [00:16:00] you can share with them? Is there something in regards to when you see something or it reminds you of the conversation they had that you can do? Like have it set up so that the follow up is intentional? So yes, we're gonna do it at the very beginning. If we can't, we're gonna block out time to be able to do that.
But then what is our plan for the next month? What are things that we can send them? What are things that we can be able to have? Conversations about, and there's nothing wrong. And the other thing is that I would encourage is call them. So many times we're just like, oh, I sent them an email.
Catherine Brown: Yes,
Brooke Greening: okay, well we have
Catherine Brown: I have a lot of emails in my box right now. Yes,
Brooke Greening: Yeah. Make a commitment that you're going to call them. You had a good conversation. They said they wanted to be able to talk with you, so just say, hey, really enjoyed being able to talk with you. Is this something you're still wanting to do? If so, let's be able to set up a time that allows them to call you back and say, Hey, no, it's not a good idea.
Or, yes, I can. It's not that follow up left message 'cause that's just [00:17:00] incredibly uncomfortable, but put that in your plan. Make sure I'm actually going to call them, because that's how you start moving things forward when you actually start talking to them and having conversations with them. That's how we continue to build that trust.
Emails that go out. Maybe they get 'em, maybe they don't. Messages in LinkedIn. None of these are bad, but the best thing is to be able to actually have that conversation with them. The other thing I would add is if you are connected with them on LinkedIn, send them a video. Put it on, either do it on LinkedIn or do it on Loom, and that just helps to kind of separate you from everybody else.
It's that authenticity of, Hey, like I really enjoyed talking to you. I'm excited. These were some of the things I was thinking about how we might be able to collaborate together. Are you still wanting to set up that time? So great. Got my calendar link right here. Look forward to talking with you soon.
Catherine Brown: I, I would, I would.
Brooke Greening: personal video is huge.
Catherine Brown: Huge. And I would say I think level at the same level of [00:18:00] appreciation is a sincere contribution and comment on someone's post because
Brooke Greening: hundred percent.
Catherine Brown: like not many people are including me, you know, are so famous that they don't notice who comments. Okay.
Brooke Greening: No, that's a great
Catherine Brown: I totally notice your comments. Even if, even if like for me, a huge response on a post would be, you know, 30 back and forths 15 posts with 15 of me responding.
That would be a great response for me at this stage in my career, and many of them are 3, 4, 5, depending on the day it hit, how the algorithm hit. I know exactly who comments on my stuff.
Brooke Greening: Oh yeah.
Catherine Brown: the new people who are commenting on my stuff, I can't help but notice because it's, it's dinging me and I'm like, oh look, that's a new person.
Like, so it's so easy to stand out by promoting them resharing saying, this is my new friend from so-and-so, and look what they did. And that's part of that. Owning yourself. Like one of the reasons at our next upcoming event, Brooke, that we have information about [00:19:00] branding, is because this idea of confidence in your personal brand is like, it's so critical because building trust comes from you being.
Your full nerd self or your, your, your full sweet self or whatever you are, your quirky self, your funny self, whatever it is, being yourself helps you be memorable and people will attach themself to that. And it, it helps them to understand that you're not a machine. And
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Catherine Brown: It's what we call good human.
Brooke Greening: it's just like you said, it's just being that human part of it and not so many times. I think not only knowing who you, you are and own it, but just like we have a lot of voices going on in our head, it doesn't mean we have to listen to them all. Just because it got in there doesn't mean that it gets to stay, and especially when it comes to sales.
On follow up and being intentional and all of that. We're [00:20:00] terrified that they're going to either go tell other people, oh, she was really pushy, she was really salesy. She didn't do that. Or, we're terrified they're gonna turn it back on us and be like, knock it off. Leave me alone. But I have never had that happen.
Catherine Brown: Yeah.
Brooke Greening: Never either. They just don't wanna respond, and that's perfectly okay. Or half the time. It's always like, wow. I really like your follow up. I could learn something from
Catherine Brown: yes, yes.
Brooke Greening: you so much for reaching out. And so just to be like, worst case scenario, they don't respond or they say no and it's okay. Like we have to be able to get over that.
Catherine Brown: I love that example, Brooke. It makes me think, I think you'd enjoy this quick story for this latest event that I'm recruiting toward. We, we've learned a couple conferences ago that we need to have an unsubscribe button where someone can say, I don't wanna hear more about this event, but I wanna stay connected to you.
We're trying to improve our preferences on our email marketing. And so that went well the first time. We got some people click it. This last conference, I have over [00:21:00] 300 people who've said, I don't wanna hear about this conference. And like when you first hear that, I mean, you hear me laughing when you first hear it, you're like, how is that good news?
But the thing is that if you're doing weekly emails and you're doing a really strong promotion around something,
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Catherine Brown: then there's gonna be weekly emails until, in this case, mid-September. And so I love that we gave a way to say, I wanna hear from you. That doesn't require to do a full unsub.
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Catherine Brown: And then now my brain is thinking, well, what else could I send to you? Or how could I, how can I serve you? Because this could just simply be a schedule conflict. This doesn't even necessarily mean I don't wanna do any events. It could just, the question on the yellow button says, if I can't attend this one, I don't wanna hear about it anymore.
Brooke Greening: Yeah, and I,
Catherine Brown: and so I love that because I was scared to put that button.
Brooke Greening: mm,
Catherine Brown: I was, I thought, what will I, what does it mean if I do that? Does, does it communicate? Is someone gonna think that, I think it means this [00:22:00] isn't worthwhile, or, you know, it's this idea of, you don't have to believe every thought that comes in your head.
Michael Hyatt supposedly has a sign on his kitchen that says don't have to believe everything you think,
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Catherine Brown: right. So I did it anyway. I have this huge number of people who have clicked it now, it's still fair percent compared to the size of the whole list. It's not mortifying, but the flip side of how I can view that is I could say, look, all these people who said I wanna be connected and thanks for giving that opportunity.
So my point is to say. That it felt like it was a little bit risky, but I did it and I felt like I was rewarded for that. And people have shown me like, thanks. I'm taking advantage of that. And that requires bravery and we have to put ourself out there and coach ourself through. Okay, you can do it one more thing.
One more thing. It.
Brooke Greening: and we always assume like worst intentions, not because we're trying to be. Evil people. That's not what I'm saying. But we just assume if someone [00:23:00] says that they've unsubscribed, they're angry, they don't wanna have anything to do with us anymore, and none of like, we don't have any idea. And so when we start making those assumptions, then we start getting fearful and then we start backing off.
Not only that, then we're terrified what everybody else is thinking. And so you just have to not only know who you are and own it, but then two. People don't really care about us or think about us as much as we think they do.
Catherine Brown: So good.
Brooke Greening: can, it can be simple as, Katherine, I already signed up for your event. I don't really want 20 more emails coming at me about like signing up for the event.
'cause I'm getting all these great emails about, I'm in it. I'm
Catherine Brown: right.
Brooke Greening: to be a part of
Catherine Brown: that's right. Or I mean, it's, the end of February is often, like, we're often close to President's Day, and it's often around the last possible ski weekend, so people that sometimes people have holidays with kids. It's a long weekend. I mean, it's just. It's a time that's just not great for everybody, but it, it's a time that is good for many and it's a wonderful time to be at the beach in Texas.
So that's why we do it, but it's not right [00:24:00] for everybody. I love what you said, so I wanna make sure that the, the audience is hearing, you know, another principle is hashtag no assumptions.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Catherine Brown: No assumptions. Notice when you're making up a story and ask yourself, could this be something else? Is this, is there another way to look at this?
Because managing ourself in the process is so much a part of that.
Brooke Greening: And
Catherine Brown: Okay,
Brooke Greening: Yeah, and we do that also in our sales conversations. We talk about that a lot in the service framework. Objections are a good thing when our customers are sharing them with us, us creating them are not, and so it's the same thing whether we're networking, whether we're doing emails, whether we're in sales conversations.
If we create the objections of why they're saying. No, take me off. I'm waiting, whatever. Instead of actually knowing what it is, then it just messes with our head and we start going into this spiral of, okay, now I have to fix this, this, this, and this, and we didn't have to do any of that. So don't, don't create them and don't assume them.
Catherine Brown: I love that.
Creating a Follow-Up Sequence
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Catherine Brown: So we've named [00:25:00] some examples of what a follow up might look like. Let's, I'll just throw this out here. We'll build their sequence for them live in real time. Okay. So, so we try to get our meeting set while we're there. If we can't, we do it when we get back. We schedule on our calendar to have real time to work on this, that we treat as precious as if it were a sales call.
With a live person, right? My revenue generating activity time is scheduled.
Post-Conference Follow-Up Strategies
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Catherine Brown: And you spread that out and you hold that time for at least a couple of weeks, every day, at least a couple of weeks post-conference. And then you might start to get into rhythm where you're starting to see who's agreeing, who's, what conversations are progressing, what do I still have to chase, what do I still have to do?
But we've talked about making sure you're connected on LinkedIn, do a voice memo, do a video. Comment, make a commitment to schedule 15 minutes on your calendar in the morning and go double click the bell so that it appears in your feed and comment on the posts of the people you really wanna be closer to.
You wanna befriend them and you believe you [00:26:00] could work together, collaborate, share clients, things like that. You also probably have favorite resources, so these could be tools you have or you say, I'm sharing my case study. You have other people's stuff. Like I often will promote other people's webinar and say.
This was one of my favorite episodes about this topic. Something you said made me think of you. I think you'd enjoy this, right? So it could be other people's resources, but all these things you share and do keep you from just having an email that says, just checking in, which everyone wants to ignore.
Brooke Greening: Yeah. And the other piece is we're doing all of this, but if someone is actually reaching out to you, it's just as vital that you're responding quickly.
Daily Sales Habits
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Brooke Greening: So you are, yes, you're doing all of this, but I have something called the daily five of like, what are we doing every day for daily Five habits for our sales activities and making sure they're like.
Revenue generating, not just busy work, but what do we need to do? And one of the top ones is respond, and I try to respond within two hours. So if it's someone that's legit, we had a conversation and now they're reaching back out to me, it doesn't [00:27:00] mean we have to necessarily set the agenda right then and there.
Maybe we can't, maybe we don't have our calendar right in front of us, but respond to them quickly.
Catherine Brown: yes,
Brooke Greening: And because they've taken the time to reach out to you and like you said, be very clear like, Hey, this is what I've actually found is helpful. If you still think it's a great idea to meet, let you do that, but respond to those who are reaching back out to you as well.
We can put that kind of on the back burner too. We can see it and we'd be like, oh yeah, I need to respond to that, and then we don't.
Catherine Brown: Yes. And remove whatever obstacles keeping you from doing it. Like if you're behind on your Calendly or whatever the thing is, like just, it's not gonna get better by ignoring it. So, that doesn't work when like little kids do that.
Brooke Greening: Yes. And then
Catherine Brown: We don't wanna do that as adults.
Blocking Time for Networking
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Brooke Greening: Yes, and we talked about like making sure you block time out to do that. Also, look at your calendar now and block out time that people could schedule those times so that your schedule, like if you wait [00:28:00] until September 10th or 11th to carve that out, that might be a little difficult, but
Catherine Brown: It will be November before someone could speak with you, but if you, if you say, from three to 5:00 PM my time zone, three days a week, I'm gonna hold these places for my future referral partners. That's a real pro tip. That's great. That's really great, Brooke.
Brooke Greening: And then you have that when you're talking to them face to face. So you can do it then, but then you also have it so you are not scrambling trying to figure out, okay, I need to open up more time on my calendar because I wanna be able to talk to them within the next two weeks. Like, no, no, no, just do yourself a favor and have those blocked out now so other people can't take em.
Catherine Brown: You know, I have a, a friend in the network who will be speaking at our next event and she has one morning a week that is dedicated for referral and networking conversations. She's booked many weeks out because it's just that one morning. But there's, she's working on product.
There's other things she's doing that's also a priority. And sometimes people will be like, why do I have to wait so far? And she's like, that's the time I have. [00:29:00] I mean, so she just is like, I've held this time. That's the time I've had. It's full, and the next time I'll have in this window is X. That's also okay because you have a time, right?
You get to decide how much time you wanna make for this, but you're still getting back to people a professional and kind manner. You're managing yourself according to your goals. Right. It's the clear is clear as kind. You're being clear about what this looks like for you. It's interesting to me, you could have real people pleasing tendencies and that could
Brooke Greening: Oh yeah.
Catherine Brown: actually to avoiding, because you think, I can't do it right, so I won't do it.
And that's not good either.
Brooke Greening: No, no. I think it's just, it's again saying, Hey, I really wanna be able to do this. These are the times that I have, and if it keeps getting pushed out, then that's, that's what happening. I'm, and I know you're not saying this, I'm not suggesting we do that in regards to sales calls. I don't think we should be pushing those out for like
Catherine Brown: Now these are referral, these are, let's get to know each other. Maybe we can collaborate kind of conversations. [00:30:00] I agree.
Building Trust in Business Relationships
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Catherine Brown: Because those relationships take a while to cultivate. I know some people inside my network who have started to do a lot of joint marketing and they're really starting to have a lot of traction with referrals.
I asked one of the parties, I mean, they really, they got together and interacted directly, just the two of them in different small group settings five times.
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Catherine Brown: In addition to seeing each other at our events, but they had like all these separate, what are you up to? What am I up to? What am I developing?
They had like five interactions before they could get it quite right, I could see it. I mean, I was like that, that relationship makes sense. I see what you're both doing. And that makes sense to collaborate, to do webinars, to um, to speak at things together, to have some kind of go to market, joint, go to market thing.
But it takes a while to build that trust.
Brooke Greening: It does because you're, it's your business and it's their business. Like, it's not something, it's exactly like a sales conversation because we're like, do we trust each other? Can you be able to help us? [00:31:00] Can you help solve the problems that we have? And you might not be able to resolve all of that in one.
Conversation and then you're also, you're watching them and they're watching you, and that is perfectly okay. It's like dating. You're not usually like, bingo
Catherine Brown: Right.
Brooke Greening: and we're married and so,
Catherine Brown: right. That's right. And even if one person thinks on date too, this is my person, the other person often takes a bit longer. Right. That was my story with my spouse. Okay. Let's go to Brooke.
Best Practices for Maximizing Conferences
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Catherine Brown: Let's wrap up with just like best practices. You know, I know that. We, when we were planning for this, you know, I said just what else would you want people to know That is this idea of making the most of conferences, making the most of these experiences, maximizing them.
What would you like to share?
Brooke Greening: So I have about five or six.
Catherine Brown: Great. Let's do it.
Preparing Your Online Presence
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Brooke Greening: So the first one is like if you have websites, LinkedIn, LinkedIn sites, different things like that, just feel confident [00:32:00] about them. The last thing you want is you're going into a networking group and they're gonna check out your website and you're like, I'm not sure
Catherine Brown: are saying don't say, Ooh.
Brooke Greening: Yeah, just make sure like if you have things that you're offering, is that updated on your site? Because I guarantee you where people are going is your site is LinkedIn like, and so just make sure. I feel confident that if they hit that good to go.
Catherine Brown: Okay. Get your stuff ready. Got it.
Brooke Greening: Yes, exactly. The other pieces. It if you are gonna say something.
'cause it's gonna happen all the time. And they're like, Hey, tell me about your business.
Crafting Your Business Pitch
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Brooke Greening: And we start with like, well, it's a little complicated, or that's the million dollar question, or whatever that case is. I'm StoryBrand guide. So we're big proponents of this, but make sure you have something that you can say in one to two sentences that helps them to understand what you do.
And we always say the solution is one problem. One solution, one result, put that in a one to two sentence format and practice it and make sure it feels comfortable for you, and start thinking about, well, how would I even [00:33:00] start to approach that? How would I couch that? Do that? Because then when they say, Hey, what do you do?
It's not that awkward thing. Because if we actually stumble in that, people will start to devalue what we're doing. They're like, oh, do they know what they're doing? And I'm, I am not saying that to scare or to be judgemental, it's just the reality of our human perspective.
If I'm asking someone, what do you do? And they're like, well, things are changing. I'm not entirely sure. You're like, oh, they're, they're a little bit on uneven ground right now.
Catherine Brown: I am gonna jump in on that, Brooke, because like one of the things about a distinctive networking conference and among just in, in our case, our events, you really can expect that people there who are gonna, are gonna be very nice and very kind and very open to helping. I do think it's okay to say, may I, I've been changing the way I, I described this.
May I give you my new version?
Brooke Greening: sure.
Catherine Brown: And they go, sure. And now you're engaged because you really, actually might wanna practice a new one while you're there. [00:34:00] I think that's okay.
Brooke Greening: Oh, a hundred
Catherine Brown: it still needs to be short so it's short and clear. And so feel free to try that out. I think just say, I like your feedback.
Can you tell what I sell?
Brooke Greening: Yes, a hundred percent. And that's, that's perfectly fine. I think the other piece is. Sometimes we work so hard on being able to talk about what we do, but the biggest piece is we need to talk about what they do.
Researching and Engaging with Key Contacts
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Brooke Greening: So that's where the homework comes in. That's when we start looking and we were talking about like, how do I prepare?
I would say find five people before you even go. You're doing an like for the Sell Well conference, we have Slack channels, we're going into pods, we've got all of this great stuff. So look at who's going to the conference and say who are the top five. That I would really like to talk to 'cause I feel like I could help them in the service that I offer.
And who are the top five? I just want in my corner. I want to be able to have a relationship with them. They seem like they're great people and [00:35:00] they're also in front of my ideal client. Pick those 10 people and do your homework so that when you have that moment to have a conversation with them, you have intentional, meaningful questions about their business.
That shows I care. I did a little bit of research before we even had this conversation. That is massive. And then if you don't like, then we don't, we can't do that for everybody that shows up at a conference. Then come up with one or two questions that you can ask that helps get to know their business.
Not like necessarily, well, tell me what you do, but just say, Hey, I've been talking to a lot of people and they've been sharing these wins with me. What have been some of your wins this year? Have a couple of questions that are focused on them. Do we need to know what we do? Yes. 'cause it's gonna turn around.
They're gonna say, Hey, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then they usually spin it and they say, well, what about you? So you need to be able to have that. But more importantly, [00:36:00] how you develop relationships. How we determine is this gonna be a good collaboration or can we help serve you? Is talking about them and what's going on in their business.
And so one, do our homework in regards to those that we really wanna talk to. And then two, have two or three good questions of what we could ask that doesn't feel invasive, but is showing like, Hey, this is what I've talked about other people and they've shared these struggles. What kind of struggles are you facing in your business?
Those are good questions to be able to ask that help to start that, and that that takes time to be able to prepare, but that is what makes a difference between what do you do and actually starting a conversation and moving things forward.
Catherine Brown: So we have. Get your marketing stuff together, make sure you're happy with your site and your LinkedIn profile. was the second point? Tell me the second point.
Brooke Greening: One, you, you do need to know how are you gonna explain
Catherine Brown: Right. Value
Brooke Greening: a confident manner?
Catherine Brown: Practice. Practice what you're gonna say. [00:37:00] Decide if you're trying on something new, say it in front of the mirror. Right. Get ready. Good point. And we, we feel like with that, with that StoryBrand training too, I know that we wanna make sure we are like inside the two sentences is the problem we solve, not the history of the company.
Right.
Brooke Greening: No, no, not at all.
Catherine Brown: Right. Right. So, right. It's like, let's just say that for everyone's benefit, right? Like you need to name a singular audience and the problem they solve as an example, don't be scared to niche. People are smart. They can figure it out. So, yeah. So,
Brooke Greening: talking about one problem that they're facing, one solution that you're offering, and the one result that comes when you do that.
Catherine Brown: I see that. That's right. Okay. And then the next was to pick 10 people. So you're picking five that you really, really, really wanna talk to, and 10 that you just like for different reasons. You're gonna study them, you're gonna start following them on LinkedIn. You're gonna sign up for their email newsletter.
You're gonna notice what, what you want about them, and you're gonna be ready when you go. So that when you're talking with someone, you could say, do you know Brooke? Would you introduce me to her? And you're trying to make your way around. And you're ready to have a conversation because you have followed their stuff.
Brooke Greening: Yes, [00:38:00] because it's awkward if you're excited that you wanna talk to them, and then maybe you have one, like, what do you do? This, this, and then it's done. But if you actually had information about what they were doing and having good questions, like, Hey, so just as an example, so it's not vague. You read one of their blog articles and you have an intelligent conversation about what they wrote.
Catherine Brown: Yeah.
Brooke Greening: That is huge. Instead of a little awkwardness and like you were standing by the punch table and we don't know exactly what's happening. No. Like do 10 minutes of research, have that ready to go. You're gonna have it in a binder or a phone or whatever, so that when that moment comes, you're able to show like, Hey, I read this article, this is what I found interesting.
How did they respond to it? Or, I was wondering about this piece. What were you meaning by this?
Catherine Brown: Yeah. Yes. I followed you for a while. This was my favorite of your episodes. Or I heard you interview so and so, or, yes. I love that. This isn't it [00:39:00] Bob Goff that has the phrase that says Love does.
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Catherine Brown: Like, you have to actually go to a little trouble.
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Catherine Brown: right. Like that, that when you do that, people, people appreciate it.
I, I traveled all the way to Dallas from Houston a couple weeks ago to hear a speaker that I just had this deep sense that he was gonna be an important strategic connection for me, for the growth of the network. So I made the trip, it was a long day trip, and I made the trip. I connected, I invited him to connect on LinkedIn, which was brave 'cause he didn't know me right.
But I said, I'm coming to hear you and, and I would love to connect with you. Well, he studied my stuff and when I walked up and introduced myself in person before he spoke, before the event, he said, I like what you're doing. And I said. Thank you. What did you notice? Because I'm kind of like curious what thing he read.
He proceeds to state back my value proposition to me, which was like, I went back to my team. I was like, it's like a victory in marketing when someone actually states back to you and he said, I noticed you're doing this. And so he literally said, you have combined personal development and business [00:40:00] development training and you have this ecosystem of entrepreneurs.
And he said, I think that's, really interesting. And I said. Thank you and thank you for telling me that that was clear, that was really helpful. Well, we've already had a follow up call. We have an ongoing way that we have a relationship with sending me a copy of his latest book.
And I've sort, you know, tagged him on some things where I, I can, I think that would be good for him and he'll get in front of more people that would lead to opportunities for him. But it was because he could review my stuff
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Catherine Brown: and he won me over when he said, I noticed something that you posted.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Catherine Brown: So it was really, that proactiveness was so lovely.
Brooke Greening: Yes, it will be. And we do not do this in a manipulative way, but if you're, if you're trying to figure out, well, how in the world am I gonna be standing out when there's hundreds of people and they're talking to everybody, and how are we gonna make sure that they remember us and that we can, we can continue to build that relationship.
I guarantee you, by doing that, you do. Because people just don't necessarily take [00:41:00] that time, and that's when we go back to know who you are and own it. Because there have been times where I'm like, I know what needs to happen, but you kind of feel a little weird sometimes and you just have to say no. Like, I know this is important.
I know that this is gonna mean something to them. And it's okay if they saw one of my podcast episodes and they know what I'm doing.
Catherine Brown: Yes. That's why it's there. Yes.
Brooke Greening: happen.
Catherine Brown: Yes. I love that. I love that. Those are great suggestions.
Leveraging Conference Resources
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Catherine Brown: So use your resources if you are attending something where people actually publish the list or even the sponsors, you know, Brooke, the sponsors, they want friends and referrals too. Like even, even if you go to events that don't share attendee lists ahead of time like we do,
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Catherine Brown: everyone promotes their sponsors.
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Catherine Brown: So think about what it means to reach out to them and say, who are you hoping to meet while you're here? Do not assume that they are going to force you to be a buyer. You don't know why they're attending that event. You don't know why [00:42:00] they chose to sponsor that event. So they're people too, you know.
Brooke Greening: Yeah. I just went to one conference in Florida just this last month. And one of the best connections was actually another sponsor, and we are in completely different worlds. But it was wonderful conversations and learning more about their business and what they're doing and all of those things. And it was not just being like, oh, well they're sponsors.
We're gonna go focus over here. No, no, no. Like, we're here to be able to talk with people and to see how we can be able to serve them. I did wanna say one thing, Catherine, because you said. When you had that conversation, you said, Hey, I noticed there were things that you were doing. I noticed like I was intrigued by an article that you wrote.
I just wanna share this. If you do not have a follow up to that, if they ask you that is going to be a problem. So you can't say, Hey, I've been following your stuff and not have something concrete of what that is.
Catherine Brown: Like, because they'll say like, what?
Brooke Greening: and sneaky and it might not be meaning to, but that's how it comes [00:43:00] across.
Catherine Brown: Love it. Yeah. Great.
Brooke Greening: don't say it if you didn't do it.
Catherine Brown: That would be into good human. Exactly. Exactly. That's awesome, Brooke. So awesome. Oh, that's so great. Well, thank you so much. Anything else you'd like to share?
Brooke Greening: I just wanna encourage people that we can't be all knowing. We can't be all present when these things are happening. So give yourself grace. Have a plan, stick with it. Give yourself grace as you're going through this. Don't put so much pressure on yourself that you have to meet everybody, that you have to be able to make sure it's an immediate ROI like just.
Realize these things. Take time and give yourself grace. Have a plan, and then hold it loosely and keep going.
Long-Term Networking and Sales Strategies
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Catherine Brown: Yes, I was just invited to be on a podcast of a friend from a city I have not lived in for eight years, and we were friends. You know, for 10 years back then his business has changed. I have a different business. He follows me on [00:44:00] LinkedIn. He reached out and said, would you like to be back in touch? We haven't had a live conversation for several years, and it, was like falling back into like, I love this guy.
I think he's a wonderful human. I was delighted to hear from him. And so we wanna have a long view. Because
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Catherine Brown: I plan to work for a long time. I love what I'm doing, and people follow people. So even as your businesses evolve, or if you are a business development leader in the company, you represent changes.
People will follow you because they're attached to you. We wanna be persistent, we wanna be brave, but we also wanna be patient because we're building a long foundation that's gonna turn into years of referrals and not. Short, short, quick hits. And so it's this interesting balance, I think between having that long view and also taking decisive action.
And we wanna hold both of those.
Brooke Greening: Yeah, it's the same thing in regards with our sales. And we talk about like you have people who are gonna buy within one to 30 days and then 30 to 60 [00:45:00] and 60 to 90. If you only focus on people who are going to refer to you right now, we have a problem. We need to have a longer pipeline in regards to our referral network, so people who in the next 30 to 60 days, will be bringing people those in the next 60 to 90 days.
If all you're doing is focusing on one to 30 activities, that's the sales rollercoaster, up and down and up and down and up and down. You need to extend that. And so that's what these conferences allow us to do.
Catherine Brown: Ugh. What a pro, bro. Such a pro. Such a pleasure. Such a pleasure. Well, I've enjoyed following you around. So Brooke is a great example of someone that teaches, gives away, does LinkedIn Lives, has her interviews as a guest on podcasts. Has podcasts. I think you're just a great model to follow of this. All the things you give before the paywall to build trust.
I really wanna encourage people to connect with you and we'll have all kinds of ways that we share that contact information that people will be able to do that. But thank you for this.
Brooke Greening: [00:46:00] Oh, thank you so much. This has been such a great conversation.
Catherine Brown: See you soon in person.
Brooke Greening: You.