Plan for a Perfect Networking Call in 8 Steps

What exactly comes do your mind when you hear ‘Networking’? A shuffle and draw of business cards? Tricky conversations with forced smiles? Here’s the good news for you: all that is not needed!

Attending events and dumping contact information to as many people as possible is a start, but it is not networking. Would you have any form of relationship with someone if you merely dropped them your number and email?

Genuine connections are what you need, and getting them takes time, effort, tools and a few steps. But the current aspect of distancing due to Covid-19 means that this has to be handled remotely on call. On that note, master your next business networking call in just 8 steps:

Find a New Network 

Your network helps as a useful stepping stone toward achieving your goals. But no one wants to be taken merely for that. The idea of networking is to foster reliable relationships, not connections that are functional.

So how do you start your networking slate? Believe it or not you already know how. You’ve been building relationships since you were born. It’s simply a matter of using the same skills, now to intentionally build relationships with people who are interesting, creative and successful.

As the old adage goes, “Strangers are friends you haven’t met yet”. This comes down to a few simple tactics while on call:

• Don’t be all about business when starting off. Foster meaningful relationships, taking active interest in their likings too. Make the conversations about them, bringing up your own experiences to concur and empathize with them.
• Remember, networking is a two-way channel. You’re just as much their network as they are yours. So be confident with a good vibe about yourself, while maintaining professionalism.
• Try to understand their problems first. It’ll offer a good opportunity to learn something valuable, and might also make you useful as a helping lead to mutually benefit from the networking.

Know Your Audience 

You have 15 minutes to make a first impression with your contacts and get your questions answered. How are you going to use it?  The last thing you’d want to do is waste that precious time by asking questions that could have been easily answered with a quick look at their profiles, or their company’s website.

To make an impression is a bit like marketing yourself, so you do want to impress your contact by exceeding their expectations with your knowledge. To go beyond what’s expected, calls for research. As with effective group conferencing, preparation is paramount to effective business networking. So plan for a perfect networking call.

Learn as much as you can about the contacts you’re going to speak to, their company or industry, and be prepared with the necessary questions, along with some of your own knowledge. But the planning doesn’t stop there.

Set A Time

 The call will need to be set in good timing as well for their convenience. Keeping the conference hour close to a pre-determined break in a day’s routine (such as lunch) may cause the conference call to inadvertently result in multiple risky scenarios.

• First, you may be omit or condense critical points of interest, and your contacts may not be nearly as attracted to continue the conversation with you.
• Second, rushing also may lead them to misunderstand that you’re not really interested in what they have to say, discouraging them from having a discussion.
• Lastly, calling near the break also means that the customer, pressed for time, may not want to speak due to the inconvenience your call would cause.

MultiCall would serve as a useful tool at this point. Not only does it allow carrying outgroup calling in one go, there is no hassle typical of conferencing either. Its feature of Call Scheduling helps plan ahead and invite the necessary individuals.

Prep Your Pitch

At some point during the conversation, you’ll probably have to introduce yourself. The most efficient and effective way to handle this would be to prepare an elevator pitch prior to the call. Practicing this regularly can also help, to evade gap fillers such as “um” and “like”.

This is also necessary as you’ll need to tailor the pitch slightly to mention why you’re interested in receiving advice from the contacts you reach out to. To prepare for this ask yourself “What am I  hoping to get from each person?”

This is also necessary to get their interest. In the context of a customer dealing with his/her own daily routine, calls and so on, a client only takes as much interest in you as:

• • How relevant you make yourself known.
• • How clearly you assert your purpose.
• • How clear you make the timeframe you demand of them.

Come to the Point

The world we live in today has employees being more transparent than ever. This is to the point where it’s not just expected, but even demanded as well. To that extent, when it’s time to make the call, it’s necessary to get right to the point.

Ask probing questions that melds what you’re most interested in learning, with showing what you already know. Remember; alack of preparation for a conference can more or less end it even before it begins.

So, prepare your questions. It doesn’t necessarily have to be followed to the tee, but they’ll serve as a way to ensure that your conversation stays on track. Make sure your questions are geared toward seeking advice.

Keep an eye on the time 

Like this point, the conversation needs to be short and straightforward. This also means paying attention to the duration of the call, and being conscious of the time. MultiCall’s Call Scheduling can help here too; as you can plan the duration of the call for up to 120 minutes.

If you’re worried about missing critical points they may have mentioned while taking notes, no problem! MultiCall’s recording feature lets you play back the conversation to your heart’s content.

Follow Up

Remembering to wait is essential for effective conferencing. But it’s good to also thank your contacts for their advice. MultiCall comes to be useful here with its Call Monitoring feature, to ensure that you have spoken and addressed everyone during the call.

A good way to conclude it is to mention that the conversation has sparked or furthered your interest in the relevant fields you spoke of. You can also request more people that they would recommend you speaking with.

Keep in Touch 

Last but certainly not least, it’s important to stay in regular contact with your newfound network. Staying socially distant does not mean staying disconnected. Following your call with your contacts, updated them about your various explorations in follow up of what you discussed with them. More importantly, inform them if and when you make a substantial update or change. It’s human nature to appreciate knowing when they’ve been helpful! 

The future is uncertain, and you’d not know when you’ll need to count on your network again. With MultiCall’s Call Scheduling, you can set the calls on a repeat basis, so as to prevent the connection getting cold. Coming together is just the beginning, but staying together is what helps you reach more, now.