One of the hot targeted questions I’ve been asked consistently at the last few conferences I’ve spoken such as BlogHer and Spark and Hustle has been how to prepare for an event.

As I’ve been preparing the last few days for speaking at and attending Barkworld Expo this weekend, these are some of the things I’ve been doing.

Here are 3.5 things to consider:

1. Make sure you dress appropriately. You don’t get a second chance at a first impression! Enough said. Dress how you want others to perceive you and your business.

   (For women – If you are one of the types who is challenged when it comes to mixing and matching your clothes, I highly, highly urge you to sign up for a free account at Fashion-Ade. This site mixes and matches your clothes for you. That’s what I’m talking about! You get to build a custom virtual closet, which is SO easy as they have prepopulated items (and you can add more for custom items) and it mixes and matches for you based on the look you are going for!!)

2. Research attendeesThese days, you can find out a lot about an event such as who is organizing it and who is attending (if they utilized an online invitation).

   Google whomever it is you can find attending, or minimally the hosts. This makes having conversations much more interesting and disarms people who have their guard up when you’ve shown legitimate interest in them.

   Another strategy I use is to find them on Facebook or LinkedIn and see what people you have in common. You would be amazed as who you have in common with and sometimes that in itself is all it takes to get your foot in the door.

3. Set a goal. I cannot emphasize this enough. People go to events without a goal in mind and then wonder why nothing came out of it…

   - How can you hit a goal if you don’t have one set?

   - Why are you attending the event?

   - Who do you hope to meet?

   - What metric of success will you use to decide that the event was time well spent?

3.5 … Bring a pen!! To truly stand out among other networkers AND remember the details of a conversation, take notes on either a business card or notepad . This will show you to be an attentive listener and will help making follow-up much more personal. I can’t tell you how many people are surprised by my note-jotting and then compliment my attention to the conversation… Talk about a way to stand out.

Have you tried any of these tips?  What other tips do you have?

Lately, most of my prospects are needing help with this – figuring out who is their ideal client… I mean REALLY figuring it out. Why? Because… how can you market to them, or get referred to them, or even identify them when they are right in front of you, if you don’t know who they really are?

Many are going to events and having business meetings yet struggling with making solid connections or referrals because they can’t articulate this.. This is the foundation of successful referral partnerships. How can you establish mutually beneficial relationships with strategic alliances if neither of you knows how to help each other?

I found a great list of questions for determining who is your ideal client. (For the entire list by Bonnie Jo Davis with David Virtual Assistance, click here)

Four of those questions are:

Is his or her business located in their home?

What problems does this person have?

Where can you find him or her?

Does this person belong to any organization such as a trade association or volunteer group?

I’m noticing people are going to events where their competitors are… but they are NOT going to where their prospects are. And they think they don’t want to work with their competitors, because they don’t know how to truly leverage that relationship, and then wonder why aren’t they getting referrals or making money from the events they are attending… Here lies part of the problem.

Based on simply the 4 questions above, you should already be having some big AH-HA moments…

Case study:

• Let’s take someone who sells toner.
• They are probably going to events where they figure they should attend with other professionals such as Chamber functions or structured, general networking events.
• However, in those circles, they are bound to run into others who sell similar services (or know someone who does.)

I would then work with this person to figure these things out:

• Where can they go where they will meet less competitors?
• Where can they  meet people with the problems their clients have?

I’d suggest less mainstream events or or smaller events, such as town hall meetings, niche happy hours or targeted trade associations gatherings… You need to research to make sure that the people you are looking to meet will most likely be at this event. The idea is to maximize your networking efforts, not waste time.

On top of that, Mr./Ms. Toner could also think of what other people WORK with their prospect. Who can they form a  strategic alliance or referral partnerships with others who target that same demographic…

• In this case, accountants or bookkeepers would be a great alliance.
• They can also reach out to individuals who sell to schools, office managers or even government entities who already have relationships with the decision makers.
• I would also suggest they connect with people who help businesses cut overhead and reduce debt because they are probably scrutinizing every expense they have.. .

These are just some examples to get you thinking bigger… There are so many opportunities but if you don’t know how to let others know how they can help you or refer you to a good prospect or introduce you to a strategic alliance, how can they help you when you are unsure of how to help yourself?

Based on the four questions above, can YOU answer them? Share the answers in the comments below. You never know who may be reading the comments section and make a good introduction for you!

I posed the question recently to my community on what sage advice would you give a new entrepreneur and I got countless replies focusing on business skills, delegation and education… However, this reply from Lisa Claudia Brigggs (or @IntuitiveBody on Twitter)  particularly stood out because of the fact that no one had mentioned it and it’s often something we overlook…

And it dawned on me that many new entrepreneurs rarely put health or self-care on their to-do lists and we overcommit ourselves to being… connected, either at a computer or a smartphone… but at WHAT COST?

So for those who find themselves either struggling with:

• going to the gym
• daily discipline
• those who THINK about taking care of themselves but really don’t
• and those who sometimes forget to make their health a priority (I’ll admit that I’m sometimes all of the above!!)…

…. here are a few tips to make it easier to take care of YOU…

Because, what good is success if you are don’t have your health?

10 min of physical activity 3 times a day is much easier than 30-45 minutes on a treadmill if you are having a hard time getting to the gym. Use an egg timer. Also, when in small chunks like this, it’s easier to get a sense of accomplishment. I like to either jog in place or do yoga. Now this is NOT this is a valid substitute for the health benefits of pursuing and maintaining an active lifestyle or being fit and healthy.. This is just for people who are struggling getting ANY physical activity into their business lives.

We’ve heard it before – our bodies have got to get water. I know, I know… BUT, let’s be honest – if you are not a big fan of drinking large quantities of water (like me!), try sipping 4 ounces of water every 30 minutes instead of 8oz of water 8 times a day. Try using a reminder on your computer or phone.

If you are constantly in front of a computer or desk, you are probably straining your neck forward and not moving for minutes or hours. Let’s be realistic now – many of us are seated online for large chunks of our day. Right now, stretch your neck to the right…….and try looking up at the ceiling, feel the stretch? Nice, eh? Next to the left. Try standing and stretching out your fingers and arms. How about your legs? Sometimes its amazing how achey my joints are when I realize I’ve been sitting for hours. What about you?

Again, something it seems people are not  eating frequent meals. This is important to our metabolism as well as our overall well-being. I like to snack on trail mix. While it’s not the BEST choice of a well balanced meal, at least I’m fueling my fire with something…

What suggestions do YOU have to make it easier to take better care of our bodies in this new… somewhat more sedentary and hyper-connected world?

Here are 4 helpful resources for you that I really enjoyed:

• 22 reasons to be healthy
• How to exercise while sitting at your computer
• The effects of sitting in front of your computer for too long… (great diagram)
• Stand up for your health – Physiologists and Microbiologists find link between sitting and poor health

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